Anthropology Reviewer Midterms PDF

Human evolution as revealed by the CONCEPTS OF ANTHROPOLOGY fossil record (paleoanthropology). Human genetics. WHAT IS ANTHROPOLOGY? Human growth and development....

Human evolution as revealed by the CONCEPTS OF ANTHROPOLOGY fossil record (paleoanthropology). Human genetics. WHAT IS ANTHROPOLOGY? Human growth and development. Human biological plasticity (the Greek “anthropos” (human) and body’s ability to change as it copes “logia” (study) with stresses, such as heat, cold, Study of human and altitude). Explores what it means to be The biology, evolution, behavior, and human. social life of monkeys, apes, and Anthropology is a uniquely other nonhuman primates. comparative and holistic science. Anthropology, however, offers a Osteology: the study of bones—helps unique cross-cultural perspective by paleoanthropologists, who examine skulls, constantly comparing the customs of teeth, and bones, to identify human one society with those of others. ancestors and to chart changes in anatomy Anthropology confronts and ponders over time. major questions of human existence Paleontologist is a scientist who studies as it explores human biological and fossils. cultural diversity in time and space. LINGUISTIC ANTHROPOLOGY SUBDISCIPLINE OF ANTHROPOLOGY The study of language and linguistic diversity in time, space, and society CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY study of human society and culture, ANTHROPOLOGY AND OTHER the subfield that describes, ACADEMIC FIELDS analyzes, interprets, and explains social and cultural similarities and Anthropology is a science—a differences. “systematic field of study or body of knowledge that aims, through ARCHAEOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY experiment, observation, and Reconstructs, describes, and deduction, to produce reliable interprets human behavior and explanations of phenomena, with cultural patterns through material reference to the material and remains. physical world”. The following chapters present BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY anthropology as a humanistic The study of human biological science devoted to discovering, variation in time and space describing, understanding, and explaining similarities and BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY differences in time and space among The focus on biological variation unites five hu- mans and our ancestors. special interests within biological anthropology:  explain cultural differences and Ethnomusicology, which studies similarities, test hypotheses, and forms of musical expression on a build theory to enhance our worldwide basis, is especially closely understanding of how social and related to anthropology. cultural systems work. Folklore, the systematic study of The data for ethnology come from tales, myths, and legends from a societies located in various times variety of cultures. and places and so can come from archaeology as well as from ethnography, their more usual source. Ethnologists compare, contrast, and make generalizations about societies and cultures. ANTHROPOLOGY AND PSYCHOLOGY Psychological anthropology studies cross-cultural variation in psychological traits. Societies instill different values by training children differently. Adult personalities reflect a culture’s child-rearing practices. THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD Anthropology, we have seen, is a science, although a very humanistic one. Within sociocultural anthropology, ethnology is the comparative science that attempts to identify and CULTURE Culture is Learned What is culture? Enculturation Culture can be defined as all the This is the process of learning one's ways of life including arts, beliefs own culture. It begins at birth and and institutions of a population that continues throughout life as we learn are passed down from generation to the values, beliefs, and behaviors of generation. our society. The word "culture" derives from a Acculturation French term, which in turn derives This is the process of adopting the from the Latin"colere,"which means cultural traits of a dominant group. It to tend to the earth and grow, or happens when people from different cultivation and nurture. cultures come into contact and one Culture is a way of coping with the group influences the other. world by defining it in detail.” by Deculturation Malcolm Bradbury. This is the loss of cultural traits. It can happen through assimilation, Culture is C.A.L.M S.E.A where a group loses its distinct cultural identity by adopting the C- Change dominant culture A- Adapted L- Learned Culture is Everything M- Maladapted Culture shapes who we are, how we S- Shared live, and how we see the world. E- Everything Types of Culture A- Affects Biology Material Culture Culture Changes Culture mentions the physical Culture is dynamic and constantly objects, resources, and spaces that evolving. It adapts and transforms in people use to define their culture. response to new ideas, experiences, Non Material Culture and interactions. The other type of culture is non material culture which cannot be Culture can be Adaptive and Maladaptive touched, felt, tasted or held. Culture can either help a group thrive (adaptive) or hold it back Culture affects Biology (maladaptive). Adaptive cultures are Culture also influences biological flexible,welcome new ideas, and practices, with examples like body encourage teamwork. Maladaptive modifications for beauty standards in cultures are rigid, resist change, and various societies. foster competition, ultimately hindering success. CULTURE'’S EVOLUTIONARY BASIS two legs(i.e.a pelvis that is shorter and lower limbs that are elongated. University Universality refers to cultural traits, practices, or beliefs that are found in every known culture or society. These are elements that exist across all human societies, regardless of time or place.. Generality Generality refers to cultural traits, practices, or beliefs that are common to many, but not all, cultures. These are elements that are widespread and shared by a significant number of societies but may not be present in every culture. How we differ from primates? Particularity Particularity refers to cultural Cognitive Abilities traits, practices, or beliefs Humans possess significantly more that are unique to specific advanced cognitive abilities, cultures or societies. These including complex language, are elements that are distinct abstract thinking, problem-solving, and specific to a particular and self-awareness. group of people and may not be found elsewhere. Brain Size Humans boast a much greater brain Anthropologists recognize three levels size, especially the neocortex that is of culture responsible for higher cognitive functions like logical and abstract International Culture reasoning, numerical calculation, refers to cultural traits that extend problem-solving as well as planning. beyond national boundaries. These cultural traits and patterns spread Bipedalism through diffusion, migration, This includes the morphological colonization, and globalization. changes especially in our skeleton that are induced due to walking on National Culture  is the beliefs, behavior patterns, groups of people, to develop and values, cultural traits, and institutions express their humanity, their world shared within a country. National view and the meanings they give to culture is most easily recognizable in their existence and their the form of symbols such as development through, inter alia, flags,logos, and colors as well as values, beliefs, convictions, sound including national anthems languages, knowledge and the arts, and musical styles." institutions and ways of life. Subcultures another level of culture, are smaller groups of people who share cultural traits and patterns within the same country. Subcultures have shared experiences and common cultural distinctions, but they are a part of the larger society or cultural system. Subcultures have their own set of symbols, meanings, and behavioral norms, which develop by interacting with one another. Subcultures develop their own self-culture, or idioculture, that has significant meaning to members of the group and creates social boundaries for membership and social acceptance. ETHNOCENTRISM Is the belief that your culture is natural and correct while other people's cultures are incorrect, unnatural, or inferior CULTURAL RELATIVISM What is believed or practiced as true, or right, or wrong for any culture is whatever that culture beliefs or practices as true, or right, or wrong. HUMAN RIGHTS Cultural rights protect the rights for each person, individually and in community with others, as well as METHODS AND ETHNOGRAPHIC TECHNIQUES THEORY IN CULTURAL These are several ways researchers ANTHROPOLOGY conduct ethnographic research, each is designed to perform a specific task. Each ETHNOGRAPHY method is designed to get a particular kind Ethnography is a descriptive study of a of information from participants. particular human society or the process of making such a study. Participant observation Britannica In participant observation, the key word: fieldwork researcher gets first hand experience of the people and their Ethnography, simply stated, is the study of culture under study. The researcher people in their own environment through the tends to live with the people, eat with use of methods such as participant them and also participates in every observation and face-to-face interviewing. activity that is happening as a person belonging to that culture. Focus of Ethnography It emphasizes the lived experiences Quasi-participant Observation of individuals and the meanings they the observer actively participates in attach to their actions and social some of the ordinary activities and contexts. observes passively from distance in others. 2 TYPES ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH Non-participant Observation CLASSIC ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH In this technique, the researcher simply observes the activities of the Classic Ethnographic research involves a people as a total outsider. detailed description of the whole of a culture outside of the country of origin of the Structured Observation or Controlled researcher. Traditionally those engaging in Observation ethnographic research spend years in the This kind of observation is carried place of study, also known as the “field.” out according to a definite prearranged plans which also may CONTEMPORARYETHNOGRAPHICRESE include considerable experimental ARCH process (Young, 2012). Contemporary ethnographic research has Unstructured Observation or the added dimension of not only looking at Uncontrolled observation people outside of the country of origin of the This technique simply records what researcher, but also seeks to better is naturally occurring in the field understand those who reside within the setting (Srivastava,2004). country of origin. Interview In this technique, the interviewee is a procedure of collecting data where encouraged to express freely his/her two or more people come face to understanding about an issue face and have verbal interaction with related to her/him or ask to share a a purpose personal experience in detail. Structured interview SURVEY RESEARCH In a structured interview the In survey research, the researcher interviewer prepares a set of selects a sample of respondents questions in advance and seeks the from a population and administers a answer of those questions from the standardized questionnaire to them. respondents. It can be in the form of an online questionnaire, a face-to-face Unstructured interview interview, or a telephone interview. In this technique, the interviewer does not have a pre-decided set of Research Tools used for fieldwork in questions. Socio-Cultural Anthropology Personal or individual interview Interview Schedule When an interview is confined to an In this, the researcher and the individual informant, then it is called respondent are in face to face a personal or individual interview. contact and the interview schedule is filled by the researcher himself or Focused interview herself and interprets the questions Focus interview takes place with an as and when necessary. individual known to have been involved in a particular situation Questionnaire (Srivastava,2004). A questionnaire is a tool for collecting and recording information Clinical interview about a particular issue of interest in The interviews which are taken in anthropological research. It is order to gauge a person’s physical mainly made up of a list of questions health or psychological status is which include clear instructions and called clinical interview. space for answers or administrative details. Group interview When a group of people is Case Study interviewed for ascertaining their Case study is a detailed account of opinions or views about a particular the generic development of an social issue, then it is called a group individual, a group, an institution, an interview. association, a community or the total society. Srivastava (2004) In-depth interview Genealogy people who see themselves as a The genealogical method is the social group” (Darnell 2013: 399). process by which a researcher collects data about the kinship, Functionalism family and marriage which are The roots of functionalism are found prepared through the techniques of in the work of sociologists Herbert observation and interview. Spencer and Émile Durkheim. Functionalism considers a culture as Notes Taking and research aids an interrelated whole, not a Taking notes is an extremely collection of isolated traits. Like a important aspect of fieldwork. Taking human being has various organs notes in research will give you a that are interconnected and better understanding of the course necessary for the body to function or topic. correctly, so society is a system of interconnected parts that make the THEORIES OF ANTHROPOLOGY whole function efficiently. Social Evolution of Anthropological Cultural Ecology Theory Cultural ecology is a theoretical Proposed in the 19th century, social approach that attempts to explain evolution, which is sometimes similarities and differences in culture referred to as Unilineal in relation to the environment. Highly Evolution was the first theory focused on how the material culture developed for anthropology. This or technology, related to basic theory claims that societies develop survival, i.e., subsistence, cultural according to one universal order of ecology was the first theoretical cultural evolution, albeit at different approach to provide a causal rates, which explained why there explanation for those similarities and were different types of society differences. existing in the world. Structural Anthropology Historical Particularism based on Claude Lévi-Strauss’ idea Franz Boas and his students that immutable deep structures exist developed historical particularism in all cultures, and consequently, early in the 20th century. that all cultural practices have This approach claims that each homologous counterparts in other society has its own unique historical cultures, essentially that all cultures development and must be are equitable. understood based on its own specific cultural and environmental Cultural Materialism context, especially its historical It incorporates ideas from Marxism, process. Its core premise was that cultural evolution, and cultural culture was a “set of ideas or ecology. Materialism contends that symbols held common by a group of the physical world impacts and sets  constraints on human behavior. The materialists believe that human behavior is part of nature and therefore, it can be understood by using the methods of natural science. Postmodernism (1980's) The postmodern approach challenges the “dominating and bullying nature of science and reason” and focuses on “…splitting the truth, the standards, and the ideal into what has been deconstructed and into what is about to be deconstructed, and denying in advance the right of any new doctrine, theory, or revelation to take the place of the discarded rules of the past” (Cooke 2006: 2014). Feminist Anthropology a four-field approach to anthropology (archaeological, biological, cultural, linguistic) that seeks to reduce male bias in research findings, anthropological hiring practices, and the scholarly production of knowledge. LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION Viki COMMUNICATION Keith and Catherine Hayes, the couple who raised a chimpanzee What is Language? Viki, as a part of their family and Language is our primary means of systematically teach her to speak. communication. Viki learned four words: "mama", It may be spoken or written. "papa", "up" and "cup” Transmitted through learning as part Sign Language of enculturation. Several apes have learned to It is based on arbitrary, learned engage with people through means associations between words and the other than speech things for which they stand. American Sign Language (ASL) - widely used by hearing impaired Key Concept of Language: Americans. It employs a limited IT IS ALWAYS CHANGING number of basic gesture units that are analogous to sounds in spoken Why do anthropologists Studies language. languages? Non-Verbal Communication Anthropologists study linguistic Our facial expressions, bodily differences to show how speech stances, gestures, and movements, reflects social differences. even if unconscious, convey Whorf believed that the reverse is information and are part of our also true, that a language affects communication style. culture as well, by actually Kinesics - is the study of influencing how its speakers think. communication through body movements,stances, gestures, and Non-human Primate Communication facial expressions. Call Systems The Structure of Language The natural communication system The scientific study of a spoken language of other primates. (descriptive linguistics) involves several These vocal systems consists of a interrelated areas of analysis. limited number of sounds-calls that are produced only when particular Phonology - the study of speech environmental stimuli are sounds which are present and encountered. significant in a given language. Can be varied in intensity and Morphology - studies the forms in duration but still less flexible than which sounds combine to form language. (it is automatic and can't morphemes—words and their be combine) meaningful parts. Lexicon - a dictionary containing all its morphemes and their meaning.  Syntax - refers to the arrangement Ethnosemantics studies such and order of words in phrases and classification systems in various sentences. languages. Speech sounds Sociolinguistics Phoneme - a sound contrast that Sociolinguists focus on features that makes a difference, that differentiate vary systematically with social meaning. position and situation. Every Phonetics - the study of speech linguistic change doesn't happen in a sounds in general, what people vacuum, it happens in a society. actually say in various languages Phonemics - studies only the Linguistic Diversity significant sound contrasts Diglossia - regular style shifts (phonemes) of a given language. between "high" and "low" variants of the same language Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis Style Shifts - varying speech in The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis - different contexts. Rather than speaking universal linguistic structures and processes, Gender Speech Contrast different way of thinking. Comparing men and women, there Focal Vocabulary are differences in phonology, Specialized sets of terms and grammar, and vocabulary as well as distinctions that are particularly in the body stances and movements important to certain groups (ex. that accompany speech. Eskimos had many words for snow, African tribes for cattle) Language and Status Position Lexicon - a language's dictionary. A set of names for the events, and Honorific ideas Honorifics are terms used with people, often by being added to their Inuit Language names, to "honor" them. Such terms Inuit languages, spoken by may convey or imply a status indigenous people of the Arctic, are difference between the speaker and well-known for their extensive focal the person being referred to ("the vocabulary related to snow. This is good doctor") or addressed because snow is a crucial part of ("Professor Dumbledore"). their environment, and they need to be able to communicate about Stratification different types of snow with in language is about evaluating precision. speech or language of a social class Religion Ethnosemantics Identity Ethnicity Races Black English Vernacular (BEV) Black English Vernacular (BEV), also known as African American Vernacular English (AAVE), is a variety of English spoken primarily by African Americans, particularly in urban communities. It's a complex linguistic system with its own unique grammatical, phonological, and lexical features. Language Loss "When we lose a language, we lose centuries of thinking about time, seasons, sea creatures, reindeer, edible flowers, mathematics, landscapes, myths, music, the unknown and the everyday" -K. David Harrison Role of Modern Technology 1.Digital Documentation: Audio and Video Recordings: Emphasize the use of high-quality audio and video equipment to capture oral histories, songs, and cultural practices. 2. Language Revitalization Tools: Translation and Transcription Software: Discuss the development of tools to assist in translating and transcribing endangered languages. 3. Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality: Immersive Cultural Experiences: Explore how VR and AR can create virtual environments that allow users to experience different cultures and languages firsthand. 4. Social Media and Online Communities: Language and Culture Sharing Platforms: Discuss the role of online platforms in connecting language speakers and cultural practitioners worldwide.  BAND DEVELOPMENT OF PRODUCTION Their basic social unit, the band, was a small group of fewer than a ADAPTIVE STRATEGIES MEANS OF hundred people, all related by MAKING A LIVING; PRODUCTIVE kinship or marriage. Band size SYSTEM. varied among cultures and often from one season to the next in a The anthropologist Yehudi Cohen given culture. (1974) used the term "adaptive strategy" to describe a group’s Cultivation system of economic production. HORTICULTURE Cohen argued that the most According to Cohen, horticulture is important reason for similarities cultivation that makes intensive use between two (or more) unrelated of none of the factors of production: societies is their possession of a land, labor, capital, and machinery. similar adaptive strategy. Horticulture often involves slash and Cohen developed a typology of burn techniques. societies based on correlations AGRICULTURE between their economies and their Agriculture is cultivation that requires social features. His typology more labor than horticulture does, includes these five adaptive because it uses land intensively and strategies: foraging, horticulture, continuously. agriculture, pastoralism and The greater labor demands industrialism. associated with agriculture reflect its common use of domesticated FORAGING animals, irrigation, or terracing. Until 10,000 years ago, people everywhere were foragers, also WHAT MIGHT BE THE ENVIRONMENTAL known as hunter-gatherers.However, EFFECTS OF SLASH AND BURN environmental differences did create CULTIVATION? substantial contrasts among the world’s foragers Cultivation Continuum Continuum of land and labor use. Correlates of Foraging Horticultural systems stand at one end the "low-labor, shifting plot" end. CORRELATION Agriculturalists are at the other end Typologies, including Cohen's of the "labor intensive, permanent adaptive strategies, are useful plot" end. because they suggest correlations, that is, association or covariation Intensification: People and the between two or more variables. Environment The range of environments available for food production has widened as  people have increased their control over nature. Increasing labor intensity and permanent land use have major demographic, social, political, and environmental consequences.