ANT3212 Final Exam Study Guide I The Discipline of Anthropology Anthropology 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 language Ethnography a fieldwork study of a culture in which a fieldworker studies a culture for a year or more and documents every aspect of that culture o Holistic Ethnography capture every aspect of a culture social political ideological economic Example Yanomamo o 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 Formulation Essentials of Fieldwork o Methods Research Design 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 Ideal how we ideally picture or want people to act o Anthropologist look for both real and ideal behavior Real how a people actually are 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 their cultural system especially from the ideological facets of their culture Cultural Universals are symbols or things found in all cultures Such some sort of o Social Organization how a society organizes gender age kinship and other social ideological system or rituals 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 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 Parallel Cousins children of parent s same sex sibling Example children of father s age and genders daughter or son 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 Stable homes cultivation of land Ideology if present normally based on natural world No permanent village nomadic Economic system dependent on natural environment 12 100 members Tribal Society 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 Not all societies fit these classifications of society Societies do not have to evolve through all 4 levels of society Lower societies are not inferior to upper levels 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 religions o 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 Myth narrative that expresses cultural ideas passed down through generations either by 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 rituals writing or spoken tribe Separation initiate is physically separated from rest of society Rite of Passage a ritual that marks one stage of life to another o Three stages Margin change is occurring initiate undergoes transformation Mostly private Aggregation initiate is re introduced into society as in a new phase of their life Rites of Passage can be public or private but there is an inevitable private phase even in Not all rites of passage are three stages public passages and much transformation is done within