Exam 2 Study Guide PDF

Exam 2 Study Guide Modern Humans Explain how homo erectus fits into modern human ancestry, a few of its key anatomical features, and the significance of these features as precursors to modern homo sapiens ○ Taller Stature - more modern limb proportions ○ Fully Bipedal...

Exam 2 Study Guide Modern Humans Explain how homo erectus fits into modern human ancestry, a few of its key anatomical features, and the significance of these features as precursors to modern homo sapiens ○ Taller Stature - more modern limb proportions ○ Fully Bipedal ○ Narrower pelvis and shorter toes ○ Smaller teeth and less prognathism Explain how modern pleistocene homo species fit into modern human ancestry and some of their key behaviors ○ A mosaic of features from both homo erectus and homo sapien ○ Also known as archaic homo sapien ○ Brain size of 1200 - 1300 cc ○ Head shape is rounder and taller with less prognathism ○ Teeth closer to homo sapien ○ Lived in more varied environments ○ Used fire Address what anatomically modern vs behaviorally modern refers to in homo sapiens, and some of the features of behavioral modernity among homo sapiens ○ May have been anatomically modern, but they were not behaviorally modern, meaning they were unable to have complex behavior or language. Broadly address who the neanderthals and denisovans were in terms of timeline, lineage, and basic anatomical features, and their relationship to homo sapiens ○ Neanderthals Were around 400,000-35,000 years ago Evolved directly from the lineage of HE Compared to MH they were short, strong, and stout with large faces, big noses and larger brains. Had developed tools (Mousterian) Used fire ○ Denisovans Very little is know Neanderthals and Denisovans may have shared a common ancestor 450,000 years ago, that MH did not share What was the main argument that Shipman made in her article about scavenging, and what was the main evidence she used to make this claim?  ○ Early hominins were not hunters like what was used to be believed, but instead scavengers. The reason was because a lot of the fossilized animal bones found among the hominin fossils had scratch marks that were older than when the hominins butchered them. Language - Identify and explain the two basic rules that comprise human language (that the guide and the reading covered), which include: - Phonological rules: Refers to features of language that have to do with sounds, (Phonemes; units of sounds) - Syntactic rules: refers to how words are ordered within a language. (Ex, My dog is chubby or Chubby is my dog.) Explain why linguistic anthropologists find the terms dialect or vernacular to be flawed. ○ Because language has so much variety Address what a sign is in linguistic anthropology and what it means for a sign to be arbitrary (or characterized by arbitrariness) ○ Signs are something that conveys something ○ Can be when a sign conveys meaning that is not inherently connected to it. Ex., a circle used to represent a city or a triangle representing a school Define speech act theory and provide + explain and example that illustrates this theory ○ The ‘Speech Act Theory’ means that language isn’t only information, but it also performs actions ○ Examples include gossiping, or saying ‘I do’ at a wedding. These all do more than just convey information, they are also performing the action that is said. Address some of the basic ways that language is an identity marker or creator ○ Language is used and intentionally or unintentionally to project, claim, or challenge our identities. ○ Examples would include how caregivers talk to babies, language used by authority figures, gossip. Explain the basic premise of the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis ○ Is that our perception of reality is shaped by the words we use in our language Provide a piece of evidence that Thompson gives in support of the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis and a piece of evidence or a point that Thompson used to complicate the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis. ○ A piece of evidence would be the concept of time, in English and related languages we speak of time as a concrete absolute concept. Such as past, present, and future. We also have uniform units of time; seconds,  minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, and years. Hopi on the other hand do not have uniform or concrete ideas about time. Instead they see things in the now, even past events are discussed as present in the present. They believe each thing has its own life rhythms; growing, declining and changing in its own time. ○ A point that disagrees with the hypothesis is that it doesn’t take into account the relation culture and language has together. Even words that look similar don’t always have the same meaning. Such as the Spanish word vestido does not mean vest, but rather it actually means dress. Economic systems What does the term economic behavior refer to? ○ Is how people produce, exchange and use resources What is reciprocity? And what does it have to do with economics/economic behavior? ○ A form of behavior infused with cultural meaning that is associated with give and take. It helps create social connections and encourages sharing among a community. Identify, explain, and provide examples of the three types of reciprocity: ○ Balanced: Giving with expectation that payback has equivalent value ○ Generalized: Giving without expectation of equivalent or immediate exchange ○ Negative: Taking without any sort of equivalent payback, only one party What does it mean for reciprocity to be “a form of social insurance”? ○ Sharing with others is a way of ‘storing’ obligation and allows a community to share within themselves What is capitalism? ○ A market-based economy that enables private ownership to sometimes profit off others’ labor. What is commodification and what does it have to do with capitalism? ○ When something that was previously unsaleable becomes popular and is suddenly a popular commodity. Fads are a way of explaining this such as Stanley cups, Carrhart, toilet paper during the pandemic, and others What is neoliberalism and what does it have to do with capitalism? ○ Government started to shift into the market through social services, such as healthcare and pensions, instead of being privatized it was now available in the market. People started to see  health, childcare, and education as a personal responsibility rather than communal. What is redistribution and what is an example of modern/contemporary redistribution? ○ Is when goods and services are collected and then distributed evenly among the people. Some examples would include food banks and taxes Violence, War, and Peace What do anthropologists say about how membership in groups is connected to war/group violence? ○ Is based on people’s identification as members in social distinct groups. To construct social identities based on group membership is a basic trait of our species. On what basis (evidence and/or reasoning) do anthropologists hold that warfare/group violence is a byproduct of evolutionary tendencies, rather than an evolutionary adaptation itself? ○ Organized violence and warfare is a very recent aspect of human history. One hypothesis is that competition intensified as populations increased in settlements and agriculture started to become popular. It could be a also an extremely adaptive psychological mechanism to encourage us to live in groups and be willing to defend them Address (define and provide examples that illustrate) some of the social conditions that may lead to war or group violence, including: ○ Group identity Humans are more willing to help those they identify most closely with. Ex., we are more likely to help those that we feel we belong to rather than others. Contagious yawning is more common among those we are close to. ○ Norms and values Norms are societal appropriateness and values are what people believe in and value as in morals and such. These two come together to and actually help structure the groups we have memberships in. ○ Rhetoric (define/explain this concept) Is a factor that drives group willingness to engage in conflicts. These factors can be found in speeches, radio broadcasts, memes, and other social media. Speeches about enemies usually contain metaphors to make the enemy seem evil and not human. What is structural violence and, broadly, what does it have to do with colonialism, imperialism and/or settler colonization? Provide an example that illustrates this relationship.  ○ Structural violence is when groups prevent other groups from meeting their basic needs and reinforcing inequities in ways that take away that particular group's humanness. ○ Slavery is an example of structural violence. ○ Imperialism is when a country uses military, economic, or political power to take over another country or group of people. This action harms people in many ways such as; taking political freedom, removes wealth and health, destroys languages and cultural systems. ○ Colonialism is a form of imperialism in which governments or settlers take over territory with the goal of exploiting its people and material resources ○ Settle Colonialism is when settlers replace the original inhabitants through depopulation, enslaving, forcibly removing people, and/or forcing assimilation. What is resistance in the context of structural violence? Provide an example. ○ Resisting is the act of pushing back against oppression and other forms of violence. ○ Resistance can happen in multiple ways such as rumors, gossip, stories, symbolic violence, even doing less work than what is expected of those people. What differences did Fry find between the two communities where he conducted ethnographic research? What argument does he make about peace and violence, based on these findings? ○ The 2 communities were La Paz and San Andres. La Paz had more aggression than San Andres. The biggest point of the aggression in La Paz was jealousy, mostly among men. Gender What are the differences between sex and gender? What do (and don’t) sex and gender have to do with culture? (there are many ways to address this! If you can pull a two or three from the gender lesson, you will be in good shape for the exam). ○ Sex is the biological parts of identity, such as reproductive organs, external or internal, chromosomes, hormones, and etc ○ Gender is the social, cultural learned schemas surrounding a persons identity. This is related to clothing, self ideology, etc. ○ Both can have an impact on a culture, such as a person being born female will typically don pink or be raised to be ‘ladylike’ meaning more reserved, wearing skirts or dresses, etc. While being born male they will  don blue and be expected to behave as a ‘boy’, no crying, not liking certain things, being tough, wanting to fight, etc Why is sex not actually a binary? ○ Because human bodies can be much more different then just male and female. A person could be female, but doesn’t dress or behave as a female and this also goes the same for men. Some people are also androgynous meaning they don’t necessarily look male or female. What is gender performance and what is an example of it? ○ A gender marker or performance is how someone is expected to act for their gender. What are gender markers and how is this concept related to the idea of gender performance? ○ Some gender markers include; how someone dress such as females wearing dresses or skirts, how someone behaves, men needing to be tough, and etc What are some of the anthropological explanations for why gender exists? What are some things that complicate these theories? ○ Gender refers to the cultural roles based on the biological sex of a person. A theory for why gender exists is because of children, women would typically breastfeed which would create a role of childcare compared to hunting and gathering. ○ Some theories that complicate the theory is that women hominin fossils have been found with weapons typically thought to only be of males. What is patriarchy and what do anthropologists say about why it exists? ○ Means that cisgender men hold most of the power in public and private areas. It also operates according to laws and norms for gender behavior that exclude other genders. ○ It dates back to when agriculture started to become dominant and wealth began to form in various ways, such as land, it began to favor men over women.