Term
|
Definition
The comparative, cross-cultural study of
human society and culture. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| is the total socially acquired life-way of a group of people…patterned repetitive ways of thinking, feeling, characteristic of members of society or segment of society |
|
|
Term
| Culture as a Text (Clifford Geertz) |
|
Definition
| Cultural anthropology seen not as a science but as a humanistic discipline like literature |
|
|
Term
| Thick Description (wink and blink) |
|
Definition
A blink might be a reflex movement or might mean you have something in your eye
A wink is full of meaning |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Written description and interpretation of a culture and a set of cultural practices |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Studying humans as they are requires that we interact and participate in community life. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
that there is only one proper way to do things – one’s own culture’s way of doing things.
that this way of doing things is superior to all others |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Understanding and interpreting a particular social practice only within its cultural context. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The belief that people everywhere see the world in the same way |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
the relationship between a sign and the real-world thing it denotes is arbitrary.
No natural relationship between a word and the object it refers to, no causal relationship between the inherent properties of the object and the nature of the sign used to denote it. |
|
|
Term
| the sapir-whorf hypothesis |
|
Definition
language can limit, not expand, our knowledge of the world
sapir:languages are more than a medium of communication -- they guide our perceptions.
whorf:language provides a frame of reference that orders our view of the world and shape our perception of reality. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The symbolic system of cultural knowledge used to generate and interpret speech and meaning. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the science or study of signs and symbols and how they generate meanings |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| studies how language is used in different social contexts and what it tells us about social relationships. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the smallest unit of a language |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Take language from one domain of experience and apply it to another domain. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A roundabout language that is intended to conceal something embarrassing or unpleasant |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Western linear conception of time. human history is the story of a steady advance from a life dependent on the whims of nature to a life of control and domination over natural forces”“technological advancement” is very much valued and is often understood also as progress in other fields of human life such as ethics, morality, etc. |
|
|
Term
| Linear conception/notion of time |
|
Definition
| that time flows in one direction (Past-Present-Future) |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Idea that all humans are potentially equal in terms of their psychic capacities. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Scientific “Proof” that members of one race (whites/Europeans) were intellectually superior to members of other races (blacks, Asians, native Americans) |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the metaphorical synonym for natural selection. |
|
|
Term
| Social Evolutionism (Savagery, Barbarism and Civilization) |
|
Definition
| Passage of society from one stage to next has to do with invention of TECHNOLOGY: early to middle savagery-invention of fire; mid to late savagery--invention of bow and arrow, etc. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| colonialism as civilization |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
there is a reality external to human beings
this reality acts consistently in accordance with natural laws (not random, not chaos)
this reality can be effectively explored through the human senses (sight, touch,etc.)
Science first emerged as an alternative paradigm to knowledge through religion, scriptures, etc.
Tremendous success in revolutionizing human knowledge of world and transforming it in the 19th and 20th C. |
|
|
Term
| Empiricism and positivism |
|
Definition
| pillars of scientific epistemology. |
|
|
Term
| Social (Cultural) Constructionism |
|
Definition
| considers how social phenomena develop in particular social contexts. to uncover the ways in which individuals and groups participate in the creation of their perceived social reality. It involves looking at the ways social phenomena are created, institutionalized, and made into tradition by humans. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a system of social categorization that is hierarchical |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| Social hierarchy and inequality |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| Status (Achieved and Ascribed) |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
defined the task and work of anthropologist/ethnographer as producing “thick description”
“Deep Play”, Balinese Cockfight |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Swiss linguist, father of semiotics.
Understands language as a formal system of signs. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| On the Origin of Species (published in 1859) |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| developed a taxonomy of the great chain of beings that moves from the simple to the complex. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Victorian Era Sociologist and Liberal Theorist
“Survival of the fittest” is his central concept to understand biological life, but Spencer also extended the notion of “evolution” into realms of society and ethics. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Respected Philadelphia doctor in early-19th century
Viewed brain size as criteria for intelligence (the larger the brain, the more intelligent the person) |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
"Ancient Society"
Interested in historical evolution of cultures; worked with kinship and family organization of Iroquois Indians. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Anthropologist who challenged scientific racism and evolutionary constructions of racial hierarchy.
Boas argued against the idea that physical, mental and cultural characteristics of groups were biologically determined and represented distinctive racial types.
Instead he argued that there was a great deal of variation within and between groups. Moreover, one could find equally gifted individuals from all racial groups. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Polish anthropologists who laid down the methods and principles of ethnographic fieldwork
Defined the goal of ethnography as to “grasp the native’s point of view, his relation to life, to realize his vision of his world. Argonauts of the Western Pacific (Dutton, 1961 edition) |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| "Eating Christmas in the Kalahari" |
|
|
Term
| "Eating Christmas in the Kalahari" |
|
Definition
| Main theme: Ethnocentrism/ the notion of generosity and gift-giving/gaining an emic perspective. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| "Shakespeare in the Bush" |
|
|
Term
| "Shakespeare in the Bush" |
|
Definition
Main theme:
Naïve realism and how different people ascribe different meanings to the same thing depending on their cultural background |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| "The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis" |
|
|
Term
| "The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis" |
|
Definition
| how language shapes our perception of reality |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Main Theme: Investigates the making of Race through the Medico-scientific Knowledge” with a monograph on the sickle cell anemia |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Representation and the contruction “national/cultural self” and “others” in the magazine. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
First Contact chronicles the gold prospecting expeditions made between 1930 and 1935 by the Australian Leahy brothers, Michael, Daniel and James. In the 1930s, the Leahy brothers ventured into the vast New Guinean interior. They searched for gold and found 1 million highland tribes people who had previously had no contact with the outside world.
Using thousands of 35-mm black and white photographs along with several hours of 16-mm film that had been shot in the 1930s by the Leahy brothers, the directors, Anderson and Connolly, document the legacy of this dramatic colonial encounter between two vastly different cultures. Recorded in the documentary are the wide-eyed expressions of astonishment, terror and avid curiosity that flashed across the cased of New Guinea highlanders at the sight on men unimaginably different from any they had ever seen. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
Video: Race:
The Power of an Illusion |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| What are some discussions over the definition of culture? |
|
Definition
Culture is a concept; not a set of things or positions or states of being
Culture has complex and variable meanings over time
The concept of culture is interconnected with larger political, economic and historical forces
Cultural phenomena are conditioned by power relations (relations of inequality) at particular moments in history |
|
|
Term
| How does an anthropologist study culture? What are the main methods? |
|
Definition
-linguistic and non-linguistic symbols
-tacit and explicit messages conveyed in and through symbols, practices, manners, conventions etc. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
A particular research methodology applied/practiced by anthropologists, and sometimes by people in other socio-cultural disciplines; sociologists, political scientists
Ethnographic research usually requires very close, long-term residence with the group of people studied. |
|
|
Term
| What is participant observation, what is its goal, how does it differ from the detached observation of the natural scientist? |
|
Definition
We don’t study people in isolated laboratory conditions.
Not as detached observers.
Studying humans as they are requires that we interact and participate in community life. |
|
|
Term
| ethnocentrism-cultural relativism debate |
|
Definition
Robbins maintains relativism, “simply stated, holds that no behavior or belief can be judged to be odd or wrong simply because it is different from our own” (p.9)
Tends to equate “ethnocentric” and “relativistic fallacy” as opposite sides of the same coin.
vs.
This definition is too simplistic…
It tends to blur the fact that anthropologists’ emphasis on relativism is not driven by an obsession to “justify” “odd practices” in the name of mere diversity.
But by historically grounded ethical questions over the representation and interpretation of difference.
Besides the obvious value of adopting such a position for enhancing tolerance and respect towards difference; anthropological emphasis on relativism has developed against the historical background of processes like colonialism, slavery, racism, missionarism.
Remember: Anthropologists are not missionaries: Job is not to try to make converts to any specific belief. |
|
|
Term
| language as a symbolic communication system |
|
Definition
A symbol is anything that STANDS FOR or REPRESENTS something else.
It may be an object or action or sound used to represent something abstract; an emblem.
Letters are symbolic representations of vocal sounds. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| study of the categories and rules for forming vocal symbols |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the smallest part of an utterance that has a definite meaning |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| study of the minimal units of meaning in a lang. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the unconscious rules that govern the arrangement of words in sentences and phrases |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the study of meaning; of categories and rules for relating vocal symbols to their referents |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| categories and rules for combining vocal symbols. |
|
|
Term
| Examples of Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis |
|
Definition
Inuit -- many words for snow
Aztec -- same word for cold, ice, snow
English speakers identify at least 6 colors (purple, blue, green, yellow, orange and red)
Bassa speakers in Liberia identify 3 colors
Shona speakers in Rhodesia identify 2 colors. |
|
|
