ASB 102 LESSON 1

Tylor was familiar with the concept of culture and used the concept to make sense of what he learned from..

his travels

approaches to research that considered the entire context of a society including its history

holism

integrates multiple scientific & humanistic perspectives into 1 comprehensive discipline

holism

taking a broad view of historical & cultural foundations of behavior rather than attributing differences to biology

holism

taking a broad view of historical, environmental, & cultural foundations of behavior

holism

an important characteristic of anthropology is...

holistic perspective

humankind, also known as... (the wise primate)

homo sapiens

racism is a cultural phenomenon rather than a biological one

science of anthropology

when did "Age of Discovery" begin?

15th century when Columbus landed

interested in how cultures change over time and influence one another

Alfred kroeber

what are the 4 major subfields of anthropology?

Biological Linguistic Archaeological Cultural

focuses on biological and physical aspects of both living and deceased humans (physical anthropology)

Biological anthropology

who influenced Tylor?

Charles Darwin

founding member of postmodernist anthropology,

Clifford Geertz

idea that behavioral differences are a result of cultural, not racial or genetic, causes

Cultural determinism

theory popular in 19th-century anthropology suggesting that societies evolved through stages from simple to advanced. This theory was later shown to be incorrect

Cultural evolutionism

another person's beliefs & behaviors should be understood from the perspective of the specific culture (NOT ONE'S OWN)

Cultural relativism

On the Origin of Species

Darwin 1859 book

Edward Burnett Tylor was an...

English Quaker

T/F human culture is not fluid and can be treated as isolated time and space

FALSE

important founding father of American anthropology was German-born..... originally trained in physics

Franz Boas

redirecting American anthropologists away from cultural evolutionism and toward cultural relativism.

Franz Boas

the central eskimo.------- details his time spent on Baffin Island studying the culture and language of the Inuit people.

Franz Boas

went on a geographical expedition to Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic

Franz Boas 1883

moved to US & taught at Clark University in Massachusetts AND became professor of anthropology at Columbia University

Franz Boas in 1886 1899

who was originator of American anthropology because he trained 1st generation of American anthropologists?

Franz boas

2nd major colonial movement arose after the... which was motivated by search for cheap ________ and ___________

Industrial Revolution labor and resources

T/F Franz Boas studied every aspect of Baffin Island culture

TRUE

T/F some cultures change very slowly, and others change quickly

TRUE

T/F some linguists work with indigenous people to document their native languages & vocabularies

TRUE

T/F cultures constantly change and adapt as people respond to social, political, economic, and other external and internal influences

TRUE Cultural adaptation

culture should NOT be seen as something "locked inside someone's head"

The Interpretion of Cultures (1973)

T/F each field must work w/ the others to obtain an accurate perspective of a studied culture

True

"Culture or civilization, taken in its ethnographic sense, is that complex whole which includes knowledge, beliefs, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society"

Tylor's defintion Primitive Culture 1871 book

European countries control over new lands and people in Asia, Africa, and the Americas during the...

colonial era from 16th century to mid 20th century

important contribution to the nature versus nurture debate, AND providing an argument that learned cultural roles were more important than biology

coming of age in samoa

teenagers in Samoa did not experience the same stress and emotional difficulties as those in the United States

coming of age in samoa (1928)

devoted much of his career to studying Native American languages in an attempt to document these languages before they disappeared

alfred kroeber

examined historical processes that led cultures to emerge as distinct configurations as well as the way cultures become more similar through spread or diffusion of cultural traits

alfred kroeber

interested in language and the role it plays in transmitting culture

alfred kroeber

ANOTHER student of Boas, also shared the commitment to field research and cultural relativism

alfred louis kroeber

study of human culture (both past & present)

anthropology

what is global quality & uses science as well as the humanities to search for new ways to understand the human condition?

anthropology

study of peoples of the past through the analysis of material remains, or artifacts

archaeology

established that through enculturation culture shapes individual identity, self-awareness, and emotions in fundamental ways AND emphasized need for holism

benedict, mead, and others

his students added to his definition by emphasizing the importance of enculturation

boas

culture is "an historically transmitted pattern of meanings embodied in symbols, a system of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic forms by means of which men communicate, perpetuate, and develop their knowledge about and their attitudes toward life"

clifford geertz

culture was publically communicated through speech and other behaviors

clifford geertz

comparison of the elements of a culture with those elements in ANOTHER culture

cross cultural approach

Behavioral differences among peoples result from ________ not racial or _________

cultural genetic

change in culture in response to internal or external forces

cultural adaptation

study of people living today

cultural anthropology

what gathers data on behaviors, beliefs, customs, & values of peoples throughout the world?

cultural anthropology

19th century highlight an ongoing nature vs. nurture debate about whether biology shapes behavior more than culture

cultural evolutionism

Anthropologists in the US have used ________ ________ to add depth to the concept of culture in several ways

cultural relativism

important turning point in correcting the challenge of ethnocentrism in ethnographic fieldwork

cultural relativism

principle that a culture must be understood on its own terms rather than compared to an outsider's standard

cultural relativism

based on symbolic systems, the most important of which is language

culture

beliefs, values, & behaviors learned & shared by a group of people...

culture

dynamic, constantly changing system, and humankind's most important adaptive mechanism

culture

integrated system of mental elements, the behaviors motivated by those mental elements, & the material items created by those behaviors

culture

learned system, not innate

culture

learned values, ideas, and patterns of behavior shared by a group of people

culture

system shared by the members of the society

culture

cultures were subject to evolution just like plants & animals AND cultures developed over time from simple to complex

darwin

challenge was to move away from ethnocentrism, race stereotypes, and colonial attitudes, and to move forward by _______________ anthropologists to maintain high __________ standards and _______ minds

encouraging ethical open

process of learning culture in the lives of other individuals

enculturation

process of learning the characteristics and expectations of a culture or group

enculturation

Britain, France, Belgium, and Germany had divided up Africa

end of 19th century

attitude based on idea that one's own group/ culture is better than any other

ethnocentrism

fight against __________________ is what motivates anthropologists to examine common or popular assumptions or even assumptions embedded in the work of anthropologists themselves

ethnocentrism

tendency to view one's own culture as most correct & by which to measure all other cultures

ethnocentrism

Darwin formulated the theory of______ by natural selection

evolution

who grounded the discipline in four fields-archaeological, cultural, linguistic, and physical anthropology-and founded the American Anthropological Association?

franz boas

elements of culture are: -language -art -marriage and ________ -_______________ methods -social _______________ -power and ____________ -religion -____________ and _____________

family subsistence organization politics gender and sexuality

anthropologists must understand themselves, AND understand the eyes doing the recording of others as....

fieldworkers

analysis of skeletal remains

forensic anthropology

observed the cultural traditions of the Inuit were suited for the environment they lived in, and that cultural ideas and practices are shaped through interactions with the natural environment

franz boas

trained many women anthropologists, knowing that diversifying fieldworkers by including people of all genders was important to successful fieldwork

franz boas

Anthropology uses various methods & theories to make sense of the many ______________ and __________________ in the world

ideologies, behaviors

by studying similarity and variability of languages and language groups, linguistic anthropologists can provide _______ about __________ between groups, both near and distant

information relationships

established the importance of language as an element of culture and documented the ways in which language was used to communicate complex ideas

kroeber

when did anthropology emerge? (when European scholars began global quality & use science as well as the humanities)

late 19th and early 20th centuries

new approaches to symbolic anthropology put language at the center of analysis by the...

late 20th century

indigenous cultures were considered _____ than (inferior)

less

study of language and human communication

linguistic anthropology

archaeological research involves the _____, excavation, and ______ of prehistoric or historic remains

location, analysis

pioneer in conducting ethnographic research at a time when the discipline was predominately male

margaret mead

study of human diseases

medical anthropology

indigenous culture

native culture

scientific study of cultural and biological variations among human groups

origins & development of anthropology

study of human origins and evolution

paleo-anthropology

branches of biological anthropology

paleo-anthropology primatology forensic anthropology medical anthropology

study of nonhuman primates (chimps)

primatology

Her 1925 research on adolescent girls on the island of Ta'ū in the Samoan Islands

ruth benedict

culture affects individuals psychologically, shaping individual personality traits & leading members of a culture to exhibit similar traits such as a tendency toward aggression, or calmness

ruth benedict

one of Boas's first female students, used cultural relativism as a starting point for investigating the cultures of the American Northwest and Southwest

ruth benedict

professor at Columbia University and in turn greatly influenced her student Margaret Mead

ruth benedict

Many 19th-century anthropologists believed that cultures evolved through distinct stages and labeled stages as:

savagery barbarism civilization

defined culture as including knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom, capabilities, and habits

tylor