Cultural Anthropology

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Types of Anthropology

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-Physical/Biological: human evolution, human anatomy, primates, "prehuman"
-Linguistic: socio-cultural context of language
-Archaeology: "digging up what's left behind
-Cultural: how humans live

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Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

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The idea that there is an explicit link between the grammar of a language and the culture of the people who speak that language.

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ethnocentric fallacy

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The idea that our beliefs and behaviors are right and true, whereas those of other peoples are wrong or misguided.

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Clifford Geertz

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-Bali
-Cockfights
-cock:penis:man
-cockfights vs. American football

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Foucault & Political Anatomy

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-"political anatomy produces docile bodies"
-position forces us to "pay attention"
-political anatomy: how power affects the body
-body is a political object

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Paco Underhill

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-retail anthropologist
-Envirosell
-"butt-brush" effect

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Carol Delaney

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-Seed and the Soil
-Turkey
-virginity testing
-different views of conception

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Nancy Scheper-Hughes

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-Death Without Weeping
-Brazil
-rejected idea that you must be detached and objective
-politically-committed anthropology

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Eva Illouz

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-Consuming the Romantic Utopia
-U.S.
-"Acting" in Love

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Beth Conklin

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-Consuming Grief
-Brazil
-people eat the bodies of deceased loved ones
-different views of death and souls

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Tanya Luhrmann

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-Persuasions of the Witch's Craft: Ritual Magic in Contemporary England
-1989

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selective perception

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The tendency of people to see and recognize only those things they expect to see or those that confirm their view of the world.

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secondary elaboration

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A term suggested by E.E. Evans-Pritchard for people's attempts to explain away inconsistencies or contradictions in their beliefs.

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suppressing evidence

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The tendency to reject or ignore evidence that challenges an accepted belief.

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interpretive drift

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The slow, often unacknowledged shift in someone's manner of interpreting events as he or she becomes involved with a particular activity
-Tanya Luhrmann, witchcraft

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ethnocentrism

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The tendency to judge the beliefs and behaviors of other cultures from the perspective of one's own culture.

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relativistic fallacy

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The idea that it is impossible to make moral judgements about the beliefs and behaviors of others.

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biopower

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our modern lives are focused on controlling our body in a certain way

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relativism

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No behavior or belief can be judged to be odd or wrong simply because it is different from our own.

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frames

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Mental structures that shape the way we see the world

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culture

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-system of meanings
-learned/passed on
-shared

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Holiness churches

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-George Hensley
-southern U.S.
-Holy Ghost People (film, 1968)
-snake-handling

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Kwakwaka' wakw

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-Metaphors of Hunger
-Franz Boas, Stanley Walens
-human:death:salmon:eaten:repeat
-hamatsa dance

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Wovoka & The Ghost Dance

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-1889
-James Mooney

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revitalization movements

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-The term suggested by Anthony F.C. Wallace for attempts by a people to construct a more satisfying culture.
-Wovoka & The Ghost Dance
-Ann Lee and the Shakers

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Ann Lee & the Shakers

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-Society formed around ideas of
-celibacy and rejection of sexual intimacy
-equality between men and women
-common ownership of property
-U.S./U.K.
-Charles Nordoff

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anthropological fieldwork

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Firsthand or direct immersion and observation of the people or culture a researcher is trying to understand.

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ethnographic method

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The immersion of investigators in the lives of the people they are trying to understand, and through that, the attainment of some level of understanding of the meanings those people ascribe to their existence.

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participant observation

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The active participation of a researcher or observer in the lives of those being studied.

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key scenarios

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Dominant stories or myths that portray the values and beliefs of a specific society.

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ritual

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A dramatic rendering or social portrayal of meanings shared by a specific body of people in a way that makes them seem correct and proper.

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metaphor

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A figure of speech in which linguistic expressions are taken from one area of experience and applied to another.

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totemism

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The use of a symbol, generally an animal or a plant, as a physical representation for a group, generally a clan.

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cultural text

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A way of thinking about culture as a text of significant symbols-words, gestures, drawings, natural objects-that carries meaning.

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domain of experience

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An area of human experience from which people borrow meaning to apply to other areas.

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key metaphors

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A term coined by Sherry Orther to identify metaphors that dominate the meanings that people in a specific culture attribute to their experience.
-U.S.: Warfare

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symbolic action

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The activities-including ritual, myth, art, dance, and music-that dramatically depict the meanings shared by a specific body of people.

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impartible inheritance

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A form of inheritance in which family property is passed undivided to one heir.

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partible inheritance

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A form of inheritance in which the object is to get something for nothing or to make a profit.

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polyandry

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A form of marriage in which a woman is permitted to have more than one husband.

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polygyny

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A form of marriage in which a man is permitted to have more than one wife.

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polygamy

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A form of marriage in which a person is permitted to have more than one spouse.

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dowry

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The goods and valuables a bride's family supplies to the groom's family of to the couple.

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bridewealth (brideprice)

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The valuables that a groom or his family are expected or obligated to present to the bride's family.

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exogamy

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A rule that requires a person to marry someone outside one's own group.

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clan

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A unilineal descent group whose members claim descent from a common ancestor.

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incest taboo

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A rule that prohibits sexual relations within certain categories of kin, such as brothers or sisters, parents or children, or, in some cases, cousins.

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patrilineage

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A lineage that is formed by tracing descent in the male line.

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extended family

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A family group based on blood relations of three or more generations.

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matrilineage

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A lineage that is formed by tracing descent in the female line.

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brideservice

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The requirement that when a couple marries, the groom must work for a bride's parents for some specified period of time.

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patrilineal kinship

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A system of descent in which persons are related to their kin through the father only.

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matrilineal kinship

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A system of descent in which persons are related to their kin through the mother only.

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nuclear family

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The family group consisting of a father, a mother, and their biological or adopted children.

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bilateral kinship

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A system in which individuals trace their descent through both parents.

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family of procreation

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The family group that consists or a husband, a wife, and their children.

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family of orientation

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The family group that consists of father, mother, self, and siblings.

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identity struggles

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A term coined by F.C. Wallace and Raymond Fogelson to characeterize interaction between the identity a person claims to possess and the identity attributed to that person by others.

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possessions

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Goods that are associated in some personal way with their producer and/or distributor.

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commodities

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Goods that carry little personal meaning.

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principle of reciprocity

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The social principle that giving a gift creates social ties with the person receiving it, who eventually is obliged to reciprocate.

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phallocentrism

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A term coined by Peggy Sanday that refers to the deployment of the penis as a symbol of masculine social power and dominance.

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rites of passage

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The term suggested by Arnold Van Gennep for rituals that mark a person's passage from one identity or status to another

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negative identity

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The attribution of personal characteristics believed to be undesirable.

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positive identity

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The attribution of personal characteristics believed to be desirable.

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identity toolbox

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Features of a person's identity (gender, age, personal appearance) that he or she chooses to emphasize in constructing a social self.

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sociocentric

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A view of the self that is context-dependent; there is no intrinsic self that can possess enduring qualities.

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egocentric

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A view of the self that defines each person as a replica of all humanity, the laws of motivations and drives, capable of acting independently from others.

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holistic

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A view of the self in which the individual cannot be conceived of as existing separately from society or apart from his or her status or role.

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individualistic

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A view of the self in which the individual is primarily responsible for his or her own actions.

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social identities

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Views that people have of their own and others' positions in society. Individuals seek confirmation from others that they occupy the positions on the social landscape that they claim to occupy.