Cultural Anthropology-Exam 1

Front 1

Characteristics of Anthropology

Back 1

1) Shared
-Historical Particularism: describing a culture through it's historical & environmental context
-Postmodernism: Culture is constantly changing & based on power/differences between people
2) Learned: not instinctual, is not part of your DNA
3) Symbolic= series of symbols (clothing, body language) that communicate meaning.
-Interpretive Anthropology: observes what the symbols mean. (football game example)

Front 2

Characteristics of Anthropology Cont. . .

Back 2

4) Tacit= we don't always know it's here, arbitrary symbols that we give meaning to; is subconscious- winking
5) Integrative System= complex whole with individual parts working together for the whole
6) Adaptive: People use culture to adapt to an environment
7) is Constantly Changing

Front 3

Holism

Back 3

Studying things in their broadest possible contexts. (5 fields)
1. Anthropology
2. Archeology
3. Linguistics
4. Physical (biological)
5. Applied

Front 4

Comparativism

Back 4

Recognition of differences make you re-evaluate your own culture.

Front 5

Cultural relativism

Back 5

Method= how you learn about other people.
- Using cultural relativism to understand others, setting outside personal biases.
-Understanding how it makes sense to them; outside of right and wrong/personal biases

Front 6

Ethnocentrism

Back 6

judging other cultures from the perspective of one's own culture (based on the idea that their culture is better/superior).

Front 7

Norm vs. Value

Back 7

Norm= what should be done; "
rules"/societally acceptable

Value= what morally should be done

Front 8

Cognitive Anthropology

Back 8

How do people think about things. Ex: rats are categorized differently here than in India; reality is that we categorize things in our lives to prevent from becoming overwhelmed

Front 9

Physical/Biological Anthropology
-human paleontology
-primatology
-forensic

Back 9

studies people from a biological perspective, focusing primarily on genetic traits
-Human paleontology: traces human evolutionary history
-Primatology: focuses on behavior of non-human primates
-Forensic: identification of skelatanized or badly decomposed human remains

Front 10

Archeology

Back 10

focuses on the reconstruction of past cultures based on their material remains

Front 11

Linguistic

Back 11

studies how language influences social life

Front 12

Cultural Anthropology

Back 12

The study of human thought, behavior, and lifeways that are learned rather than genetically transmitted and that are typical of groups of people.

Front 13

Applied Anthropology

Back 13

applying anthropology to solve problems.

Front 14

Ethnography vs. Ethnology

Back 14

Ethnography: major research tool of anthropology; includes fieldwork and written results of such fieldwork

Ethnology: The attempt to find general principles or laws that govern cultural phenomena

Front 15

Emic vs. Etic perspectives

Back 15

Emic: examining societies using concepts, categories, and distinctions that are meaningful to members of that culture

Etic: examining using concepts, categories and rules derived from science; an outsider's perspective.

Front 16

Naive Realism

Back 16

The world is perceived exactly as it is

Front 17

Enculturation

Back 17

learning to be a member of a particular grouup

Front 18

Define: Theory

Back 18

A set of propositions about which aspects of culture are critical, how they should be studied, and what the goal of studying them should be.

Front 19

Historical Particularism

Back 19

Boas; Used to 'sketch out' culture. Tried to observe the common thread of culture. "Geist" spirit/soul of a culture that makes it unique

Front 20

Postmodernism

Back 20

Argue that culture is always changing. It is based on power and differences between people.
Theoretically: all knowlege is suspect (even science)
Ethnographies are essentially autobiographies (all opinion based)
Method:
Multi-vocality: Very open about personal reflections at time of fieldwork. Use long, direct quotes. Recognize power relations.

Front 21

Culture and Personality Theory

Back 21

Psychological anthro. approach. How do you learn? (ie enculturation and socialization.
-argue that childhood experiences form our personalities
-culture affects how we raise our children

Front 22

Cognitive anthropology

Back 22

How do people think about things. Example: rat and mice are seen differently in India than here. Reality is that we categorize things in our lives to prevent from being overwhelmed.

Front 23

Symbolic anthropology

Back 23

analyzing the symbols that are most important to individuals within a culture

Front 24

Functionalism

Back 24

look at how different elements rely on each other to make the culture as a whole work. ie relationships

Front 25

Conflict Theory

Back 25

opposite of functionalism.
Believe culture is a naturally integrated system constantly struggling to keep conformity. (no harmony, always in conflict)

Front 26

Cultural Ecology

Back 26

study how we relate to/adapt fo our culture and the impact it has on the environment

Front 27

What Causes Change?
1) Innovation (primary and Secondary)
2) Diffusion

Problems with these?

Back 27

1) Innovation= new idea
Primary: genuinely new; usually accidental
Secondary: combine other innovations in a new way (clay pots)
** Constant movement between primary and secondary
2) Diffusion: getting new ideas from somewhere else and using it. ex: medicinal plants from indians

*Problems= if a culture is not ready for a new innovation, it won't accept it. It's very hard to change opinion and foreign things are often rejected (ie metric system)

Front 28

Interpretive Anthropology

Back 28

observes what the symbols of culture mean (ie football games)

Front 29

What causes change cont. . .
3) Culture Loss
4) Acculturation

Back 29

Culture Loss: Forgetting/loss of major parts of culture
ex: charriots; the wheel vanished after the 6th century when the Roman empire was no longer to keep up the roads

Acculturation: A culture more dominant than yours takes over and changes you.
ex: taking native americans to
'western' schools

Front 30

Protoculture

Back 30

What chimps have= "almost culture"

Front 31

Symbolic interactionism

Back 31

Spradley; a theory that human interaction and communication is facilitated by words, gestures, and other symbols that have acquired conventionalized meanings.

Front 32

Degenerationalism

Back 32

** Not an anthropological Theory!
-Conflict between the bible and new discovery. based ont he idea that God's people (Ideal) are evolutionarily more advanced

Front 33

Unilineal Evolution

Back 33

Tyler: "we are all evolving in the same direction". Everyone starts out primitively and our culture develops over time. "they're just not as far along as we are"

Front 34

Idealism *Tyler!

Back 34

The most important factor in human beings is how we think. *Tyler

Front 35

Morgan Materialism

Back 35

Most important factor in human beings is objective realities of the physical world. How we interact with the material world (ie make a living)

Front 36

Savagery, Barbarism and Civilization

Back 36

?

Front 37

Morgan

Back 37

Unilinealist (like Tyler) but was a materialist. Felt that technology was what moved you "up" in the evolutionary line

Front 38

Franz Boas Historical particularism and criticism of Morgan's theory

Back 38

Said his theory was ethnocentric and pointed out that Tyler had never actually done fieldwork. Stated you needed trained field observers to focus on individual cultures.

Front 39

Ethnographic Methods

Back 39

1) Contemporary Methods
-Interviewing (structured &unstructured)
-Participant Observation

2) Historical Methods
-Ethnohistory
-Recall Ethnography

Front 40

Comparative Methods

Back 40

1) Cross-cultural comparisons

2) Controlled HIstorical comparisons

Front 41

Participant Observation

Back 41

Emersing yourself into a culture and then observe. The longer you're there, the more natural they will act. ex: Malinowski stuck in tropical islands. came up with the biopsychological functionalism

Front 42

Biopsychological Functionalism
&
Structural Functionalism

Back 42

Biopsychological= observable traits within a culture fit the "needs of the individual"

Structural= society operates as a whole; "Meeds of society

Front 43

What is a function?

Back 43

Something that benefits; aware or unaware

Front 44

Ethnohistory

Back 44

example: Jesuit missionaries; learned native languages

Front 45

Recall Ethnography

Back 45

Find oldest people in society and ask about their culture when they were young. *problem= limited sample, details are questionable b/c of emotions

Front 46

Cross-Cultural Comparison

Back 46

Beatrice Whiting: socery beliefs may take place of legal practice. Example of correlation NOT causation.

Front 47

Feminist Anthropology

Back 47

Recognizes "Adocentric Bias" focusing on men's activities rather than women's. (tend to be more public and easier to access)

Front 48

Native Anthropology

Back 48

-study of one's own society
-must maintain social distance as an outsider

Front 49

Collaborative Ethnography

Back 49

ethnography that gives priority to cultural consultants on the topic, methodologically, and written results of fieldwork

Front 50

Ethical Requirements of fieldwork (Sterk's)

Back 50

1. Obtain consent
2. Protect them from risk
3. Respect their privacy and dignity
4. Do not harm informants or their culture
5. Practice no deception

Front 51

Call system

Back 51

The form of communication among nonhuman primates composed of a limited number of sounds that are tied to specific stimuli in the environment

Front 52

Phoneme

Back 52

Smalles unit of sound that makes a difference (ex. Thy and thigh have a puff of air). Have no individual meaning

Front 53

Morphemes (2 types)

Back 53

Combinatino of Phonemes that conveys a meaning
1) Free Morphemes= can't be broken down any farther and still have meaning (walk, type)
2) Bound Morphemes= must be tied to a free morpheme to make sense (ed, ing, er).

Front 54

AAEV (ebonics)

Back 54

"African American English Vernacular".

Front 55

Pidgin
Creole
Dialect

Back 55

Pidgin= best "standard" language

Creole= a language developed when one overtakes/combines with other cultures (first language)

Dialect= Expands to a greater amount of people

Front 56

Feminist Anthropology

Back 56

Recognizes "Adocentric Bias" focusing on men's activities rather than women's. (tend to be more public and easier to access)

Front 57

Native Anthropology

Back 57

-study of one's own society
-must maintain social distance as an outsider

Front 58

Collaborative Ethnography

Back 58

ethnography that gives priority to cultural consultants on the topic, methodologically, and written results of fieldwork

Front 59

Ethical Requirements of fieldwork (Sterk's)

Back 59

1. Obtain consent
2. Protect them from risk
3. Respect their privacy and dignity
4. Do not harm informants or their culture
5. Practice no deception

Front 60

Call system

Back 60

The form of communication among nonhuman primates composed of a limited number of sounds that are tied to specific stimuli in the environment

Front 61

Universal Grammar

Back 61

a basic set of principles, conditions, and rules that form the foundation of all langauges.

Front 62

Conventionality

Back 62

the notion that words are only arbitrarily connected to the things they mean

Front 63

Productivity

Back 63

idea that humans can combine words and sounds into new, meaningful utterances they have never heard before

Front 64

Displacement

Back 64

the capacity of all human languages to describe things not happening in the present

Front 65

Nonverbal Communication
1. Artifacts
2. Chronemics
3. Proxemics
4. Kinesics

Back 65

Artifacts: communication by visible body modifications (clothes, tattoos)

Chronemics: study how cultures understand time and use it to communcate

Proxemics: studying cultural use of personal space

Kinesics: study of body position, movement and facial expressions.

Front 66

Comparative Linguistics

Back 66

The science of documenting the relationships between languages and grouping them into language families

Front 67

Core Vocabulary

Back 67

a list of 100-200 terms that designate things, actions and activities likely to be named in all the world's languages

Front 68

Glottochronology

Back 68

statistical technique linguists use to estimate the date of separation between related languages