Study Guide 1 Flashcards
What is applied anthrolpology?
Study to gain knowledge to solve problems
What are the 4 fields of anthropology?
Biological/physical
Linguistic
Sociocultural
Archeological
Cultural relativism
Counter measurement of ethnocentrism. Must be understood within context of a particular culture. The principle that all cultural systems are inherently equal in value, and therefore, that each cultural item must be understood on its own terms
Ethnocentrism
Judging other cultures - assumption that ones own group’s lifestyle, values, and patterns of adaptation are superior to all others
Holistic approach
Consider aspects of culture in relation to your own
Participant-observation
Allows one to make the strange familiar
Emic perspective?
Inside objective, describing a culture by living within it
Eric perspective?
Outside perspective, describing a culture from the outside
Moral relativism
Philosophical positions concerned with the differences in moral judgment in different people and cultures
Medical anthropology
Study of health and medical systems in a cross-culture perspective
Corporate culture
The cultural characteristics of a workplace
Educational anthropology
Focuses on the cultural aspects of education, formal and informal.
Contract archeology
Archaeological research, survey, excavation undertaken under contract within government agencies, private organizations, and individual contractors
Forensic anthropology
Application of the science of anthropology in a legal setting, usually where victims remains are in advance stage of decomposition
What is meant by “making the strange familiar and the familiar strange?” What is its relationship to doing ethnographic fieldwork?
The quote is relative to human creativity, where the objective is to motivate people to a different approach interpreting things or solving problems. Ethnographic fieldwork uses this quote to make other cultures understood by the researcher while the research compares the data to their own knowledge.
Name and explain the 5 major us fields of applied anthropology
Goal-oriented research:
Government agency research:
Consult for business:
Develop and administer programs:
Cultural broker
Translates and negotiates concepts between two cultures
Cultural construction
Culture makes us think a certain way
What is an armchair anthropologist?
A person who has book knowledge but not practical experience
What does Bohannan assume about he classics like the story of “hamlet?”
She assumes that human nature is the same the whole world over and that the general plot would always be clear, given that different cultures would need different explanations.
What does Bohannan conclude about her initial assumption and why?
She discovers that there a difference that can’t be interpreted. There might be multiple interpretations depending on the culture; monogamy vs polygyny
How do the Tiv reinterpretations affect the overall meaning of the story? Is it the same story by the time they finish reading it?
Because of the Tiv culture, they interpreted the meaning of the story completely different.
What was the point of the Christmas of Lee wanted to give the !kung?
It was his was of saying thank you for the cooperation of the past year.
How did Lee’s expectations of how people would react to his gift differ from what actually happened?
He expected them to be thankful, but instead they insulted him for it by complaining about the ox.
What cultural rules are invoked from his own culture that led him to expect a different cultural reaction than he received?
In his culture people were ‘ polite’ by saying thank you and showing their appreciation through positive compliments. The !kung culture complemented him through insults to keep him modest.
What cultural rules and values are invoked from !kung culture that influenced how they actually did react? Why did they react that way? What problems do they foresee if they don’t react in this manner?
They insult themselves and their kills to make themselves humble
Who was Mipoho, and what was her prophecy (prediction) about the future of the Giriama?
Mipoho was a Girama prophetess who prophesied the coming of another threat to the Girama ways. After her death the western missionaries came and the people we infiltrated with Christianity.
How did the wanganga react when the author refused their offers to predict her future? Why.
They found her position ungenerous. She was taking information from them so they felt it reasonable to extract information from her.
Compare and contrast the authors visits with 2 diviners: Tresea and Karissa
Teresa used forces around her to predict the future. Karissa used powers from within to predict the future.
How did Muhammad determine that the author wrote “umbrella” during their divination session? Did Mohammad use supernatural powers or a slight-of-hand magic trick?
It was just a magic trick. The author determined that Muhammad must have switched the paper that said umbrella on it.
How do Maxwells idea on a Revival Faith of Giriama change over the course of his fieldwork with the author?
At first he wanted to start the movement to revive the faith. By the end of the fieldwork he learned to play the people just as they had played him.
Using a specific example from the maxwell drams story, what does the author mean when she says that our pact as an anthropologists to go “there” without ever leaving “here?”
Ask professor
Authenticity
Truth, purity of tradition/practice, real, legitimate
Diviner
Interprets the unknown based on hidden knowledge. Answers questions about cause, treatment, responsibility, future, past, present.
Divination
Diviners attempt to access unknown knowledge to interrupt the past, present, future.
Emic
Insider perspective. Less objective, more emotional, deeper understanding of one raised in the culture
Etic
Outside perspective, more objective, distant from self, big picture/surface view, theoretical and comparative
Wanganga
Those who meditate best between the visible and invisible worlds are the divination and healers called wanganga
Monogamy
Marriage between one man and one woman at a given time
Polygamy
A general term for plural marriage
Serial monogamy
The marriage of one woman and man at a time but in a sequence, usually made possible through divorce
Polygyny
Plural marriage, one man is married to two or more women
Sorroral polygyny
A form of polygyny in which the wives are sisters
Polyandry
One woman is married to two or more men
Fraternal polyandry
Several brothers share one wife
Dowry
Presentation of goods or money by the brides family to the bride or groom, or the grooms family.
Bride wealth/price
The presentation of goods or money by the grooms family to the brides family at the time of marriage; an economic exchange that legitimates the marriage of offspring as members of the fathers patrilineage.
Bride labor
Ask professor
Patriarchy
A social organization in which power and authority are vested in the males and in which descendants is usually in the male line
Matriarchy
A social organization in which power and authority are vested in the females and in which descendants is usually in the female line
Patrilineal
Descent traced exclusively through the male line for purposes of group membership or inheritance
Patrilocal
A postmarital residence rule by which a newly wed couple takes up permanent residence with or near the grooms fathers family.
Matrilineal
Relating to based on, or tracing descent through the maternal line
Matrilocal
A postmarital residence rule by which a newly wed couple takes up permanent residence with or near the brides mothers family.
Hypergamy
The practice or marrying into an equal or more prestigious social group or caste
Isogamy
The fusion of two gametes of similar form
Stem family
A family system in which a couples firstborn children lives in the same house hold
Joint family
A family unit that has two or more generations who maintain a common residence
Nuclear family
A social unit composed of two parents and one or more children
Extended family
A kinship consisting of a families nucleus and other relatives
Classificatory sister
Ask professor
Levitate marriage
A type of marriage in which a brother of a diseased man marries his sister-in-law/widow
Widow inheritance
A type of marriage in which the bride/widow marries within her late husbands kin
Neolocal
Living or located away from both the husbands and wives parents
Ambilocal
Wife and husband live close to both of their parents
Bilineal
Tracing your descents through both fraternal and maternal lines
Bilateral
Pertaining to both sides
What kind of marriages are practiced in “when brothers share a wife”
multiple paternity
How does the main kind of marriage they practice work in “when brothers share a wife”
The Barí people believe that sperm nourishes baby. They think men do all the work in sex so he will take a break and let another man have sex with his wife. All the men will take care of the children
Are there issues with paternity?
Often the women have a lot of sexual partners so the father will not claim the child unless they look like him. Most children have several fathers.
Kinship
Relationship based on biological connection and shared genetic substance
Muslim
Person of the Islamic faith
Burqa
Head to toe garb that covers everything but the face that was promoted by the Taliban when they came into power
Classificatory sisters
Women of the same generation who are treats as sisters, and may be classified together as such, even if they are really cousins
Gender
Assigned behaviors expected of a male of female in a society
Agnate
Relative in a patralineage
Fourth gender
A women living/dressing as a man and doing a mans work
Descend
Ancestors that came after one
Two spirit
A person to have aspects of both male and female gender
Third gender
Either a man living/dressing as a women, or a woman living/dressing as a man, doing the work of the opposite gender
Anthropometry
Science of measurements of the human body, bones, muscle, fat
Anorexia nervosa
Eating disorder where a distorted body image makes individual starve oneself to be thin enough
Asexual
Not sexual in nature
Colonial feminism
Selective concern for the treatment of women in other cultures while ignoring the treatment of ones own women back home
Purdah
Seclusion of women in those and covering them in the presence of non-related males
Fictive kin
Relationship based on personal choice and commitment, includes honorary relatives
Berdache
French colonial term for one living/dressing/working as opposite gender that ones biological sex. May indicate homosexuality.
Blended family
Family made up of step parents, Step children, and step siblings.
Marriage
A culturally constructed institution through which ins personal and usually intimate relationships are sanctioned and recognized by social, religious, and/or government authority
Ascend
Ancestors that came before one
Islam
Religion founded by Muhammad
Shaman
Person with spiritual role, may get away with dressing/acting as opposite gender, or with aspects if both
Sex
Biological designation as female or male
Consanguineal
Related by blood
Eo
Person whose point of view from whom a family tree or genealogical chart is drawn
Affine
Related by marriage; in-laws
Hijab
Veil that covers a woman’s hair and neck for modesty, to indicate submission to Allah
Total fertility index
Average number of children born to a woman during her lifetime
Serial monogamy
Marriage to on,y one person at any time, but can be different people over ones lifetime due to separation, divorce, remarriage
Small happiness
Birth of a Chinese daughter
Bride price
Bride wealth: presentation of good or money by the grooms family to the brides family at the time of marriage
Monogamy
Marriage to only one person at a time
Arable land
Land of which you can grow crops
Matrilineal
Society type where descent is traced in the female line, and the mothers brother plays an important role
Polyandry
One wife has more than one husband simultaneously
Extended family
Husband, wife, their kids, possibly their parents, siblings, grand kids, nieces, nephews
Matrilocal
Post-marital residence of newlyweds with wife’s maternal line
Primogeniture
First born son inherits everything
Isogamy
Marrying with in ones own subcaste
Bride wealth
Marriage payment where money/goods go from groom to brides family.
Bride burning
Murder of bride by pouring kerosene over her and setting her afire while still alive
Caste
Social position one is born into in India, which cannot be changed and determines ones own career
Paleontology
Study of fossil record for what it can tell us about past human behavior
Subcaste
Subdivision within a particular caste. Which can be changed upon marriage
Bride service
Groom works for a set period of time for his wife’s parents to earn productive and reproductive rights to his bride
Large happiness
Birth of a Chinese son
Nuclear family
Husband, wife and their kids live together
Virilocal
Patrilocal postmarital residence
Neolocal
Post marital residence of newlyweds in their own independent household, a new place.
Multiple paternity
Belief that a child may have more than one biological father
Corvee labor
Forced, unpaid labor to an overload one is obligated to do so for a set time each year
Levirate
Widow inheritance by surviving brother of deceased husbands; he marries his brothers widow and cared for his brothers children as his own
Patrilocal
Postmarital residence of newlyweds with husbands paternal family
Fraternal polyandry
One wife marries a set of brothers simultaneously
Sororal polygyny
A husband marries a set of sisters or classificatory sisters simultaneously
Polygamy
Multiple simultaneous marriages
Patrilineal
Society where descent is traced in the male line from grandfather to father to son
Hypergamy
Attempt by woman to marry up by marrying husband of higher subcaste, so her children will be ranked higher than herself
Uxorilocal
Post marital residence of newlyweds with wife’s mothers brother
Polygyny
One husband has more than own wife simultaneously
Patriarchy
Society where men dominate women
Matriarchy
Society where females dominate males; there is no evidence that this type of society ever exists
Dowry
Marriage payment where money/goods go from brides family to husband/his family
Dowry death
Murder of bride by in-laws during the first 7 years of marriage, usually done by burning, or sometimes drowning to make it look like an accident. Done so husband can remarry and get another dowry
Ambilocal
Post marital residency of newlyweds with choice of either wife’s or husbands family
Who is in charge of the family in “when brothers share a wife”
Th eldest brother
What kinds of problems can arise when brothers share a wife?
Sexual favoritism. Bride can be a lot older than the youngest brother and she might find him immature.
What are the advantages of this kind of marriage system? (When brothers share a wife)
It reduces population growth. It keeps the family together so they can work on the same land.
Why does the Tibetian society practice fraternal polyandry?
Families were too poor to support multiple women so they only took one and all the brothers shared her.
Why have other people claimed they practice it?
Two reasons: the Tibetans practice female infanticide and therefore have to marry polyandrously, owing to a shortage or females. And the Tibet, lying at extremely high altitudes, is so barren and bleak that Tibetians would starve without resort to this mechanism.
What is wrong with the ideas why Tibetians practice fraternal polyandry?
There has never been institutionalized female infanticide and the females have a considerable amount of rights. The climate of Tibet is harsh, but polyandry is not a means of preventing starvation .
How do husbands and wives feel about the sexual aspects of sharing a spouse?
It can bee good or bad. It can help share resources, but she might pick favorites which could cause tension.
What is the function of fraternal polyandry like that of the nineteenth century primogeniture in England?
Primogeniture is the practice that the eldest brother inherits everything. In the Tibetan culture, the eldest brother is dominant in authority and the bride usually sleeps with him the most.
Corvée labor
A system of required labor; characteristic of ancient states
How many fathers are best for a child?
Barí families believe that 2 fathers is a desirable number
Why do they Barí believe a child can have more than one father?
Because the woman sleeps with two or more different men. They think that all the sperm forms the child.
How do the Barí women justified taking lovers during their pregnancy?
They believe that sperm nourishes the baby. They also believe at men do all the work so when a woman is pregnant she needs more sperm for the baby so the man will take a break and let another man have sex with her.
From an evolutionary perspective, what is the idea, number of fathers for a child to have in Barí society? Why?
The believe that two fathers is best. Child mortality is high, 1/3 not surviving past 15. Most children with a secondary father, however, made it to their teens most often. Children with one father or more than 2 fathers didn’t have such a high success rate.
How is the Barí system similar to and different from the system of frequent divorce and court-enforced “child support” payments in modern American society?
In the Barí system, when a man is named as a secondary biological father, he is also placed under an obligation to the mother and child. In addition, he is expected to give gifts of fish and game.
Multiple paternity
The concept, occurring in several South American cultures, that every man who has intercourse with a woman. During her pregnancy contributes to the formation of the child; therefore, a child may have multiple fathers
Paleoanthropology
The study of human fossil remains
How is silence used in European American communications?
In funerals, religious/praying.
Among the western apaches, in which 6 situations is silence observed?
- Meet strangers
- Initial phase of courting a sweetheart
- Children come home from boarding school
- One is getting cussed at
- One who is sad
- When with someone for whom they sing/ritual
What is the reason for each case of silence in the Apache culture?
They do this because they don’t know what to say
What do these situation of silence have in common?
They are all icebreakers
How do the Western Apache view a stranger who is fast to start talking to unknown people?
They believe the stranger is being culturally/socially unacceptable/disrespectful/weird.
By do many Americans spend so much,only on weddings/Christmas/etc?
To show love in a symbolic way. To make up for the time you are working/away.
What idea does the author convey with the double meaning of the title “how families work: love, labor, and mediated oppositions in American domestic rituals
How families work - evokes these intertwined paradoxes of middle class domestic life. Family time has in principle long been contrasted with its antithesis work time
How and why are the rituals of the American “holiday season” focused on children?
Because it is the parents way of showing their love and a way of penance to their children for working so much.
How does e Ngoni mugeniso ritual ease tensions between two opposing kinship groups in a patrilineage society? Why are cows so important?
Grandson chooses a grandpas cattle to ease tension between kinship
How Might people react to possible “mistakes” In a ritual like a wedding?
Ask professor
What is more important-love or work?
If an “Alien” came to America they would say that work is more important to us. Love is more important though. Just work really hard to provide for our love ones what we think they deserve such as a home and money. Working a lot, unfortunately, is the only way to receive money to give to our families so we can use it together.
Ritual
Organized group of actions or ceremonies, repetitive and strict.
Define rights of passage
Religious rituals that mark important changes in individual status; birth, death, marriage, coming of age
Kinship systems
A network of culturally recognized relationships among individuals
Cultural mediation
The social process through which someone learns shared behaviors and knowledge of a particular group or population
What is the main point of the article “body ritual among the Nacirema”
To describe the Americans in a foreign way of looking at them
Explain the dilemma of identification for many Black Indians, why this was the case historically and whether (and how) this is changes today.
There was no record of their history since they were slaves and since they weren’t completely seen as nativity Americans. If they we black then they were considered black. It has changed a bit today but most people are ignorant to the black Indians.
What are 3 ways anthropologist study rituals?
- Investigate the meanings, types, and structures of. Symbols used in rituals
- Examine the thought processes that occur I’m ritual. Or how the actors believe in the effectiveness of the ritual
- Focus upon the structure and function of ritual in a society
If you are standing beside a patient on the operating table, what is the ritual for switching places with the person standing next to you?
They go back to back and turn around so they high the highest probability of sterility
Describe the differences among the 3 major phases of an operation
- Consists of the incision or opening
- Consists of the excision and repair
- Consists of the closure
Give an example of how operating room rituals define categories of appropriate and inappropriate behavior
One of the most important operating room rituals is scrubbing. It is a procedure that removes bacteria from nails, fingers, hands, and arms to the elbows, this is done to prevent any bacteria from entering into the patient, which could lead to dire consequences. A person will be denied entry to the operating room if he is “contaminated”
What do rituals in the operating room have in common with rituals in other contexts, sacred or secular?
Rituals indicate categories and limits or boundaries. Rituals proclaim something is in one category and not in another
Considering the severity of surgery, what is the role of joking in the operating room?
Jokes are not expressed while transactions take place, it only happens before or after dangerous part.
Define autonomy
Independence; being self governing, self-directed
Define secular
A descriptive term for something that is explicitly not related to religion
Define sacred
A descriptive term worthy of religious respect or veneration
Why does the author describe the red plastic cup as the great equalizer?
Because it appears at nearly every event that has some sort of drinking. Also every one can receive the same amount and drink what ever they want with out being judged.
How does the Sikaina toddy drinking session promote equality and community?
They form a circle and one person drinks out of a cup then fills it back up to the same amount and passes the up to the person next to him
How do social rules for drinking differ among the Sikaina, the Xhosa, and your own family gatherings?
The Xhosa and Sikaina make drinking a community event and share their cup. They would look down at the plastic red cup because we don’t share and then we throw away when we are done; consumerism
What does the author mean when she says that social drinking is a ritualized act?
The red plastic cup carries a sense of appropriate behaviors and expectations, just like a ritual. The same set of acts occur at social drinking events.
How would Xhosa or Sikaina people view the ubiquitous use of disposable party cups in the US?
They wouldn’t respect red plastic cups, we don’t share and we throw the cups away afterwords.
What are the views of Behavioral ecology?
They try to understand animal behavior in terms of how animal behavior contributes to an animals fitness/evolutionary fitness.they assume that natural selection has designed our decision-making mechanisms to optimize the rate at which humans beings accrue resources
How have anthropologists views of the meaning and function of ritual changed since the 19th century?
The late 19th century anthropologists suggested that religious rituals arose out of a misunderstanding among primitives that dreams are real. Religious rituals today are a form of communication between members of the same species. This explanation was only recently purposes.
According to the author, what’s adaptive problem does ritual behavior solve?
It secures trust within a group
Within a society, might adherence to religious ritual be more adaptive for some people than others?
Yes, it entails a host of religious obligations and expected behaviors. The person has to find physical or psychological benefits associated with ritual for it to be adaptive to them.
What is the ‘costly signaling theory of ritual,’ and what role might it play in the emergence of “demanding religious groups?”
Groups that impose the greatest demands on their members will elicit the highest levels of devotion and commitment.
Commune
A general term describing a cooperative community whose members collectively share property, labor, and income
Intragroup solidarity
A measure of in-group social cohesion
Kibbutz
A collective settlement owned and operated by members who eschew private property in service to the well-being and sustainability for the community itself
Natural selection
Primary force of evolution that causes change in gene frequencies for environmentally adaptive traits
Signaling theory of ritual
Predicts that groups that impose the greatest demands on their members will elicit the highest levels of devotion and commitment
What does the progressive view propose?
They credit agriculture that has taken place over the last few centuries. More food for more people for less cost
What’d eps the revisionist view counter?
It controlled birth rate, waste, and no one was superior the anyone else.
How do we think that the hunter-gathers lived?
We think that the men were always hunting while the women were always caring for the young and the home.
What was surprising regarding the way hunter-gathers really lived?
Have little or no stored food. They lived off wild plants and animals they obtained. The only had a baby every few years because they couldn’t carry more than one young at a time. The was no kings, or superiority. Enjoyed a varied diet.
What does it mean to domesticate plants and animals
To have farms designated just to produce animals or plants for a whole community.
What is the Neolithic revolution?
Changed social structure and who they lived with. An evolution marked by the emergence of stone tools and domestication of animals and plants.
How did the development of agriculture affect people’s health?
It caused malnutrition in both male and females; they grew shorter over time. Had an increase in iron deficiency, bone lesions, degenerative conditions, and life expectancy.
What 3 changes were consequences of the development of agriculture?
- Hunter-gathers enjoyed a varied diet while farmers obtained most of their food from one or a few starchy crops
- Because of the dependence of limited number of crops, farmers risked starvation if one crop failed
- Agriculture encouraged people to clump together in crowded societies.
How did agriculture’s development impact social structure
Women had mor children and their social status decreased.
What is paleontology
The study of fossils, usually extinct animals and plants
What is paleopathology?
The study of disease patterns in extinct populations
How does food insecurity affect youth?
The recent and rapid rise in global food prices has led to an increase in food insecurity in 3rd world countries. Youth are at an additional risk because food insecurity might also negatively impact on outcomes like schooling and reproductive health.
How does the rising global food costs affect people in Ethiopia?
The increase in food prices has lead to an increase in food insecurity for everyone in Ethiopia.
How did the authors determine that the prevalence of youth food insecurity is increasing?
They determined this by studying the rapid increase in food prices on populations already living on the margins.
What factors protect the Ethiopian youth from food insecurity?
Studies suggest that only the poorest households will experience food insecurity. Adults will usually firstly feed their young before themselves.
What is the difference between rural and urban youth perspectives on food?
The rural household experience a higher prove lance in food insecurity with children.
What is the Jimma Longtitudinal Family Survey of Youth?
It is a study designed to examine the social and economic determinants of adolescent health and well being.
Define Ethiopian Birr
It is their currency
Define food insecurity
The lack of sufficient food and or resources to meet th energy requirements of a population.
Define indicators
Measurement that anthropologist use to asses the achievements of specific goals and objectives (life expectancy rates indicate the length of an average lifespan)
Define social capital
A shared network of resources, norms, knowledge, and institutions that enable mutually beneficial cooperations for those who posses it.
Staple foods
A type of food that is dominant in a national diet
Are table manners equal in the eye of the beholder? Or does this requirement take an emic or at least a culturally relativistic point of view.
Table manners are not equal. Table manners require an emic or culturally relativistic point of view.
What meanings are associated with table manners? Are these meanings universal? Are they symbolized in universally the same way?
Certain table manners are to show respect and appreciation. The table manners differ from culture to culture but ultimately have to same meaning.
What do Western table manners say about us?
We are uptight with are rule. Chewing with your mouth closed, not burping, and using utensils shows respect to the host. We still must be considerate to whom we are eating with.
What was the most important thing you remember being taught as a child regarding table manners?
I couldn’t play with the food. The children always set the table in a specific manner (like a ritual) and they always were the ones to clean.
What do the Chinese manners say about them?
They are considerate, always offering tea to their guests. Bringing their bowl to the mouth and eating slopping is a sign of appreciation to the cook.
What is the main rule in Chinese table manners?
Bring food to their mouth, leaving their plate/bowl on the table is a sign of disinterest in or dissatisfaction in the food.
What is eating alone compared to in Chinese culture? Why
Ask professor
What must a meal have to be considered a real meal, according to the Chinese?
Only a real mean when fan (noodles, rice, grain) is included
What are the main food categories in China?
Fan - grain and rice
Ts’ai - main dishes
How does the order one eats in differ in banquets from other occasions?
At banquets the serve the rice last and they don’t eat a lot of it, it is vice versa for normal occasions.
What is a Chinese breakfast like?
Food usually involves rice from the evening before boiled down to congee with a variety of pickles and condiments tossed in or served on the side.
How does one serve oneself in a restaurant?
They serve themselves from food at the center of the table, they usually share a table with strangers if they come alone.
How and why do customers in some Chinese restaurants wash their chopsticks a d other implements?
One pours a glass of boiling hot tea into ones glass, stirring trends of the chopsticks in the water to sterilize them. The washed water is thrown out into the street.
What fate will occur to Chinese children if they do not finish all of their rice?
Ask professors
What is the general rule when dinning out with others when it comes to paying the bill?
One person will take the bill an pay, but it is expected that another friend will pick up the bill next time. Unless you eat out alone, then you pay for your own bill.
For what kinds of meals are individual portions more likely to be ordered?
Hal fan, a speciality which one may choose from a daily set of menus. This is not a desirable circumstance
What are some of the main foods used in this celebration?
Molaéy - a sauce that can be made from nearly anything
Yellow food - thought the sun is where the dead go
Candy - in the shape of bones
Bread - comes in many forms, there is usually a history to the shape and they use red sugar to symbolize blood
What other symbolic items are used?
Merry golds - yellow to signify the sun
Art - important to tell a story
What things are done for the day of the dead?
Clean and decorate the graves with the dead persons favorite food and alcohol.
What is the Mexican attitude towards death shown in these traditions.
The celebrate death. They commemorate their dead so they never forget their loved ones.
What does the author mean when she says that boys and girls grow up in separate worlds, evening they live in the same house?
She is talking about male-female communication. Girls play in small groups while boys play in large groups. How they interact with their own sex differs from how the other sex interacts.
What at some of the specific differences in the ways men and women talk to each other, discussed here?
Women are more likely to be indirect and try to reach a agreement by negotiation. Men tease each other and always interrupt.
What are metamessages, and according to the author, are men or women more attuned to metamessages? Why?
Women are more attuned to metamessages because they are more focused on involvement, that is, the relationships among people. A metamessage can be seen in what is not said as well as what is said.
Can you think of a situation from your own life that can better be understood after reading this sultry analysis of cross sex.
Figure it out later.
Complementary schizogenesis?
Make situations worse. Social interaction occurring who people operate under different rules.
Intonation?
Tone of convincing
What does Barbie symbolize for American girls when they make-believe play about the lives of grown-ups: why is Barbie fun?
She symbolizes a beautiful adult with a great life. Barbie is fun because it is everything a little girl wants to be and look like when she grows up.
How is Barbie a consumer?
She has a house, a car, a dog, a boyfriend, she has a bunch of clothes and shoes.
How might the beauty myth be related to the ideas of the natural tendencies of the body to decay that Horace Miner described for the Nacirema people?
It is definitely related. the Nacirema people try to keep their bodies in the best of shape, postponing the decay of the body.
What does the anthropometric experiment tell us? How is culture involved in the definition of “normal?”
The anthropometric experiment tells us that a Barbie doll is no where near what the average person actually looks like, but the culture defines this as beautiful so thy alter their bodies to fit these expectations.
What is the primary measurable difference between Barbie and a “normal” American women.
The height. A Barbie is 5’10” while the normal person is 5’4”. Also the waist and hips are much larger on a normal person.
What messages can we decipher in the continuing popularity of Barbie since her inception, despite her unrealistic bodily proportions?
She is independently wealthy and she is not penetrate, which means she can’t have sex.
What is the relationship between Barbie and the Cold War?
The Barbie first appeared around the time of the Cold War. It was developed because of the Cold War.
What is colonial feminism? Why is it problematic?
It is when women try to get other women to be like them. It is problematic because the foreign women might not want to be like us.
Why might some women choose to wear a veil?
To show modesty and the show to their allegiance to Allah.
What do we do about afghan women possible wanting different things than we would want for them, even after liberation. Can we only free them to be like us.
We say that they don’t know what is truly good for them because that is all they have been exposed to. This isn’t a good thing though, because that is how they were raised so that us what they are comfortable with.
Why is it problematic to associate feminism with the west?
Some women don’t like what the western women wear. They believe it to be sultry and inappropriate.
How might Americans try to help afghan women in ways that do not involve saving them?
We could help take them away from the violence of the Taliban, but only help if they want it.
Burqa
Full body covering, sometimes includes a face mask
Colonialism
Establishment of government of sovereign rule in territory though political, social, economic, and cultural power.
Cultural relativism
The principle that all cultural systems are inherently equal in value
Ethnocentrism
The assumptions that ones own groups lifestyle is superior than others
Defense of marriage act
Federal government shall not recognize same-sex marriages
Problems with defining marriage cross-culturally: what are some if the different ways that anthropologists have defined marriages?
Marriage usually involved sexual relationships between spouses, but this is not always true. Anthropologists account for variations cross culturally when looking at marriages.
What are some of the differences in the way humans practice marriage throughout the world?
Homosexual and heterosexual relationships. Celibate marriages in early Christians. Polyandrous/polygyny marriages of India. Monogamy marriages.
Common traits of “marriage like” institutions cross-culturally.
Parent-child relationships. Household structure. Usually a sexual relationship.
How do anthropologists account for the variation of marriages as practiced throughout the world?
By looking to economic, ecological, demographic, and historical process.
Reasons for change in marriage and family within a particular culture.
Changes in society and how parents raise their children. Also the more accepting society is now makes it easier for people to be comfortable with what kind of kinship they want.
What do anthropological perspectives contribute to contemporary debates on gay marriages?
They have learned that this is another form of marriage from a global, cross-cultural perspective.
How has the development of New Reproductive Technologies conceptually fragmented motherhood?
Surrogate, in-vetro fertilization, and frozen embryos has created an alternative choice to motherhood. These methods make it possible to have children much later in life.
Affinial
Related by marriage
Kinship
A network of culturally recognized relationships among individuals
Social construction
A reality that is created and agreed on by interpersonal interactions and discourse
Marriage
A culturally constructed institution through which interpersonal and usually intimate relationships are sanctioned and recognized by the government
What role does sexuality play in berdache identities?
Described in terms of their preference and achievements of the work of the opposite sex. Most often form sexual relationships with non-berdache members of their own sex. Sexuality is not the biggest part
Is it accurate to define the berdache as homosexual.
No, but they most often form sexual and emotional relationships with the same sex.
Core traits among different Native American groups
Dreams/visions Moon interpretation Power Religion Sexuality Crafts Warfare
What role did the two-spirit people play in Native American societies?
They did the work of the opposite sex. But since so many of the Native American tribes disappeared before anthropologist could study them, the reasons are not clear.
3/4 gender
3rd gender - refers to male and sometimes female berdaches
4th gender - only refers to female berdaches
How has the term berdache evolved and why has it become an accepted anthropology term for 3rd/4th gender Native Americans? should anthropologists continue using this term
Berdache has become the accepted anthropological term for these roles. The meaning, over time, has begin to shift, loosing its fence to age and roles and becoming a general term for male homosexuality
What are some of the differences between Native American alternative genders as found in different geographical regions?
Southeast: alternative gender males participated in warfare they also did a woman’s work
Northeast and woodlands: males entered roles based on their preference for women’s work. Went to war, sang, gave advice at councils, and were holy.
Plains: skills in beading, quillwork, manufacturing and decorating
Arctic: children are raised with mixed gender identities some times
What is the meaning of the title of the film a small happiness? Why is this attitude held in Chinese society?
A daughter is a small happiness. This is because the daughter goes to live with the husbands family, so the parents raise their daughter for someone else’s family.
What was life like for women in China in the old days?
Match maker arranged marriages with the parents. There was no way to separate/divorce. Women use to bind their feet, more attractive to men. Women weren’t allowed out of the house, and if she wants to go and buy something she had to ask her mother-in-law for permission.
When did women gain power within the family?
In the 1950s women started to work in the fields, that’s when it started to get better for them.
How is it different since the Cultural revolution?
Women now work in the mills and bring home an income which makes their status rise a little bit.
What has been the effect of enforced birth control on women? Is it fully positive or fully negative, or mixed?
Women don’t want to be sterilized because it is painful and the husbands don’t really take car of them. Also, the women want to have a son. They don’t want to be sterilize until this has happened. The rural areas usually let families have 2 children so the parents can try to have a son
Explain how the black Indian group initially rose.
The native Americans had children with the African Americans
What at the advantages/disadvantages of identifying as Black vs. Native American throughout history and up to today?
Africans we enslaved while native Americans were put into servitude. Cherokees sometimes enslaved Africans. Blacks finally got their rights, while native Americans are still viewed with separate rights.
Pencil genocide
Changing documents in town hall, changing NA to AA or white. Erasing ancestors.
What are the 5 main reasons the Huichol take their journey?
- Search for peyote
- Communicate and become one with deities/ancestors
- Healing
- Have visions which inspire artwork
- Becoming shaman - go 5 time with same marital status
What is the relationship between the Maize (corn), peyote, and deer?
Deer - gives power to know more, brings people to peyote
Maize - current settled life, plant grows, makes life beautiful
Peyote - inspired them for artwork ideas, makes them mor spiritual
