Intro To Cultural Anthropology Final Exam Study Guide

Capitalist Production

- Most recent - Economic system based on private property owned by a capitalist class - Workers sell their labor to capitalists - By keeping wages low, capitalists are able to sell the products of the workers for more than it costs to produce the products - Important distinguishing feature: Workers are separated from the means of production

Materialism

A Marxist concept that emphasized the ways on which human and social and cultural practice were influenced by basic economic needs.

Ethnobotany

A branch of ethnology which studies the uses of plants for food, construction, dyes, crafts, and medicine

One thing that separates media anthropologists from other media scholars...

A commitment to long term participant-obersvation based field work

World System

A complex web through which goods circulate around the globe. Complex chains of distribution separate the producers of the good from consumers.

Balanced Reciprocity

A direct exchange in which something is traded or given with the expectation that something of equal balance will be returned within a specific time period. This involves three distinct stages 1) the gift must be given, 2) it has to be received, and 3) a reciprocal gift has to be returned

Political Economy

An approach to anthropology that investigates the historical evolution of economic relationships as well as the contemporary political processes and social structures that contribute to differences in wealth and income.

Double-edged sword of globalization

Being told some other group is at fault for the problems they are facing

Declaration of Belem

Called for governments and corporations to respect and justly compensate the intellectual property rights of indigenous groups - especially regarding medicinal plants

Social Control

Fields of social system most actively involved in maintenance of norms and the regulation of any conflict

Economic Anthropologists

Focus on how people produce, exchange, and consume material objects and the role that immaterial things such as labor, services, and knowledge play in our efforts to secure our livelihood.

Public Anthropology

Focuses on the interface between anthropology as an academic discipline and the broader public that supports and, ideally finds much value in it

Boyer's term, anthropology of meditation...

Focuses on the way that images, speech, people, and things become socially significant or meaningful as they are communicated

Broad Spectrum Diet

Foraging societies tend to have this. It's a diet based on a wide range or resources

Four modes of subsistence

Foraging, pastoralism, horticulture, and agriculture

Three types of reciprocity

Generalized, balanced, and negative

Multi-cropping

Horticulturalists practice this - Growing a variety of different plants in gardens that are biodiverse.

Informal Economy

Includes a diverse range of activities that are unregulated and untaxed by the state

Mechanical Infrastructure

Includes the apparatuses that bring networks of technology into existence

Structural Violence

Is a form of violence in which a social structure or institution harms people by preventing them from meeting their basic needs.

Personalized Transactions

Occur between people who have a relationship that endures past the exchange and might include both social/economic elements

Mass Communication

One-to-many communication that privileges the sender and/or owner of the technology that transmits the media

Foodways

The cultural norms and attitudes surrounding food and eating it

Habitus

The embodied dispositions that arise from one's enculturation in a specific social setting. It results in a feeling of ease within specific settings

Hominin Radiation

The geographic expansion of multiple hominin species.

Homeostasis

The movement of a particular system towards equilibrium In ecology this is associated with the idea that ecosystems should remain at the stable ecosystem associated within an area

Mono-Cropping

The reliance on a single plant species

Means of Production

The resourced used to produce goods in a society such as land for farming or factories

Commodity Chain

The series of steps a food takes from the location it is produced to the store where it is sold.

Subsistence System

The set of practices used by members in a society to acquire food

True or False? Almost all societies combine one or more of the four modes of subsistence

True

True or False? Foraging is the only immediate return subsistence system?

True

True or false? Media consumption is bound to culture

True

Ethnoecology

Use and knowledge of plants, animals, and ecosystems by traditional societies

Cultural Ecology

Used by Julian Steward to describe how cultures use and understand their environments

Agriculture Societies

Used in the U.S.A, involves the cultivation of domestic plants and animals using technologies that allow for intensive use of land.

Globalization

Used to discuss the circulation of goods, the fast and furious exchange of ideas, and the movement of people.

Generalized Reciprocity

When we gift without reckoning the exact value of the gift or expecting a specific thing in return

placebo effect

a response to treatment that occurs because the person receiving treatment believes it will work, not because the treatment itself is effective

Bands

a small kinship-based groups found among foragers

Exurban

a term that describes the migration of generally affluent people from urban areas to rural areas for the amenities of nature, recreation, and scenic beauty associated with rural areas.

Chiefdom

intermediate between tribe and state. -kin based - featured differential access to resources and permanent political structure

Emotionalistic explanation

suggests that illnesses are caused by strong emotions such as fright, anger, or grief; this is an example of a naturalistic ethno-etiology.

Power

the ability to exercise one's will over others

Development Anthropology

the branch of applied anthropology that focuses on social issues in, and the cultural dimension of, economic development

Ethnomedicine

the comparative study of cultural ideas about wellness, illness, and healing

Immediate Return System

the food acquired can be immediately consumed. Foraging is an immediate return system.

Media practices

the habits or behaviors of the people who produce media, the audiences who interact with media, and everyone in between.

Hegemony

the internalization of a dominant ideology

Epidemiological Transition

the sharp drop in mortality rates, particularly among children, that occurs in a society as a result of improved sanitation and access to healthcare

Environmental Anthropology is a way...

to informs and connect with a variety of other disciplines that address similar questions of sustainability

Maladaptive

traits that decrease the capacity of individuals to survive and reproduce

Adaptive

traits that increase the capacity of individuals to survive and reproduce

True or false? Western biomedicine tends to conceive of the human body as kind of a biological machine

true

Media

used to describe a set of technologies that connect multipole people at one time to shared content

Naturalistic ethno-etiology

views disease as the result of natural forces such as cold, heat, winds, or an upset in the balance of the basic body elements.

Personalistic ethno-etiology

views disease as the result of the actions of human or supernatural beings

Weber's three dimensions of stratification

wealth (economic status), power (political status), prestige (social status)

Manfred Steger's Definition of Globalization

"The intensification of worldwide social relations which link distant localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped by events occurring many miles away and vice versa.

Domestic Production

- Characterizes the lives of foragers, and small scale subsistence farmers with social structures that are more egalitarian - Labor is organized on the basis of kinship relations - Subsistence farmers produce food for their families own consumption. - Foraging societies are characterized by 1) the collective ownership of the primary means of production. 2) Lower rates of social domination 3) Sharing

Organization Correlations

- Forages tended to have band organization - Horticulturalists and pastoralists tended to have tribal organization - Chiefdoms and nonindustrial states usually had agricultural economies

Tributary Production

- Found in social systems divided into classes of rulers and subjects - These societies share several common features 1) The dominant units of production are communities organized around kinship relations, 2) The states society depends on the local communities, and the tribune collected is used by the ruling class rather than exchanged or reinvested, 3) Relationships between producers and rulers are often conflictual, and 4) Production is controlled politically rather than through direct control of the means of production

2 ways in which media anthropologists organize their studies of media

1. Choose a category or type of media 2. Locate their ethnographic studies within a particular community

Four Important Characteristics of Agriculture

1. Reliance on few staple crops - foods that form the backbone of the subsistence system. 2. The link between intensive farming and a rapid increase in human population density 3. The development of a division of labor, a system in which individuals in a society begin to specialize in certain roles/tasks. 4. Its tendency to create wealth differences.

Neoliberalism

A multi-faceted political and economic philosophy that emphasizes privatization and unregulated markets

Wilderness

A natural area that is untouched or unchanged by human actives and often seen as a cultural construct of the American west.

Shaman

A person who specializes in contacting the world of spirits

Economic Anthropology

A study of livelihoods: How humans work to obtain the material necessities such as food, clothing, and shelter that sustain our lives.

Fabrication

A technique for reporting on research data that involves mixing information provided by various people into a narrative account that demonstrates the point of focus for researchers

Proposed Framework for public anthropology

Accountability, Transparency, Collaboration, and benefitting others

Negative Reciprocity

An attempt to get something for nothing. Examples - email scams and gambling

Redistribution occurs when...

An authority of some type collects economic contributions from all community members and then redistributes these back in the forms of good and services

Disease

An epic, or scientifically identified health threat caused by bacteria, virus, fungi, parasite, or other pathogens

Geographical Indication Status (GI)

An international property-rights system, regulated by the World Trade Organization that legally protects the rights of people in certain places to produce certain commodities.

Built Environment

Analysis of the ways in which cultures and the environment are mutually interconnected, demonstrates that there is no way to separate the "natural" world from the human-influenced world.

Atomized Transactions

Are impersonal ones between people who have no relationship with each other beyond the short term of the exchange.

Norms

Cultural standards or guidelines that enable individuals to distinguish between appropriate and inappropriate behavior in a given society

Modern Anthropological Studies of Subsistence Systems

Draw on insights and perspectives of several different fields including biology, chemistry, and ecology. As well as a range of ethnographic techniques which allow for cross-cultural comparisons of diets.

Anthropogenic

Environments and pollutants caused by human activities

The 5 Scapes of Globalization - Arjun Appaduri

Ethnoscapes, technoscapes, ideoscapes, financesapes, and mediascapes

Pastoralism Societies

People raise herds of domesticated livestock. Over 1/2 of the world's pastoralists reside in Africa, and there are large numbers in Central Asia, Tibet, Arctic Scandinavia, and Siberia. Sometimes referred to as nomadic pastoralism, because of the need to supply grazing fields and water for the livestock, requiring several moves a year. Most often herd and raise cows, goats, sheep, and pigs. The goal of many pastoralists is to use the animals for resources such as milk which can be transformed into butter, yogurt, and cheese. Or products like fur and wool which can be sold. They measure wealth and status according to the number of animals a person owns. They face pressure from tourism, increased human population, intensive agriculture, famine, and drought.

Illness in ________________ is viewed as the result of aggression or punishment purposefully towards an individual'; there is no accident or random choice involved

Personalistic ethno-etiology

Specialized function in all states

Population control, judiciary, enforcement, and fiscal.

chiefly redistribution

Products moved up the hierarchy to central office, then were distributed during feasts sponsored by the chief

Concept of Lifestyle

Refers to creative, reflective, and sometimes even ironic ways in which individuals perform various social identities

Glocalization

Refers to the adaptation of global ideas into locally palatable forms

Syncretism

Refers to the combination of different beliefs - even those that are seemingly contradictory - into a new, harmonious whole

Ideoscape

Refers to the flow of ideas

Mediascape

Refers to the flow of media across borders

Ethnoscape

Refers to the flow of people across boundaries

Technoscape

Refers to the flow of technology

Meaning

Refers to the ideas or values that accompany the exchange of information

Colonialism

Refers to the political, social, economic, and cultural domination of a territory and its people by a freeing power for an extended period of time

Global South

Refers to the poorest countries of the world

Consumption

Refers to the process of buying, eating, or using a resource, food, commodity, or service.

Cultural infrastructure

Refers to the values and beliefs of communities, states, and/or societies that make the imagining of a particular type of network possible

Global North

Refers to the wealthier countries of the world

Harvest Rituals

Religious ceremonies focused on improving the food supply.

Processual Archaeology

Scientific approach that focused primarily on relationships between past societies and the ecological systems they inhabited

Horticulture Societies

Small scale cultivation of crops intended for primarily subsistence. Differs in three ways from other kinds of farming. 1. Horticulturalists move their farm fields periodically to use locations with the best growing conditions. 2. Horticultural societies use limited mechanical technologies to farm, relying on physical labor from people and animals. 3. Differs from other kinds of farming in its scale/purpose. - Common around the world, primarily in tropical areas of South and Central America, Southeast Asia, and Oceania.

Slash and burn agriculture

Small-scale farmers cut down a forest let the wood dry for a few weeks, and then burn it, clearing the land for cultivation. Also called swidden

Markets

Social institutions with prices or exchange equivalencies. They are regulated by supply and demand mechanisms. They are based on transactions, or changed in the status of a good or service between people, such as a sale.

Foraging Societies

Sometimes known as hunting and gathering, describes societies that rely primarily on wild plant and animal resources. They are small and have an egalitarian social structure. They move camps frequently, place a high cultural value on generosity, gender inequality, and elders tend to command respect and enjoy higher social status. Some groups spend up to 70 hours a week collecting food.

Media Anthropologists

Study mass communication and digital media with a particular interest in the ways in which media are designed or adapter for use by specific communities or cultural groups

Somatic

Symptoms that are physical manifestations of emotional pain

Delayed Return System

Techniques for obtaining food that require an investment of work over a period of time before the food becomes available for consumption.

Carrying capacity

Term used by anthropologists to quantify the number of calories that can be extracted from a particular unit of land to support a human population

"Re-entrenchment"

Term used by social scientists to describe efforts people make to reassert their traditional values and ways of life

Anthropocene

Term used to describe the period or (epoch) in geological time which the effects of human activity/activities have altered the fundamental geochemical cycles of the earth as a result of converting forests into fields and pastures and bring oil, gas, and coal on a large scale

Homo Economics

Terms used to describe a person who would make rational decisions in ways predicted by economic theories

Redistribution

The accumulation of goods or labor by a particular person or institution for the purpose of dispersal at a later date.

Urban Anthropology

The anthropological study off life in and around world cities, including the study of urban social problems, differences between urban and other environments, and adaptation to city life

At the heart of media anthropology...

The assertion that media practices are not universal

Mode of Production

The social relations through which human labor is used to transform energy form nature using tools, skills, organizations, and knowledge. There are three types: domestic (kin-ordered), tributary, and capitalist

Historical Ecology

The study of how human cultures have developed overtime as a result of interactions with the environment

Historical Particularism

The theory that every culture develops in a unique way due to its history, including the interaction of people with the natural environment

Neolithic Revolution

The transition from foraging to farming.

Transnationalism

The understanding that people's lives may beloved and/or significantly influenced by events that cross the geo-political borders of nation states

Applied Anthropology

The use of anthropological data, perspectives, theory, and methods to identify, assess, and solve contemporary problems.

Domestic Economy

The work associated with obtaining food for a family or household

Photovoice

a research method that puts cameras into people's hands so they can make their own representations of their lives and the activities.

Eco-justice

a movement to recognize and remedy the adverse relationship between social inequality and the harms and risks that come from environmental destruction and pollutants.

Medical anthropology

a distinct sub-specialty within the discipline of anthropology that investigates human health and health care systems in comparative perspective.

General Purpose Money

a medium of exchange that can be used in all economic transactions

Communal Healing

an approach to healing that directs the combined efforts of the community toward treating illness

Humoral healing

an approach to healing that seeks to treat medical ailments by achieving a balance between the forces, or elements, of the body

Biomedical

an approach to medicine that is based on the application of insights from science, particularly biology and chemistry

Illness

an emic condition of poor health felt by individual

Culture-bound syndrome

an illness recognized only within a specific culture

Extractive reserves

community-managed protected areas designed to allow for sustainable extraction of certain natural resources (such as fish, rubber, Brazil nuts, and rattan) while maintaining key ecosystems in place.

Ethno-etiology

cultural explanations about the underlying causes of health problems

biocultural evolution

describes the interactions between biology and culture that have influenced human evolution

Ecocide

destruction of an environment, especially when done intentionally by humans

zoonotic

diseases that have origins in animals and are transmitted to humans

Pantribal Sodalities

extend across whole tribe, spanning several villages

Xenophobia

fear of foreigners

State

formal government and socioeconomic stratification

Authority

formal, socially approved use of power

Indigenous media

media produced by and for indigenous communities often outside of the commercial mainstream

Tribes

non-intensive food production (horticulture and pastoralism)

Sodalities

non-kin groups, often based on common age or gender, that link local groups in tribal societies

The social construction known as __________ influences the subjective experience of an illness within a culture

stigma

Office

permanent position, which must be refilled when it is vacated by death or retirement

Stratification

separate social strata that differ in access to wealth, power, and prestige

Chiefdom characteristics

social relations baed on kinship, marriage, descent, age, generation, and gender. - Chief and assistants occupy political offices

Age sets

sodalities that include all men born during a certain time span