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120 Cards in this Set

  • Front
  • Back
What is anthropology?
the study of human beings, and all their biological and cultural experiences, both past and present
List the elements of the Great Chain of Being
the world is only a few thousand years old, its fundamental design has always existed as God created it, and it has change little since creation
What is catastrophism?
the earth had change through major catatrophies set in motion by god.
Who thought of Uniformitarianism?
Charles Lyell
What is uniformitarianism?
theory that Earth's physical features change through steady, gradual processes
What was Lyell's most important theory about geological change?
It is nondirectional and nonprogressive even though it is continuous
List 2 names for Darwin's Theory
The theory of evolution, or biological change
Why do all living things change over time?
changes in the environment wield a pressure on all living things to change so they may surivive. (be able to reproduce)
What are the two keys to nautral selection?
variability and reproduction
What is the importance of variability in natural selection?
the variation between members in a population must already exist for evolution to occur. It can only work with variation that already exists
What percent of spieces ever to live on the planet are now extinct?
98% to 99%
What is the central question in evolutionary theory?
How does evolution work?
What are the other two names for social evolution?
evolutionism or unlineal evolution
What is the relationship of evolution to "progress"?
biological evolution reacts with changes in the enviornment to allow survival it has not link to progress (becoming better or more perfect) only the will to survive
what is social evolution?
the theory that all human ways of life passed though similar sequences or stage of development (obsolete)
Who coined the term "survival of the fittest"?
Herbert Spencer, social philosopher
What is social Darwinism?
a form of social evolution holding that so-called savages were not just technologically or materially inferior but also mentally and bioligically inferior as well
What did scientists believed could be determined by "race" in the age of social Darwinism?
biology, behavior, mental capacity, and individual ability
What is eugenics?
selective breeding of the "fittest people" and weeding out of "unfit people" the eugenics movement also included the sterilization of many "inferior" races across the U.S. and elsewhere
Who was the founder of modern Anthropology?
Franz Boas (20th c.)
What is cultural relativity?
the idea that each culture must be understood on its own terms, not on those of outsiders
What grand idea did Boas propose about comparison of cultures?
different environments created different needs which led to people creating to different technologies in response
what is the most important thing to understand about why cultures differ from one another?
every cultures has its own hisotry that is uniquely its own
What is historical particularism?
each society or culture is the outgrowth of its past
What did Boas determine about "race" classification?
it is an arbitrary, human-made creation, and social construction and human beings as a whole have more similarities than differences. We are generally the same on a biological level
List the Linnaean Hierarchy for classificiation of spiecies.
kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, spiecies
What is cultural selection?
the impact of society or culture on biology
How are differences in human behavior passed on?
the mechanism of society and culture (not biology)
What were the negative effects of race classification?
Some examples are slavery, eugenics, and social Darwinism
List three of Boas famous students
Zora Neale Hurston, Ella Deloria, and Margaret Mead
What sets Anthropology apart from other social sciences?
concept of culture, and ethnography
List two possible explanations for group differences
Group behavior is inherited, or group behavior is learned
What is the focus of cultural anthropologists?
the explanation of learned behavior
What is the definition of culture?
the learned and shared knowledge that people use to generate behavior and interpret experience
What is explicit culture?
cultural knowledge that people can talk about
i.e. items, actions, emotional states, ways to talk, and people
What is tactic culture?
cultural knowledge that people lack words for
What is the definition of ethnography?
the process of discovering and describing a particular culture
What is a microculture?
systems of cultural knowledge characteristic of subgroups within larger societies (will share much of what they know with everyone in a greater cultural society,but have a special cultural knowledge that is unique to a subgroup
What is anthropology's contribution to social science?
ethnography
How does one behave in an ethnographic setting?
as student learning of the culture not just about it (detached observer)
What is the difference between an informant and a subject?
subjects are observed, and informants teach the culture
Who can be an informamt?
Anyone with an aquired repertoire of cultural behavior (so really anyone)
What is naive realism?
the belief that people everywhere see the world in the same way
List three things that impede ethnography
naive realism, culture shock, and ethnocentricism
what is ethnocentricism?
the belief that one's culture is best
what is culture shock?
state of anxiety that results for cross-cultural understanding
What affects the quality of ethnographic research and is the result of the actions of the informant?
the role the informant assigns to an ethnographer
What is fieldwork?
the disciplined study of what the world is like to people who ahve learned to see, hear, speak, think, and act in ways that are different.
What three mental aspects of the human experience do ethnographers deal with when studying cultures?
what people do, what people know, and the things people make and use
What is cultural knowledge important?
although it is hidden from view, it is important we all use it constantly to generate behavior and interpret our experience
What is symbolic interactionism?
a theory that seeks to explain human behavior in terms of meanings
What are the three premises of symbol interationism?
1. Human beings act toward things on the basisof the meanings the things have for them
2. the meaning of these things is derived from the social interaction that one have with one's fellows
3. the meanings are handled and modified through and interpretive process used by the person dealing with the things he encounters
What does it mean when we say that Anthropology is a holistic view?
1. Scientific Stance- every aspect of human behavior is potentially releveant to understanding and explanation
2. an ethical postulate-no one way of life is "right" or "natural"
What is the scientific term for blood relatives?
consanguineal kin
what is the scientific term for "in-laws"?
affinal kin
What is the Batak world for "brother-in-law"?
Bayaw
What apporaches do anthpologists use to make sense out of events they observe?
explanation centered approaches, and meaning centered approaches
What did Emile Durkheim believe the purpose of culture was?
it mobilizes people to preserve soical order and continuity (basically brings us together and provides a support system)
What two things are importance to get a a peoples understanding?
language fluency, and rich objective description
What does communication mean in anthropological terms?
the use of arbitrary symbols to impart meaning
What is applied anthropology?
the applicaiton of anthropology to human problems
Why are shared meanings important?
they are necessary for us to understand our world and how to interact in it, and for people to understand us. Its our nonverbal way of human communication and society
What is enculturation?
the passing of cultural knoweldge to children, and the knowledge we gain for our cultures throughout our lives that shape who we are
How do we use cultural knowledge?
we use it to interpret our own and others cultural experiences in every day cultural action, and to shape our own actions
arbitrary
subject to individual experience and interpretation
Does human behavior itself carry meaning?
No, only the meaning we as cultures assign to it
power
the far-reaching process of influence
i.e. the media shaping our views of other cultures and telling us what is beautiful and what to like or not like
enthnology
a branch of anthropology that analyzes cultures, esp. in regard to their historical development and the similarities and dissimilarities between them. (takes a small example and try to use it make a greater generalizaton about the whole)
Symbol
anything we can percieve with out senses that stands for something else
Language
a system of cultural knowledge used to generate and interpret speech
Speech
refers to the behavior that produces vocal sounds
Phonology
consists of the categories and rules for forming voacl sumbols
Phonemes
minimal categories of speech sounds that serve to keep utterances appart
Grammar
categories and rules for combining vocal sounds
morphemes
the categories in any language that carry meaning
semantics
the categories and rules for relating vocal sumbols to their referents
Sociolinguistic rules
combine meaningful utterances with social situtations into appropriate messages
nonlinguistic symbol
almost anything we sense including how we use our eyes, how we dress, the car we own,the number of bathrooms in our house etc.
Sociolinguists
study social context of speech study and the actual performace, including both verbal and non-verbal communication, as these are influenced by gender social class, ethnicity, social setting and the like
Genderlects
how men and women converse differently
comparativism
to search for similarities and differences between and among human beings in all theri biological and cultural complexitites.
Phonetics
the sounds found in a language
Phonemics
the sounds that are recognized and distinguished by a language’s speakers for purposes of meaning (phonemes are the “sounds that matter” in a language)
All sounds are not necessarily phonemes..
Allophones
sound variations in a single phoneme that do not affect meaning
Consider that the phoneme /t/ in English is sounded six different ways, depending on the work (e.g., /t/ is sounded differently in “stick,” “tick,” and “little”)
But….speakers of English always treat the different ways that “t” can be sounded as a single phoneme, /t/, whereas (for example) Hindi speakers divide it into four phonemes (see C&C p. 54)
Tonal or “tone” languages
words that appear to be spelled the same mean different things, depending on the tone with which they are voiced (with the tone being signaled in written language by a mark or “diacritic”)
Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
-the very manner of human thought, as well as what people think about, determined by language
-people forced to see and relate to the world on terms that are built into language itself
Glottochronology
a statistical tool used by comparative linguistics to estimate the date of separation of related languages
Code-switching
being able to change your conversational style based on the people you're speaking to or the situtation you're in. Social chameleonism
Three Properties of Language
Displacement
Arbitrariness (recall “symbols”)
Productivity (“openness”)
Rapport
Relationship, especially one of mutual trust or emotional affinity
Ethnoscience
-helps to understand how people develop with different forms of knowledge and beliefs, and focuses on the ecological and historical contributions people have been given
-Ethnoscience is a new term and study that came into anthropological theory in the 1960's. Often referred to as "indigenous knowledge," Ethnoscience introduces a perspective based on native perceptions. It is based on a complete etic perspective, which excludes all observations, interpretations and or any personal notions belonging to the ethnographer.
Materialist approaches
think that most cultural differences can be explained by the way human populations relate to their natural and social environments
Idealist approaches
think that the ideas and belifes of a culture are fundamental to making it the way that it is.
What did Malinowski believe was the goal of ethnography?
"to grasp the native's point of view, his relation to life,to realize his vision of his world."
On what 3 foundations did Malinowski base ethnography?
1. The organization of the trive and the autonomy of its culture
2.imponderabilia and the type of behavior
3.a collective of ethnographic statements, characteristic narratives,typical utterances, and magical formulae, and items of folklore
Structural functionalism
Explanatory focus on how culture serves the needs of society (by preserving integration, order, and harmony)
e.g., Andamanese “weeping customs” (need = to restore essential social relations broken by prolonged separation)
A. R. Radcliffe-Brown
Andaman Islands (Bay of Bengal, India)
know for views on Structural functionalism
Functionalism
Explanatory focus on how culture serves individual needs and ends
e.g., fishing magic (need = to address the uncertain and relieve anxiety); yam storage bins (end = love of display)
Bronislaw Malinowski
Trobriand Islands (near New Guinea)
known for views on functionalism
Historical particularism
Explanatory focus on detailed descriptions of each culture’s historical origins and eventual uniqueness, as these traits (often introduced from elsewhere) are reworked in each particular cultural setting (note similarity with historical linguistics and with “loan words”)
e.g., artistic traditions (baskets, blankets, totem poles), oral traditions (epic poetry, folklore)
Franz Boas
NW coast Indians (e.g., Kwakuitl; Tlingit)
known for views on historical particularism
Principal field research methods
-Participant observation
-Interviewing
-Collection of genealogies (kin diagrams)
-Life histories
-Key informants/consultants
-Questionnaires and surveys
-Mapping and GIS data
General field methods included:
-Participant observation
-Informal interviewing
-Household census
-Survey of economic assets
What did Malinowski believe description of clutlure should be based on?
direct participation and observation.
What did malinowski believe the function of culture was?
served basic human needs, that were universal to the human condition
What is participant observation?
the systematic approach involving long-term participation, observing, taking field notes, and interviewing the natives of a particular society, community, or group
What are the stages ethnographers tend to experience?
making entree, culture shock, establishing rapport, and understanding the culture
what are key consultants?
some one who informs and regularly consults on the ethnographer's understanding of a particular community's culture.
What is culture shock?
the meeting of two or more systems of meaning in the body, expressed as anxiety, inappropriate behavior, or physical illness
What is establishing rapport?
the development of relationships with members of a society, comunity, or group characterized by mutual trust
what is "understanding the culture"?
process whereby the ethnographer moves from ethnocentricism and culture shock to an appreciation and understanding of the shared and negotiated system of meaning, called culture
What must field notes consist of?
what is seen, felt, heard, tasted, and smelled
Why is conversing with someone in the culture about shared cultural experiences important?
to discover how even through the same activity people have different experiences and views
what is collaborative ethnography?
an approach that systematically engages consultants in the process of both practicing fieldwork and writing ethnography
What are the 2 goals of ethnography?
1.illustrate cultural divesity and the poewr of culture in people's lives
2.to teach us something about ourselves, as individuals, as groups, and as societies
ethnoscience
ethnography that focuses on recording the k nowledge of culutre as articulated through language
what is symbolic anthropology?
the ethnographic study of symbol forms and their negotiation with and between groups
interpretive anthropology
invented by Geertz
form of symbolic anthropology, focused on understanding and studying culture as a form of text, dialogue, and interpretation
experimental ethnography
emphasized experimentation in translating the complexitites of culture through ethnography
An extension of Geertz's interpretive anthropology
cultural critique
the use of anthropological understandings gained though ethnography to critique the practices of one society or culture. Assoicated with Maragared Mead.