ANT3212- Final Exam Study Guide I: The Discipline of AnthropologyAnthropology – study of humans. First hand participant research sets anthropology aside from other disciplines.Four Subfields: Cultural – study of cultures, how they organize themselves socially, politically, economically, ideologically. Archaeology – study of human remains of all kinds. Physical/Biological – study of human body, evolution, bones, pathologies, diseases, etc. Linguistics – study of languageEthnography – a fieldwork study of a culture, in which a fieldworker studies a culture for ayear or more and documents every aspect of that culture.o Holistic Ethnography – capture every aspect of a culture; social, political, ideological, economic. Example: Yanomamoo Focused Ethnography – focuses on a specific aspect of a culture, and how that may affect every other aspect of their culture. Example: The Trobianders. Ethnocentrism – comparing or looking at a culture in comparison to your own; anthropologists try and avoid doing this. Cultural Relativism – quite literally the opposite of ethnocentrism in that it is looking at a cultural as it is, not comparing it to yours or any other knowledge of culture you may hold. Essentials of Fieldwork:o Methods: Research Design:- Formulation- Data collection- Analysis and interpretation- Conclusions/reformation- Presentation Participant Observation: participating in day-to-day life of culture, to fully understand what life is like. Interviews –self-explanatory I think. Informants – individuals within the community you are studying that act as your primary information source.o Anthropologist look for both real and ideal behavior: Real: how a people actually are Ideal: how we ideally picture or want people to act Real and Ideal behavior are not always the same but they can be.o Distinguish between emic and etic points of view: Emic: the native’s point of view Etic: the outsider’s point of view. EMIC point of views is always right; Etic point of view can be right but not always .o Culture Shock: pretty self-explanatory, but essentially it is one’s initial shock when experiencing a new culture due to their lack of exposure to that cultures way of life Does not always happen, do not have to go to exotic culture to experience. Adaptation: adapting into cultures way of life, and taking on their customs. Essential of Cultural Anthropology:o Cultural System: all aspects of one’s culture, including social, political, economic, and ideological organizations. Similar to world view in that one’s world views is based off what they have learned in theircultural system, especially from the ideological facets of their culture. Cultural Universals: are symbols or things found in all cultures. Such some sort of ideological system, or rituals.o Social Organization: how a society organizes gender, age, kinship, and other social relationships. Kinship – basis of society’s social organization.- Method of organizing people that essentially defines who is eligible for marriage.o Exogamy – marrying outside ones kinship group.o Endogamy – marrying within ones kinship group.- Defines special relationships among people, organized along lines of descent according to age and genders.- Consanguine kin members – blood (or adopted) relative on direct line of descent.- Affinal kin members – relative married in, in-laws.- Cross Cousins – children of parent’s opposite-sex sibling. Example: Mother’s brothers daughter or son.- Parallel Cousins – children of parent’s same-sex sibling. Example: children of father’s brother. Many cultures practice different lines of descent, in which kinship is only passed down through one, or both, sides of the family.- Bilateral/Bilineal descent – both male and female sides of family are considered apart of kin. No cross or parallel cousins can be married. Example: Us!- Unilineal descent – kinship is passed through only one side of family. Two types of unilineal descent:o Matrilineal descent – kinships is only passed through female side of family.o Patrilineal descent – kinship is only passed through male side of family.Kinship chart key:o Economic Organization: how a society provides for itself. Band Society- Hunter-gatherers- Egalitarian – no hierarches, no political leaders or economic classes, little sexual division of labor.- No permanent village, nomadic- Economic system dependent on natural environment- 12-100 members- Ideology – if present, normally based on natural world. Tribal Society- Stable homes cultivation of land- Political leader acts as decision leader, conflict settler, can be hierarchy of leaders.- Economics: pastoral, herding, agriculturalist.- Ideology: may believe in higher power/God- Specialization may be present: pottery, textiles Chiefdom Society- Construct large scale monuments- Capital present, urban area, with more tribal outskirts- Tens of thousands of people- Hierarchy of leaders; bureaucracy; leadership inherited- Social classes present- Social stratification based on wealth/power/prestige. State Society- “Autonomous political unit encompassing mainly communities with it is territory, having a central government with the power to tax, draft men for work and war, and decree and enforce laws.” Evolution of societies:- 19th century concept of progress- Societies do not have to evolve through all 4 levels of society- Lower societies are not inferior to upper levels- Not all societies fit these classifications of society.o Political Organization: leaders of a society, how to handle conflict.o Ideological Organization: belief of after life? Rituals? Healing practices? Taboos? All these contribute to a societies “ideological” outlook.II: The Mescalero Apache Rituals – shared by all religionso Repetitive or specific action that establishes a connection with the supernatural world.o Not simply a routine – there are no consequences followed by routine, but there are with rituals. Myth – narrative that expresses cultural ideas, passed down through generations either by writing or spoken.o Are as true as one believes them to be.o Can be used to teach people how to act in society, or certain lessons.o Mescalero use myths to explain behavior, as well as way to teach history of family and tribe. Rite of Passage - a ritual that marks one stage of life to another.o Three stages: