Intro To Anthro, Final Exam

Front 1

Define Ecosystem

Back 1

A system, or a functioning whole, composed of both the natural environment and all the organisms livin within it

Front 2

Define Cultural Evolution

Back 2

Cultural change over time
Not to be confused with "Progress"

Front 3

Define Progress

Back 3

In anthropology, a relative concept signifying that a society or country is moving forward to a better, more advanced stage in its cultural development toward greater perfection

Front 4

Define Convergent Evolution

Back 4

In cultural evolution, the development of similar cultural adaptations to similar environmental conditions by different peoples with different ancestral cultures

Front 5

Define Parallel Evolution

Back 5

In cultural evolution, the development of similar cultural adaptations to similar environmental conditions by peoples whose ancestral cultures were already somewhat alike

Front 6

Define Culture Area

Back 6

A geographic region in which a number of societies follow similar patterns of life

Front 7

Define Food Foraging

Back 7

A mod of subsistence involving some combination of hunting, fishing, and gather of wild plant foods

Front 8

Define Carrying Capacity

Back 8

The number of people that the available resources can support at a given level of food-getting techniques

Front 9

Define Neolithic

Back 9

The New Stone Age
Beginning 10,000ya
A prehistoric period in which peoples possessed stone based technologies and demanded on domesticated pants and/or animals for subsistence

Front 10

Define Neolithic Revolution

Back 10

The domestication of plants and animals by peoples with stone-based technologies, beginning about 10,000ya and leading to radical transformations in cultural systems
Sometimes referred to as the Neolithic Transition

Front 11

Define Horticulture

Back 11

The cultivation of crops in food gardens
Carried out with simple hand tools such as digging sticks and hoes

Front 12

Define Slash and Burn Cultivation

Back 12

An extensive form of horticulture in which the natural vegetation is cut
The Slash is then burned and crops are planted among the ashes
Common technique in horticultural societies
Also known as Swidden Farming

Front 13

Define Agriculture

Back 13

Intensive crop cultivation
Employing plows, fertilizers, and/or irrigation

Front 14

Define Pastoralism

Back 14

The breeding and managing of migratory herds of domesticated grazing animals

Front 15

Define Peasant

Back 15

A small scale producer of crops or livestock
Living on land self owned or rented in exchange for labor crops or money
Exploited by more powerful groups in a complex society

Front 16

Define Industrial Society

Back 16

A society in which human labor, hands tools, and animal power are largely replaced by machines
With an economy primarily based on big factories

Front 17

Define Industrial Food Production

Back 17

Large-scale businesses involved in mass food production, processing, and marketing, which primarily rely on labor-saving machines

Front 18

Define Marriage

Back 18

A culturally sanctioned union between two or more people that establishes certain rights and obligations between the people, between them and their children, and between them and their in-laws
Such marriage rights and obligations most often include, but are not limited to, sex, labor, property, childbearing, exchange, and status

Front 19

Define Consanguineal Kin

Back 19

Biologically related relatives
Commonly referred to as "blood relatives"

Front 20

Define Affinal kin

Back 20

People related through marriage

Front 21

Define Incest Taboo

Back 21

The Prohibition of sexual relations between closely related individuals

Front 22

Define Endogamy

Back 22

Marriage within a particular group or category of individuals

Front 23

Define Exogamy

Back 23

Marriage outside a particular group or category of individuals

Front 24

Define Monogamy

Back 24

A marriage form in which both partners have just one spouse
Most common form of marriage worldwide

Front 25

Define Serial Monogamy

Back 25

A marriage form in which a man or a woman marries or lives with a series of partners in succession
Common where divorce rates are high

Front 26

Define Polygamy

Back 26

A marriage form in which one individual has multiple spouses at the same time
Includes Polygyny and Polyandry
Monogamy is often more prevalent in societies that accept or encourage polygamy for economic reasons

Front 27

Define Polygyny

Back 27

A marriage form in which a man is married to two or more women at the same time; a form of ploygamy

Front 28

Define Polyandry

Back 28

A marriage form in which a woman is married to two or more men at one time; a form of polygamy

Front 29

Define Group Marriage

Back 29

A marriage form in which several men and women have sexual access to one another
Also called "co-marriage"

Front 30

Define Fictive Marriage

Back 30

A marriage form in which a proxy is used as a symbol of someone not physically present to establish the social status of a spouse and heirs

Front 31

Define Parallel Cousin

Back 31

The child of a father's brother or a mother's sister

Front 32

Define Cross Cousin

Back 32

The child of a mother's brother or a father's sister

Front 33

Define Bridewealth

Back 33

The money or valuable goods paid by the groom or his family to the bride's family upon marriage
Also called a "bride-price"
Usually occurs in patrilineal societies, bride will become member of husband's household

Front 34

Define Bride Service

Back 34

A designated period of time when the groom works for the bride's family

Front 35

Define Dowry

Back 35

A payment at the time of a woman's marriage that comes from her inheritance
Made to either her or her husband

Front 36

Define Family

Back 36

Two or more people related by blood, marriage, or adoption
Can take many forms

Front 37

Define Household

Back 37

A domestic unit of one or more persons living in one residence
Other than family members, a household may include non relatives, such as servants

Front 38

Define Conjugal Family

Back 38

A family established through marriage

Front 39

Define Consanguineal Family

Back 39

A family of blood relatives
Consisting of related women, their brothers, and the woman's offspring

Front 40

Define Nuclear Family

Back 40

A group consisting of one or two parents and dependent offspring
May include a stepparent, step siblings, and adopted children

Front 41

Define Extended Family

Back 41

Two or more closely related nuclear families clustered together in a large domestic group

Front 42

Define Patrilocal Residence

Back 42

A residence pattern in which a married couple lives in the husband's father's place of residence

Front 43

Define Matrilocal residence

Back 43

A residence pattern in which a married couple lives in the wife's mother's place of residence

Front 44

Define Neolocal Residence

Back 44

A residence pattern in which a married couple establishes its household in a location apart from either the husband's or the wife's relatives

Front 45

Define Ambilocal Residence

Back 45

A residence pattern in which a married couple may choose either matrilocal or patrilocal residence

Front 46

Define Kinship

Back 46

A network of relatives into which individuals are born and married and with whom they cooperated based on customarily prescribed rights and obligations

Front 47

Define Descent Group

Back 47

Any kin-group whose members share a direct line of descent from a real (historical) or fictional common ancestor

Front 48

Define Unilineal Descent

Back 48

Descent traced exclusively through either the male or female line of ancestry to establish group membership

Front 49

Define Matrilineal Descent

Back 49

Descent traced exclusively through the female line of ancestry to establish group membership

Front 50

Define Patrilineal Descent

Back 50

Descent traced exclusively through the male line of ancestry to establish group membership

Front 51

Define Lineage

Back 51

A Unilineal kin-group descended from a common ancestor or founder who lived four to six generations ago and in which relationships among members can be exactly stated in genealogical terms

Front 52

Define Clan

Back 52

An extended unilineal kin-group whose members claim decent from a remote ancestor, usually legendary or mythological
Often consisting of several lineages

Front 53

Define Bilateral Descent

Back 53

Descent traced equally through father and mother's ancestors
Associating each individual with blood relatives on both sides of the family

Front 54

Define Fission

Back 54

In kinship studies, the splitting of a decent group into two or more new decent groups

Front 55

Define Totemism

Back 55

The belief that people are related to particular animals, plants, or natural objects by virtue of descent from common ancestor spirits

Front 56

Define Phratry

Back 56

A unilineal descent group composed of at least two clans that supposedly share a common ancestry, whether or not they really do

Front 57

Define Moiety

Back 57

Each group, usually consisting of several clans, that results from a division of a society into two halves on the basis of descent

Front 58

Define Kindred

Back 58

A grouping of blood relatives based on bilateral decent
Includes all relatives with whom EGO shares at least one grandparent, great-grandparent, or event great-great-grandparent, on his or her father's AND mother's side

Front 59

Define EGO

Back 59

In kinship studies, the central person from whom the degree of each kinship is traced

Front 60

Define Eskimo System

Back 60

Kinship reckoning in which the nuclear family is emphasized by specifically identifying the mother, father, brother, and sister while lumping together all other relatives into broad categories such as uncle, aunt, and cousin
Also known as the "Lineal System"

Front 61

Define Iroquois System

Back 61

Kinship reckoning in which a father and father's brother are referred to by a single term, as are a mother and mother's sister
But a father's sister and a mother's brother are given separate terms
Parallel cousins are classified separately but not equated with relatives of some other generation

Front 62

Define Hawaiian system

Back 62

Kinship reckoning in which all relatives of the same sex and generation are referred to by the same term
Also known as the "Generational system"

Front 63

Define Worldview

Back 63

The collective body of ideas that members of a culture generally share concerning the ultimate shape and substance of their reality

Front 64

Define Religion

Back 64

An Organized system of ideas about the spiritual sphere or the supernatural, along with associated cerimonial practices by which people try to interpret and/or influence aspects of the univers otherwise beyond their control

Front 65

Define Spirituality

Back 65

Concern with the sacred, as distinguished from material matters
In contrast to religion, it is often individual rather than collective and does not require a distinctive format or traditional organization

Front 66

Define Myth

Back 66

A sacred narrative that explains the fundamentals of human existence
Where we and everything in our world came from, why we are here, and where we are going

Front 67

Define Monotheism

Back 67

The belief in only one supremely powerful divinity as creator and master of the universe

Front 68

Define Polytheism

Back 68

The belief in multiple gods and/or goddesses
A contrast to Monotheism

Front 69

Define Pantheon

Back 69

All the gods and goddesses of a people

Front 70

Define Animism

Back 70

The belief that nature is enlivened or energized by distinct personalized spirit beings separable from bodies

Front 71

Define Animatism

Back 71

The belief that nature is enlivened or energized by an impersonal spiritual force or supernatural energy
May make itself manifest in any special place, thing, or living creature

Front 72

Define Priest of Priestess

Back 72

A full-time religious specialist formally recognized for his or her role in guiding the religious practices of others and for contacting and influencing supernatural powers

Front 73

Define Spiritual Lineage

Back 73

A principle of leadership in which divine authority is passed down from a spiritual founding figure, such as a prophet or saint, to a chain of successors

Front 74

Define Shaman

Back 74

A person who at will enters an altered state of consciousness to contact and utilize an ordinarily hidden reality in order to acquire knowledge, power, and to help others
Term widely applied to a variety of part-time spiritual leaders in many cultures

Front 75

Define Ritual

Back 75

A culturally prescribed symbolic act or procedure designed to guide members of a community in an orderly way through personal and collective transitions

Front 76

Define Taboo

Back 76

Culturally prescribed avoidances involved ritual prohibitions which, if not observed, lead to supernatural punishment

Front 77

Describe the Shamanic Complex

Back 77

Shamanic healing can only take place within a "magic field" created when the shaman and patient, as well as their community, are all convinced the shaman is a genuine healing master using appropriate techniques that are effective and beneficial

Front 78

Define Rite of Purification

Back 78

A symbolic act carried out by an individual or a group to establish or restore purity when someone has violated a taboo or is otherwise unclean

Front 79

Define Rite of Passage

Back 79

A ritual that marks an important ceremonial movement when members of a society move from one distinctive social stage in life to another, such as birth, marriage, and death,
Features three phases: separation, transition, and incorporation

Front 80

Define Rite of Intensification

Back 80

A ritual that takes place during a crisis in the life of the group and serves to bind individuals together

Front 81

Define Magic

Back 81

Specific formulas and actions used to compel supernatural powers to act in certain ways fro good or evil purposes
Includes forms such as Imitative magic, Contagious magic, Divination, and Witchcraft

Front 82

Define Imitative Magic

Back 82

Magic based on the principle that like produces like
Sometimes called "Sympathetic Magic"

Front 83

Define Contagious Magic

Back 83

Magic based ont the principle that things or persons once in contact can influence each other after the contact is brocken

Front 84

Define Divination

Back 84

A magical procedure or spiritual ritual designed to discern what is not knowable by ordinary means
Such as foretelling the future by interpreting omens

Front 85

Define Witchcraft

Back 85

Magic rituals intended to cause misfortune or inflict harm

Front 86

Define Pilgrimage

Back 86

A devotion in motion
Traveling, often on foot, to a sacred or holy site to reach for enlightenment, prove devotion, and/or experience a miracle

Front 87

Define Desecration

Back 87

Ideologically inspired violation of a sacred site intended to inflict harm, if only symbolically, on people judged to have impure, false, or even evil beliefs and ritual practices

Front 88

Define Revitalization Movements

Back 88

Social movements for radical cultural reform in response to widespread social disruption and collective feelings of great stress and despair

Front 89

Define Syncrtism

Back 89

The creative blending of indigenous and foreign beliefs and practices into new cultural forms

Front 90

Define Secularization

Back 90

A process of cultural change in which a population tends toward a nonreligious worldview, ignoring or rejecting institutionalized spiritual beliefs and rituals

Front 91

Define Art

Back 91

The Creative use of human imagination to aesthetically interpret, express, and engage live, modifying experienced reality in the process

Front 92

Define Performance Art

Back 92

A creatively expressed promotion of ideas by artful means dramatically staged to challenge opinion and/or provode purposeful action

Front 93

Define Visual Art

Back 93

Art created primarily for visual perception, ranging from etchings and painting on various surfaces (including the Human body) to sculptures and weavings made with an array of materials

Front 94

Define Verbal Art

Back 94

Creative word use on display that includes stories, myths, legends, tales, poetry, metaphor, rhyme, chants, drama, can, proverbs, jokes, puns, riddles, and tongue twisters

Front 95

Define Folklore

Back 95

A term coined by 19th-century scholars studying the unwritten stories and other artistic traditions of rural peoples to distinguish between "fold art" and the "fine aret" of the literate elite

Front 96

Define Legend

Back 96

A story about a memorable event or figure handed down by tradition and told as true but without historical evidence

Front 97

Define Epic

Back 97

A long, dramatic narrative, recounting the celebrated deeds of a historic or legendary hero, often sung or recited in poetic language

Front 98

Define Tale

Back 98

A creative narrative that is recognized as fiction for entertainment but may also draw a moral or teach a practical lesson

Front 99

Define Motif

Back 99

A story situation in a tale

Front 100

Define Ethnomusicology

Back 100

The study of society's music in terms of its cultural setting

Front 101

Define Music

Back 101

Broadly speaking, an art form whose medium is sound and silence
A form of communication that includes a nonverbal auditory component with elements of tonality, pitch, rhythm, and timbre

Front 102

Short Answer: Discuss the various forms of marriage relationships in culture, including monogamy, polygyny, group marriage, and fictive marriage

Back 102

Often based upon economic factors, what gender tend to provide the means of sustenance
Used to regulate sex and reproduction, inheritance, and property
Different forms of marriage distinct in terms of the number and gender of spouses invovled
Also, definitions of each of these (other cards)

Front 103

Short Answer: Explain the relationship between marriage and economic exchange that may accompany marriage in some cultures

Back 103

Marriage often formalized into an economic exchange
Moving of individuals from one household to another changes the economic production of both, often leading to traditions of compensation (ie dowry, bride service and bridewealth)

Front 104

Short Answer: Why do some cultures have shamans as opposed to priests?
How does one become a shaman?
How can the widespread occurrence of shamanism be explained?
What role(s) do shamans play in society and how do they perform the tasks that they do?

Back 104

Many societies do not have the resources necessary to support full-time religious professionals (ie preists)
One may become a shaman through training and experience, often including psychological and emotional ordeals
The practice of part-time religious figures (ie shamanism) has existed far longer than full-time ones
Shamans perform a variety of tasks, including spiritual healing, divination, and other forms of magic, often by entering a trance

Front 105

Short Answer: Describe the role of religion in culture stability and culture change
Use current examples to show how religion can be a force for conservatism as well as for change

Back 105

Religion can be used as both a tool for change, such as in syncretic religion where differing ideas are brought together, as well as against it, such as when religious fervor grows in response to outside forces

Front 106

Short Answer: Explain why anthropologists are interested in art and how that interest has contributed to the understanding of cultures.
Give two specific examples to illustrate your points

Back 106

Anthropologist can find through art the collective ideas, perceptions, values, and beliefs of a culture or society. Comparing art of different cultures can show us both the differences and similarities different peoples have.
example 1: christian art often shares certain religious iconography, such as the painted depictions of sacred events from Europe and those of Latin America. the comparison also shows aspects of the native american cultures upon the Christian religion that was brought across the atlantic
Example 2: The tale of "father, son, and donkey" is one that imparts certain lessons upon the listener, granting them insight on what traits are desirable (confidence in the face of arbitrary criticism)

Front 107

Short Answer: How does the vision of an artist in western culture differ from the concept of artist in many non-western societies?

Back 107

The merits of western are are generally conceived based upon the originality of the artists' work
Much non-western art is seen as a medium for messages about the community and its shared symbolism, such as kinship

Front 108

Short Answer: Explain the differences between horticultural societies and those which use agriculture to sustain their society

Back 108

Horticultural societies: small-scale, not labor-intensive, tend not to use extensive irrigation or fertilization, used for sustenance means rather than emphasizing the production of surplus, tends to be more ecologically sound, tendency toward egalitarianism
Agricultural societies: often large-scale and labor-intensive, tend to irrigate and fertilize, produces surplus to sustain non-agricultural specialists, tend to be highly stratified

Front 109

Short Answer: Critique the Western notion of "progress" from an anthropological viewpoint

Back 109

Western society tends to view cultural evolution as a progression towards a superior society. this often became a Eurocentric viewpoint, with the west as the most "advanced" culture
However, the so-called progress does not always actually benefit society. the development of agriculture for example lowered the quality of life for many, not to mention facilitating the stratification of society. It is not possible to academically compare cultures with one being "better" than the other

Front 110

Define and contrast moiety, phratry, clan and lineage

Back 110

A Moiety can be divided into Phratries, which are divided into clans, which are divided into lineages
Lineages and Clans often associate themselves around a ancestor which they all claim to be descended from, whether or not this individual is historical
Phratry and Moiety groups also claim common ancestry, although they usually cannot specify a particular ancestor whom they all share

Front 111

A culture's decent system is closely tied to the related society's economic base. Explain why this is so

Back 111

The sex by which a gender dictates descent from is usually tied to the form of sustenance the culture participates in. with unilateral decent arising when one gender has a more vital sustenance role than the other
Matrilineal systems are found in societies where women perform vital roles, such as in horticulture
Patrilineal systems are found in societies where men perform the vital roles, such as in labor intensive agriculture.
Bilateral decent arrises when the labors to attain sustenance are evenly distributed between genders

Front 112

Contrast the matrilineal decent system with the paternal

Back 112

Matrilineal decent: common where women control the primary means of sustenance. women control business decisions of the households ,though men often still hold political authority, and share control of resources with their brothers
Patrilineal decent: Found in societies where men are responsible for the primary means of sustenance. men control the household and hold decision making power

Front 113

From "Peasant Protest, Rebellion and Resistance": how did the green revolution erode traditional ties of dependence between those with more land and those who were landless?

Back 113

Thanks to new forms of agricultural production, the rich landowners no longer needed to rely upon the poor as a source of labor. This removed the incentive of the rich to provide charity to the lower class, including the zakat and hosting feasts

Front 114

From "Peasant Protest, Rebellion and Resistance": "when most Kikuya refused to accept British directive on the control of land and agricultural activities, they were evicted and sent back to the reserves." What were the resserves?
Why were they another flash point for the revolt?

Back 114

The reserves were designated areas that the native Africans were forced to live. These reserves became incredibly overcrowded and those who lived there suffered under abominable conditions, provoking much negative sentiment towards the whites

Front 115

What is NAFTA and what did it mean for small peasant farmers?
What are ejidos?
What provision did the Constitution of 1917 re-establish?

Back 115

The North American Free Trade Agreement reduced tariffs and other obstacles to international trade on the continent. This threatened the livelihoods of many peasant farmers, who would now compete with cheeper crops from the US as well as rancher encroaching on their land
The 1917 constitution of Mexico had a provision of land reform which allowed peasants to petition the government for land seized during the revolution. This system provided Ejidos, communally owned plots of land, to post-revolution Mexico. The rights to land the peasants hold in the constitution was threatened by the forces set in motion by NAFTA and thus were a common rallying cry for the revolution.