Introduction to Anthropology

Anthropological Basics

• Anthropology studies humankind by looking at the interconnection between culture, linguistics, archaeology, and biological anthropology.

Four-Field Approach

• Archaeology investigates material human objects left behind, such as tools, jewelry, homes, money, food, and trash, to understand how people lived and died.
• Biological anthropology studies the biology of humans, extinct ancestors (ancient hominins), and primates, focusing on evolution.
• Linguistic anthropology examines how language reflects and shapes culture and cognition, including documenting indigenous languages and exploring the social effects of bilingualism.
• Cultural anthropology studies societies and cultures worldwide, focusing on topics like food, fashion, sports, and how people make meaning of the world.

Armchair vs. Veranda Anthropology

• Armchair anthropology involves reading other people's accounts of their travels and commenting on cultural systems without direct fieldwork.
• Veranda anthropology involves going to where populations are to study them.

Key Concepts

• Culture is defined as the learned, shared patterns of behavior, beliefs, values, customs, and practices that characterize a group or society.
• Holism suggests that all aspects of a culture are interconnected and must be understood as a whole.
• Ethnocentrism involves the belief that one’s own culture is superior.
• Cultural relativism emphasizes understanding cultures based on their internal logic, championed by Franz Boas.
• Ethnocentrism evaluates other cultures according to one's own norms, while cultural relativism appreciates cultures based on their own values.
• Reflexivity is when researchers critically examine their own role, biases, and perspectives during the research process.

Theorists and Theories

• Cultural evolutionism posits that cultures progress through predictable stages of development, moving from simple to complex societies; pioneered by Lewis Henry Morgan and Edward Burnett Tylor, but has faced criticisms.
• Unilinear development suggests all societies follow the same path of cultural evolution.
• Historical particularism emphasizes that each culture has a unique past and must be understood on its own terms, supported by Franz Boas and Margaret Mead.
• Cultural relativism and diffusion are the concepts within particularism.
• Structural functionalism, supported by Radcliffe-Brown, focuses on social structure and how institutions maintain society through cybernetic feed.
• Postmodernism challenges absolute truth and objective reality, arguing that researchers' biases shape interpretations.
• Edward Said’s work on orientalism highlights the connection between knowledge and power, urging anthropologists to examine the colonial contexts of their research.

Methods

• Ethnography involves the scientific description of the customs of individual peoples and cultures.
• Participant observation is a research methodology where the researcher is immersed in the day-to-day activities of the participants.
• Bronislaw Malinowski could be credited for pioneering this method.
• Four key components of anthropological fieldwork are reflexivity, data collection, ethnographic interviews, and participant observation.
• The emic perspective seeks to understand culture from within, while the etic perspective analyzes it externally.
• Key anthropological methods include interviews, participant observation, archival/document research, and surveys/questionnaires.
• Field notes are detailed, written records that anthropologists create during or after their fieldwork.

Subsistence Strategies

• Foraging is the practice of hunting, fishing, and gathering wild plants and animals for food, rather than relying on domesticated species or agriculture.

The Ju/’hoansi (Peters-Golden, chp 6)

• The Ju/’hoansi have an egalitarian society with shared resources and decision-making by consensus.
• Religion involves shaman-led rituals and trance dances to connect with spiritual beings and maintain community health.
• Traditional foraging has declined as agriculture and livestock have been introduced, impacting their lifestyle.

The Mbuti (Haines 2005, 33)

• In Mbuti society, men hunt and women gather and manage the home, with shared tasks.
• The Mbuti view the forest as sacred, connected to their identity.
• The Molimo, a trumpet-like instrument, represents the voice of the forest.

The Yolngu (Haines 2005, 35)

• The Yolngu find meaning through their deep connection to the land, sea, and spirit world.
• Dreaming represents the world as it originally was, helps them find purpose, and connects them to spiritual forces in the land and sea.
• Birrinydij symbolizes both the Yolngu and Sulawesi traders.
• The Yolngu traded with Sulawesi fleets.

Pastoralism

• Pastoralism involves people relying on the domestication and herding of animals for food, clothing, and other resources.

The Nuer (Haines 2005, 72)

• Cattle are used for their full range of possibilities: milk, blood, meat, hides, hair, bones, and tools.
• Cattle are used for currency in social arrangements.
• The yearly round is largely determined by the availability of water for cattle.
• During the rainy season, the Nuer move to higher ground to avoid flooding and plant crops, placing their cattle in pens.
• During the dry season, the Nuer break into smaller groups to graze, eventually forming larger groups around water sources.
• At the root of their system is a patrilineal kinship system.
• They are known as a “headless government” without any formal leaders.

The Sarakatsani (Haines 2005, 74)

• Men and women live separate lives.
• Negotiating and exchanging different families’ herds through hostile territory is a man’s job.
• There is a high degree of separation and inequality among men and women.
• Men are linked to sheep, and women to goats.
• Sheep are seen as pure and of God, while goats are impure.

Horticulture

• A horticulturist is someone involved in the practice of small-scale gardens, typically for subsistence rather than large-scale agricultural operations.

The Trobrianders (Haines 2005, 47)

• The Trobrianders follow a matrilineal kinship system, where lineage and inheritance pass through women.
• Women own gardens and yams, which are inherited from their mothers.
• Yam gardens symbolize wealth and status and play a key role in social relations and gifting.

The Hmong (Haines 2005, 48)

• The Hmong follow a patrilineal kinship system with large clans led by male leaders.
• The Hmong secretly aided the U.S. during the Vietnam War and moved to America for safety.

Foraging / Hunter-Gatherer

• The division of labor includes a slight difference by gender and age, is simple, and features minimal specialty.
• There is a basic level of equality because everyone needs the same skills to survive.
• Kinship organizes society expansively and flexibly.
• They are highly cooperative and resolve conflicts between those in conflict.
• There is a centrality of nature with personal spirituality.
• There is minimal effect on the environment because they don’t deplete resources.
• They are relatively secure with some seasonal difficulties.
• There is minimal conflict with very effective raiders.
• They are highly mobile and don’t commit to the land.

Pastoralism

• Division of labor includes a sharper distinction between age and gender that is not very specialized.
• There is equality between men, access to the same resources, but separate lives between men and women may lead to less equality.
• They are highly cooperative with a large, tightly organized, and often patrilineal kinship.
• Herds are valuable, leading to more conflict with organized leadership for conflict resolution.
• There are ancestral and descent beliefs that are individualistic and can travel across regions.
• Resources are used sparingly which is pretty secure and poses some risk of overgrazing.
• Large herds have a risk of disease and disaster to wipe out the food source.
• They may pose greater risk to others than vice versa.
• Valuable herds/land are at greater risk for conflict.
• They have a broad range of territory used sporadically, and are very mobile and territorial.

Horticulturalist

• Division of labor is more organized based on gender, creating separation; age has some distinction based on seniority, with slightly more specialized roles.
• There is general gender equality in some cases with fair resource distribution, and inequality in other cases based on matrilineal vs patrilineal societies.
• More structured inheritance that is tightly organized is of importance.
• Extensive kinship relations are used for cooperation and coordination.
• Problems are solved individually, and if can't be there are leaders with seniority to intervene.
• Belief of ancestor and land spirits but still individualistic.
• They don’t have a permanent impact.
• They are secure because of crop diversity, and not worried about thef/disease.
• There is a lack of interest from outsiders because of labor needed for gardening.
• They are not very territorial because of soil depletion, and they can move to places that are inhospitable for other reasons.