Midterm1 Flashcards
four fields of Anthropology
Archaeology, Linguistic Anthro, Cultural Anthropology, BiologicaI Anthro
Holism / Holistic
the integration of human institutions and practices; the understanding of “total culture” and how it is interrelated
Etic/ emic
Etic: A cultural outsider’s point of view
Emic: Is a cultural insider’s POV
Ethnocentrism
the idea of cultural superiority, Using one’s own culture as the standard or lens through which other cultures are “judged”
cultural relativism
the opposite of ethnocentrism, cultural relativism seeks to understand and explain cultures from their own(emic) POV, at least to understand without value judgements attatched
participant observation
Firsthand observation of the people under study, often involving direct participation
Ethnography
The output(a book, a video, an essay, or collection of essays, and so on) of studying a culture
Ethnology
The output (…) of studying two or more cultures
modernity
Reason and understanding things(including culture) . Things are knowable through objectively ,and so on
( e.g. science itself, methods of science)
Postmodernism
A movement in which States that “true” knowledge is not really obtainable. Science is limited as explanation, and multiple viewpoints(a multi-vocality) are considered valid and desirable to explain things
importance of subsistence
vital as it dictates how societies obtain food, influencing their economic structureS and shaping social and political institutions
cultural complexity
describes The varying degrees of social organization in societies, ranging from simple hunting- gathering groups with minimal decision making to complex state- level societies with multiple layers of governance
Functional and essentialist
Functional: role a religion plays in society
Essentialist: what the religion is about
hunters and gatherers
Horticulture
Pastoralist
Agriculturalists
hunters and gatherers:All food aquiredfrom the environment
Horticultures:both hunting /gathering andagricultural food grown
Pastoralist:animal herding and products from animalsare the exclusive domain of subsistence
Agriculturalists: staple crops form basis of subsistence
unilinear evolution
biological evolution to culture, savagery, barbarism (incorrect viewpoint)
Animism
Polythesim
Monotheism
Animism:worship of nature or aspects of it
Polythesim: worship of multiple Gods
Monotheism: worship of one God
Inequality / egalitarianism
All cultures have inequality, egalitarianism( equal and hunter-gatherer)
religion as an integrative force
functionalist vibe
enculturation
the process of learning culture
commonalities in culture(7)
Power and inequality are universal, culture is learned, religion is universal, culture is artificial, cultures are always changing, culture is shared, All cultures have history
Approaches to Religion
Evolutionary: unilinear
marxist: religion is a tool
Functionalist: purpose of religion in society
Interpretive: meaning in religion
Psychosocial~ focus on culture and personality
“God Module”
All humans are hardwired to believe religion
myth
sacred Stories with flexible meaning that can and do change overtime
world view
The way a culture perceives and understands reality
origin /creation myth
concerned with how the world, people , animals , etc. were created and how it will end
diffusion
myths that are widespread in culture often moving across cultural bourdains
Trickster myth
not religious in nature but do concern societal behaviors( Life Lessons)
Hero Myths
Hero’s Journey
Analysis of Myth
Structural~ underlying structure or construction of a myth
psychological~ views myth as a way to reveal human psychology
transformative being
part animal part human( shift to human form)
Symbols
anything that stands for anything else
varied and X- cultural nature of symbols
symbols can have different meanings depending on the culture
abstract nature of symbols
can be interpreted differently
