ANTHRO 101 - Unit 4 Notes PDF

Chapter 11 Introduction Psychological anthropology: study of the interaction of cultural and mental processes ○ Anthropologists ~ observe people and process of enculturation in many different types of societies R...

Chapter 11 Introduction Psychological anthropology: study of the interaction of cultural and mental processes ○ Anthropologists ~ observe people and process of enculturation in many different types of societies Research findings then used as basis of cross-cultural studies to determine how and why behavior, thoughts, and feelings differ and are similar from society to society Cognitive anthropology: study of cognition and cultural meanings through specific methodologies to elicit underlying unconscious factors that structure human thinning processes Both study development of personality characteristics and individual behaviors in given society and how they are influenced by enculturation 11.1 “Human nature” ~ fundamental concept Neither biological nor cultural influences exist in absolute, pure form Biocultural or interactionist perspective - combines effects of biology and culture to explain human behavior ○ Care about interrelationship between biological and learned factors in any behavior 11.2 Traditional view of humans ~ “animal-like” or “machine-like” ○ Human mind separate from body One hand, distinguish animals scientifically from plants and minerals ○ Places humans in animal category ○ Other hand, animal used in derogatory or pejorative sense Instincts: genetically based innate behaviors that allow them to take advantage of specific conditions in their environment ○ Ex. certain species of birds migrate during winter season ○ Enables birds to find sufficient feeding grounds for survival during winter season Ex. nest-building behavior of certain bird populations ○ Scientists isolated five generations of weaver finches - did not supply them with nest-building materials  ○ Released sixth generation - automatically built nests identical to ancestors Ethologists (scientists who study animal behavior) ~ agree that complex instincts can be classified as: ○ Closed types - fairly stable, even when environmental conditions change ○ Open types - respond more sensitively to changing circumstances “Gut instincts” = “intuitions” Closed instincts - genetically prescribed behaviors that determine behavior Intuitions - internal feelings that tend to motivate individuals in certain directions ○ More like open instincts, involve great deal of learning from environment Matt Ridley ~ instincts predispositions to learn not genetic programmers Cognitive intuitions ~ shaped by experience and learning as well as brain neurological developments while we are young children Drives: biological urges that need satisfaction ○ Ex. hunger, thirst, sex ○ Important for survival - not comparable to closed instincts of nonhuman animals ○ Ways we satisfy drives is learned through experience Closed biogram ~ genetically closed behavioral complex related to their adaptations to specific environment niche Open biogram ~ extremely flexible genetic program shaped by learning experiences ○ Humans have this Capacity for culture has enabled us to modify behavior and to shape and adjust to natural environment ○ Genetically programmed Culture ~ frees us from relying on slow processes of natural selection to adapt to specific environments 11.3 Personality: fairly stable patterns of thought, feeling, and action associated with specific person ○ Includes cognitive, emotional, behavioral components Biology and race most influential determinants of human behavior ○ Ex. Nazi Party ~ some races superior to others Ruth Benedict and Margaret Mead - every culture is characterized by dominant personality type ○ Culture-and-personality theory Benedict ~ ○ Classified Pueblo societies as having Apollonian culture ○ Stressed gentleness, cooperation, harmony, tranquility, peacefulness ○ Characterized Plains societies as Dionysian ○ Involved in warfare, violence, use of drugs, alcohol, fasting, physical self-torture ○ Extended research ~ Kwakiutl - “megalomaniacs” and Dobuans - “paranoid” Mead ~  ○ Focused on fairly isolated, small-scale societies ○ Went to islands of American Samoa to study adolescent development ○ Interviewed sixty-eight Samoan girls (twenty-five of these in depth) in three villages ○ Society emphasized group harmony and cooperation - raised in family units ○ Youngsters did not develop strong emotional ties to any one adult ○ Children learned privately and often secretly about sexuality, adolescents learned freely but had hidden, clandestine premarital sex ○ Children not exposed to conflicting values and differing political and religious beliefs Culture-and-personality school criticized for: ○ Characterizing entire society in terms of one dominant personality ○ Focusing entirely on nonmaterial aspects of culture ○ Perceived tendency to attribute human behavior entirely to cultural factors Freeman challenged Mead’s findings ○ Strong emotional ties did exist ○ She did not interview many of significant chiefs as she was a young woman ○ Of twenty-five females she interviewed half were not past puberty Unchi - inside of house Soto - outside world Intricacies of interrelation between inner self (tatemae or face) and group harmony 11.4 Sigmund Freud ~ viewed human behavior as reflection of innate emotional factors Great deal of emotional life is unconscious; people are unaware of real reasons for feelings Personality made up of ~ ○ Id, ego, superego Id: basic needs of human ○ Unconscious drives fall under here Ego: conscious attempt to balance innate pleasure-seeking drives of human organism with demands and realities of society ○ “Reality part” Superego: presence of culture within individual ○ Based on internalized values and norms ~ create individual’s conscience ○ Develops in response to parental demands, gradually child learns that he or she has to respond to society and culture at large Oedipus complex ~ male children driven by unconscious desire to have an affectionate and sexual relationship with their mother this leads to hostility toward natural father  11.5 Claude Levi-Strauss ~ founded structuralism ○ To investigate thought processes of human mind in universal context; overlaps with psychological anthropology ○ Thinking based on binary oppositions Humans classify natural and social world into polar types (binary oppositions) as stage of reasoning Jean Piaget spent more than half a century studying ways in which children think, perceive, and learn ○ Believed process of thinking and reasoning related to biological process of neural changes that influence brain Four major stages of cognitive development: ○ Sensorimotor ○ Preoperational ○ Concrete-operational ○ Formal-operational As child progresses through these stages, acquire more information and begins to organize and perceive reality in different ways Learning compromises complementary processes of assimilation and accommodation ○ Discusses assimilation as how new knowledge is adjusted to fit into existing schemas without changing very much ○ Accommodations takes place and schemas do change to adjust to new knowledge Existing mental schemas modified by social and cultural environments ○ Were produced and reproduced to form habitus or internalized dispositions that influenced and shaped cognition and behavior Lev Vygotsky followed work and emphasized biological aspects of thinking and cognition ○ Living in Soviet Union, he was influenced by thinkers such as Karl Marx Stages in development of thought and reasoning did not represent sharp distinctions, rather more continuous and shaped by linguistic, social, and cultural contexts Literacy could have important influence on cognition Died as young man - students forbidden to conduct further research ○ Joseph Stalin banned teaching of evolutionary biology In Bloch’s view, people can learn to conceptualize time and space in radically different ways 11.6 Cognitive anthropologists view human mind as dependent on unconscious processes based on implicit, intuitive models, schemas, and networks that guide human perceptions, behavior, and action  ○ Human minds organizes and structures natural and social world in distinctive ways Brent Berlin and Paul Kay ○ Analyzed color-naming practices of informants from ninety-eight globally distributed language groups and found that societies differ dramatically in number of basic colors terms they possess Red is adopted after black and white English, Western European languages, Russian, Japanese ~ gray, pink, orange, purple Indigenous Candoshi people of Upper Amazon in Peru ~ do not have a word for color ○ Describe red color chip ~ means “like ripe fruit” ○ Same chip on the floor ~ means “like blood” Anna Wierzbicka - argues color is not universal concern for people outside of industrial societies Candoshi have color terms for many colors such as black, white, red, green, yellow, and gray Indigenous group, the Tsimane tribe ○ Two basic universal categories for color words: Warm terms ~ red, pink, orange, yellow, and brown - common Cool terms ~ blue and green - more limited Anthropologists concur that psychological basis of color vision is same for all humans (and some primates) with normal color vision People from different societies classify birds in similar ways ○ Had university students with no scientific knowledge classify birds ~ did so with exact criteria used by scientists ○ Also done with insects ~ farmers classified same way as scientists Prototypes: distinctive classifications that help us map and comprehend the world If reality was unorganized and could be perceived in any way ~ color naming and plant classification = completely arbitrary We use schemas to help us understand, organize, and interpret reality ○ More complex than prototypes or taxonomic categories ○ Organized into hierarchies and aid in our adapting to, coping with, cognitive complexities ○ Vary from one culture to another Ex. schemas writing in English and kaku in Japanese ~ some similarities These terms usually translatable between languages Schema writing in English however always entails act of writing in a language Kaku can refer to writing or doodling or drawing a picture Narratives: stories or events that are represented within specific cultures ○ Ex. Little Red Riding Hood easily retained by individual’s memory ~ told over and over again within society  11.7 Evolutionary psychology: attempts to emphasize interaction of nature (biology) and nurture (learning and culture) in understanding and explaining enculturation, human cognition, and human behavior ○ These anthropologists view human mind as designed by evolution to actively adjust to culture and environment Anthropologists influenced by evolutionary psychologists reason that if human body is product of evolutionary forces, then human brain was produced by same forces ○ Mind and culture coevolved Human brain divided into specialized cognitive domains, adaptive mechanisms, or modules Modules ~ independent units that contain various functions that enabled ancestral humans to adapt to Paleolithic conditions ○ Help humans to understand intuitively the workings of nature, including motion, force, and how plants and animals function Just as children learn their language without learning formal grammatical rules ~ humans can perceive, organize, and understand basic biological and physical principles without learning formal scientific views Innate modules help humans interpret and predict other people's behavior and modules that enable them to understand basic emotions Evolutionary psychologists tend to emphasize commonalities and similarities in culture and behavior found among people in different parts of world ○ Do not ignore learning or culture ~ hypothesize that innate modules in the brain make learning and enculturation happen Field of evolutionary psychology is in its infancy and will most likely grow to offer another biocultural or interactionist perspective on human thought and behavior 11.8 Catherine Lutz ~ book suggested that many of emotions exhibited by Ifaluk people not comparable to American or Western emotions ○ Song (justifiable anger) ○ Fago (compassion/love/sadness) Have no equivalent in English emotion terms Enculturation process is predominant in creating varying emotions among different societies Emotional developments are part of biology of humans universally, thus emotions are experienced same everywhere Darwin claimed that emotions were adaptive mechanisms that humans share with our animal cousins ○ Concludes that all of human reasoning is influenced by our emotions and feelings  Daniel Fessler explored how both biology and culture contribute to development of human emotions ○ Did ethnographic work among Bengkulu, ethnic group in Sumatra ○ Two emotions, malu and bangga Malu ~ similar to shame, withdraw from social interaction, stoop, and avert their gaze Bangga ~ similar to pride, do something well and have had success Richard Shweder ~ piano analogy to discuss emotional development in children ○ Each key being separate emotion for children ○ Key struck whenever situation such as loss or frustration develops As adults, tunes played vary with experience ○ Some keys are not struck at all, others played frequently 11.9 Compared to nonhuman primates, human brain is extremely plastic and structured for intensive social interaction and culture Greg Downey book chapter ~ brain activation and its involvement in practitioners of capoeira, a Brazilian art form that combines martial arts and dance “Neuronal culture” ~ neural memory networks that store contents of cultural categories within the brains of individuals ○ Enable individuals to link and interpret experiences from past to adapt to immediate realities Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) - to explore a number of issues related to religion and violence ○ Investigating brain activation and how scared values trigger emotional responses consistent with sentiments that coincide with absolute morality and outrage ○ When individuals confronted with statements contrary to sacred values ~ amygdala, region of brain associated with physiological arousal, produces heightened affective emotional responses Results in moral outrage and violence fMRI used to explore neurological linkage between sacred values and violence among European Muslims who expressed willingness to die for Islamic extremist causes ○ Sacred values most important contributing factor Individual and collective memories are by nature elusive, selective, and difficult to quantify Memory research in past was anti-psychological, new research efforts are collaborative and include findings in cognitive psychology and neurology  11.10 Enculturation not completely determinative ○ People born with different innate tendencies for responding to environment in variety of ways ○ Individual behavior partially result of our own genetics and biological constitution ~ influences hormones, metabolism, other aspects Enculturation never completely uniform process ○ People always confronted with contradictory norms and society is always changing, affecting process of enculturation ○ Thus, enculturation is an imprecise process Human behavior involves “agency” Agency: process of intentional conscious (self-aware) choices that humans make that may alter their social or cultural world Chapter 12 Introduction Language: system of symbols with standard meanings Communication: act of transferring information to others 12.1 Research done on chimpanzees and gorillas ~ genetically, physiologically, and developmentally close to humans Allen and Beatrice Gardner ~ adopted female chimpanzee named Washoe and taught her ASL ○ Able to master over 150 signs ~ combine signs to invent new signs Chimpanzee named Lana was taught to communicate through a color-coded computer keyboard using lexigrams (graphic symbols) ○ Referred to cucumber as “green banana” and orange as “apple that is orange” David and Ann Premack ~ taught a chimpanzee named Sarah to manipulate colored plastic discs and different shapes to form simple sentences and ask for objects Washoe communicating signs from ASL with other chimpanzees Chimps could produce category words for certain foods  ○ “Pipe food” ~ celery ○ “Candy drink” ~ watermelon Francine Patterson taught Koko, female gorilla, to use 1000 ASL words ○ World’s first “talking” gorilla ~ given intelligence test - scored 85 - slightly below score of average human child ○ Demonstrated capacity to lie, deceive, swear, joke and combine signs ○ Asked for and received pet kitten to nurture Criticism - Herbert Terrace ○ Trained chimpanzee named Nim Chimsky ~ rarely initiated signing behaviors, signing only in response to gestures given by instructors ○ 50% signs imitative ○ Phrases were random combinations of signs Conclusions ~ ○ Chimpanzees highly intelligent animals that can learn many signs, cannot however, understand syntax - set of grammatical rules governing way words combine to form sentences Ten-year-old bonobo “pygmy” chimpanzee named Kanzi ○ Learned to communicate with lexigrams - the graphic, geometric word symbols that act as substitutes for human speech Chimpanzees studied reported to have learned how to count from 0-9 and able to “read” Japanese characters (kanji) and English words Primatologists - study behavior of primates in their natural environment Ethologists: scientists who study animal behavior ○ Find that many types of animals have call systems - certain sounds or vocalizations that produce specific meanings Gorilla sounds associated with specific behaviors such as restful feeding, sexual behavior, play, anger, and warnings of approaching threats Jane goodall ~ observations demonstrated chimpanzees use variety of calls, tied directly to emotional states ○ Chimps use “intraparty calls”, communication within the group, and “distance calls”, communication with other groups Modern chimps lack capacity for sharing and making inferences about intentions of one another ○ Major difference between nonhuman primates and humans Apes show ability to manipulate linguistic symbols when symbols are hand gestures or plastic symbols ○ Do not have capacity to transmit symbolic language beyond level of two-year-old human child 12.2 Plato and Rene Descartes identified speech and language as major distinction between humans and other animals  Modern studies suggest language gap not as wide as it once appeared Characteristics of human languages ○ Productivity ○ Displacement ○ Arbitrariness ○ Combining sounds Productivity ~ ○ Human languages inherently flexible and creative ○ No limits to our capability to produce messages ○ We can express different thoughts, meanings, and experiences in infinite ways ○ Animal communication systems fixed ○ Offspring of chimpanzees will always use same pattern of vocalization as parents Displacement ~ ○ Chimps vocalization associated with particular emotional state and stimulus ○ Animals such as parrots can learn to imitate words but cannot substitute or displace one word for another ○ Meanings of sounds in human languages can refer to people, things, or events that are not present ~ displacement ○ Humans can express objectives in reference to past, present, future ○ Displacement allows humans to plan for future through use of foresight ○ Linguistic ability for displacement is interrelated with general symbolic capacities shared by humans Arbitrariness ~ ○ English, we say one, two, three to refer to numbers ○ Chinese, we say yi, er, san ~ no correct word for numbers ○ German shepherd dog has no difficulty understanding bark of French poodle ○ English speaker has trouble understanding Chinese speaker Combining Sounds ~ ○ Phoneme: unit of sound that distinguishes meaning in particular language ○ In English, difference between dime and dine is distinguished by sound difference between m and n English - 45 phonemes, Italian - 27, Hawaiian - 13 ○ “Anthropocentric” - the view that takes human language as its standard Since chimpanzees do not have physical ability to form sounds made by humans, may be unfair to compare their language strictly based on vocal communication 12.3 “Bowwow” theory ~ maintains that language arose when humans imitated sounds of nature by use of onomatopoeic words, such as cock-a-doodle-do, sneeze, or mumble Plato argues language evolved as human detected natural sounds of objects in nature  “Ding-dong” theory ~ relationship exists between a word and its meaning because nature gives off harmonic ring ○ Harmonic ring of rock sounded like word rock Internal brain changes required for linguistic capacities as well as acquisition of FOXP2 gene Mirror neurons discovered through experiments with macaque monkeys ○ Neurons discharged along with specific goal-directed manual activities of these monkeys also when monkeys observed humans doing same activities Many experiments indicated that mirror neurons exist in humans ○ Mirror neuron network correlated with complex learning “Theory of Mind” or TOM ~ related to both imitation and ability to understand intentions and emotions of others ○ Broca’s area of the brain evolved atop mirror neuron circuits to create capacity for language development involving manual, facial, and vocal behaviors Emergence of human language suggests that at some point in expansion of human brain - rewiring developed - allowed for recursion Recursion ~ linguistic capacity to build infinite number of sentences within sentences ○ Evolution of words and sounds as well as motor control as important as recursion Fully modern human language involves making inferences about what people are saying to one another in particular contexts Human history dominated by cultural rather than biological evolution 12.4 Sounds of language (phonology) Words of language (morphology) Sentence structure of language (syntax) Meaning of language (semantics) Rules for appropriate use of language (pragmatics) Phonology: study of sounds used in language All human languages have both vowel and consonant sounds ○ Sounds of all languages either oral or nasal ○ International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) Minimal pairs: words that are identical except for one difference in sound ○ Ex. lot and rot form a minimal pair Initial sounds we detect as infants in our first language alter neurological networks in our brains, resulting in enduring effects on our ability to distinguish particular sounds within a language Phones: sounds Attempt to organize phones of language into system of contrasting phonemes ○ P and ph never form minimal pair and pronunciation depends on position in word Pueblo Indians use nasalized sounds ○ Arab speakers use back of tongue and throat muscles  ○ Spanish speakers use tip of tongue ○ Ju/’hoansi use sharp intake of air to make clicks that shape meaning for them Morphemes: smallest units of a language that convey meaning Morphology: study of morphemes ○ Morphemes may be short containing single phoneme or combination of phoneme Bound morphemes cannot stand alone ~ suffixes and prefixes Free morphemes are independent units of meaning and can stand alone ~ nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs Morphemes limited in number Chinese use one morpheme for each word ○ Inuit languages combine large numbers of affixes to form words ○ In Russian, endings on nouns show which is subject and which is object Syntax: collection of rules for the way phrases and sentences are made up out of words ○ Ex. these rules determine whether subject comes before or after a verb or whether object follows verb Joseph Greenberg classified languages based on word order within sentences - location of subject (S), verb (V), and object (O) ○ Usually just three patterns of word order occur: VSO SVO SOV ○ Other languages discovered with VOS OSV OVS ~ last two extremely rare Rules for transforming one type of sentence into another ○ Questions to statements → move auxiliary verb from normal position to front Semantics: study of meaning of the symbols, words, phrases, and sentences of a language Specialty developed for meaning of concepts and terms relating to kinship and other cultural phenomena ○ Sometimes referred to as ethnosemantics Goal - understand meanings of words, phrases, sentences, and how members of other societies use language to organize things, events, behaviors Some groups classify kin with precise terms for individuals ○ Chinese kinship terminology - highly descriptive ○ Hawaiian kinship - one general term to classify their father and all male relatives ○ Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Indians - intermediate between descriptive and generalized forms One single term for one’s father and one’s father’s brother, but two separate terms for one’s mother and one’s mother’s brother Kinship terms used to refer to people who share common descent and internal “essence” 12.5 Augustine believed that as we hear our parents speak words and point to objects we associate words with objects  John Locke suggested that the human mind at birth is like a blank tablet, tabula rasa, infants learn language through habit formation B.F. Skinner ~ infants learn language through conditioned responses and feedback from their environment Behaviorist view ~ an infant might babble a sound that resembles acceptable word like mama or daddy then be rewarded for response ○ Children learn entire language through this type of social conditioning Rene Descartes advocated contrasting view ○ Argued that innate ideas or structures in human mind provide basis for learning language ○ Humans come into world equipped not only to acquire their own native language but also acquire any other human language Noam Chomsky ~ interested in how people acquire grammar Grammar - set of rules that determine how sentences are constructed to produce meaningful statements ○ All this would be impossible, if acquiring language depended on trial-and-error and reinforcement Chomsky suggests we are born with brain prewired to enable us to acquire language easily ~ universal grammar Universal grammar serves as a template or model against which a child matches and sorts out patterns of morphemes and phonemes needed to communicate in any language ○ Behavioristic understanding of language too simplistic Critical period, beginning with infancy and lasting through age of five and onset of puberty ○ If not exposed to language during this period, never able to acquire it Chomsky’s research on specific types of languages known as creole and pidgin languages ○ Pidgin - emerges when people of different languages develop and use simple grammatical structure and words to communicate with each other Ex. New Guinea Islands ~ pidgin language developed between indigenous peoples and Westerners ○ Creole - vocabulary similar to pidgin, grammar more complex Ex. developed between African slaves and Europeans ~ Haitian, Jamaican creole Study of deaf children in Nicaragua ~ Ann Senghas School established focused on teaching children to read lips and speak Spanish Tsimane ~ Michael Gurven visited groups of people in six different villages ○ Noted how much time spent talking to children under 4 compared with adults ~ < 1 min/hr ○ Up to 10 times less Ability to speak - biologically programmed PET - positron emission tomography fMRI functional magnetic resonance imaging  12.6 Early part of twentieth century, Edward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf carried out studies of language and culture ○ Sapir described many Native american languages and provided basis for comparative method ○ Whorf conducted comparative research on wide variety of languages Research led their students to formulate a highly controversial hypothesis Sapir-Whorf hypothesis: a close relationship between properties or characteristics of specific language and its associated culture, and these features of specific languages define experiences for us Humans have filtering device that classifies reality ○ Based on characteristics of specific language Compared grammar of English with Native American Hopi language ○ Verb forms indicating tense differ in these languages English contains past, present and future verb forms; Hopi language does not Hopi - time is connected to cycles of nature ○ Saw time as a “getting later” of everything that has been done Sapir-Whorf hypothesis example of linguistic relativism ~ maintains that world is experienced differently among different language communities Ekkehart Malotki said Whorf exaggerated ○ Hopi do make language distinctions between past and present - between future and nonfuture ○ Calculate time in similar units as native English speakers Hoyt Alverson ~ investigated 4 languages, Mandarin, Hindi, Sesotho, English to determine how time is conceptualized Time is usually conceptualized as partible or divisible, or linear, circular, oscillating, or casual force, or as spatialized Relationship exists between language and thought Language influences speaker’s thinking and concepts ○ “Weak” version of linguistic relativity hypothesis John Lucy compared speakers of English and Yucatec Maya to see if languages led them to perform differently on tasks involving remembering ○ English speakers - more attention to number and shape ○ Mayan speakers - more attention to material Old English ~ “wif” - females “wer” or “carl” - males Peru and Bolivia ~ Aymara language contrast between human vs nonhuman not female vs male 12.7 Research on historical linguistics began in late eighteenth century  Sir William Jones ~ suggested linguistic similarities of Sanskrit, ancient Indian tongue to ancient Greek, Latin, German, English indicate that these languages descended from common ancestral language ○ These languages part of one family, Indo-European family Protolangauge: parent language for many ancient and modern languages Languages of people living in adjacent areas of the world would tend to share similar phonological, syntactical, and semantic features Historical linguists working with archaeologists to reconstruct Proto-Indo-European language Colin Renfrew hypothesizes spread of Indo-European languages linked to spread of particular technology and material culture ○ To reconstruct family tree of languages, linguist compared the phonological characteristics (sounds) and morphological characteristics (words) of different languages Morris Swadesh ~ developed systematic method of assessing historical language change ○ Goal was to date the separation of languages from one another using a statistical technique known as glottochronology Core vocabulary (pronouns and words for numbers or body, Earth, wood, stone) - would remain immune to cultural change ○ If we could measure rate of retention of this core vocabulary, then we could measure separation of one language from another On average 19% of core vocabulary would change in approximately 1,000 years ○ 81% would be retained Bantu language family spread across continent of Africa Lexical (recorded words) Sound sequences (changes in sounds) Computer-based analysis of Bantu language spread produced robust and testbale language trees Sarah Thomason and Terrence Kaufman ~ same way creole languages developed, other languages developed through intensive culture contact 12.8 Sociolinguistics ~ use of language in different social contexts Pragmatics: rules for using language within particular speech community Dialects: linguistic differences in pronunciation, vocabulary, or syntax that may differ within a single language ○ Ex. dialectical differences in American Standard English exist in the U.S. NE, Midwest, S, SW Americans beginning to sound more alike AAVE ~ African American Vernacular English - distinctive dialect of American English spoken by some African Americans ○ Term ebony sometimes used  ○ AAVE aka Black English Vernacular (BEV), Black English (BE), and African American English (AAE) ○ Commonly spoken among working-class African Americans AAVE not just use of slang, has some slang words Rick says not just lazy form of English “Code-switching behavior” ~ some African Americans use AAVE as means of establishing rapport and solidarity with other African Americans ○ They may switch to American Standard English in conversations with non– African Americans Languages contain honorific forms that determine grammar, syntax, word usage ○ Used to express differences in social levels along speakers and common in societies that maintain social inequality Thai language ~ first-person pronoun I is phom - polite form of address between equals ○ Shifts to kraphom is male is addressing higher-ranking gov’t official or buddhist monk ○ Shiftys to klaawkramom when male is adressing prince of royal family Japanese ~ tatemae - polite form of expression used with strangers ○ Honne - expression of “real” feelings and can only be used with close friends and family Traditional greeting of Thai buddhists on meeting another ~ ○ Raising both hands, palm to palm, lightly touching body between face and chest ○ Person who is inferior initiate the waaj, higher hands raised, greater politeness Another form ~ kraab - involves kneeling down and bowing to floor 12.9 Kinesics: concerned with body motion and gestures used in nonverbal communication ○ Humans use more than 250,000 expressions Shaking head up and down means yes no ~ opposite in India, Greece, Turkey A-OK sign means you are all right in US or England ~ worth zero in France, Belgium, vulgar in Greece and Turkey Pointing to head means smart ~ means stupid in Europe V sign meant peace ~ in WW2 England meant victory, insult in Greece Proxemics: study of how people in different societies perceive and use space Chapter 13 Introduction Anthropologist Victor de Munck ~ anthropology needs to engage itself in an interdisciplinary effort to understand human behavior and culture 13.1 19th-century anthropologists who began to investigate concept of “culture” as used today ○ First professional anthropologist ~ 19th-century British scholar, Edward B. Tylor Published major worked titled Primitive Culture Unilineal evolution: view that societies evolve in single direction toward complexity, progress, and civilization Tylor’s basic argument ~ because all humans bestowed with innate rational faculties, continuously improving their societies ○ Compared certain cultural elements from different societies ○ Then organized evidence into categories ~ termed “savagery” to “barbarism” to “civilization” Claimed that primitives would evolve through stages of barbarism to become civilized like British Henry Morgan interested in kinship terms ○ Haudenosaunee kinship terms very different from English, Roman, Greek ○ Similar to Ojibway Indians ~ led to exploration between Iroquiois and other peoples ○ Speculated humans originally lived in “primitive hordes”, sexual behavior not regulated and individuals had no idea on who their fathers were Hawaiians ~ use one general term to classify father and male relatives Compiled evidence in book Ancient Society Believed in hierarchy of evolutionary development from “lower savagery” to “civilization” Crucial distinction between civilized society and earlier societies ~ private property ○ Described “savage” societies as “communistic”, “civilized” based on private property Views of unilineal evolution were ethnocentric, contradictory, speculative, evidence secondhand, based on accounts of biased Europeans ○ “Essentialist” and too simplistic ○ Believed people in savage societies were less intelligent than civilized ○ Limited perception and understanding of human behavior and culture  13.2 Diffusionism: maintains that societal change occurs when societies borrow cultural traits from another ○ Developed in early part of 20th century Two major schools of diffusionism ~ British version and German version ○ British ~ derived its theory from research on ancient Egypt Concluded all aspects of civilizations originated in Egypt and diffused to other cultural areas Resorted to ethnocentric view - some cultures had become degenerate Less developed peoples had forgotten original ideas borrowed from Egypt ○ German ~ several early centers of civilization had existed and from these centers cultural traits diffused outward in circles to others Kulturkreise (culture circles) school of thought Argued that people had simply degenerated Diffusionists maintained racist assumptions about inherent inferiority of non-Western peoples Another limitation ~ cultural traits in same geographical vicinity will inevitably spread from one society to another ○ Societies can adjoin another without exchanging cultural traits Had partial explanations to offer on human behavior and society 13.3 Early 20th-century movement developed in response to unilineal evolutionary theory ○ Led by the U.S. anthropologist Franz Boas ○ Educated in Germany as natural scientist conducted fieldwork among the Eskimo (Inuit) in northern Canada and a Native American group known as the Kwakiutl or Kwakwaka’ wakw, Tremendous impact on development of anthropology Boas criticized attempts to propose stages of evolution ○ Also criticized use of comparative method and haphazard manner in which they organized data to fit their theories of evolutionary stages Boas called for an end to “armchair anthropology” ~ scholars took data from travelers, traders, and missionaries ○ His fieldwork experience and his intellectual training in Germany led him to conclude each society has its own unique historical development Historical particularism: maintains that each society must be understood as a product of its own history Led Boas to adopt the notion of cultural relativism, belief that each society should be understood in terms of its own cultural practices and values ○ Boasian view became dominant theoretical trend during first half of 20th-century  Instituted participant observation method Encouraged his students to develop their linguistic skills so they could learn languages of people they studied One of first scientists in US to demonstrate brain size and cranial capacity of modern humans not directly linked to intelligence All this led to emergence of culture-and-personality theory Weakness of this approach ~ tended to neglect any cross-cultural explanations for human behavior 13.4 Functionalism: view that society consists of institutions that serve vita purposes for people British functionalists explored relationships among different institutions and how these institutions function to serve the society or individual Radcliffe-Brown sometimes referred to as structural functionalism ○ Argued that society’s economic, social, political, and religious institutions serve to integrate society as whole Malinowski’s functionalism focused on how society functions to serve individual’s interests or needs ~ psychological functionalism ○ Tried to demonstrate how individuals use cultural norms to satisfy certain needs Individual has needs, both physiological and psychological, and cultural institutions, customs, and traditions exist to satisfy them Functionalism has its weaknesses ~ fails to explain why societies are similar or different ○ Arose from tendency of functionalists to ignore historical processes ○ Functionalists unable to explain social and cultural change very well because they tended to view societies as static and unchanging 13.5 Leslie White suggested new 20th-century perspective on evolution of society, sometimes referred to as neoevolutionism ○ White treated societies, or sociocultural systems as entities that evolved in relation to amount of energy captured Energy used directly toward production of resources for survival White’s hypothesis of cultural evolution explained differences in levels of societal development by examining differences in technology and energy production Agricultural revolution represented efficient use of human energy in harnessing new energy reserves White focused on sociocultural change on global level, his approach called general evolution  Cultural ecology: stresses the interrelationship among the natural conditions in the environment and technology, social organization, and attitudes within a particular sociocultural system Stewards cultural ecology framework divides sociocultural systems into two different spheres: culture core and secondary features ○ Culture core ~ the environment, technology, and economic arrangements ○ Secondary features ~ social organization, politics, and religion Steward investigated detailed characteristics of different environments ~ specific evolution Cultural evolution was not unilineal, but multilineal Multilineal evolution: view that societies and cultures have evolved and are evolving in many different directions Cultural ecology ~ been influenced by developments in biological ecology and theories derived from mathematics, computer modeling, and related sciences Cultural materialism: research strategy that focuses on technology, environment, and economic factors as key determinants in sociocultural evolution Marvin Hariss refined neo evolutionary approach to cultural materialism ○ Cultural materialists divide all sociocultural systems into infrastructure, structure, and superstructure Infrastructure largely determines the structure and superstructure of sociocultural systems Cultural materialists do not deny that superstructural and structural components of society may influence cultural evolution, but they see infrastructural factors as being far more important Criticisms ~ ○ Harris focuses too exclusively on technological and environmental factors ○ Tends to emphasize infrastructural mechanisms that strictly “determine” structure of society Critics tend to ignore how structural and superstructural aspects play a role in influencing conditions for social and cultural evolution 13.6 Karl Marx ~ society had evolved through various stages: tribal, Asiatic, feudal, capitalist ○ Then socialist and communist stages Form of materialism because it emphasizes how systems of producing material goods shape all of society Marx believed society is in a state of constant change as a result of class struggles and conflicts among groups ○ Viewed these developments as causes of exploitation, inequality in wealth and power, and class struggle Industrial mode of production had divided society into classes: capitalists (own means of production, factories), proletariat (those who sell their labor to owners, the workers)  Current neo-Marxist anthropologists do not accept unilineal model of Marx Conflict is an inherent aspect of human behavior and culture 13.7 Symbolic anthropology: study of culture through interpretation of meaning of symbols, values, and beliefs of a society ○ Symbolic anthropologist suggest many cultural symbols cannot be reduced to material the conditions Cultural symbols may be completely autonomous from material factors Reject the use of scientific method as applied to human behavior Goal of research is to interpret the meaning of symbols within worldviews of particular society Criticisms ~ symbolic anthropologists focus exclusively on cultural symbols at the expense of other variables that may influence human thought and behavior ○ Neglect conditions and processes that lead to making of culture ○ Culture cannot be treated as autonomous phenomenon and separate from historical, political, and economic conditions that affect a society ○ Symbolic anthropology substitutes one form of determinism for another Instead of emphasizing technological or economic variables, its cultural symbols Culturalism and materialism reflect differences between scientific approach and humanistic interpretive perspective 13.8 Emergence of feminist orientation ○ Mead was first to focus on gender roles within different societies and question a biological determinist view of male and female roles Feminist perspective ~ challenged tendency to concentrate on male role underestimate position of women within different societies Criticisms ~ ○ Perspective has become too extreme and exaggerated ○ View that nature does not have anything to do with gender seems to be too extreme ○ Scientific hypotheses based on Western cultural framework and androcentric (male-centered) perspective Male anthropologists cannot do research on women due to biases ~ extreme  13.9 Postmodernism: challenging basic ethnographic assumptions and methodologies Traditional ethnographic research is based on number of unsound assumptions Ethnographer is detached, scientifically objective observer who is not influenced by premises and biases of her own society ○ Malinowksi produced his descriptions as if he did not have involvement with Trobriand people World is no longer dependent on Western anthropologists to gather ethnographic data Ethnographers should present themselves in dialogue with their subjects 13.10 Dual-inheritance theory: investigates role of both genetics and culture in driving human evolution ○ Genes and culture have interacted Genetic variation across human populations in ability to digest lactose ○ Cultural and technological traditions associated with dairy farming led to genetic changes Secret of our success comes from coevolution of genes and culture Epidemiological model of culture, also called Cultural Attractor Theory (CAT) ○ Combines populational approach to cultural change within insights from cognitive anthropologists and cognitive psychologists ○ Highlights importance of distinguishing culture from cultural, distinguishing culture as a “thing” or entity from cultural phenomena Goal of CAT researchers to combine findings of cognitive anthropology and psychology with studies of cultural evolution Chapter 24 Introduction Applied Anthropology: The practical application of anthropological methods, theories, and data to identify, address, and solve societal problems Scope and Subfields: ○ Draws on the four core subfields of anthropology: Biological Anthropology: Application of human physical data Archaeology: Preserving cultural heritage and studying human history  Linguistics: Understanding and addressing communication challenges in diverse communities Cultural Anthropology: Investigating human behaviors, cultural norms, and systems to provide actionable insights All anthropological research has the potential for practical application. As Malinowski (1945) asserted, science and application are intertwined Modern Relevance: ○ Anthropologists engage with diverse sectors: healthcare, education, cultural heritage, human rights, development projects, and more. ○ Their holistic perspective allows them to address problems at local, national, and global levels 24.1 Key Roles of Anthropologists ○ Analyst: Anthropologists assess specific issues, providing detailed reports and recommendations tailored to the needs of stakeholders Examples: ○ Archaeological Assessments: Before construction projects, archaeologists evaluate sites for historical significance ○ Forensic Analysis: Forensic anthropologists provide critical data on human remains for criminal cases ○ Social Program Evaluation: Assessments of initiatives like school meal programs or public health campaigns Challenges: ○ Work is constrained by strict deadlines and extensive reporting requirements set by funders or regulatory bodies ○ Findings are scrutinized by multiple audiences, including non-anthropologists (e.g., policymakers, engineers, the general public) Policy Advisor and Program Manager: Anthropologists aid in the formulation, evaluation, and implementation of policies and programs Examples: ○ Archaeological Preservation: Laws like the National Historic Preservation Act (1966) safeguard cultural sites during federally funded development ○ Displacement Policies: Anthropologists working with the World Bank developed initial guidelines to assist populations displaced by development projects. These efforts, however, often faced resistance, limiting their impact Advocate: Focused on promoting the rights and empowerment of marginalized communities, anthropologists often work with NGOs or grassroots organizations  Examples: ○ Groups like Survival International and Rainforest Alliance lobby policymakers, run awareness campaigns, and support indigenous protests ○ Anthropologists have sometimes served as spokespersons for cultural groups but face criticism for overshadowing local voices in the process Brokers and Translators: Facilitate communication between different cultural groups or organizations Promote mutual understanding and ensure diverse perspectives are considered during decision-making processes 24.2 Biological anthropologists apply their expertise in understanding human variation, physical characteristics, and evolution to address practical issues in fields like law enforcement, ergonomics, and disaster recovery ○ Forensic Anthropology: defined as application of biological anthropological data to law Focuses on identifying human remains and assisting in criminal investigations Key Methods: ○ Skeletal reconstruction: Reassembling fragmented bones ○ Determining physical traits: Age, sex, stature, and health status of the deceased ○ Trauma analysis: Identifying bone damage caused by violence (e.g., fractures, stab wounds) Examples: Analysis of skeletal remains from mass graves (e.g., victims of genocide in Rwanda or Iraq) Cases like John McRae’s murder trial: Archaeologists and forensic anthropologists used skeletal evidence to connect the suspect to the crime ○ Forensic Facial Reconstruction: Reconstructs facial features from skulls using advanced techniques like 3D imaging or sculpting with clay Limitations: Subjectivity in estimating soft tissue, hair, and skin color ○ Identifying Victims in Conflict Zones: Ongoing efforts to recover and identify soldiers from wars (e.g., WWII, Vietnam) Use of DNA analysis to match remains with family members ○ Ergonomics: Applying anthropometric data to improve workplace safety and efficiency (e.g., designing airplane cockpits or office furniture)  24.3 Medical anthropology: the study of disease, health care systems, medical practices, curing, and mental illness with a cross-cultural perspective Key Areas of Focus ○ Ethnomedicine: the study and comparison of traditional, spiritually based medical practices by different ethnic groups Studies traditional medical systems based on spiritual, cultural, or naturalistic principles Examples: ○ Thai practitioners using astrology, herbal medicine, and spirit possession rituals to treat illnesses ○ Chinese acupuncture balancing qi energy to harmonize bodily functions Therapeutic Pluralism: ○ Many societies integrate traditional and modern medical practices ○ Case Study: In Thailand, even Western-educated elites often consult shamans alongside biomedical doctors for holistic treatment Cultural Epidemiology: ○ Epidemiology: examines the spread and distribution of diseases and how they are influenced by cultural patterns ○ Studies the impact of cultural behaviors on disease spread and prevention ○ Case Study: In Kerala, India, the rise of heart disease correlates with dietary changes and social norms around feasting Mental Illness: ○ Explores culturally specific disorders: Latah (Southeast Asia): Sudden fear reactions causing compulsive behaviors Amok (Malaysia): Episodes of homicidal rage triggered by perceived insults Pibloktoq (Arctic): Seasonal hysteria linked to isolation and extreme conditions 24.4 Threats to Archaeological Sites ○ Human Activities: Construction of dams, pipelines, and urban infrastructure destroys sites Looting for the antiquities market depletes cultural heritage ○ Legislation: Cultural resource management: focuses on the evaluation, protection, and administration of cultural resources  National Historic Preservation Act (1966) in the U.S. mandates CRM before federal projects International campaigns like UNESCO’s preservation of Abu Simbel in Egypt exemplify global efforts ○ Global Challenges: In developing countries, lack of legislation exacerbates site destruction. Countries like Guatemala integrate economic development with cultural preservation to ensure long-term benefits 24.5 Cultural patrimony: focuses on who owns the human remains, artifacts, and associated cultural materials that are recovered in the course of research projects ○ Focuses on determining rightful ownership of artifacts and human remains ○ Ethical debates arise around returning sacred items to descendant communities NAGPRA (1990) ○ Ensures Native American graves and artifacts are protected and repatriated Repatriation: the return of human remains and cultural items in their collections at the request of the descendant populations of the relevant Native American group ○ Balances scientific research with respect for indigenous cultural heritage 24.6 Social impact studies: research on the possible consequences that change will have for a community Contributions ○ Anthropologists facilitate community-led projects, ensuring local needs are prioritized ○ Case Studies: In Guatemala, archaeologists developed land-swap programs to protect Mayan ruins while benefiting local farmers 24.7 Applications Use historical agricultural practices to develop sustainable solutions Collaborate with environmental scientists and local officials to conserve ecosystems (e.g., El Pilar rainforest conservation efforts)  24.8 Ethical relativism: the notion that we cannot impose the values or morality of one society on other societies Contributions ○ Documenting abuses through forensic archaeology (e.g., mass grave excavations in Argentina and Iraq) ○ Providing evidence for trials while maintaining scientific objectivity Metaculture: a global system emphasizing fundamental human rights, with a sense of political and global responsibility Speaking with Names (Keith Basso) Opening sentence compares landscape to language “landscape and discourse confound the stranger’s efforts to invest them with significance” Athabaskan languages Subset of Na-Dene (Chipeweyan the largest), Navajo, Apache What just happened? Literal meaning of utterances not difficult to grasp, but what has really been said? (the central task of fieldwork) p. 105 Does language refer/denote or perform? Speaking with names as a “linguistic ideology” (p. 107) What are some of the characteristics of Apache language ideology? (p. 109 -110) Do we have a linguistic ideology? What might be some elements of it? [classroom teaching: rather willing to “make wisdom too plain”] But we also believe in performative speech, or “speech acts”: the idea that certain kinds of language are violent ○ Not a new idea: prohibitions on writing out name of Yahweh, or taking the Lord’s name in vain Orientation of Agents  “Spatial anchoring” of narratives: not just tied to places, but of a particular orientation to places: orients hearer in space and time ○ Indicate one is using place names in this way by bracketing cues (‘happened here, in this very place’) (stand in the ancestors’ tracks) “Speaking with names” as a prompt for travel in time and space The three stories “Minimax language ideology” So what are the stories associated with [line of white rocks, whiteness spreads out descending to water, trail extends across long red ridge with alder trees] How did they help Louise -- without making “wisdom too plain”? (p. 114) [I.e., why did she address her conversation-closing remarks to the dog Clifford?] “Our language ideology” Is almost the exact reverse ○ Might call it “maximin”: we have to be totally clear and break things down very explicitly Classroom but also commercial interactions, even personal relationships: you can always demand more transparency Time and Space Invoking ancestors: ”reverberating acts of kindness and caring” (122-123) “the landscape in which people dwell can be said to dwell in them” (122) “the people and the landscape are virtually as one” (122) Similar notions invoked in popular culture in a clichéd way: but reading Basso, you get a sense of this as a form of lifelong enculturation Linguistic anthropology often takes up questions of “culture and cognition” How are time and space experienced differently in a culture in which the connection to the landscape and to the ancestors is so internalized? Anthropological approach Anthropology as empirical philosophy – a lone thinker could never anticipate the Apache case ○ Surprise of empirical reality is unmatchable Time in another sense: the anthropological rate of knowledge production. Process of becoming capable of this kind of work is slow ○ Basso at that point (late 1980s) had been traveling to Cibecue since 1959 ○ Almost 30 years Looking back: how would this kind of work relate to the project of “decolonizing anthropology”? Looking forward: how would this kind of experience of talking and thinking be different from the internet-mediated one that is now shaping us? The Great Piraha Brouhaha Piraha is a linguistic isolate Only several few hundred speakers of the last surviving language of Mura language family Tuoi-Guarani language family has millions of speakers Not all American Indigenous languages are “dying” Andean languages Quechua and Aymara are also doing just fine Daniel Everett Began career as missionary linguist Not the first such to undergo conversion himself, from missionary to anthropologist Has described his own failure, during time as a missionary, to convert any Piraha people to Christianity; something he now attributes to their cultural emphasis on “immediacy of experience” This is *very* strong Sapir-Whorf He argues that culturally and linguistically, Piraha so highly value “immediacy of experience” that they dispense with things that disturb it: ○ Mythology, religion, quantification, kinship reckoning beyond immediate family Culture and language create constraints on cognition Two avenues of disagreement From the “universalist” linguists (Noam Chomsky, universal grammar) From socio-cultural anthropologists who are generally Sapir-Whorf fans but think Everett maybe needs to slow his roll in order to pay a bit more attention to particular history of Piraha people: ○ Janet Chernala an example of this Janet Chernela Linguistic anthropologist who is a specialist on Wanano (Tukanoan language) Served as president of the society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America (SALSA) Chair of the Committee for Human Rights of the American Anthropological Association (AAA) Is a member of the Executive Committee of the Brazilian Studies Association What is recursion? A way of making “infinite employment of finite means” (Chernela)  “Recursion, a linguistic operation that consists of inserting one phrase inside another of the same type, as when a speaker combines discrete thoughts (“the man is walking down the street,” “the man is wearing a top hat”) into a single sentence (“The man who is wearing a top hat is walking down the street”)” ~ Colapinto The cat that caught the rat that ate the cheese John’s friend’s hat Could view Everett’s findings as: Welp, he found one exception, therefore UG is dead ○ Everett’s preferred view of the matter, which makes him a superstar It’s not possible, as Chernela notes, to survey “all human languages” ○ Etruscan remains undeciphered: was neither Indo-European nor Semitic ○ And that’s just in Europe, one of the most linguistically well-studied places on the planet Thus: Languages are truly infinitely variable, anything can happen OR Something very unusual is going on here. Let’s consider all of the contextual evidence First No one can really check Everett’s work Limitations inherent? The features that Everett speaks of as relatively impoverished (mythology, color, number), the lack of complex kinship and historical accounting, and the apparent absence of second language learning (of Portuguese) “shallow genealogical reckoning” is common in Amazonia, including in other language families: this doesn’t resolve anything either way Or historical? Could also be related to the 20th century experience of Piraha Fleeing violence, reduced by epidemic disease, a recent experience of constant retreat and reduction “Language as part of the social fabric of everyday life” To go back to Nicaraguan sign language Yes, children had capacity for language (“UG” sort of point) But could not realize it outside of a specific historical context - of being brought together at a school for deaf children They did not “choose” this context Strong Sapir-Whorf  Applied to Piraha suggests that they have made a series of cultural choices to limit life to “immediate experience” Both “UG” and “Sapir-Whorf” entirely abstract principles Other great examples besides Piraha for deciding between UG and Sapir-Whorf “False archaism” “uncontacted” tribes vs. tribes in voluntary isolation “not contacted yet” vs. “actively running away” Experience of violence and disease has caused many groups to seek to avoid outsiders actively Finally Everett’s wife, from whom he is now divorced, is also a scholar of Piraha: Keren Graham She has paid attention to the ways that the language is often sung rather than spoken ○ The singing may encode grammatical features Guest Lecture by TA Introduction Topic: The affective power of trance music and its role in resonance, ritual, and emotional healing Key Story: Armin van Buuren’s emotional performance at Untold Festival in Romania. ○ Armin cried on stage during his set, and the crowd cried with him, creating a shared emotional moment Affect Theory and Emotional Resonance What is Affect Theory? ○ Affect is a pre-linguistic, embodied emotional experience that circulates between people, objects, and spaces What is Resonance? ○ Resonance is the deep connection formed when shared emotions are amplified in a group Trance Music’s Emotional Impact:  ○ Uses repetitive rhythms and uplifting melodies to evoke states of transcendence and emotional vulnerability Example: Armin’s statement: "It literally brings me to tears when I see what music does to people." Emotional Contagion: ○ Emotions spread in a cyclical manner: Armin cried, the crowd cried, and the shared emotion strengthened the group’s energy Trance Music as a Modern Ritual Rituals Across Cultures: ○ Rituals are structured, symbolic practices that foster shared experiences and communal bonds ○ Music is central to rituals: tribal drumming, religious hymns, and communal dances all use rhythm to connect and transcend Trance Festivals as Ritual Spaces: ○ Modern Ritual Dynamics: The DJ is like a modern shaman or priest, leading the crowd on an emotional journey. Festivals create temporary “sacred spaces” where participants feel equality and togetherness (Turner’s communitas) ○ Natural Symbols: Armin extended his set until sunrise, symbolizing renewal and connection to life cycles ○ Imitation and Feedback Loops: The crowd mirrors the DJ’s actions, like raising arms or crying, amplifying the emotional experience ○ Ritual and Emotional Release: Trance performances, like traditional rituals, allow collective catharsis and healing through music Emotional Power of Trance Music Crying as Catharsis: ○ Armin’s statement: "Please stop crying, because you are going to make me cry as well!" ○ Crying is a release of pent-up emotions, amplified by the safety of a communal space Healing Through Resonance: ○ Repetitive beats and melodies guide individuals into emotional release and shared vulnerability Shared Vulnerability:  ○ When both DJ and crowd display emotions, it deepens the connection, humanizing the DJ and strengthening the collective experience Technology and the Globalization of Ritual Digital Rituals: ○ Videos, live streams, and vlogs extend the ritual experience beyond physical spaces ○ Fans worldwide connect through digital platforms, creating a “digital congregation Universality of Music: ○ ” Music transcends age, culture, and geography, connecting people globally. ○ Armin: "With music, age simply doesn’t matter.” Conclusion Key Takeaways: ○ Trance music combines affect and ritual, connecting individuals to themselves and others in profound ways ○ DJs are modern ritual leaders, guiding collective emotional journeys that echo ancient practices ○ Armin’s emotional performance illustrates the timeless power of music to unite, heal, and transform Closing Thought: ○ “Music’s beauty lies in its ability to make us feel deeply, connect us to one another, and remind us of our shared humanity—one beat at a time.” Key Terms 1. DJ as a Modern Shaman ○ A DJ who leads a crowd through a shared emotional or spiritual experience during a performance 2. Emotional or Spiritual Journey ○ A process where individuals feel deeply connected through music, guided by a leader 3. Active Participation ○ When the audience engages with the performance by mirroring energy or responding physically and emotionally 4. Energy Amplification ○ The process where shared emotions grow stronger within a group 5. Affect Theory ○ The study of how emotions spread and connect people in non-verbal ways 6. Pre-verbal Emotional Experiences ○ Feelings and emotions that happen before we put them into words 7. Collective Emotional Response ○ When a group reacts together emotionally, creating a shared experience 8. Emotional Contagion ○ The way emotions spread from one person to others, often without conscious thought 9. Modern Rituals ○ Contemporary practices, like music festivals, that bring people together in shared, meaningful ways 10. Shared Emotional Experiences ○ Moments where people feel the same emotions together, strengthening their connection.