Anth 101 Final sheet - Summary Introduction To Anthropology PDF

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Culture: sets of learned behavior and ideas that human beings acquire as members of society. Human beings use culture to adapt to and transform the world in which they live Socialization is the process of learning to live as a member of a group including o Mastering skills of interacting with others o Learning to cope with behavioral rules established by a social group Enculturation is the process by which humans living with others learn what ways of thinking and feeling are considered appropriate by their respective cultures Human culture didn’t emerge at once but evolved over time as humans evolved Human culture is learned, shared, patterned, adaptive, and symbolic o Cultural abilities were added at different times as human evolved and influenced our evolution  Humans are “virtuoso niche constructors” Human capacity for culture depends on o Transmission: ability to copy a behavior by observing or learning o Memory: ability to remember behaviors o Reiteration: ability to imitate behaviors o Innovation: ability to develop new behaviors o Selection: ability to know which behaviors to keep or discard Holism: the perspective on the human condition that assumes that mind and body, individuals and society, and individuals and the environment interweave and even define one another Holism for anthropologists o Preferable to dualistic or deterministic views about human culture o Argues that objects and environments interpenetrate and define each other Agency refers to the exercise of at least some control of their lives by human beings Institutions are complex, variable and enduring forms of cultural practice that organize social life (societies are more than a sum of individual actions) Ethnocentrism is a term anthropologists use to describe the opinion that one’s own culture is natural or correct compared to other cultures o The tendency to view that traits, ways, ideas and values observed in other cultures as invariable inferior or less natural than those of one’s own group o Ethnocentric individuals value their own culture over others Cultural relativism: understanding a culture on its own terms Cultural imperialism: the idea that some cultures dominate others o Leads to the destruction of the subordinated cultures and their replacement by the culture of those in power Cultural hybridity: refers to cultural mixing through processes like o Borrowing with modification o Domestication o Indigenization o Customization of practices or objects imported from elsewhere  Body Ritual Among the Nacirema makes what key points about ethnographic practice? o Interpretations made from ethnographic observations are inherently subjective  Ethnography documents the daily lives of people (research) & explores a cultural group o Used in cultural anthropology, sociology, business, psychology and research  Purpose of Ethnography o Unobtrusive (collect information without damaging or impacting the culture). o Make visible lives of those normally not told o Tries to obtain inside view of how a group manages and organizes their time o Strives to understand complex, not easily understood issues  Bronislaw Malinowski o Father of modern anthropology and pioneer of ethnographic methods o He lived with the Trobriand to study them (ethnographic method) o Participant observation, spoke the native language, sought information naturally (no informants), drive inquiry through questions  Today’s Ethnography: holistic and Evolutionary in nature o Characterized by lack of consensus, dissolving conceptual oppositions, analysis of local situations with reference to relevant institutional/political structures  Methodology o Emic: inside and Etic: outside o Key informant: individual of group who closely interacts with ethnographer o Includes observations, sampling, interviewing, questionnaires, folktales, video and audio documentation, documents and taking notes o Advantages: in depth understanding of a culture, gives voice to a culture, influential in creating understanding among outsiders, reveals embedded cultural values that were not obvious to the group o Disadvantages: time consuming, expensive, not able to generalize findings, possibility of researcher changing the natural way a culture behaves  Play is a generalized form of behavioral openness  Openness is the ability to think about, speak about and do different things in the same way or the same thing in different ways  Metacommunication: communication about communication, shifts activities into and out of play

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Consists of: Framing: activities designated as “play” are transformed into play

Reflexivity: activities that permit consideration of alternative realities and suggest that ordinary life can be understood in more than one way  Framing is a cognitive boundary between play and ordinary life  Play frame represents the period when individuals are consciously engaged in play and is arbitrarily marked (by saying “let’s pretend” or a referee whistle)  Art is a form of creative play subject to cultural restrictions on form and content o Artistic rules direct attention to the form of activities or objects o Artistic styles are distinctive patterns of elements (schema) viewed as culturally appropriate to a particular medium  Art can be distinguished as o Art by intention: objects that are made to be art o Art by appropriation: all other objects that “become art” when defined by others  Orthodoxy: myths that are codified & can lead to punishment of those who question them  Rituals are repetitive social practice composed of symbolic activities such as speech and dancing. They are associated with the manipulation of certain objects.  Rite of passage are rituals that move individuals from one position in social structure to another.  Participants position frequently develop an intense comradeship and a feeling of oneness, or communitas  Play and ritual are complementary o Play is based on a premise of a metaphor o Ritual is based on the premise of literalness  Rigidity is more characteristic of the ritual frame than the play frame  Orthopraxy: Correct practice, refers to groups with a highly ritualized daily life  Religion is ideas or practices that postulate a reality beyond that which is immediately available to the senses  Magic is a set of beliefs and practices designed to control the visible, or invisible world for specific purposes  Oracles are invisible forces to which people address questions and whose responses they believe to be truthful  Syncretism is a creative blending of old religious practices with new ones  Revitalization is a deliberate, organized attempt by some members of a society to create a more satisfying culture  Nativistic movements represent attempt to return to “old ways” led by a messiah/ prophet  Myths are symbolic tales of the distant past that concern cosmology and cosmogony, may be connected to belief systems of rituals, and may serve to direct social action and values  Myth is sacred and always associated with religion or ritual, false stories about the past  3 main major modes of exchange discussed by economic anthropologists are: o Reciprocity, redistribution, market exchange  How are goods exchanged? o Commodity exchanges are  Impersonal and typical of the capitalist economy  Goods are exchanged for cash  Exchange partners need to have no further contacts o Gift exchanges are non-capitalist forms of economic exchange that are deeply embedded in social relations and always require a return gift  Reciprocity and redistribution  Reciprocity is the exchange of goods and services of equal value o Generalized: neither time nor value of return gift is specified o Balanced: return gift of equal value expected within a specific time o Negative: goal of exchange is to get something for nothing  Redistribution is a mode of exchange that requires some form of centralized social organization o To receive economic contributions from all members of the group o To redistribute them in such a way as to provide for every group member  Market exchange involves o Trade: the exchange of goods o Money: a multipurpose medium of exchange that assigns value to goods o Market: supply-demand-price mechanism for regulating exchange  Free agency: the freedom of self-contained individuals to pursue their own interests above everything else and to challenge one another for dominance  Diaspora: migrant populations with a shared identity who live in a variety of different locales around the world  Sex refers to the biological differences between males and females  Gender is a culturally shaped role for each sex in a given society  Feminism argues that women and men are equally human, and that women are thus entitled to the same rights and privileges as men  Bechdel test: how many times are 2 female characters talking (not about men)

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Public/private divide: a barrier that law and custom erected between the private domestic life in the family (conceived as the women’s place) and the public (men’s) place Feminist anthropologists noticed there is little mention of women and their lives in ethnographic accounts (because they are conducted by men)

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According to Gill Shephard, for Mombasa Swahili women, a marriage between a poor husband and rich wife is more shocking than a lesbian relationship between poor and rich women  Anthropologists are suspicious of naturalizing discourses, which claim that social categories are unchanging and eternal  Naturalizing discourses represent deliberate representation of particular identities as if they were the result of biology or nature o Says all humans are born with the same & privilege provides the advantages  Class is a ranked group within a hierarchically stratified society whose membership is defined primarily in terms of wealth, occupation and other economic criteria  Class consciousness occurs when members of a class recognize their common interests and develop solidarity  The “American Dream” is the notion that any individual in the US can pursue wealth, power and prestige independent of “Old World” class restrictions  Castes are ranked groups within a hierarchically stratified society that is closed, prohibiting individuals to move from one caste to another  Race is a human population category whose boundaries supposedly correspond to distinct sets of biological attributes  Colorism is a system of social identities negotiated situationally along a continuum of skin colors between white and black  Ethnicity represents a principle of social classification used to create groups based on selected cultural features like language, religion and dress  Ethnic groups are social groups that are distinguished from one another on the basis of ethnicity  Essentialist rhetoric helps stigmatized groups build a positive self-image and unite politically  Strategic essentialism is essential rhetoric used as a conscious political strategy  Human Rights refer to the notion that, by virtue of being human, people everywhere are justly entitles to certain powers, privileges, or material resources  Multiculturalism refers to living permanently in settings surrounded by people with cultural backgrounds different from one’s own  Two main arguments have evolved around relationship between human rights & culture o Human rights are opposed to culture o Right to culture is a key human right  Rights vs Culture arguments assume that humans must follow the sets of ideas and practices of culture within which they are born  Right to culture proponents argue that human rights include the right to one’s own culture  Humanitarianism arose as a mode of governing concerned with every situation characterized by precariousness  Relatedness refers to the socially recognized ties that connect people to one another o Kinship, adoption, marriage, residence, family, sexuality  Kinship refers to forms of relatedness believed to come from shared substance and its transmission o Bodily: blood, genes, mothers milk o Spiritual: soul, spirit, love  Kinship systems focus on ideas about shared substance and its transmission, often thought to take place in the process of sexual reproduction  Cross-cultural comparison shows that kinship is not a direct reflection of biology  Descent refers to principles based on culturally recognized parent-child connections that define the social categories to which people belong o Decent links members of different generations to one another o Bilateral descent (cognatic descent) refers to descent groups formed by people who believe they are related to each other by connections made through their mothers and father equally  Kindred: groups that include relatives from both parent’s families o Unilineal descent: the formation of groups called lineages that trace descent through either the mother or father  Lineages are the consanguineal members of descent groups who believe they can trace their descent from known ancestors  Lineage members recognize a known ancestor o Clans are descent groups formed by members who believe they have a common ancestor, even if they can’t specify the genealogical links  Clans are composed of lineages o A prototypical marriage  Transforms the status of participants  Stipulates the degree of sexual access  Perpetuates social patterns through production or adoption of offspring  Is symbolic and creates relationships between the kin of the partners

 Consanguineal relationships are based on descent  Affinal relationships are created through marriage or affinity Endogamy is marriage within a defined social group Exogamy is marriage outside a defined social group

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Marrying outside a defined social circle Healthy because more diverse gene pool Practiced by the west 4 Major types of residence patterns Neolocal: married couple sets up house in new location Patrilocal: married couple moves with husband’s family Matrilocal: married couple moves with wife’s family Avunculocal: married couple moves with husband’s mother’s brother Polygamy is marriage to multiple spouses Polygyny is a man with more than one wife Polyandry is a woman with more than one husband

Orthodoxy: Generally accepted theory, cannot deviate from approved myths (subject to punishment) Liminality: the ambiguous transitional state in a rite of passage in which the person undergoing the ritual is outside their ordinary social position Taboo: objects or people that may not be touched, believed that the cosmic power in these people/objects will drain and injure the toucher Capitalism: objects are given a market value based on labor and supply & demand Free market: supply and demand market where the prices are determined through unrestricted competition Potlatch: form of redistribution practice by quack group in southwest. Practice of accumulating wealth and then holding a feast to redistribute the wealth Agency refers to the exercise of at least some control of their lives by human beings Biopower: form of power preoccupied with bodies, both the bodies of the citizens and the social body of the state itself (factories control goods and people/workers) Feudalism: a social system in medieval Europe in which people worked for and fought for nobles who gave them protection and land in return Poverty vs. Education: people of lower social class have less access to quality education Epidemic: diseases that spread quickly over a short period of time Endemic: diseases that are always present in a population Syndemic: the combined effects on a population of more than one disease, the effects of which are exacerbated by poor nutrition, social instability, violence, or other stressful environmental factors Biocultural Adaptation: human cultural practices influenced by natural selection on genes that affect human health Subjectivity: the felt interior experience of the person that included his or her positons in a field of relational power Structural Violence: violence that results from the way that political and economic forces structure risk for various forms of suffering within a population Ethno-medicine: alternative medical systems based on practices of local sociocultural groups Medical Pluralism: the coexistence of ethno-medical systems alongside cosmopolitan medicine Kula Ring – Malinowski and Anette Weiner: one item goes clockwise and one item is passed around counterclockwise. Malinowski studies them in male perspective (they controlled society and this exchange) and Annette studied the female perspective and she saw women controlled wealth there. Example of gift economy, the items get prestige from being passed around. Ongka’s Big Moka: A big man (Ongka) is gathering a large gift of pigs to gift (example of redistribution) Berdache: third gender in Native American culture, men behave as women Habitus: parts of culture that are absorbed in the course of daily practical learning 3 stages of rites of passages: Separation, transition and re-aggregation Play offers different ways of thinking about everyday life, it is said to be reflexive Revitalization: A conscious, deliberate, and organized attempt by some members of a society to create a more satisfying culture in a time of crisis Critically thinking about the way one thinks is called Reflexivity The anthropologists who argues that myths serve as “charter” or “justification” for present day social arrangements was Malinowski Relations of productions refers to the social relations linking the people who use a given means of production within a particular mode of production Capitalism: economic system dominated by the supply-demand-price market Means of production: tools, skills, organization and knowledge used to extract energy from nature Market exchange: exchange of goods calculated in terms of multipurpose medium of exchange & standard of value carried out by a supply-demand-price mechanism Anthropologists are suspicious of naturalizing discourses because  They direct attention away from current social inequalities, insisting that these inequalities are deeply rooted and changing them would be impossible  They ignore historical evidence showing how present-day arrangements contrast with earlier social arrangements

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They ignore variation in social arrangements in other present-day societies, which show the social life may be organized differently Topic of interest to political anthropologists  The classification, evolution, structure, and function of political systems. The modernization of formerly tribal societies...