Unit 1 Flashcards
Four subfields of anthropology
biological anthropology, archaeology, linguistic anthropology, cultural anthropology
biological anthropology
study of humans biologically, how they have evolved and adapted to environment
archaeology
investigation of human past by excavating and analyzing artifacts
linguistic anthropology
study of human language in past and present
cultural anthropology
study of peoples communities, beliefs, behaviors, and institutions as they live work and play together
anthropology
study of the full scope of human diversity, past and present, and application of that knowledge to help people understand each other
why rely on the four field approach?
they represent a holistic approach for examining human origins and human culture, past and present
holism (holistic)
anthropology’s commitment to look at the whole picture of human life
emic
describing a culture from an insider’s point of view, make foreign familiar
etic
describing a culture from an outsiders point of view, strives to be culturally neutral, a tool for comparison
hegemony
material power exerted through coercion or brute force, ability to create consent within a population
agency
power of an individual or group to contest, resistance of a dominant group, visible in public
Example of agency being expressed
protesting for women’s to choose(abortion), black lives matter movement
ethnocentrism
looking at a culture through your own cultural lense
cultural relativism
look at a culture through a “native’s” lense
how is it dangerous to be too ethnocentric?
can be judgemental
how is it dangerous too be too culturally relativistic?
encourages tolerance
effects of globalization on the natural world
diminishing biodiversity, destructive land use, extinctions, climate change, anthropocene
anthropocene
humans are leaving a permanent bio-stratographical signal on the earth
who are the Nacerima?
americans from an outsider’s perspective, making the familiar foreign
key dynamics of globalization
time-space compression, flexible accumulation, increasing migration, uneven development
time space compression
perceptions of distance and time have changed
flexible accumulation
ability to accumulate wealth with global market access, communication, transport, internet, offshoring, outsourcing
increased migration
accelerated movement of people
uneven development
unequal distribution of resources, economic winners and losers
how is an ethnology comparative?
ethnology studies multiple culture’s beliefs, communities, and compares them to one another
norms
group ideas or rules about what behavior is appropriate in a specific situation
values
learned, powerful beliefs, can be changed
symbols
something that stands for something else
mental map of reality
shaped by enculturation, assigns meaning to sensory data and what has been classified
epigenics
study in the field of genetics exploring how environmental factors directly affect the expression of genes that are inherited
how do we know culture can overcome our biology?
we are born with the ability to learn any culture we might be born in or move in to, ability to learn any set of beliefs, practices, languages
environmental tensions that globalization creates
extinctions, diminishing biodiversity, destructive land use, climate change
social tensions created by globalization
homogenization(creation of global same type culture, fueled by Western ideas)
economic tensions from globalization
unequal distribution of wealth and resources, economic winners and losers
how is culture shared, yet contested?
shared experience as a result of living in a group, constantly changing culture, arenas for debate challenging core cultural beliefs and behaviors
significance of symbolic language
enables humans to communicate abstract ideas through symbols of written and spoken words, as well as unspoken sounds and gestures
identify four anthropological field methods
immersion, qualitative(interviews) and quantitative(number survey) data, time(1-3 years min), language(learn it), field notes, interviews, participant observation
how ethnographic fieldwork is a science
because gathering data, testing hypotheses, building theories about how human societies work
how ethnographic fieldwork is an art
depends on anthropologists abilities to negotiate interactions, develop relationships, behavior pattern study, conscious of ones own biases
cultural diffusion
behaviors that spread from outside a culture that are accepted as is, modified, or rejected
innovation
cultural behaviors created from within a culture
polyvocality role in fieldwork
uses many different voices in writing and research, allowing to hear more directly from various people in the study
reflexivity
self examination of the role the anthropologist plays and awareness that ones identity affects fieldwork and theoretical analysis
theory
hypothesis assumed for sake of argument, belief policy or procedure, plausible body of principles
thick description
research strategy that combines detailed description of cultural activity with analysis of the layers of deep cultural meaning of those activities
what does Geertz’ thick description offer anthropologists?
cockfight represents generations of competition among village families for prestige, power, resources. symbolizes negotiation of family standing within a group
work of Boas
conducted studies on immigrants and wide variety of physical forms within the same groups, and how they adapted to new environmental conditions (historical particularism)
historical particularism
Boas, cultures develop in specific ways because of their unique histories
Malinowski
proposed immersion, learning language, participant observation, analyzed the Kula ring (trade ring)
Evans-Pritchard
documents political and social structure in Sudanese tribe, but his study was a British man studying in Sudan which was under British occupation at the time
Weiner
focused on same study that Malinowski did, but from women’s POV and their significant role in society
Scheper-Hughes
studied tribe in Brazil where children died often, little mourning over death of young ones because of how common it was
stratification
uneven distribution of resources and privileges among participants in a group or culture
culture shock
feeling of discomfort associated with being in an unfamiliar culture
enculturation
how culture is acquired, it is learned
armchair anthropology
worked at home in their armchairs while analyzing the work of others
unilinear cultural evolution
theory that all cultures naturally evolve through the same sequence of stages from simple to complex
4 major events in human evolution
bipedalism, tool construction, modern body form, symbolic or abstract thought
chronology of human evolution
ardipithecus, australopithecus, homo habilis, homo ergaster, homo erectus, homo heidelbergensis, homo sapiens neanderthal, homo sapiens sapiens
