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ANTH 205: EXAM 1
Four subfields of anthropology |
archaeology, biological, linguistics, cultural |
Defining elements of culture: |
Information that is shared among a population, and information that is socially transmitted |
Major Anthropological theories |
Social Evolution, Historical Particularism, Structural Functionalism |
Social Evolution |
emphasizes the importance of evolution in the organization of information about a people. |
Historical Particularism |
emphasizes the importance of a society's history and the particular details about how they live |
Structural Particularism |
all societies are structured and those different elements all have a practical function |
Definition of evolution |
change in frequency of a particular genetic variant in a population over time
|
Four mechanisms of evolution |
mutation, gene flow, genetic drift, natural selection |
Three points to theory of natural selection |
variation in populations, variation is heritable, some traits more successful at reproduction and passed in greater numbers to subsequent generations.
|
Four pieces of evidence for common ancestry |
missing link, population change, genetic selfishness |
Naturalistic Fallacy |
confusion of what is with what ought to be
|
Cultural Relativism |
consideration of behavior, beliefs, and customs within the context of particular culture from which they are derived |
Ethnocentrism |
judging others based on your own culture |
Moral Relativism |
judgement of moral values based on the particular cultural, historical and social context in which they are formed |
Epistemological Relativism |
all means of learning involve subjective biases. no way of knowing is any better than another |
Biological Definitions of race |
taxonomical level below species, inbreeding populations separated from other populations by barriers for extended time, genetically and phenomenally distinct |
Major reasons humans can't be divided into races |
Limited genetic variance between populations, variance is distributed clinally |
Nature of between group genetic variance |
15% of alleles differ between races |
Race v. ethnicity |
Race is membership to genetic ancestry. Ethnicity is membership to cultural heritage. |
De facto segregation |
segregation that was not by law |
Privilege |
benefits one race has over another |
Microaggressions |
everyday hostile insults to target members of a particular group |
Emic |
explanation accompanied by a comprehensive description of cultural context that makes the phenomenon meaningful to the reader |
Etic |
denoting an approach to the study of a particular culture |
Quantitative Methodologies |
observation, interviews, physical measures, behaviors |
Why do anthropologists use the comparative method instead of experimental? |
In experimental methods you control everything except what you are looking at and therefor run into problems with ethics and morals. |
Levels of the comparative method |
Cross-Cultural, Cross- Individual, Cross-context |
Foraging |
complete or near complete reliance on the hunted, fished, or gathered food |
Importance of foraging in human history |
original subsistence strategy presented globally |
Characteristics of foragers (6) |
high mortality, high fertility, low population density, band of 25 people centered around kinship, mobile, egalitarian |
Horticulture |
small scale, mainly subsistence level farming, domesticated animals |
Fertile Crescent |
region between the nile, tigris, and euphrates rivers |
Slash & Burn |
clear and burn unwanted plants, adds nutrients to the soil, productive for a number of years |
Social Impacts of Agricultural revolution |
increased population densities, ownerships, greater social complexity |
Negative Impacts of shifting to agriculture
|
people have a sense of ownership, sedentism created hierarchy, diseases spread more quickly because of increased population density
|
Pastoralism |
subsistence strategy based on tending herds of large animals |
Ecological Characteristics of pastoralists' habits (5) |
semi-arid habits, seasonality risk of drought and foods, not conducive to horticulture/agriculture, turns inedible plants into food for animals, use animals for various purposes |
Traits desired in pastoral animals (4) |
hardy, herdible, breed-able, alternative uses |
Nomadic Pastoralism |
self-reliant, dependent, mobile |
Transhumance Pastoralism |
permanent settlements, horticulture |
Intensive Agriculture (3) |
boost in productivity per acre per hour, cultivation continuum, began 5000 years ago |
Cultivation Continuum |
based on comparative study of non-industrial cultivating in which labor intensity increases and fallowing decreases |
Common Practices Associated with intensive agriculture (4) |
non shifting fields
irrigation
animal of burdens & plows
terraces |
Date and first sites of intensive agriculture |
Began 5000 years ago in Altiplano populations- Bolivia & Peru |
Characteristics of intensive agriculturalists |
large dense populations,
complex formal social systems,
highly stratified,
specialization |
American exceptionalism |
Idea that America as a country is a model for other countries to aspire to an exceptional example of how to live life. |