Anthropology Test 2
What types of data-gathering techniques do cultural anthropologists use?
(1) Participant-observation (2) Interviewing: Structured and unstructured (3) Census taking: the collection of basic demographic data about the culture being studied such as age, occupation (4) Ethnographic Mapping: map of important aspects of where informants live (5) Documenting Analysis: examination of data such as personal diaries, colonial records, marriage license, etc. DA can be used to supplement information acquired in the interviewing process and observations. (6) Collecting Genealogies: logs all the kin of the informant (7) Photography (still and videography/ethnographic documentaries): use of camera to document ecology, material culture, and social interactions of people during ethnographic fieldwork. helpful in proxemic analysis (how different cultures distance themselves from one another) and event analysis (who participates in events, like marriage)
What are the five (5) basic functions of a community?
(1) Production: Distribution and Consumption (2) Social Participation: all members brings things together and redistribute (3) Social Control: law and order to control behavior (4) Socialization(enculturation): learning and socializing-formal (churches) informal (unconsciously socialize children) (5) Mutual Support: reciprocity/sharing items
What are the two fundamental principles upon which the functionalist approach is based?
(1) Universal functions: every part of a culture has a particular function. (2) Functional unity: culture is an integrated whole composed of a number of interrelated parts.
What are some of the problems faced by cultural anthropologists when doing fieldwork?
(1) gaining acceptance in the community selecting the most appropriate data-gathering techniques, (2) understanding how to operate within the local political structure, (3) taking precautions against investigator bias- make sure that you are researching everyone, (4) coping with culture shock, (5) choosing knowledgeable informants, (6) learning a new language, (7) willingness to reevaluate findings in the light of new data
What are the five major food-procurement categories found among the world's populations?
(1)hunting and gathering: usually have low populations, are nomadic/semi-nomadic,basic social unit= family or band of fam, occupy the remote and marginally useful areas of the earth (2)horticulture: subsistence agriculture small scale low incentive farming plots, basic hand tools, few domesticated animals, rely on human power shifting cultivation popular in these cultures (3)pastoralism (4)intensive agriculture (5)industrial agriculture (they are not mutually exclusive because some societies use more than one strategy)
When and in what area of the world did plant and animal domestication first occur?
The earliest known plant and animal domestication occurred around ten thousand years ago in The Middle East in the region that is referred to as The Fertile Crescent. The first domesticated animal and plant species were dogs, sheep, goats, wheat, and barley.
What is the meaning of the concept "carrying capacity"?
The maximum number of people a given society can support, give the available resources.
Who would be considered an 'informant' to the anthropologist?
The person being studied- a person who provides information about his or her culture to the ethnographic field worker.
What is the mean of "field-work" when used by anthropologists?
The practice in which an anthropologist is immersed in the daily like of a culture in order to collect data and test cultural hypotheses.
What is the four-field approach in the discipline of anthropology?
The subject matter in anthropology is wide-ranging, including fossil remains, non-human primate anatomy and behavior, artifacts from past cultures, past and present languages, and all of the prehistoric, historic, and contemporary cultures of the world.
What is the difference between horticulture and agriculture?
The surplus from the harvest that may be sold on a market to generate an income and profit for the farming household. Intensive Agriculture: relies on large-scale production that results in much more food being produced per acre than with other subsistence patterns and thus supports larger populations. It is a more recent phenomena than horticulture and is characterized by the use of the plow, draft animals, or machinery to pull the plows, fertilizers, irrigation, and other technological innovations that make intensive cultivation more productive than horticulture; the systems is designed with surplus in mind
What were at least four consequences of the change to food production?
The transition to early agriculture from a hunting and gathering subsistence strategy led to a decline in overall health/nutritional decline. The increased population densities caused by the neolithic revolution brought people into closer contact with one another and consequently made everyone more susceptible to both parasitic and infectious diseases. Findings from excavation of burial mounds in the Illinois and Ohio River Valleys point to negative health consequences for a population that changed from foraging to maize cultivation in the 20t century. (when compared with the foragers who proceeded them, the maize farmers had a 50% increase in tooth enamel defects-malnutrition, iron-deficiency, anemia, bone lesions, indicative of infectious disease) With the rise of agriculture the average life expectancy dropped, malnutrition, starvation, increased inequalities and other social problems.
What are the Human Relations Area Files?
The worlds largest anthropological data bank/retrieval system, storing vast amounts of information making it possible to test cross-cultural hypothesis and draw statistical correlations.
How does applied anthropology differ from theoretical anthropology?
Theoretical Anthropology: Objective: test hypothesis and describe culture. Methods: participant-observation and interviews. Time Frame: year or more
Who are the Ju/'hoansi?
They are classic hunters and gatherers no domestic animals except their hunting dogs, one of the best studied foraging societies, inhabitants of the NW part of Africa,
What is shifting cultivation (swidden, slash and burn)?
This technique involves clearing the land by manually cutting down the growth, burning it, and planting in the burned area. Even though the ash residue serves as a fertilizer, the soil nutrients are usually depleted within a few years. The land is then allowed to lie fallow until the natural vegetation is restored, or it may be abandoned altogether. Slash-and-burn cultivating can eventually destroy the environment if fields are not given sufficient time to lie fallow.
What is the basic premise of the theory of functionalism?
Through direct fieldwork, anthropologists can understand culture work for the individual(Malinowski) and the society(Radcliffe-Brown). Society is like a biological organism with many interconnected parts. Empirical fieldwork is essential. The existing institutional structure of any society performs indispensable functions without which the society could not continue.
What are two types of pastoralism?
Transhumance is the seasonal movement of livestock between upland and lowland pastures. Nomadism: is the migration of whole villages relocating when new pastures are needed for the animals.
After viewing the film, "How Cultures Are Studied," could you discern whether "reciprocity" was a key element of Yanomamo society?
Yes, trading among one another and other tribes- alliances with one another
What is ethnographic mapping?
a data-gathering tool that locates where the people being studied live, where they keep their livestock, where public buildings are located, and so on, in order to determine how that culture interacts with its environment
What is a "theory"?
a statement that suggests a relationship among phenomena
What is the optimal foraging theory?
a theory they foragers choose those species of plants and animals that maximize their caloric intake for the time spent hunting and gathering
What are some noticeable changes in food getting since the late eighteenth century?
agriculture is now largely commercialized in that the overwhelming majority of agricultural commodities is sold by producers to non producers for some form of currency. expansion of agribusiness-large-scale agricultural enterprises involving the latest technology and a sizable salaried work force; resulting in the demise of small-scale farms that used mainly family labor; shift away from owner operated farms and towards transnational corporations (many are now owned by multinational corporations)
Why is it difficult to distinguish between pure and applied anthropology?
because both groups receive the same training and draw on the same methods. They have developed parallel, been mutually supportive, and often have claimed the same personnel. (common concerns and experiences)
What does the term "egalitarianism" mean?
equality
How can a cultural faux pas "miscue" be problematic for an anthropologist doing field work? Be specific and give an example to support your answer.
misunderstandings can occur- Mayalasai head as symbolic of sacred part of the body, inviting bad for tune by commenting on beauty (Jennifer Roberts)
What is the meaning of the concept "transhumanance"?
one of the forms of movement patterns among pastoraliasts. Transhumance is the seasonal movement of livestock between upland and lowland pastures
What is the difference between pastoralism and transhumance?
pastoralism or animal husbandry involves herding breeding, consuming, and using domesticated herd animals such as camels, cattle, goats, horses, llamas, reindeer, sheep, and yaks. Pastoralism is practiced in areas of the world that cannot support agriculture because of inadequate terrain, soils, or rainfall. Transhumance: one of the forms of movement patterns among pastoralists. Transhumance is the seasonal movement of livestock between upland and lowland pastures
How do the other three branches of anthropology (other than cultural anthropology) apply their insights to the solution of practical problems?
physical anthropology: primatologist Eloy Rodriquez observed primates self-medicating and saw as a potential treatment for human illness. anthropological linguistics: work with educators to plan effective strategies for teach ESL archaeology: the study of stone tools can lead to improvement in our own modern technology-obsidian scalpel
What is a key characteristic of applied anthropology?
problem-oriented research: a type of anthropological research designed to solve a particular society problem rather than to test a theoretical position.
How does the anthropologist use survey methods in his/her ethnographic research?
some applied anthropologists use survey methods to gather a large amounts of attitudinal and behavioral data in a relatively short time frame. Particularly helpful when there is not a single "native" point of view, also if they surveys are "close ended" they have the additional advantage of being statistically comparable.
What was the Neolithic Revolution?
A stage in human evolution (beginning around ten thousand years ago) characterized by the transition from hunting and gathering to the domestication of plants and animals.
What is the optimal foraging theory?
A theory that foragers choose those species of plants and animals that maximize their caloric intake for the time spent hunting and gathering
What are some methodological advantages and disadvantages of participant/observation?
Advantages: (1) enhances rapport: those being study appreciate interest in culture, (2) enables fieldworkers to distinguish actual and expected behavior- normative and relative behavior, (3)permits observation of non-verbal behavior Disadvantages: (1) Small sample size, (2) difficult to obtain standardized comparable data/problems of recording, (3) obtrusive effects on subject matter (presence of researcher causes the studied to behave abnormally
What is the basic premise of the theory of evolutionism?
All cultures pass through the same developmental stages in the same order. Evolution is unidirectional and leads to higher (better) levels of culture. A deductive approach is used to apply general theories to explain specific cases. Evolutionism was ethnocentric because evolutionists put their own societies at the top.
In what specific ways did anthropology contribute to the war effort in WWII?
Anthropologist were recruited by the National Research Council to examine national morale during wartime, to learn about food preferences and wartime rationing, and to conduct behavioral assessments of our adversaries.
Who have been the important theorists in cultural anthropology since the midnineteenth century?
Evolutionism: Lewis Henry Morgan Historicism: Franz Boas (American) Functionalist: Bronislaw Malinowski (British) Psychological Anthropology: Margaret Mead Ruth Benedict Neoevolutionism: White Steward French Structuralism:Claude Levi-Strauss Cultural Materialism: Marvin Harris Post Modern Anthropology: Ruth Behar
Who is the anthropologist that trained virtually the entire first generation of American anthropologists, and often referred to as the 'father of American anthropology?
Franz Boas
What are some symptoms of culture shock?
Homesickness, boredom, withdrawal, need fro excessive amounts of sleep, compulsive eating, compulsive drinking, irritability, exaggerated cleanliness, marital stress, family tension and conflict, stereotyping of host nationals, hostility toward nationals, loss of ability to work effectively
What ethical dilemmas do cultural anthropologists face when conducting fieldwork?
How do yo make your finidngs public without jeopardizing the anonymity of your informants? Can you ever be certain that the data your informants gave you will not eventually be used to harm them? How can you be certain that the project you are working on will benefit the people with whom you worked? To what extent should you become personally involved? Should you intervene to stop illegal activity? Responsibility to: people being studied, to the public and to the communities affected by your actions, responsibility to your discipline/social science colleagues, to students/interns/trainees, to sponsors/employers/further funders, to ones own and the host government must resolve in a way that avoids causing harm to their subject or other scholars
Which anthropological theory de-emphasizes the role of ideas and values in determining the conditions of social life?
Neoevolutionism: (1) Cultures Cultures evolve in proportion to their capacity to harness energy. (2) Culture is shaped by environmental conditions. (3) Human populations continuously adapt to techno-environmental conditions. (4) Individual (personality) factors are de-emphasized.
What does the term participant/observation mean?
Participant-Observation-as the name implies-means becoming involved in the culture under study while making systematic observations of what people actually do. The key to participant observation is being a part of the culture that you are studying by doing the things that they do in their everyday life. It gives you a more emic perspective.
What does Ferraro mean when he uses the term "small-scale society"?
Refer to societies that have small populations, are technologically simple, are usually preliterate (w/o written language), have little labor specialization, and are not highly stratified.
What exactly does "research design" mean to an anthropologist?
The "research design" is the overall strategy for conducting the research.
Food collection was the main subsistence strategy until what event?
The Neolithic Revolution
Who are the Yanomamo; where do they live; and who was the principal anthropologists that studied them, and why are they important to the study of Anthropology?
The Yanomami depend on the rain forest; they use "slash-and-burn" horticulture, grow bananas, gather fruit, and hunt animals and fish. Yanomami frequently move to avoid areas that become overused, a practice known as shifting cultivation when the soil becomes exhausted. From Venazuela, probably the most studied group in America Kinship basis for genealogy Napoleon Chagnon- anthropologist
What is the difference between structured and unstructured interviews?
unstructured interviews: involve a minimum of control, the interview asks open-ended questions on a general topic and allow interviewees to respond at their own pace using their own words- an ethnographic data-gathering technique-most often used in the early stages of field work Structured interview: the interviewers asks the informants exactly the same set of questions, in the same sequence, an preferably under the same conditions-an ethnographic data-gathering technique in which large numbers of respondents are asked a set of specific questions.
Is medical anthropology also considered applied anthropology?
yes, nestle nurse study
Applied Field Anthropologist
More collaborative and interdisciplinary More inclusive of local participants Faced with real-time limitations Involves new field techniques Rapid ethnographic assessment (REA) Surveys Focus groups
What specific stages did Morgan define in his evolutionary theory?
1. Lower Savagery: From the earliest forms of humanity subsisting on fruits and nuts. 2. Middle Savagery: Began with the discovery of fishing technology and the use of fire. 3. Upper Savagery: Began with the invention of the bow and arrow. 4. Lower Barbarism: Began with the advent of pottery making. 5. Middle Barbarism: Began with the domestication of plants and animals in the Old World and irrigation cultivation in the New World. 6. Upper Barbarism: Began with the smelting of iron and the use of iron tools. 7. Civilization: Began with the invention of the phonetic alphabet and writing.
How does foraging differ from hunting and gathering?
It doesn't; it is a for of subsistence that relies on using animal and plant resources found in the natural environment (aka hunting and gathering)
Where did Ferraro (author of your text) do his fieldwork?
Kikuyu
What are the stages of field research in anthropology?
Stage 1: Selecting a research problem Stage 2: Formulating a research design Stage 3: Collecting the data Stage 4: Analyzing the data Stage 5: Interpreting the data
What are two other names for shifting cultivation and what does it involve?
Swidden cultivation and slash-and-burn method: This technique involves clearing the land by manually cutting down the growth, burning it, and planting in the burned area. Even though the ash residue serves as a fertilizer, the soil nutrients are usually depleted within a few years. The land is then allowed to lie fallow until the natural vegetation is restored, or it may be abandoned altogether. Slash-and-burn cultivating can eventually destroy the environment if fields are not given sufficient time to lie fallow.
What part of culture helps people adapt to their specific environment?
Technology- cultures with complex technologies have gained greater control over their environments and their food supplies.
