Anthropology 203

Marriage

A culturally sanctioned union between two or more people that establishes certain rights and obligations between the people, between them and their children, and between them and their in-laws; such marriage rights and obligations most often include, but are not limited to, sex, labor, property, childbearing, exchange, and status.

Brideservice

A designated period of time when the groom works for the bride's family

Consanguineal Family

A family of blood relatives, consisting of related women, their brothers, and the women's family.

Nuclear Family

A group consisting of one or two parents and dependent offspring, which may include a stepparent, stepsiblings, and adopted children. Until recently this term referred only to the mother, father, and child(ren) unit.

Conjugal Family

family established through marriage

Fictive Marriage

marriage form in which a proxy is used as a symbol of someone not physically present to establish the social status of a spouse and heirs (such as seafarers, prisoners, military personnel deployed)

Average life expectancies of African Slaves

Few lived past 40 years old

Bridewealth

The money or valuable good paid by the groom or his family to the bride's family upon marriage; also called bride-price

Family

many forms, ranging from a single parent with one or more children, to a married couple or polygamous spouses with or without offspring, to several generations of parents and their children

Functions of Family

two or more people related by blood, marriage, or adoption. Forms the basic cooperative structure that ensures and individual's primary needs and provides the necessary care for children to develop as healthy and productive members of the group and thereby ensure its future

Homo Sapiens Europaeus

white, cheerful, muscular; hair: yellow, brown, flowing; blue eyes; gentle, inventive; covered with cloth; ruled by law

Same-Sex Marriage

woman-woman marriages of Nandi of western Kenya when woman of advanced age who bore no sons may become female husband by marrying young woman; otherwise, legal same-sex marriage starting to become global thing

Kinship

-A network of relatives into which individuals are born and married, and with whom they cooperate based on customarily prescribed right, and obligations. Diagram is a way to map out the different networks of relatives leading to one specific subject.

Social Reality of Racial Classification

-People are natural classifiers; attaching a label helps us communicate; classifications reflect a social reality w/political implications, an extreme being genocide

Biological Reality of Racial Classification

-Racial classification does not reflect a biological reality; these classifications are based on arbitrary, changing cultural criteria masquerading as biological differences

Fission

-the splitting of a descent group into two or more new descent groups

Transactions customary to Nayar marriage

1) After girl's first menstruation, ceremony joins her with "ritual husband" lasting a few days and doesn't necessarily include sex; temporary union establishes girl as adult ready for motherhood and eligible for sexual activity with men approved by household 2) When woman enters continued sexual liaison with a man approved by family; man gives her gifts three times a year until relationship terminates, in return spending nights with her; has no economic obligations to her; may have same arrangement with multiple men; Nayar "marriage" 3) If Nayar woman becomes pregnant, one of the men she has relationship with must formally acknowledge paternity w/giving gifts to woman and mid-wife; establishes child's birthright; once ritually acknowledging fatherhood, man may or may not continue interest in child, as support & education for the child are provided by woman and brothers

Extended Family

: Two or more closely related nuclear families clustered together in a large domestic group.

Inbreeding Theory

1950's; close kin may carry harmful recessive genes; mating w/these individuals would produce a higher incidence of genetic defects; those that practiced would have offspring that would also practice incest taboo

Polygyny

A man that is married to more than one woman; not to be confused with polygamy, which is when one individual has multiple spouses (gender-neutral term)

Dowry

A payment made at the time of a woman's marriage that comes from her inheritance, made to either her or her husband

Power

Ability to achieve one's goals and objectives; correlated w/wealth; could be other factors (possession of knowledge, eloquent speaker, fierce warrior, etc.)

Clan

An extended unilineal kin-group, often consisting of several lineages, whose members claim common descent from a remote ancestor, usually legendary or mythological

Class System

Based on achieved status (personal effort); social calss is a segment of the population whose individuals share similar lifestyles; open system (permits mobility either up or down); social class has similar access to power, wealth, and prestige; studies of social class in the U.S. shows that most remain in the class into which they were born

Stratified societies

Considerable inequality; unequal access to power, wealth, and prestige that is recognized by members of society; noticeable differences in social position, lifestyle, and access to power; standard of living varies; unequal access to rewards is inherited from one generation to the next

Hindu India-Sudras

Cultivators, laborers Brahma's feet Black

Ethnicity

Cultural variation; a group of people who emphasize common origins, language, shared histories

Unilineal Descent

Establishes descent group based on descent traced exclusively though either the male or the female line of ancestry -Can be traced through the female (matrilineal) or the male (patrilineal) lines -Depending on the line, the corresponding gender are considered to be continued by that

African Burial Project

Excavation site in Lower Manhattan that is unearthing hundreds of remains of slaves

Wealth

Form can vary; overall, accumulation of economic resources

Hindu India-Untouchables

Jobs that no one else will do Beneath 4 varna before it; too lowly for system Doesn't get a color ):

Egalitarian Societies

Less inequality; few or no groups w/greater access to wealth, power, or prestige; reciprocity (balanced or generalized); little/no political role specialization; personal differences/skills are acknowledged (not transferable/inheritable); found among mobile food collectors, as nomadism inhibits accumulation of personal possessions and sharing maximizes adaptation

Theory of expanding social alliances

Levi-Strauss (1969); mates outside family=wide network of alliances; helps enhance cooperation, social cohesion, survival; new genetic material

Monogamy

Marriage in which both partners have just one spouse; in North America and most of Europe, it is only legally recognized form of marriage; serial monogamy arise from frequency of divorce

Hopi Lineage; What happens with unsatisfactory husbands

Matrilineal descent; lineage decides what clan you belong to and your community; if he is unsatisfactory then the unhappy wife may simply put all of his shit outside and he's gone

Ranked Societies

Medium inequality; unequal access to prestige; equal access to wealth, power; fixed number of high-status positions (chiefs); high-status positions are hereditary; chief may have prestige, but does not accumulate wealth necessarily; goods are redistributed

Caste System

Members ranked from birth; ascribed status (in position from birth); the individual has no control over his/her position; closed system—little or no social mobility either up or down; membership directly related to economic issues; higher castes have more and do less; members of the same caste socially and residentially segregated from other castes; each has its own set of secret rituals which intensifies group awareness; the higher castes are more interested in maintaining the system (benefit most from it so yeah duh)

Hindu India-Vaisyas

Merchants, Artisans, Tradesmen Brahma's thigh (lolz) Brown

Pink Vigilantes

Name for The Gulabi Gang that is made up of Dalit women (untouchables) that are demanding social justice

Prestige

Social esteem, respect, or admiration that a society confers on people

Neolocal Residence

Pattern in which a married couple establishes its household in a location apart from either the husband's or the wife's relatives

Patrilocal Residence

Pattern in which a married couple lives in the husband's father's place of residence.

Matrilocal Residence

Pattern in which a married couple lives in the wife's mother's place of residence.

Ambilocal Residence

Pattern in which a married couple may choose either matrilocal or patrilocal residence.

Natural Aversion Theory

Popular in early 1900's; inborn/genetic mechanism which leads to an aversion to sexual intercourse among those that grew up together

Hindu India-Brahmans

Priests and scholars Brahma's mouth White

Hindu India society overall

Purity tied to occupation; scholars more "pure" than laborers; scripture teaches that one can live a good life by staying in their caste; not following scripture increases risk of reincarnation into a lower class

Rules of endogamy

Requires an individual to marry from within one's group; could be social class, religion, ethnicity, etc.

Nancy Scehper-Hughes study Brazil

Research of the criminal and medical aspects of global organ trafficking

Rules of exogamy

Rules for marriage outside a certain group of kin; all societies have this, incest taboo a common one; can apply to nuclear family or extend to hundreds/thousands of people (ex. White parents not wanting daughter to marry black man)

Margaret Mead's trademark

Studying "culture at a distance"

Lineage

Unilineal kin-group descended from a common ancestor or founder who lived four to six generations ago and in which relationships among member can be exactly stated in genealogical terms

Hindu India-Kshatriyas

Warriors, land owners; elite ruling class Brahma's arms Red

Polyandry

When a woman is married to more than one man; in fewer than a dozen societies, most popularly in Marquesan Islanders of Polynesia and Tibetans in Asia

Group Marriage

also known as co-marriage; form in which several men and women have sexual access to one another

Arranged Marriage

based on premise that marriage is a union of kin groups, rather than individuals; the interest of the family outweighs the decisions of individuals in mate selection

Homo Sapiens Monstrosus

based on travelers' tales and fables of hairy people w/tails (eventually dropped)

Sex

biological, with different sex organs, breast size, hormone levels, muscle/fat ratios, and in chromosomes

Homo Sapiens Afer

black, sluggish, relaxed; hair: black, frizzed; flat nose, swollen lips; crafty, inactive; covers himself in grease; ruled by impulse

Double Descent

double unilineal descent when descent is matrilineal for some purposes and patrilineal for others

Moeity

each group, usually consisting of several clans, that results from a division of a society into two halves on the basis of descent

Age set

formally established group of people born during a certain time span who move together through the series of age-grade categories; sometimes called age class

Homo Sapiens Ferus

four-footed, mute, hairy; "wild boys" discovered in the woods; possibly raised by animals (eventually dropped)

Gender

is the way members of the two sexes are perceived, evaluated, and expected to behave

Ambilineal Descent

option of affiliating with either mother's or father's descent group

Age grade

organized category of people based on age; every individual passes through a series of such categories over his or her lifetime

Homo Sapiens Asiaticus

pale yellow, melancholy, stiff; hair: black; dark eyes; covered w/loose garments; ruled by belief

Incest taboos

prohibition against mating with certain types of kin who are defined by the society as being inappropriate sexual partners

Homo Sapiens Americanus

red, angry, upright; hair: black, straight, thick; blue eyes; paints himself w/fine red lines; ruled by habit

Toteism

the belief that people are related to particular animals, plants, or natural objects by virtue of descent from common ancestral spirits

Phratry

unilineal descent group composed of at least two clans that supposedly share a common ancestry, whether or not they really do