Pairs

anthropology

study of human nature, human society and human history

socio-cultural anthro

study of human diversity

archaeology

study of past cultures

physical anthro

study of occurrence of humanity

linguistic anthro

study of communicative development

co-evolution

the relationship between biological processes and symbolic cultural processes in which each makes up an important part of the environment to which the other must adapt

fieldwork

extended period of close involvement with the people in whose language or way of life anthros are interested

determinism

the philosophical view that one simple force causes complex events

holism

perspective on the human condition that assumes that mind and body define one another

materialism

material activities of our physical bodies in the material world constitute the essence of human nature

biological anthro

looks at biological organism and tries to discover what characteristic make us different from other organisms and what characteristics we share

evolutionary

placing observations in a temporal framework that takes into consideration change over time

language

system of arbitrary vocal symbols we use to encode our experiences of the world and one another

paleoanthro

search for fossilized remains of earliest ancestors

primatology

study of closest living relatives of human beings ('primates')

informants

people in a particular culture who work with anthros and provide them with insight about their way of life

participant observation

method use to gather information by living as closely as possible to the people whose culture they are studying while participating in their lives as much as possible

culture

sets of learned behaviour and ideas that humans acquire as members of society

ethnography

written or filmed description of a particular culture

ethnology

comparative study of 2 or more cultures

symbol

something that stands for something else

cultural relativism

understanding another culture in its own terms sympathetically enough so that the culture appears to be a coherent and meaningful design of living

ethnocentrism

opinion that one's own way of life is natural or correct and indeed, is the only true way of being fully human

human agency

realm of our potential for growth

culture shock

feeling of physical and mental dislocation a person experiences when in a new or strange cultural setting

positivism

view that there is a reality that can be detected through the senses and that there is a single, appropriate scientific method for investigating that reality

dialectic of fieldwork

process of building a bridge of understanding between anthro and informant so that each can begin to understand the other

multi-sited ethnography

research on cultural processes that are not contained by social, ethnic, religious or national boundaries

colonialism

cultural domination of a people by larger powers

political economy

holistic term emphasizing centrality of economy and the use of power to protect and enhance that interest

neo-colonialism

the persistence of profound social and economic entanglements linking former colonial territories to their former colonial rules despite political sovereignity

typologies

classification systems based on systematic organization into types on the basis of shared attributes

unilineal cultural evolution

19th century theory that proposed a series of stages through which all societies must go in order to reach civilization

band

social organization among foragers usually a small group less than 50, labour divided according to age/sex, egalitarian

social structure

enduring aspects of the social forms in a society, including its political and kinship systems

tribe

larger than a band, more than 50 ppl, farm or herding, relatively egalitarian, sometimes a chief

chiefdom

a chief and the close relatives are set apart from the rest of society and allowed privilieged access to wealth, power and prestige

culture area

the diffusion of a particular cultural trait

state

society that possesses a territory that is defended from outside enemies with an army and from internal disorder with police. has laws and taxes and tribute run by elite that possesses a monopoly

structural-functional theory

a positive that explores how particular social forms function from day-to-day in order to reproduce the traditional structure of society

economy

material-means provisioning process in cultural systems

extensive agriculture

form of cultivation based on a technique of clearing uncultivated land, burning brush, planting crops in the ash-enriched soil

food collectors

those who gather, hunt and fish

food producers

those who depend on domesticated plants or animals for food

intensive agriculture

form of cultivation that employs plows, draft animals, irrigation, fertilizers

scarcity

assumption that resources will never be plentiful enough for people to obtain all the goods they desire

subsistence strategies

patterns of production, distribution, and consumption that members of a society employ to ensure the satisfaction of their basic material survival needs

consumption

using up material goods necessary for human survival

distribution

allocation of goods and services

neo-classical economic theory

formal attempt to explain the workings of capitalist enterprise, with particular attention to distribution

production

transformation of nature's raw materials into a form suitable for human use

market exchange

exchange of goods calculated in terms of a multi-purpose medium of exchange and standard of value and carried on by means of a supply-demand-price mechanism

reciprocity

exchange of goods of equal value

redistribution

mode of exchange that requires some form of centralized social organization to receive economic contributions from all members of the group and redistribute them to support all in the group

labour

activity linking human social group to the material world around them

means of production

tools, skills, organization and knowledge used to extract energy from nature

mode of production

set of social relations through which labour is deployed to wrest energy from nature by means of tools, skills, organization and knowledge

relations of production

social relations lining the people who use a given means of production within a particular mode of production

eco-niche

the plants and animals in an eco-zone on which a species relies for survival

affluence

the condition of having more than enough of whatever is required to satisfy consumptive needs

adoption

kinship relationship based on nurturance, often in teh absence of other connections based on mating or birth

descent

principle based on culturally recognized parent-child connections that define the social categories to which people belong

gender

cultural construction of beliefs and behaviours considered appropriate for each sex

kinship

social relationship that one prototypically derived from the universal human experiences of mating, birth and nurturance

relatedness

socially recognized ties that connect people in a variety of ways

sex

observable physical characteristics that distinguish two kinds of humans male and female

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 mother and fathers equally

unilineal descent

principle that a descent group is formed by people who believe they are related to each other by links made through a father or mother only

cross cousins

children of a person's parent's opposite-gender siblings

parallel cousins

children of a person's parent's same-gender siblings

achieved status

social positions people may attain later in life, often as the result of their own effort

friendship

relatively unofficial bonds that people construct with one another based on a matter of choice

age sets

non-kin forms of social organization composed of young men born within a specified time span, which are part of a sequence of age sets that proceeds through youth, maturity and old age

endogamy

marriage within a defined social group

exogamy

marriage outside a defined social group

monogamy

one person married to one other person

neolocal

post-marital residence pattern in which a married couple sets up an independent household at a place of their choosing

polyandry

woman married to more than one man

polygamy

man married to more than one woman

conjugal family

family based on marriage

family

woman/man and their dependents

nuclear family

the inner family, includes parents and children

perception

the processes by which people organize and experience information that is primarily of sensory origin

schemas

patterned, repetitive experiences

visuality

the ways that individuals from different societies learn to interpret what they see and to construct mental pictures using the visual practices that their own cultural system favours

cognition

the mental process by which human beings gain knowledge. the nexus of relations between the mind at work and the world in which it works

taxonomies

schemas that sort groups or things into subgroups in a way that the subgroups are mutually exclusive

global style

a way of viewing the world that is holistic. field dependent

thinking

an active cognitive process that involves going beyond the information given

enculturation

the process by which human beings living with one another must learn to come to terms with the ways of thinking and feeling that are considered appropriate in their respective cultures

personality

the relative integration of an individual's perception, motives, cognitions, and behaviour within a socio-cultural matrix

social organization

the patterning of human interdependence in a given society through the actions and decision of its members

free agency

freedom of self-contained individuals to pursue their own interests above everything else and to challenge one another for dominance

political anthro

study of social power in human society

power

transformative capacity

domination

coercive rule

hegemony

persuading subordinates to accept the ideology of the dominant group

resistance

the power to refuse an action against one's will

metaphor

a form of thought and language that asserts a meaningful link between two expressions from different semantic domains

world view

an encompassing picture of reality created by members of a society

religion

ideas and practices that postulate reality beyond that which is immediately available to the senses

priest

a religious practitioner skilled in the practice of religious rituals, which he or she carries out for the benefit of the group

shaman

a part-time religious practitioner who is believed to have the power to travel to or contact supernatural forces directly on behalf of individuals or groups

magic

a set of beliefs and practices designed to control teh visible or invisible world for specific purposes

witchcraft

the performance of evil by human beings believed to possess an innate, non-human power to do evil whether or not it is intentional or self-aware

oracles

invisible forces to which people address questions and whose responses they believe to be truthful

syncretism

the synthesis of old religious practices with new religious practices introduced from outside, often by force

revitalization

a conscious, deliberate and organzied attempt by some members of a society to create a more satisfying culture in a time of crisis

secularism

the separation of religion and state, including the notion of secular citizenship

language

the system of arbitrary vocal symbols we use to encode our experiences of the world

linguistics

the scientific study of language

grammar

a set of rules that aims to describe the patterns of linguistic usage observed by members of a particular speech community

phonology

the study of the sounds of language

morphology

in linguistics the study of the minimal units of meaning in a language

semantics

the study of meaning

syntax

the study of sentence structure

discourse

a stretch of speech longer than a sentence united by a common theme

modernization theory

a theory that argues that the social change occurring in non-western socieites under colonial rule was a necessary and inevitable prelude to higher levels of social development that had been reached by the more 'modern' nations

globalization

reshaping of local conditions by powerful global forces on an ever-intensifying scale

diaspora

migrant populations with a shared identity who live in a variety of different locations around the world

legal citizenship

the rights and obligations of citizenship accorded by the laws of a state

transborder citizenry

a group made up of citizens of a country who continue to live in the homeland plus the people who have emigrated from the country and their descendents, regardless of their current citizenship

transnational nation-states

nation-states in which the relationships between citizens and their states extend to wherever citizens reside

multiculturalism

living permanently in settings surrounded by people with cultural backgrounds different from our own and struggling to define the degree to which the cultural beliefs and practices of different groups should or should not be accorded respect and recognition by the wider society

cultural imperialism

the idea that some cultures dominate other cultures and that cultural domination by one culture leades inevitably to the destruction of subordinated cultures and their replacement by the culture of those in power