Anthro Quiz 1

ethnography

an anthropologists written or filmed description of a particular culture

fieldwork

an extended period of close involvement with the people in whose language or way of life anthropologists are interested, during which anthropologists ordinarily collect most of their data

objective knowledge

knowledge about reality that is absolute and true

material culture

objects created or shaped by human beings and given meaning by cultural practices

sex

observable physical characteristics that distinguish two kinds of humans, females and males, needed for biological reproduction

biocultural organisms

organisms (in this case human beings) whose defining features are codetermined by biological and cultural factors

informants

people in a particular culture who work with anthropologists an provide them with insights about their way of life

informants

people in a particular culture who work with anthropologists and provide them with insights about their way of life. Also called teachers or friends.

Culture

sets of learned behavior and ideas that human beings acquire as members of society. Human beings use culture to adapt to and to transform the world in which they live

race

social groupings that allegedly reflect biological differences

gender

the cultural construction of beliefs and behaviors considered appropriate for each sex

coevolution

the dialectical relationship between biological processes and symbolic cultural processes, in which each makes up an important part of the environment to which the others must adapt

human agency

the exercise of at least some control over their lives by human beings

culture shock

the feeling, akin to panic, that develops in people living in an unfamiliar society when they cannot understand what is happening around them

participant observation

the method anthropologists use to gather information by living as closely as possible to the people whose culture they are studying while participating in their lives as much as possible

ethnocentrism

the opinion that ones own way of life is natural or correct, and indeed, the only true way of being fully human

socialization

the process by which human beings as material organisms, living together with other similar organisms, cope with the behavioral rules established by their respective societies

enculturation

the process by which human beings living with one another must learn to come to terms with the ways of thinking and feeling that are considered appropriate in their respective cultures

dialectic of fieldwork

the process of building a bridge of understanding between anthropologist and informants so that each can begin to understand the other

paleoanthropology

the search for fossilized remains of humanitys earliest ancestors

Intersubjective meanings

the shared, public symbolic systems of a culture

linguistic anthropology

the specialty of anthropology concerned with the study of human languages

medical anthropology

the specialty of anthropology that concerns itself with human health- the factors that contribute to disease or illness and the ways that human populations deal with disease or illness

biological anthropology

the specialty of anthropology that looks at human beings as biological organisms and tries to discover what characteristics make them different from other organisms and what characteristics they share

cultural anthropology

the specialty of anthropology that shows how variation in the beliefs and behaviors of members of different human groups is shaped by sets of learned behaviors and ideas that human beings acquire as members of society- that is by culture

Anthropology

the study of human nature, human society, and the human past

primatology

the study of nonhuman primates, the closest living relatives of human beings

applied anthropology

the subfield of anthropology that uses information gathered from the other anthropological specialties to solves practical cross-cultural problems

language

the system of arbitrary vocal symbols used to encode ones experience of the world and others

racism

the systematic oppression of one or more socially defined "races" by another socially defined "race" that is justified in terms of the supposed inherent biological superiority of the rulers and the supposed inherent biological inferiority of those they rule

positivism

the view that there is a reality out there that can be known through the senses and that there is a single appropriate set of scientific methods for investigating that reality

Holism

a characteristic of the anthropological perspective that describes, at the highest and most inclusive level, how anthropology tries to integrate all that is known about human beings and their activities, with the result that the whole is understood to be greater than the sum of two parts

Comparison

a characteristic of the anthropological perspective that requires anthropologists to consider similarities and differences in as wide a range of human societies as possible before generalizing about human nature, human society or the human past

evolution

a characteristic of the anthropological perspective that requires anthropologists to place their observations about human nature, human society or the human past in a temporal framework that takes into consideration change over time

ethnology

a comparative study of two or more cultures

archeology

a cultural anthropology if the human past involving the analysis of material remains left behind by earlier societies

fact

a widely accepted observation, a taken for granted item of common knowledge. Facts do not speak for themselves; only when they are interpreted and placed in a context of meaning do they become intelligible

reflexivity

critically thinking about the way one thinks; reflecting on ones own experience

multisited fieldwork

ethnographic research on cultural processes that are not contained by social, ethnic, religious, or national boundaries, in which the ethnographer follows the process from site to site and with persons who traditionally were never subjected to ethnographic analysis

cultural relativism

understanding another culture in its own terms sympathetically enough so that the culture appears to be a coherent and meaningful design for living