MIDTERM (Week 1 Review, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5)

consanguinity

Blood relationship__> Birth

David McCurdy, Family and Kinship in Village India

In David W. McCurdy's article, "Family and Kinship in Village India," it discusses the significance of how a successful family is formed by tradition, preparation, and patience. The article describes how kinship has the power to arrange marriages successfully, make families unite and assist each other, and teach and help one another agriculturally or economically.According to McCurdy, the main ways that kinship organizes "Bhil" society in Ratakote, India are the terms used to refer to them, the responsibilities that they have toward one another, and the importance of marrying them off properly. Marriage plays a big role in life for the Bhil's of Ratakote. The Bhil's follow their tradition of arranging marriages. They feel that by arranging marriages, both of the families of the bride and groom will benefit in many ways. To them, marriage constructs alliances between the families, lineage, and clans. It also gives social strength and security to the families, and their personal reputations depend on the quality and number of their allied kin. The Bhil parents of the bride and groom in question, must first find out if the other family's worthy of becoming a part of the same family after the marriage. The attributes that the parents look for are the reputation of the other family, the treatment and hospitality of the other's in-laws, the obligations met to others, the bride or groom's reputation, the physical, emotional, and intellectual characteristics of the bride or groom, and the amount and wealth of the family's land and animals.

Rebecca Popenoe, Ideal, Fat (D2L)

While the Western world adheres to a beauty ideal that says women can never be too thin, the semi-nomadic Moors of the Sahara desert have for centuries cherished a feminine ideal of extreme fatness. Voluptuous immobility is thought to beautify girls' bodies, hasten the onset of puberty, heighten their sexuality and ripen them for marriage. From the time of the loss of their first milk teeth, girls are directed to eat huge bowls of milk and porridge in one of the world's few examples of active female fattening. Based on fieldwork in an Arab village in Niger, Feeding Desire analyses the meanings of women's fatness as constituted by desire, kinship, concepts of health, Islam, and the crucial social need to manage sexuality. By demonstrating how a particular beauty ideal can only be understood within wider social structures and cultural logics, the book also implicitly provides a new way of thinking about the ideal of slimness in late Western capitalism. Offering a reminder that an estimated eighty per cent of the world's societies prefer plump women, this gracefully written book is both a fascinating exploration of the nature of bodily ideals and a highly readable ethnography of a Saharan people.

Gatekeepers

formally or informally control access to the group or community

participant observation

the fieldwork technique that involves gathering cultural data by observing people's behavior and participating in their lives

Polyandry (The reason for polyandry)

the marriage of one woman with more that one man Purpose? Why? ...

Semantics

the study of language meaning

naive realism

we realize there's subjectivity in people's understandings and judgments but because we know that, we're immune to those biases

Sex

"... the biological and physiological characteristics that define men and women" (World Health Organization)

Gender

"... the socially constructed roles, behaviors, activities, and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for men and women" (World Health Organization)

Don Kulick & Anne Meneley, Introduction, Fat (D2L)

"Enlisting thirteen anthropologists and one fat activist, editors and anthropologists Don Kulick and Anne Meneley have produced an unconventional and unprecedented examination of fat as a concept, a substance, and a lifestyle. Edgy and non-judgmental, Fat steers the conversation away from the heavily trodden ground of health, cosmetic concerns, and cheap jokes, and moves it in a completely different direction, dissecting familiar institutions like Starbucks, Spam, pornography, medicine, religion, high school, and more - as well as providing glimpses into less familiar cultures where fat is venerated, and even considered something to cherish and protect."

Film: Guardians of the Flute

"High in the mountains of New Guinea live the Sambia people, a war- like tribe whose secret rituals of initiation are aimed at making their warriors courageous and bold. Only because their culture is threatened have they allowed these initiation rites to be documented on film. This is a society where the roles of men and women are sharply delineated. They live in separate spaces in their round huts. A woman must crouch if she is in the same space as her husband. Her menstrual blood is considered a pollutant, damaging to her husband's vigor. Male children live with their mothers until they are old enough to move to the boys' house. For many, the separation from their mother is very painful. When it is time for the boys to become men, they undergo a severe initiation. Each is assigned an older guardian who accompanies him during this process. They are thrashed, deprived of food and sleep and have ginger root rubbed into their wounds, which is very painful. The most secret part of the initiation are the sexual rites, which are described by several initiates."

George Gmelch, Nice Girls Don't Talk to Rastas (C&C, 31-36)

"Nice Girls Don't Talk to Rastas" by George Gmelch. It talked about a girl from New York named Johanna living in a village in Barbados. The Rastafarians that lived in the village formed an idea about her that she was "the Devil's child" and was a drug addict. They accused her of taking her clothes off with the Rastas and smoking marijuana with them. The Rastas judged Johanna because she was a nice, tall, pretty girl that was obviously not from Barbados. In their culture, it is not acceptable to just go up to someone that you don't know and start talking to them. Johanna had been getting close to a man named Joseph, a Rasta who lived in the village in which she was residing. This took the village by surprise. They saw the two walking together and spending a lot of time together. In Barbados, interracial relationships are frowned upon. Johanna did not realize the seriousness of her actions because of naive realism, which is the idea that everybody perceives the world the same way. In America, interracial relationships are very common and people do not think twice about seeing two races spending their time together. We are used to homogeneous societies where everybody basically has the same beliefs. In other countries however, social standings are different. Certain actions are not acceptable and will lead to serious consequences. Johanna was basically shunned by the village just because she approached the situation the wrong way. People need to realize that every culture has their own beliefs and what may be acceptable in one place is not acceptable in others.

Kinship

- Kinship refers to relationships that are based on blood or marriage - Consanguineal: Based on blood ex: brother, parents, etc. - Relationships based on blood and marriage are culturally recognized by all societies - Affinal: related by marriage - Fictive kinship: relationships among individuals who recognize kinship obligations, even though the relationships are not based on either consanguineal or affinal ties

Claire Sterk "Fieldwork on Prostitution in the era of Aids"

- prostitution ethnography - Sterk engaged in a long-term study of prostitutes in New York City and Atlanta. Her research required her to discover the places where her informants worked and hung out, introduce herself, develop rapport, and con- duct open-ended interviews that permitted informants to teach her about their lives. During this process, she learned not to depend too much on contacts (gatekeepers) she met initially, that it was helpful to know something about respondents but to avoid an "expert" role, to refrain from expressing her own opinions about the culture and lives of her sub- jects, and to manage a variety of ethical questions.

Challenges in Fieldwork

-Initial stages are the most difficult -Must survive physical elements (disease, food, survival, and physical exhaustion) as well as cultural barriers (culture shock) -Self dbout and preconceptions may lead to cross cultural misunderstandings

Brideprice

A bride price (or bride wealth or bride token) is paid by the groom to the bride's parents or family at the time of the marriage.

Phonemes

A class of sounds or phones that speakers and listeners perceive as being one sound. (Mental Construct)

Ethnography

A detailed description of a particular culture primarily based on firsthand observation and interaction (fieldwork).

Craniology

A flawed experiment that Samuel Morton conducted using skulls of different races to compare different amounts of space in the skulls for brains.

grammer

A set of rules that aim to describe fully the pattern of linguistic usage observed by speakers of a particular language.

Peggy McIntosh, "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack"

After "unpacking the invisible knapsack" with this list, McIntosh outlines why she believes that "privilege" is too soft a word. She asserts that "dominance" is more appropriate; the mental control that a particular race has over another is a sort of dominance. We are really talking about power. The conditions above allow for the systematic over-empowerment of certain groups. In short, such privilege "confers dominance because of one's race or sex." Such dominance, whether intentional or unintentional, is embedded in white privilege. McIntosh suggests that no longer are the chains of power made of metal; rather, they are made of mental control devises such as the ones listed. But no one is held responsible because of the oblivious nature of the whole thing. She believes that it is perhaps as damaging as slavery. McIntosh goes on to say that disapproving of racist systems will not be enough to change them. However, systemic change can begin with the acknowledgment, identification of, and teaching of white privilege for oneself and then others. Individuals must understand what is happening and then make others aware. Once everyone understands white privilege, the issues of control can be addressed and eradicated. Only after such persistent and patient work, may one hope for system changes.

Webs of Significance

An individual is bound up in a series of symbolic or mythic representations — "man is an animal suspended in webs of significance he himself has spun" (Clifford Geertz, Interpretation of Cultures) — which serve to generate and maintain meaning. Together, these symbols and myths provide the structure for our world-views.

Social Darwinism

Applied Darwin's theory of natural selection and "survival of the fittest" to human society -- the poor are poor because they are not as fit to survive. Used as an argument against social reforms to help the poor.

affinity

Attraction for someone or something with which one feels a closeness or kinship __>Marriage

concordance

Concordance: correlation; non-concordance: not correlated Racial classifications impose discrete categories on continuous traits "Race is non-concordant with phenotypes"

Eugenics

Definition: a pseudoscience attempting to scientifically prove the existence of separate human races to improve the population's genetic composition by favoring some races over others Example: Significance: Encourage the higher races to reproduce. Promote positive breeding.

Film: Race: The Power of an Illusion

Episode 1- The Difference Between Us examines the contemporary science - including genetics - that challenges our common sense assumptions that human beings can be bundled into three or four fundamentally different groups according to their physical traits. Episode 2- The Story We Tell uncovers the roots of the race concept in North America, the 19th century science that legitimated it, and how it came to be held so fiercely in the western imagination. The episode is an eye-opening tale of how race served to rationalize, even justify, American social inequalities as "natural." Episode 3- The House We Live In asks, If race is not biology, what is it? This episode uncovers how race resides not in nature but in politics, economics and culture. It reveals how our social institutions "make" race by disproportionately channeling resources, power, status and wealth to white people. By asking, What is this thing called 'race'?, a question so basic it is rarely asked, Race - The Power of an Illusion helps set the terms that any further discussion of race must first take into account. Ideal for human biology, anthropology, sociology, American history, American studies, and cultural studies.

Endogamy/Exogamy

Exogamous: Marriage outside any particular named group Endogamous: Marriage within a particular group

Human Genome Project

Identify all genes, determine sequences of chemical base pairs, store info, improve tools analysis, transfer related tech to private sector.

Rapport & how to build it

Good relations with the community Anthropologists try to be sensitive, not destroy rapport with cultural booby traps along the way Eating with left hand in India, Males wearing red in Japan. (violations)

Linguistic Anthropology

Historical and descriptive ethnolinguistics is the language of indigenous groups. Sociolinguistics is the language of different groups within society

Jefferson Fish, Mixed Blood

In his article, "Mixed Blood", Jeffery M. Fish examines the cultural foundation of racial differentiation and claims race to be a myth. He begins by outlining human evolution in order to reveal the sheer ignorance present within racial classification schemes. He claims that, "like skin color, there are other physical differences [such as body type] that appear to have evolved through natural selection- but which Americans do not think of as racial". Since racial classification primarily focuses on skin color, people with "compact" or "lanky" body types are merely variants of white, black, or other "racial" groups. A different choice of characteristics would categorize people into different "races" and the choice of which characteristics are significant is an arbitrary cultural construct. Additionally, Fish strengthens his assertion by addressing the fluidity of racial classification. In the United States, race defines ethnicity; in Brazil, it describes distinct physical characteristics. Hence, Fish notes that his daughter can, "change her race from Black in the United States to Morena(brunette)...in Brazil, by simply taking a plane there". Racial classification schemes are always subject to change as they depend on the culture of the observer rather than the genetic makeup of the people being observed. Furthermore, Fish questions the validity of racial classification by studying the biological differences between species. Fish explains that unlike donkeys and horses, human beings are part of a collective species which allows them to, "mate with others from anywhere [around the world] and produce fertile offspring". If racial classification had a concrete scientific origin, this could not be true. In order for the word raceto have any meaning a significant difference in genetic makeup would be required, thus delineating human beings into distinct racial groups. However, this evidently is not the case. Fish believes that race does not exist - it is a myth that has been socially concocted to justify the exclusion of one group of people from the other, thus deterring our growth as a society and needlessly violating individual autonomy.

Medical metaphor

In medicine, metaphor is often used to elucidate a disease that resists classification. Simply put, metaphors help us to understand our own unexplained present and uncertain future, by putting disease into relation with past experience and present knowledge.

The colonialist legacy of anthropology

In terms of religion, politics, economies, identity formation etc. Colonial history understood as impacting all aspects of social life.

Stephen J. Gould, The Mismeasure of Man

In the introduction to the original 1981 edition, Gould states that he wrote The Mismeasure of Man because "biological determinism is rising in popularity again, as it always does in times of political retrenchment." By retrenchment, Gould is referring to times when politicians call for cuts in public spending, often on social programs designed to help the poor or disadvantaged. This is a statement he expresses in the introduction to the revised 1996 edition and repeats throughout the entire book. Gould's study of the history of biological determinism has led him to conclude that its popularity rises and falls in tandem with political cycles. For example, some politicians might want to trim the government budget by reducing or eliminating spending on a college scholarship program to encourage women to go into the fields of math and science. At the same time there is suddenly a surge of publicity about scientific studies that allegedly show that women's brains are better with words than numbers. This is no coincidence, Gould says. Prior political and social beliefs are influencing both scientific research itself and its interpretation. Gould believes fiercely that there is a need to show how cultural attitudes influence and even distort what we think of as facts. A scientist himself, Gould is by no means discrediting the power of his field to discover inescapable truths about the world. "I believe that a factual reality exists and that science, though often in an obtuse and erratic manner, can learn about it," he says. But scientists do not live in their laboratories. They have families and read the news and watch movies just like everyone else. They are immersed in society and cannot help but be influenced by it. "Facts are not pure and unsullied bits of information; culture also influences what we see," Gould states. The key to avoid error is for scientists to be aware of that influence and to make sure that it does not distort the way they formulate their studies and experiments.

Cisgender

Individuals who have a match between the gender they were assigned at birth, their bodies, and their personal identity.

Joan Gross, Phat

Joan Gross writes about phat rappers whose girth is taken as evidence of masculine potency and financial success, and Julia Harrison writes about the role of Spam in the construction of Native Hawaiian identity. Mary Weismantel probes Andean legends of white fat-sucking vampires—metaphors, she thinks, for the exploitation of Indian communities by the elite. Articles on mainstream Western attitudes toward fat uncover even more strangeness. Fanny Ambjörnsson details the byzantine ways Swedish high school girls talk about fat; Kulick and Thaïs Machado-Borges expose the odd Brazilian enthusiasm for intestinal leakage as proof that fat-dissolving pills are working; and Margaret Wilson asks why Starbucks patrons order their coffee with skim milk—only to dump whipped cream on top. The writers wear their scholarly apparatus lightly and offer a readable, thought-provoking survey of one of the most intimate and complicated issues of contemporary life. Photos. (Jan.)

Culture and Ethnography (C&C, 2-5)

Key Words: Culture: culture is the full range of learned human behavior patterns. Explicit Culture: is cultural knowledge that people can talk about. Tacit Culture: is cultural knowledge that people lack words for Ethnography: is the process of discovering and describing a particular culture Microcultures: are systems of cultural knowledge characteristic of subgroups within larger societies. Detached Observes: They work from the outside, creating a system of knowledge to account for other's people's behavior. Subject/Informant: Instead of looking for a subject to observe, ethnographers look for an informant to teach them the culture Respondent: An informant is neither a subject in a scientific experiment nor a respondent who answers the investigator's questions. Naive Realism: is the belief that people everywhere see the world in the same way Culture Shock: is a state of anxiety that results from cross cultural misunderstanding. Ethnocentrism: Is the belief and feeling that one's own culture is best.

intersex

Mix of male and female characteristics Number of people whose bodies differ from standard male or female: 1 in 100 XXX; YYY; XXY; XO

monogamous and polygamous

Monogamous: Marriage that is preferred that only one woman should be married to one man at a time Polygamous: meaning that one person may be married to more than one person simultaneously

Podcast: Scence On: Seeing White

On one level, it seems Americans talk about race and ethnicity all the time. The news media always seem to be reacting to the latest racial "incident," while pundits ponder "race relations" year in and year out. And yet. The premise of this series is that the American conversation about race, and the stories we tell ourselves about race and ethnicity, are deeply incomplete and often misleading. We need new stories and new understandings, about our history and our current racial and ethnic reality. Host and producer John Biewen set out to take a different kind of look at race and ethnicity, by looking directly at the elephant in the room: white people, and whiteness. White supremacy was encoded in the DNA of the United States, and white people dominate American life and its institutions to this day, and yet whiteness too often remains invisible, unmarked, and unnamed. In embarking on this journey into whiteness, past and present, Biewen sought guidance from an array of leading scholars, and from professor, journalist, artist, and organizer Dr. Chenjerai Kumanyika. A caution: Race and racism are sensitive subjects, as we all know. It's important to create an environment of safety in your classroom or discussion group. Our advice is to say something like this:

lineage (matrilineal, patrilineal, bilateral)

Patrilineal Descent: A system of tracing descent through the father's side of the family Matrilineal Descent: The tracing of kinship through the mother's family. Bilateral Descent The principle that a descent group is formed by people who believe they are related to each other by connections made through their mothers and fathers equally (sometimes called cognate descent). Americans are said to have bilateral descent

Physical or Biological Anthropology

Reconstructing evolution. Has to do with the physical environment; natural medicine and adaptation. How culture affects biological capacities and limitation

Cultural Relativism

Seeking to understand another culture/way of life in its own terms, or native terms, rather than by our own cultural standards

Cultural Anthropology

Sets anthropology apart from other social and behavioral sciences. Looks at how culture shapes the way people live

Laura Bohannan "Shakespeare in the Bush" (C&C, 41-48)

Shakespeare in the Bush is about Laura Bohannan traveling to stay with the Tiv people of Nigeria. While she is there she hopes to prove that human nature is universal and the same everywhere and that the Tiv will understand and interpret the story of Hamlet in the same way that the people in her culture have. Before she goes she decides Hamlet is universally intelligible and that the story only has one world wide interpretation. She says in the article "I protested that human nature is pretty much the same the whole world over; at least the general play and motivation of the greater tragedies would always be clear-everywhere-although some details of custom might have to be explained and difficulties of translation might produce other slight changes" (pg. 162). While Bohannan is in Nigeria she is asked to tell the elders of the Tiv a story from her culture. This is when she realizes her opportunity to tell them about Hamlet and study their interpretation. (She also thinks Hamlet is particularly important because it is one of the most important pieces of literature in her (our) society.) She feels the story will be easy to make clear because it is understood by everyone (or so she thinks!). So Bohannan tells the story of Hamlet to the Tiv elders and as she does she comes across many problems and finds the Tiv disagree with/misinterpret numerous sections of the story. The first example of a misunderstanding is with Hamlet's uncle marrying Hamlet's mother. Laura Bohannan and the modern Western culture feel that this action or marriage was slightly incestuous and also happened too quickly after the death. The Tiv on the other hand did not have a problem with it because they would take the same action in their culture. It is very normal for the brother of a deceased man to marry his wife so the family's field/farm could still be maintained. Another part of Hamlet the Tiv did not understand was Hamlet's desire to avenge himself for his father's murder. The Tiv believe that it is impossible for someone to kill or attempt to kill his elders. They believed that Hamlet should have contacted his father's friends to avenge the murder of King Hamlet. They definitely did not agree with Hamlet attempting to avenge the murder himself. Another part of the story that Bohannan and the elders disagreed on was Hamlet's reason for going mad. We feel that Hamlet went mad because he wasn't able to marry Ophelia. The Tiv on the other hand related Hamlet's madness to witchcraft because they think that witches cause madness; therefore, it is the only thing they can relate to someone going mad. Even though Bohannan and the Tiv have different interpretations of Hamlet, they both feel that they are each correct. They feel this because their interpretation of the play is correct and obvious to them because of their cultural views on situations. When answering the question 'Which interpretation is right?' the answer can be approached in two different ways. One approach is that neither interpretation is right because being "right" is dependent on the steady application of local cultural standards. Then again, one could also say they are both right because they feel they each have the authority to interpret Hamlet correctly. This story can be connected to any of the other articles we've read in Inquiry class that have discussed diversity and being open to other cultures, as well as to seeing shadows like in Allegory of the Cave.

Researcher's positionally

Shows researcher's positionality by describing their lens, relevant research beliefs, relation to participants or context, and any possible influence the researcher might have in the research process

Archaeology

Studying cultural paths through excavation

Language and Communication (C&C, 38-40)

Symbol: is anything that we can perceive with our senses that stands for something else Language: is a system of cultural knowledge used to generate and interpret speech. Speech: Refers to the behavior that produces vocal sound. Phonology: consists of the categories and rules for forming vocal symbols. Phonemes: are the minimal categories of speech sounds that serve to keep utterances apart. Grammer: Refers to the categories and rules for combining vocal symbols. Morphemes: are the categories in any language that carry meaning Semantics: refers to the categories and rules for relating vocal symbols Sociolinguistic Rules: combine meaningful utterances with social situations into appropriate messages. Nonsociolinguistic Rules: can convey meaning Metaphors: represent a comparison, usually linguistic, that suggest how two things that are not alike in most ways are similar in another. Frames: are social constructions of social phenomena

sign

Symbolic anthropology or, more broadly, symbolic and interpretive anthropology, is the study of cultural symbols and how those symbols can be used to gain a better understanding of a particular society.

Symbols

Symbols are the basis of culture. A symbol is an object, word, or action that stands for something else with no natural relationship that is culturally defined. Everything one does throughout their life is based and organized through cultural symbolism. Symbolism is when something represents abstract ideas or concepts.

Deborah Tannen, Conversation Style: Talking on the job (C&C, 53-59)

Tannen outlines differences in conversational styles between the genders. She claims that many of issues and tensions between gender are a result of not necessarily gender differences but rather differences in conversational styles of each gender. The wage gap could be caused by a communication gap - a discrepancy in understanding of communication styles between men and women. "Boys are expected to put themselves forward, emphasize the qualities that make them look good, and deemphasize those that would show them in a less favorable light. Too much of this is called arrogance. Girls are expected to be 'humble' - not try to take the spotlight, emphasize the ways they are just like everyone else, and deemphasize ways they are special. A woman who does this really well comes off as lacking in confidence. Ironically, those who learn the lessons best are most in danger of falling into traps laid by conversational conventions (p. 42)."

Clifford Geertz

That humankind is simply an animal that relishes in its own self-appointed importance and significance. And that any analysis of culture is not an analysis of law but one of meaning.

Film: The Linguists

The Linguists follows David Harrison and Gregory Anderson, scientists racing to document languages on the verge of extinction. David and Greg's 'round-the-world journey takes them deep into the heart of the cultures, knowledge, and communities at risk when a language dies. In Siberia, David and Greg seek to record the Chulym language, which hasn't been heard by outsiders for more than thirty years. The linguists encounter remnants of the racist Soviet regime that may have silenced Chulym for good. In India, tribal children attend boarding schools, where they learn Hindi and English, a trade, and the pointlessness of their native tongues. Similar boarding schools for tribal children existed in the US through most of the twentieth century. David and Greg travel to the children's villages, where economic unrest has stirred a violent Maoist insurgency. The linguists witness the fear and poverty that have driven youth from their native communities. In Bolivia, the Kallawaya language has survived for centuries with fewer than one hundred speakers. David and Greg trek high into the Andes to unlock its secret.

examples of policing gender

The act of judging individuals and trying to push them to conform to an ideal gender type

Sexuality

The complex range of desires, beliefs, and behaviors that are related to erotic physical contact and the cultural arena within which people debate about what kinds of physical desires and behaviors are right, appropriate, and natural.

white privilege

The construct that points out the fact that white people have inearned advantages over others simply by having white skin.

Film: Cannibal Tours

The documentary 'Cannibal Tours' directed by Dennis O'Rourke, takes a tour of the Sepik River in Papua New Guinea to illustrate the culture and nature of the area through the eyes of both the native villagers and tourists that emulate whiteness and privilege. The documentary shows the contrasting perspectives of each group on one another and the realities of the village through personal interviews. The tourists describes the villagers as primitive and one with nature that appear to be happy with the environment providing their basic life necessities. The tourists appear in awe and in fascination of the villagers actions, traditions, beliefs, aesthetic and goods as they study their environment through pictures and camera lenses to document their experience. The tourists are composed of white, wealthy, seniors that are constantly and pleasantly taking pictures of each villager and artifact despite the confusion on the villagers faces. They appear to be watching the villagers with immense interest as if they were part of a museum or performance without the realization that this is their way of life and survival. Rather than supporting their local economy and families, the tourists are treating them as objects as they position them to take pictures in a positive light. For instance, the tourists appear oblivious and are purposely bargaining for lower prices and asking for free items despite the poverty surrounding them, proving their lack of awareness, sympathy and consideration for their welfare. In contrast, the villagers verbally describe their anger and frustrations towards the tourists who attempt to bargain with them, avoid purchasing goods or simply ignore them that is visible through their facial expressions and reactions. The documentary makes it evident that the villagers are under privileged with minimal access to food, clothes, or hygiene products and rely on tourist income to survive. They feel unsupported and confused by the tourists satisfaction and interest in their lives because they are equally humans. Their actions are perceived as symbolic but they are also a means for survival since they do not have access to education, work opportunities, or travel beyond these boundaries. They don't understand the world beyond this area or tourists behaviours and are evidently frustrated with the way they are treated. For example, the man states that you cannot bargain in a store so it is unfair to expect him too. They are faced with prejudice and inequalities due to their lack of resources that are misunderstood as a chosen way of life. The villagers explain how they believe that Europeans and themselves exist in different worlds through the villagers lack of understanding of how they acquire money, how they live and how they act that illustrates a significant cultural gap. Rather than offering aid, the tourists claim the villagers need to be taught behaviours and values to stimulate aspirations but the villagers clearly state, they only need resources and financial support. The villagers prove how the Europeans believe their are being cultured but in reality, they are reinforcing inequalities and treating humans like cultural objects due to their race and status. The images of cameras specifically denotes how they are visibly encountering these realities to depict their oblivion of these inequalities. Thus, I think that the camera focuses on the tourists looking at the village through a restricted camera lens to connote how they are not seeing the bigger picture, this village is not constructed for entertainment, it is their form of survival and evident lack of privilege.

Melvyn Goldstein, Polyandry: When Brothers Take a Wife

The following is about Polyandry and its use in Tibet as a form of population control. Among Tibetans, the good life relegates many women to spinsterhood The mechanics of fraternal polyandry are simple. Two, three, four, or more brothers jointly take a wife, who leaves her home to come and live with them. Traditionally, marriage was arranged by parents, with children, particularly females, having little or no say. This is changing somewhat nowadays, but it is still unusual for children to matry without their parents' consent. Marriage ceremonies vary by income and region and range from all the brothers sitting together as grooms to only the eldest one formally doing so. The age of the brothers plays an important role in determining this: very young brothers almost never participate in actual marriage ceremonies' although they typically join the marriage when they reach their midteens' The eldest brother is normally dominant in terms of authority, that is, in managing the household, but all the brothers share the work and participate as sexual partners. Tibetan males and females do not find the sexual aspect of sharing a spouse the least bit unusual, repulsive, or scandalous, and the norm is for the wife to treat all the brothers the same. Offspring are treated sirnilarly. There is no attempt to link children biologically to particular brothers, and a brother shows no favoritism toward his child even if he knows he is the real father because, for example, his other brothers were away at the time the wife became pregnant. The children, in turn, consider all of the brothers as their fathers and treat them equally' even if they also know who is their real father. In some regions children use the term "father" for the eldest brother and "father's brother" for the others, while in other areas they call all the In such cases, all the children stayed in the main household with the remaining brother(s), even if the departing brother was known to be the real father of one or more of the children'brothers by one term, modifying this by the use of "elder" and "younger."

Johnathan Marks, Science and Race

The scientific study of human biological variation has consistently produced knowledge that contradicts widespread popular, or folk, wisdom. Although people and the populations they belong to certainly differ from one another, they do not appear to do so in such a manner that permits the identification of a small number of human subspecies or races. Classification of people into races involves cultural, not biological, knowledge; and race is inherited according to cultural rules that stand in opposition to biology. Thus race is not a useful biological concept. To understand whether differences exist between populations in cognitive ability (or any other inherent "gifts") requires confronting the limits of scientific knowledge.

Morphemes

The smallest bit of meaningful sound in a language, usually a word but also a prefix or suffix or other meaning-conveying sounds that can be used in conjunction with a word 2 or more

Phonology

The study of the sound system of a language.

Amitav Ghosh, The Iman and the Indian (D2L)

The title essay "The Imam and the Indian" brings out the pathos of two "superceded civilizations" - one of ancient Egypt and other of India - "vying with each other to lay claim to the violence of the West." The essay of topic here, called the Imam and the Indian, touches upon interesting ideas about metaphysical beliefs, culture clashes, and lost identities. Argument that happened during the essay: "You ought not to do this because otherwise you will not have guns and tanks and bombs". I find the nature of this dispute to be completely monumental. In fact, it is the identities of the speakers that intensify the subject matter. On one hand there is the Imam, a man associated with a certain degree of metaphysical understanding—one who speaks the language of God. On the other hand, we have the academic—associated with knowledge, modernity, and technology. Although neither of the men is a winner in the debate whether the villagers or Indians are more advanced relative to the West, Amitav concludes that the Imam, "since he was a Man of God his was the greater defeat". The Imam suffered a greater defeat because he was forced to give up his identity in his futile attempt to win the argument. I feel that Ghosh makes the connection between language and identity. In other words, that language that one speaks is directly tied to one's identity. In this situation, language does not mean a spoken language, but rather an intellectual language. When the debate tension escalates, Ghosh contends that that the Imam would like to say "You should do this or that because it is right or wrong or because God wills it to be so". That in a sense is the language of the Imam and the villagers of that region near Alexandria. However, the Imam cannot use this language because "that language is dead". Instead he must say "You ought not to do this because otherwise you will not have guns and tanks and bombs". What I take away from this is a question of identity. Furthermore, I see it as the way by which metaphysical ideas are shattered through new cultural exchanges. If the Imam were in the village alone, it might be possible to speak in terms of God or right and wrong, but with an educated outsider he must conform and speak in the "universal language" of knowledge and technology. Therefore, the act of giving up his identity as a man of God, a man who speaks the language of God, the Imam suffers the greater defeat. Main Goal: when in the act of encountering new cultures, one is forced to put their identity in question. In this case it is the Imam who realizes, or perhaps has known for some time that his language is dead, and he must confront that. If the Imam were to stay only amongst the villagers, then it is highly likely that the old language would have been perfectly operable. However, since many of the villagers have been exposed to the outside world, and since the outside world is brought to the village in the form of Amitav Ghosh, cultural identities are put in question.

Karl Heider, Thinking about Ethnographic Films (D2L)

This is a book which purports to deal with the history, theory and practice of ethnographic film. While ethnographic film is a somewhat specialized field, the use of the motion picture camera to portray the everyday lives of ordinary people is as old as cinema itself. Additionally, the problem of generating a film style which is somehow appropriate for the communication of anthropology is directly related to the more general communication problem of how anyone infuses pictures with meaning for any purpose. Therefore, by studying the ways that anthropologists attempt to solve their particular problems with film we could become enlightened about the general processes of film as communication.

Richard Lee: Eating Christmas in the Kalahari (C&C, 13-19)

This is a story of Richard Lee, an anthropologist, practicing ethnography on the !Kung Bushmens culture. I found it really cool that this African tribe would celebrate their own version of Christmas in December.I also found it fascinating that in order to study the hunting and gathering methods of the !Kung, Richard Lee would not provide them with any food or assistance even though the Bushmen "rarley had a days supply of food on hand." Although this approach gave him the most accurate data the Bushmen looked at him as a white "miser." In order to repay them for teaching him about their culture for the past year, he decides to buy a nice ox for the Christmas feast in December. He buys the biggest most beautiful ox he van find in order to feed the entire tribe. However soon after buying it many people of the tribe start complaining to him, "That sack of guts and bones will barley feed once camp, let alone all the bushmen!" Richard thought it was the most beautiful ox there but yet none of the bushmen appreciated it and all they did was complain. However Soon Richard learned that it was a custom of the !Kung that no matter what a person did they would put him down in order to keep his arrogance in check. This practice teaches humility. No matter what a bushman does all the other people would put him down, as to not fuel his ego. Richard learned that it was his power in the community that led to them fooling him about his big ox. He was the only source of tobacco for hundreds of miles so that put him on a pedestal. in order to put him in his place the bushman made him feel bad by telling he was ruining their Christmas festival with the "bag of bones" he bought even though it was a beautiful animal. its a beautiful practice that i believe we should pick up in the States. Don't be so quick to praise people because soon they will look down onto everyone. its important to keep everyone's humility in check to have a well balanced community.

Applied Anthropology

Use of knowledge and reproach to analyze social political and economic problems to develop solutions

30+ Examples of Cisgender Privileges

You can use public restrooms without fear of verbal abuse, physical intimidation, or arrest. You can use public facilities such as gym locker rooms and store changing rooms without stares, fear, or anxiety. Strangers don't assume they can ask you what your genitals look like and how you have sex. Your validity as a man/woman/human is not based on how much surgery you've had or how well you "pass" as non-transgender. You can walk through the world and generally blend in, not being constantly stared or gawked at, whispered about, pointed at, or laughed at because of your gender expression.

hijras

are eunuchs, intersex people, and transgender people. Also known as Aravani, Aruvani, Jagappa, or Chhakka, the hijra community in India prefer to call themselves Kinnar or Kinner, referring to the mythological beings that excel at song and dance.

Emily Martin (Egg and the Sperm)

argues that the act of human fertilization- how egg is passively waiting for sperm to actively and aggressively save it- is related to gender stereotype but is wrong. Western cultural biases within sciences

third genders

concept in which individuals are categorized, either by themselves or by society, as neither man nor women

Family types: Joint/Extended

consists of a group of related nuclear families and includes three or more generations of family members

family types: nuclear

consists of a married couple with their unmarried children, normally living together in the same household

Later definition of culture

culture is the full range of learned human behavior patterns.

The Bell Curve

definition: Also called the normal curve. Many traits, including intellectual abilities, are said to be normally distributed, with roughly 68 percent of the distribution being within one standard deviation of the mean, and more than 90 percent were within two standard deviations of the mean. uses: 1. early IQ testing and placement 2. change the educational system 3. encourage the intelligent to have more kids, and the less intelligent to have less kids

Interpretive

interpretations form a shared cultural system of meaning i.e. understandings shared, to varying degrees, among members of the same society. Symbolic anthropology views culture as an independent system of meaning deciphered by interpreting key symbols and rituals.

Family Types: Matrifocal

is a concept referring to households that consist of one or more adult women and their children without the presence of fathers. Single-parent families headed by women, for example, are matrifocal since they day-to-day life of the family is organized around the mother.

Descent

is based on the notion of common heritage

Family Types: Compound

is formed through the combination of nuclear families or parts of them, such as a polygynous household consisting of one man, his three wives, and their respective children.

Craniometry

is measurement of the cranium (the main part of the skull), usually the human cranium. It is a subset of cephalometry, measurement of the head, which in humans is a subset of anthropometry, measurement of the human body. ... Such measurements are used in research on neuroscience and intelligence.

Scientific Racism

is the pseudoscientific study of techniques and hypotheses to support or justify the belief in racism, racial inferiority, or racial superiority; alternatively, it is the practice of classifying individuals of different phenotypes into discrete races. Historically it received credence in the scientific community, but is no longer considered scientific.

Marriage (purpose of marriage; types of marriages)

is the socially approved union of two people, is a second major principle of kinship.

Qualitative Research

people's words, actions, records, and accounts obtained from participant-observation, interviews, group interviews, and relevant documents

Quantitative Research

the data that is counted and interpreted through statistical analysis

The Enlightenment (the values/ideas/critiques of the Enlightment)

rational expressions for progress, humanity as an objective of science (study of humans), emphasis on universal (focus on humanity to understand commonalities to understand a whole) new focus on Natural Law, use of rationalistic explanations for human progress

Emic

the approach of studying a culture's behavior from the perspective of an insider example: Cannibalism

Etic

the approach of studying a culture's behavior from the perspective of an outsider example: Eating norms

Ethnocentricism

the tendency to judge the beliefs and behaviors of other cultures from the perspective of one's own culture

taxonomies of race in brazil "Folk"

• Based on the idea of tipo, or type, which vary regionally. • Race is a characterisLc of one's appearance, not one's ancestry. You are not necessarily the same 8po as your parents. • Tipo in much greater variety than "black," "white," "LaLno," and "Asian," which Americans are fond of trying to shove all people into.