SF&D week 1 - Lecture notes 1 PDF

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Week 1: What is anthropology? Key Terms Anthropology- Study of human nature, society, language and past. Aims to describe what it means to be human. Applied Anthropology-Anthropologists use information gathered from other specialties to solve practical cross cultural problems Archeology-Study of the human past through material remains left behind by earlier societies Biocultural Organisms- Humans defining features are codetermined by biological and cultural factors. Biological Anthropology-Looks at humans as biological organisms and tries to discover what characteristics make them different from other organisms and what characteristics they share Comparison-Studies similarities and differences across as many human societies as possible before generalizing about human beings and their activities. Cultural Anthropology-Shows how variation in beliefs and behaviours of different human groups is shaped by learned behaviours and ideas that humans acquire as members of society, by culture. Culture-Sets of learned behaviour and ideas that human beings acquire as members of society. Ethnography-Written or recorded description of a particular culture Ethnology-The comparative study of 2 or more cultures Evolution-Places observations about human beings in a temporal framework that takes into consideration change over time. Fieldwork-An extended period of close involvement with the people anthropologists are interested. This is when data is collected Gender-The cultural construction of beliefs and behaviours considered appropriate for each sex. Holism-Describes how anthropology tries to integrate all that is known about human beings and their activities. Informants-People in a culture that work with an anthropologist and give them insights about the local ways of life. Language- System of arbitrary vocal symbols used to encode one’s experience of the world and others. Linguistic Anthropology-Specialty concerned with human languages. Material Culture- Objects created or shaped by humans and given meaning through cultural practices Medical Anthropology-Branch of anthropology that concerns itself with human health, factors contributing to disease or illness and the ways human populations deal with disease or illness Paleoanthropology-Study of human fossils and associated remains to understand evolutionary history Primatology-The study of non-human primates Races-Social groupings that allegedly reflect biological differences Racism-The systematic oppression of members of another socially defined race by members of another race justified in terms of supposed biological superiority and inferiority of others.

Sex-Observable physical characteristics that distinguish two kinds of humans females and males needed for reproduction....