Anthropology

Gift Exchange Names (g)

Gebusi refer to a person based on the gift they give (ex: if someone gives fish, they call the person "fish")

Potlatch

Gift giving festival and economic system used by Native American tribes of Northwestern North America to display wealth or enhance prestige.

Exchange

Giving material or any type of good that is supposed to be equivalent in value to the other person's good (mutual)

Liminality

The "in-between" stage where you're not single or married; stand at threshold (can refer to a point in life usually marked by a formal ceremony)

Ethnocentrism

The belief that our culture is better than the rest; judging another person's culture through your own culture.

Exogamous

Marriage outside the community

Dugawe (g)

Committed suicide by drinking fish poison because his wife (Sialim) had another lover (Sagawa)

Sexuality

How one identifies themselves in terms of sexual preference.

Gift

Creates ongoing social ties through an expectation of reciprocity (goods do not involve reciprocity)

Ethics

"Do no harm," respect privacy. etc.. (ex: the homosexual advance of a Gebusi man towards Knauft - Knauft had to resist)

Napoleon Chagnon

"Man called Bee"; Could possibly be involved with the deadly measles epidemic that hit the Yanamamo people (he studied them).

Marcel Mauss

"The Gift"; gifts are never free (think of Big Bang Theory episode) obligation to: •give •receive •reciprocate •reflect and reinforce social bonds between givers and recipients Gift-giving expects & fosters an ongoing relationship.

Farming (g)

"falling of the trees"

Emile Durkheim

'human capacity for classification is an extension of our social nature' french socialist theorist

Endogamous

Marriage within the community (Gebusi marry within their community but outside their clan)

Ties that Bind-Whiteley

-Give gifts to protect their land: pray sticks Hopi wanted from president -> protection, president gave them metals ( builds ties) -Differences in cultural reciprocity; Had the natives and the president acknowledge the importance of each of their gifts, a stronger tie would have been formed between the president and the natives.

Body Ritual Among the Nacirema (Miner)

-Satire of American bodily rituals Major example would be the fascination with the mouth. They attribute a Dentist, with a "holy man." Psychologist as "listeners"

Aliens, Ape Men and Whacky Savages (Peterson)

-Tabloids vs. mainstream press -Anthropologist are scientist of the marginal, the strange and unimportant Tabloids (focus on the marginal) 1. Aliens & Apes 2. Whacky Savages 3. Whacky Anthropologist 4. Silly Studies Essentially, how society views forms of differences. How we choose to define these boundaries in our own terms as "Weird" yet intriguing.

John Monaghan

Anthropologist of religion and a Mesoamericanist. Studied the mixteca culture. (Bee Larvae & Onion Soup)

Claude-Levi Strauss

Bricolage, structuralism: made by rules of conduct which are sometimes residues of traditions... "reason itself is a product rather than a cause of cultural evolution" Building culture from the things around you.

Bricolage

A kind of collage in which the odds and ends of culture are turned into different uses that may have never been intended (Monaghan & Just, P. 46); Something created from a variety of available things (Claude Levi-Strauss).

Polygamy

A man having more than one wife

Levirate

A man marries his brother's widow (Gebusi practice this)

Culture

A pattern of behaviors that we (people) learn and pass on. There isn't an exact definition; but a combination of a lot of different definitions from different anthropologists.

Clan (g)

A permanent social Group whose members pass down membership through descent from one generation to the next. Members in a clan do not marry each other because they believe that they share a common ancestor. All members in the clan call each other brother and sister grandparent etc... even if in they are merely cousins nieces nephews etc... (p.g. 54-55)

Nomads

A person that does not stay in the same place for long (no fixed home).

Ritual

A religious or solemn ceremony consisting of a series of actions performed according to a prescribed order

Brideprice

A transfer of wealth from the male's group to the female's (Monaghan & Just, P. 79)

Polyandry

A woman having more than one husband; population control. (Ex: Tibetians practice this)

Sororate

A woman marries her sister's widower

adameni (g)

Adam and Eve, love potion used by the men to lure the women. Comes after the confusion of condoms, when Knauft thinks that's what the guy is describing; Only remembers when he thinks of European "potion"

Peter Just

Anthropologist of law and a southeast Asianist. Dou Donggo (Mountain People). Studied in Indonesia.

Arranging A Marriage in India (Nanda)

Arranging a marriage is better because you get to learn about the person, rather than have to find out through dating if they are a good fit. Parents will not choose a bad match for their child so you know that whoever you are marrying is someone worth keeping a relationship with. Arranged marriages allow you to focus on school or other "stressers", rather than the stress of dating - let your parents decide. The author argues with the notion of arranged marriages, but is constantly put down. Author helps arrange a marriage herself, and it was a success.

Bruce Knauft

Author of the Gebusi; spent a great amount of time with the Gebusi and lived among them while studying their culture.

Initiation (g)

Boys would become men once they ingested enough semen. They were painted yellow and wore wigs that were extremely heavy during the ceremony .

"When Brothers Share a Wife"(Goldstein)

Brothers share one wife. Cons: Jealousy The wife would either favor a younger brother, but mostly the wife would need to favor the eldest. Reason they did it was cbeause it gave them the "good life"...it prevents inheritance from fragmenting -> easier economically. Divided up the labor among the brothers. [Occurs in Tibet]

Clifford Geertz

Culture as a text that one can read like a book or poem. "Balinese Cockfight"

Patrilineal

Descent from father's side

Matrilineal

Descent from mother's side

Lineage (g)

Descent traced back to common ancestor.

Thick Description

Description in depth. Really detailed. (Ex: Balinese Cockfight)

Global/Local Phenomena

Different between having a local community and having outside people

Franz Boas

Father of modern american anthropology: "cultural glasses"-- culture embraces all the manifestations of social behaviour of a community

Sedentary

Fixed location (opposite of nomads)

Ethics, globalization, Independence Day (Gebusi)

Gebusi Independence day: Example of Hybridization- seen in the music (use of guitars, ukes, lyrics no longer the voice of a spirit woman.) New dance styles, and skits exploring their past and present.

Where Fat is a Mark of Beauty (Simmons)

Had fat rooms, bigger women were better. Bigger means a woman is healthier and comes from a family who can afford to send her to fattening rooms. Beauty is relative to the culture ◦Brings the question- What content is universal with regards to beauty? What is beauty cross-culturally? ◦The relativity of aesthetics ◦"beauty is no quality in things themselves... it is in the mind of the beholder" -David Homer. ◦Tradition identifies a people

Gebusi Singing

Happened during ceremonies, festivals, and rituals. It usually went with dancing and was short and repetitive; involving spirit mediums, dialogue, and the listeners.

Hunting (g)

Hardly hunted for pigs, usually captured them and raised them then let them go. They would hunt boar.

Horticulture

Having multi-gardens to plant and then come back to (example: Gebusi and trees, where they cut down trees and insert seeds inside soil, and the trees provide protection from the blaze of the sun and the pelting of the rain).

Silap (g)

Husband of Boyl; cofounder of the main longhouse

Inquests/Accusation (g)

If one woman marries into a family, the husbands family is expected to give a women in exchange. If not, they are usually accused of sorcery which is what all Gebusi deaths are linked to.

Money

Impersonal form of exchange, does not create communal ties.

Return, religion, change (Gebusi)

Importance of time ( church, school, sports) , education & school, still foraged, no more sorcery, emphasis on house hold, l -Sense of loss of kogwayay

Globalization

Increase inner connectedness; growth to a worldwide scale.

Crime (g)

Increased a lot since moderation. Twice as common as any other crime. Threatened continuation of schools and operation of the airship.

Yuway (g)

Initiate, carrier for Bruce and Eileen on first expedition, language helper and friend of Bruce.

Doliay (g)

Initiate, friend of Hawi, transient tryst partner of Nolop. Widower of Boyl. Kills Basowey for the death of Boyl and turns himself in to serves 6 years in prison becoming a Christian afterwards.

Bridewealth

Involves cash, but most of the time deals with wealth items or items of great value (Monaghan & Just, P. 79)

Pastoralist

Likes herding animals that graze.

Papua New Guinea (g)

Located above Australia

Five Sexes

Male, Female, Hermaphrodite (has both sex organs; both work), Mermaphrodite (has both sex organs; male works, female doesn't), Fermaphrodite (has both sex organs; female works, male doesn't)

Shakespeare in the Bush (Bohannan)

Misinterpret the universal by misunderstanding the particular. Beer is given to Laura constantly. She is also corrected on her story by the tribesmen who have not heard the story before but attribute their own beliefs to it.

Subsistence/Food (g)

Mostly ate starchy bananas during the 80's. In 1998, rice and tuna were considered a form of status indicating people who could afford it were of higher stature. 2008 they went back to starchy bananas. Food was used as gifts given to peaceful strangers, to help build lifelong relationships and to pay tribute in ceremonies.

Boyl (g)

Mother of Sayu, wife of Silap, friend of Eileen

Kogwayay (g)

Mottor for the way of life for the Gebusi. Kog: togetherness, friendship, and similarity. Wa: to talk. Yay: to cheer

Murder (g)

Murders were very common between the Bedamini raiding and the defenseless Gebusi villages. The percentage of homicides declined after the pacification of the Bedamini tribe. The reasons for the decline in murder within the Gebusi was due to the reluctantly to kill people that would come to the attention of police at the Nomad Station. Homicide rate drops to zero because of religions.

Roles of Religion

Religion can and usually does replace the old traditions of a culture. Once religion is brought in, traditions such as spirit mediums and believing in multiple Gods typically subsides.

Cultural Relativism

Observe based on cultural perspective, we can't judge another culture until we know more. Looking at another culture within its own context rather than one's own.

Ongka's Big Moka

Ongka struggles to accumulate huge numbers of pigs (seen as gifts) and other items of value to present at a Moka ceremony to another tribe. He needed one to give to a politician because he needed a favor for his village. The objective of Ongka's Moka is to build status and fame for his tribe and for himself.

Fieldwork

Participating and observing while living in remote locations to study other cultures. The collecting of sociological or anthropological data in the field.

Participant Observation

Putting yourself in the position of what you are studying and the involvement with people in their cultural environment to gain close and intimate familiarity with a group of individuals.

Gebusi Dancing

Represents spirit women searching for sexual satisfaction.

Gami (g)

She was in a sister exchange; had sex with the guy, but then bailed and got beat and shunned by family. Bruce talked to her alone in the forest to try to help her leave.

Foragers

Someone who collects food (berries, roots)

Taboo (g)

Something that is forbidden. After you are initiated, you are forbidden from doing/eating certain things.

Sayu (g)

Son of Boyl and Silap

Wayabay (g)

Son of Swamin. Marries Gami in 2001, father of three children (bachelor, hunter, and house builder). Asked Bruce for the love potion. Also he talked about adameni (adam and eve cologne) that was awkward for Bruce.

Radcliffe-Brown

Structural-functionalism, studied kinship, family organization. Interested in social structure; "joking relationship" and "avoidance" (social&cultural anthropology: a very short introduction, p.57)

Michel Foucault

Study of power; Fit into categories, who determines who is insane/sane?

Kinship

Study of relationship among groups (family like but not necessarily blood relations)

Ethnography

The branch of anthropology that deals with the scientific description of specific human cultures. In order to understand what people do, it is best to observe them by interacting.

Bronislaw Malinowski

The founder of Modern Social Anthropology. His approach (functionalism): primitive man was no 'slave of custom' but a rational actor whose every practice and institution served a function that contributed to the satisfaction of individuals and collective needs.

Berdache

The third sex, the fourth sex, two spirited person; when a man takes the woman's role.

Yibihilu (g)

The village of the Gebusi

Syncretism

Two cultures merge. [Ex: when they go into the forest searching for sorcery while they believe in Christianity (The Gebusi, P. 107)]

Interpellation

Unlike self-identification, how others identify you.

Virilocal

Upon marriage, family lives with husband's side of the family.

Methods and Ethics (Participant Observation)

Very dense reading that focuses on the different attributes of participation

Dowry

Wealth or inheritance a woman brings or will bring with her into a marriage; represents woman's share of inheritance children receive from their families. (Monaghan & Just, P. 79)

Sister-Exchange (g)

When one person from a clan gets married particularly into another clan there is a tradition that the guy who is getting married should also have another female get married (sister) so each clan does not lose a member. One female lost yet another female gained.

Reciprocity

When receiving a gift, it's one's job to give something back (ex: Big Bang Theory: when Sheldon felt he had to buy the Penny something since she bought him a gift, ex: In "A Man Called Bee", Napoleon Chagnon gave a hunting gun back to the tribe after they gave him food)

Nomad Station (g)

Where Bruce and his wife first arrived and where the australian police were once stationed.

Bilateral Descent

Where lineage is traced down in the lineages of male and female for wealth or inheritance (ex: USA) note: relatives are equally important

Gasumi Corners (g)

Where the Gebusi lived in 1998

Sialim (g)

Widow of Dugawe, mother of one daughter and wife of Swamin

Strange Country This (Roscoe)

Within the Crow Indian groups, it is acceptable for a man to dress as a woman and perform "female" duties, while it is also acceptable for a woman to assume the "man's" role and have multiple wives. Berdaches (the 3rd gender who can be male or female) are associated with spiritual powers. Homosexual relationships were for pleasure and emotional connections, whereas heterosexual sex was for procreation only.

Spirit Medium (g)

Would be the ones to determine who the sorcerer was. (ex: Swamin; the guy who later marries Sialim)

Gardens (g)

Would never put them in the same spot. They would grow the crop and after the season was over, start a new garden in a different area.

Max Weber

marxists sociologist,rationalization; rationality is a marriage of structure and function; "bureaucracy", "iron cage of modernity", looked at social structures, alienation, exploitation

What is Culture?

no one definition for culture

Cultural Anthropological Methods

•Participant observation •Long-Term Fieldwork to get better at local meanings of things •Long Duration of Work: about 2 years or more; until one has mastered the language and obtains a level of rapport and trust. •Interviews (formal/informal) •Making Maps •Making kinship charts •Taking Pictures/Video/Audio •Observation only

A Man Called Bee

◦Mishimishmaböwei-teri ◦1968-1972 ◦Lived among the yanomama ◦Bee traded with them to help build rapport with the people ◦Trade within the tribe for resources he needed: gave them medicine,steel axes ◦Land is never reused- slash/burn horticulture ◦used participant observation within the village to understand their rituals

Notes on a Balinese Cockfight (Geertz)

◦To get accepted, they ran away from the cockfight like everyone else, even though they could've shown their passport to get out of all trouble. ◦Cockfighting symbolizes structure and manhood to the people. Bets would be placed alongside their kin, and if it was not done, the person would become stigmatized.