Anthropology Mid Term

Front 1

Define Culture

Back 1

is a complex system that is learned (rather than genetically inherited) and acquired from birth as a member of society. All parts function as an integrated whole.

Front 2

Defined Culture Shock

Back 2

the feeling of anxiety and disorientation that develops in an unfamiliar situation when there is confusion about to behave or what to expect.

Front 3

Define Enculuturation

Back 3

much, if not most, of cultural knowledge is acquired without conscious effort. How one becomes an “insider”. One learns through observation of the culture.

Front 4

Define Acculturation

Back 4

people travel to another country & seek to be assimilated. This can be voluntary or involuntary.

Front 5

Define Cultural Relativism

Back 5

– stipulates that behavior in a particular culture should not be judged by the standards of another. Yet is is evident that not all human customs or institutions contribute to the society’s overall health and well-being, nor should they be regarded as morally or ethically worthy of respect.

Front 6

Define Fieldwork

Back 6

– refers to firsthand experience with the people being studied. It involves integration and knowledge of the local language and customs while maintaining the role of the observer.

Front 7

Define Participant Observation

Back 7

places the ethnographer at the scene where a combination of direct observation and interviewing provides the evidence from which ethnographic accounts are constructed.

Front 8

Define Pluralism

Back 8

a social organization in which diversity of racial or religious or ethnic or cultural groups is tolerated

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Define Subculture

Back 9

within a society, groups that function collectively but removed from the larger culture maintaining their own set of distinctive standards. Examples include Amish, nuns/priests, Goths

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Ethnic Group

Back 10

people of the same race or nationality that share a distinctive culture

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Scapulmancy

Back 11

a spiritual ritual used to communicate with spirits. A porcupine or caribou scapula (shoulder blade) is held in the stove fire until it is charred & cracked. It is then studied by the shaman to determine possible location of game & future hunting success.

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Emic

Back 12

– describes culture from the participants’ viewpoint. Emic descriptions may describe what is culturally meaningful, rather than what is culturally significant.

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Etic

Back 13

describes culture from an observer’s perspective (ex. An anthropologist) who uses his/her won meaningful concepts & distinctions

Front 14

Enculturation

Back 14

much, if not most, of cultural knowledge is acquired without conscious effort. How one becomes an “insider”. One learns through observation of the culture. Processes are shaped by socially-mediated gender roles, ethnicity, socio-economic class as well as geographic & temporal contexts.

Front 15

Acculturation

Back 15

people travel to another country & seek to be assimilated. This can be voluntary or involuntary.

Front 16

Diffusion

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occurs when contact between cultures leads to borrowing of cultural traits & innovation. Ex – Americans eat sushi, Japanese play basketball, etc.

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Fieldwork

Back 17

refers to firsthand experience with the people being studied. It involves integration and knowledge of the local language and customs while maintaining the role of the observer. Aim is to obtain knowledge of both the mental & behavioral aspects of culture. Process & analyze behavior.

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Ethnography

Back 18

the branch of anthropology that provides scientific description of individual human societies

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Simultaneous Development

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development of inventions & innovations that occur at the same time but independent of each other, usually separated geographically.

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Universal Pattern

Back 20

No one thing is a universal trait but the systematic study can be. Start with a blank template then look into broad pre-defined topics such as ecosystems, gender roles, art, and division of labor

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Subsistence Economy

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Organized to meet basic needs such as food, clothing, housing, defense, and technology

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Infrastructure

Back 22

foundational to social organization. Consists of the technologies, productive & reproductive activities that are directly related to provision of food, shelter, maintenance of health, sexual satisfaction & other basic needs & drives

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Mode of Production

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used to expand or limit basic subsistence (foot + water), work patterns, ecosystems, etc.

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Mode of Reproduction

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practices employed for expanding, limiting & maintaining population sizes, fertility, nurturance of infants, medical controls, contraceptives

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Social Structure

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deals with the organization of reproduction & basic production, exchange & consumption within domestic settings and between groups

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Domestic Economy

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Family structure, enculturation, education, age, gender roles

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Political Economy

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war, law & order, class, caste, urban & rural hierarchies

Front 28

Superstructure

Back 28

perception of self within a society & World around us (ideology) values, beliefs, science, riturals, art/music, advertising

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Marvin Harris

Back 29

Studied cultural materialism

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Cultural Materialism

Back 30

Expansion of Marxist model of levels in culture. Theoretical priority is given to material conditions (infrastructure)in explaining cultural differences and similarities.

Front 31

Margaret Mead

Back 31

Student of Boas. Studied culture & personality theory

Front 32

Culture & Personality theory

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Demonstrates the relationships among early childhood experiences in creating a common cultural personality.

Front 33

Franz Boas

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"Father of Anthropology" - moved to a formal discipline in US. Studied historical particularism and eugenics

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Salvage ethnography

Back 34

going into an area to collect as much information as quickly as possible in a dying culture.

Front 35

Intensification

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Increase in labor output to produce greater yields w/o expanding the amount of land used (longer hours, working faster, more staff)

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Carrying Capacity

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upper limit of production & population in a given environment under a given technology that exists w/o degrading the resource base

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Point of Diminishing Return

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the point at which the amount of food produced per unit of effort begins to fall

Front 38

Law of the minimum

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population will be limited by critical resources - Liebig's law - A population must adapt to minimum availability of any one essential resource, rather than by the abundance of other essential resources.

Front 39

Hunters & Gatherers

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rare today, mobile in search of food & water, subsistence strategies are gender specific, temporary shelthers, band-organized ( avg - 31 kids & adults)

Front 40

Horticulturalists

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small communities, production for subsistence, animal domestification, use of fertilizer to replenish soil.

Front 41

Transhumanance

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form of pastoralism organized around the seasonal migration of livestock between mountain pastures in warm seasons and lower altitudes rest of the year

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swidden horticulture/ slash & burn

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requires large stretches of fallow land b/c long periods are necessary for the soil to be replenished. High yield, low-labor, depletes land quickly.

Front 43

Plow agriculture

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tills & aerates land, fertilizes, uses non-human labor which also provides meats & fertilizer. More labor intensive but requires less land b/c it replenishes the soil.

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Irrigation method

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most effective, depends on dams & ditches. Very political over use of resources. Yields more calories per unit of land than any other preindustrial mode of production

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Industrial Agriculture

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Machinery, fertilizers, pesticides/herbicides. Produces most per calorie of input

Front 46

Pastoralists

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raises domesticated animals. Cannot rely on planting or gathering. Basic family unit is small extended family.

Front 47

Nomadic pastoralists

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movement reflects needs of animals as much as their own. Follow established routes over vast distances.

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Egalitarian

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lacks formalized differentiation over basic resources among members

Front 49

Achieved status

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required through talents, efforts, and accomplishments rather than ascription.

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corporate group

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unified entity that holds common property and lives on even though some members die out

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the leopard skin chief

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outsider believed to possess supernatural powers to resolve conflict. In Sudanese pastoralist societies

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Big Man of Melanesia

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a man of prestige and renown, with no formal authority or power. gains status by mobilizing and manipulating wealth - movie made Ongka's Big Moka in 1976

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Malthusian Economic Theory

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predicted that population would eventually exceed capacity & result in catastrophic corrections

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Lactation Amenorrhea

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prolonged lactation requires adequate maternal nutrition - constant breastfeeding. Prohibits production of hormones that cause ovulation

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Amartya Sen

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asserts that it is often the inability of poor populations to obtain food in commoditized economies rather than real food shortages that is responsible for famines.

Front 56

gentrification

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renovation & development of urban spaces. Displaces low income housing w/ upper middle class residence.