ANTH 0780 1st EditionExam # 3 Study GuideLecture 1 (January 9th)What is Cultural Anthropology?Cultural Anthropology is the study of systems of meaning through competitive means. It is studied through ethnographic fieldwork to better understand the relationship between the particular and the universe by taking notes on how we learn to “live.”Lecture 2 (January 14th)Types of Cultural Anthropology1. Structural Functionalism- Looks at societies as a system of structures which function to perpetrate the social system (interconnected functions)- It has the ability to engage in social systems- Notable anthropologist: Evans-Pritchard- Example: looking and all the watches around the world and seeing how they function in society2. Structuralism- Sees social systems as individual representations of more universal social laws- The elements of culture should be understood in relation to overarching social structures- Notable anthropologist: Levi-Strauss- Example: all watches have a common structure yet their designs and appearance can look different3. Symbolic or interpretative- Represents culture by understanding how people understand themselves- “Thick description”- attention to the social business that lets a person to interpret the meaning of what they observe - Social business- the aim in a particular social interaction- Notable anthropologist: Clifford Geertz who stated that culture is a text- Example: a watch passed down from a grandfather has more meaning than just an average watchLecture 3 (January 16th)Culture (capital C)- humans have the capability to create and imitate patterned, symbolically mediate ideas and activities Socialization- how people learn the behavioral rules established by their respective societiesAgency- ability to exercise some control over ones life and requires the ability to employ Lecture 4 (January 21st)Who developed fieldwork?Bronislaw Malinowski, also called the “father of fieldwork,” is most famous for the ethnographic monographs such as the Argonauts of the Western Pacific, which explores the Kula Ring, a form of economic exchange among the Trobriand Islanders.Franz Boas, known as the “father of American Anthropology,” is an opponent of scientific racism, which said that race is a biological concept and human behavior is best understood through the study of biological characteristics. He believed that cultures changed backed on the contact people had in their environment and that anthropology should study the entire human experience. He also developed four sections of research: archeological, physical, linguistic, and cultural and trained Margret Mead, Ruth Benedict, and Zora Neale HurstonWhat is positivism?- The position that there is an ultimate, singular, knowable reality and that this reality can be studied through a single, appropriate set of scientific methods - Based on “objective” knowledge which is knowledge that is absolute and trueWhat is interpretive anthropology?- Developed as a response to objectivity in the 1960s- Allowed anthropologist’s background to begin to inform the production of knowledge- Culture is read as a text- Critiquing the Interpretive perspectiveWhat is reflective perspective?- Refers to the explicit acknowledgement of the way in which one thinks and how one’s choices regarding the field are informed by one’s cultural background and inter-subjective knowledge- Inter-subjective Knowledge: knowledge that is shared between subjects- Depends on explicit recognition of political and ethical dimensions of fieldwork and how these shaped knowledge in the fieldMultisited Ethnography– Ethnography that traces people, objects, ideas, in various locationsUses cultural connections created by various global movements, including colonial projects.Lecture 5 (January 23rd)What is ethnography?Ethnography is a book length account that details particular data of an extended period of living closely with a community of individuals (period of time=fieldwork)Interlocutors- people with whom an anthropologist maintains relationships with in order to learn about a particular cultureLecture 6 (January 25th)Aspects of all cultures Myth - Stories that explain how various aspects of the world came to be the way they are and make life meaningful for those who accept them- Effective because they integrate personal experience with a wider set of assumptions about the way the world works Ritual- A repetitive set of social practices composed of a sequence of symbolic activities that connects to specific set of ideas often encoded in myth- It is performed, meaning they include some or all of the following: dance, song, speech, gestures, or the manipulation of objects- Set apart from everyday practicesWithin ritual there is:Rites of Passage- A ritual that serves to mark the movement and transformation of an individual from one social position to another.- High School Graduation:– Marks transition from high school to college – Transformation of child into adultLiminality- Ambiguous transitional state in a rite of passage in which the person or persons undergoing are outside their ordinary social positions- Approximately 18-23 years old– Studying while parents support him or her – Not self-sufficient– Not quite a child but not quite an adultCommunitas- The minimally or un- structured community of individuals found frequently in rites of passageLecture 7 (January 30th)Mary Douglas’ Argument in Purity and Danger:- Rituals surrounding purity and impurity help people make sense of elements that seem out of place within their cultural system. - Power: Marginality and Liminality are dangerous because both have contact with the power of disorder, or with what might be thought of as those things that are cannot be articulated by a culture’s system of patterns- Controlledpower– explicitly named and part of social structure (example: Sorcery)- Uncontrolled power– inexplicit and not part of social structure (example: Witchcraft) - She states that power can be failure-biased(power that aims to bring about failure ex: witchcraft,accusations) or success-biased(dangerous powers that enable success or benign powers that bring about good)- Pollution within power:Represents power that cannot be learned through initiation or other formsInadvertently committed, although intention does not matterPower and Pollution imbricate with one anotherDirt is disorder