Cultural Anthro
language
shared knowledge of sounds, meanings, and rules that allow people to communicate extremely complex and precise messages to one another, non verbal vs verbal
frames
social construction of social phenomena
ritual
social practice composed of a particular sequential ordering of symbols
prestige
social standing
taboo
something you should not do as it is believed to bring bad luck example: food taboo in India - don't eat cows
animism
souls in animals, nature, plants, and other things in addition to humans
example of a marriage w/o sex
spirit brides in China
types of symbols
summarizing vs. elaborating, resistance vs. domination, key symbols
conception
symbolism or interpretation of understanding
microcultures
systems of cultural knowledge characteristic of subgroups w/i lgr societies
speech
the application of that knowledge in the form of spoken communication
cultural environment
the conception of an environment in terms that they see most important to their adaptive needs
perception
the concrete reality
conversation style: talking on the job
the differences b/w how genders will talk about something, the language shapes the idea and how genders speak is shaped by culture
sapir-whorf hypothesis
the idea that language influences a person's view of the world, linguistic system in our minds organize the way we see the world and how we understand it example: Eskimos and their many words
subject
the person who s being studied from the outsider perspective
liminality
the threshold into a ritual
cultural tourism
travel to see a diff culture
continuum
use and exchange of values/needs vs imagined needs/desires
sustainability
using resources efficiently
economics in an Anthro perspective
values and desires
sociolinguistic rules
vocal symbols in appropriate social settings
culture ecology
way people use their culture to adapt to particular environments
nonlinguistic symbol
way we sit, how we use our hands, clothes we wear, car we drive, house we live in
culture shock
when people experience a type of psychological trauma when surrounded by an entirely new culture: experience paranoia, anxiety, a longing for home, nausea, hypochondria, and frequently diarrhea example: seeing the toilets in Taiwan
Eating Christmas in the Kalahari
who: Kung Bushmen where: Kalahari desert the cultural anthropologist buys an ox to cook for the bushmen on Christmas - does it as a nice gesture, everyone in the camp gave the anthropologist grief about it being too thin but it was fat as he suspected. The reason they insult is that no one become arrogant and gets too prideful - the Bushmen are skeptical of good intentions b/c normally gifts come calculated
physical environment
world they experience through their senses
common elements of culture
based on symbols, learned, internally integrated, changes
virtual warfare
drones are flown by people but the people are located elsewhere
horticulture
earliest farming strategy, use gardening and slash and burn agriculture
reciprocity
equaling out the exchange b/w 2 people
globalization
everything is taking into account the entire world
Nice Girls Don't Talk to Rastas
example of naive realism. a student studying in Barbados living with a host family began to study rastas and hanging out with them and her naive realism was that class did not matter b/c it normally does not matter in american culture to a certain extent
agriculture
farming based on permanent settlement and intense cultivation
commodity fetishism
focusing on the goods not the creators, how a commodity can mean something beyond its value
migration
fosters globalization
bride price
groom's family pays bride's family money b/c the family is losing a daughter
pastoralism
herding domesticated animals such as cattle, goats, sheep, and camels
industrialism
highly complex, rely on many social groups and statuses, goods and services are exchanged in the basis of price, supply, demand
authenticity
how real, or close to the original something is in accuracy
subsistence strategies
hunter gatherers, horticulturalists, pastoralists, agriculturalists, industrialists
agency
idea that everyone has a right to their opinion
commodity chain
idea that something begins production in one place and is sold in another
structural inequality
imbalance built into the way society is organized
primogeniture
in Europe: oldest son gets the land
cargo, fiesta, civil-religious hierarchy
in Mexico, men must pass through test in order to serve their communities, alcaldes: mayors at top of system, gained status through generosity of time and efforts
ultimogeniture
in Thailand: youngest daughter receives the extra land
affine
in laws
social networks
individuals with whom we regularly interact
potlatch
involved w/ native americans, ceremonies w/ dancing, feasts, and exchange of goods, the person who threw the potlatch would give away goods which showed status = more about giving to show status rather than receiving
social groups
organized collection of individuals
holistic approach
particular elements can not be understood in isolation, but as part of a larger whole
caste, type of social stratification
permanent membership
informant
person w/i the culture being studied that gives the observers information
respondent
person who answers the investigator's questions
informants
person who teaches the cultural anther. about the culture
bias
personal or political background may shape your research, i.e.: class, gender, nationality, religious background
Hadj
pilgrimage to Mecca, Muslim life goal
magic
practices, notably the use of rituals, taboos, and fetishes, or good luck charms, designed to gain control over the supernatural
ethnography
process of discovering and describing a particular culture
bilateral kinship
related to both father's and mother's lines
metaphors
represent comparison
class, type of social stratification
restriction of certain individuals' access to valued resources, can be flexible
roles
rules for the action associated w/ particular statuses
multivocal
same symbols may be understood by diff people in diff ways
tribal zone
area that is not under state control, happens b/s borders of states
structure of rituals
separation: as you enter ritual you do something to change, transitions: cross the threshold and bond w/ people you don't know, reaggregation into society
social situations
settings in which social interactions take place
commodity
...
dialect
...
ramages
based on bilateral descent
descent
based on notion of common heritage
redistribution
all goods put together then redivided
ethnocentrism
belief and feeling that one's own culture is the best
religion spirit definition
belief in spirits, external: supreme deity; internal: mana: quality that resides in people
naive realism
belief that people everywhere see the world in the same way
syncretism
blending of practices in a religion
consanguine
blood relatives
communitas
bonding w/ people who are complete strangers, overcome by the moment
dowry
bride's family provides money to groom's family
grammar
categories and rules for combing vocal symbols
phonology
categories and rules for forming vocal symbols
semantics
categories and rules for relating the vocal symbols to their referents
morphemes
categories in any language that carry meaning
status
categories of different people with whom we interact
rank societies
certain unequal access to prestige but not economic resources
fetish
charms and material objects that are believed to embody supernatural power that can aid or protect the owner. attraction to something, a tradition that people believe brings luck
slash and burn agriculture
clearing and burning wild land with the aid of a riffing stick, then they sow the seeds in the ashes b/c the soil is more fertile
comparative
comparing multiples cultures
kinship
complex system of social relationships based on marriage and birth
culture, EB Tylor definition
complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, customs, and any other capabilities acquired by man as a member of society
clans
composed of lineages
religion
cultural knowledge of the supernatural that people use to cope with the ultimate problems in human existence
explicit culture
cultural knowledge that people can talk about
tacit culture
cultural knowledge that we lack words for
culture, Spradley definition
culture is learned and shared knowledge that people use to generate behavior and interpret the world
swidden/slash and burn
cutting down all vegetation in a given field and light it on fire
hunting gathering
depend on wild animals and plants for subsistence, forage and hunt
ethnicity
dividing people on cultural beliefs, place of origin, or other things
family
kin consisting of at least one married couple sharing a home with their children
fictive kin
kin that we have w/ people who are not related to us by blood or affine
matrilineal
kinship via the female line
patrilineal
kinship via the male line
egalitarian societies
lack formal social stratification
Manipulating Meaning: the name game
language and communication related, the name of the mission explains what the mission is about and has implications, aggressive names makes the mission sound aggressive and passive names make the mission forgettable
phraties
larger groups of clans, feeling of common descent is weaker than in clans
3 types of rituals
life cycle: rites of passage, calendrical: rituals occur every time span, situational: if someone gets sick, misfortune
exogamy
marrying outside of your own group
endogamy
marrying w/i your group such as religion, ethnic group, social status
phonemes
minmal categories of speech sounds that serve to keep utterances apart
polyandry
multiple husbands
polygamy
multiple spouses
polygyny
multiple wives
race
no scientific factual basis to divide people based on physical appearance - true in cultural sense
ambiguity w/ symbols
no symbol has precise meaning
culture relativism
not a single culture is universal, each culture views things through their own cultural lens
symbol
object, world, or action w/ culturally defined meaning that stands for something else, essence of symbolism is relating the concrete to the abstract
detached observers
observing people, working from the outside, categorize what they see and generate theories to account their findings
meconnaissance
open to misrecognition, people may intentionally ignore the meaning of a symbol
stratified societies
organize around all forms of social stratification