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Anth 1006
Anthropology introduction class at University of Connecticut
126
Anthropology
Undergraduate 1
12/10/2011

Additional Anthropology Flashcards

 


 

Cards

Term
Holistic Approach
Definition
Broadest possible interpretation - assume a culture is the sum of its parts (parts cannot be analyzed seperately)
Term
Cultural Relativism
Definition
To view the beliefs and customs of other peoples within context of their culture, not one’s own.
Term
Ethnocentrism
Definition
group-centered. Tendency to see one’s own culture as center of everything
Term
Ethnography
Definition
Gathering and writing down data about cultural systems
Term
Sociobiology
Definition
Explains behavioral differences and similarities in terms of natural selection – Darwinian Fitness
Term
Human primate
Definition
Large brain, diurnal (day and night) eyes, flat face, flexible limbs, helpless young, structured culture
Term
Chinese table manners
Definition
Tell what kind of person you are
Term
Primate Complex
Definition
Large complex brains, stereoscopic color vision, prehensile hands/feet with opposable thumbs, flexible limbs, single birth
Term
Diane Fossey
Definition
African Mountain Gorilla studies
Term
Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics
Definition
Outdated theory - Species have a “will” that enables them to recognize that some environmental change has taken place and to carry out the proper adaptive actions.
Term
Stratigraphy
Definition
Record of change in rock layers over time
Term
Earth 20-30 million years ago
Definition
Earth’s environment – wet, moist, spread of temperate and tropical forest
Term
Earth 5-15 million years ago
Definition
Dry, arid; forest turns to savanna or plains. Many primates become extinct except those who adapt to ground life.
Term
Prognathism
Definition
Faces that jut forward (not flat)
Term
Lucy
Definition
Earliest, most complete hominin found
Term
Hominin
Definition
the group consisting of modern humans, extinct human species and all our immediate ancestors
Term
Hominid
Definition
the group consisting of all modern and extinct Great Apes (that is, modern humans, chimpanzees, gorillas and orang-utans plus all their immediate ancestors).
Term
Acheulian
Definition
Homo Erectus's elaborate toolmaking
Term
Pleistocene
Definition
Ice Ages
Term
Neanderthals
Definition
stocky, muscular,care for sick/elderly, make art
Term
Mouseterian
Definition
Even more complex toolmaking than homo erectus
Term
Anatomically modern Homo Sapiens
Definition
300,000 y/a; Face flatter, make microliths (tools to harvest grass)
Term
Women's evolutionary role
Definition
Do most food gathering, female choice in mating, social centrality as mother
Term
Genetic drift
Definition
change in the frequency of a gene variant (allele) in a population due to random sampling.
Term
Gene flow
Definition
Member of one population mates with member of another population; alleles transferred from one group to another
Term
Species
Definition
group of actually or potentially interbreeding individuals who are reproductively isolated from other such groups.
Term
Allopatric speciation
Definition
results from geographic separation causing genetic isolation
Term
Sahelanthropus tchadensis
Definition
First hominin
Term
Sexual Dimorphism
Definition
Clear distinctions between sexes that are not reproduction-related
Term
Sex VS Gender
Definition
Sex is biological, gender is psychological
Term
Epidemiology
Definition
Study of disease patterns
Term
Levallois
Definition
uniform flakes struck from prepared core to make a tool. First example of mass production.
Term
Haft
Definition
to attach a wooden handle or shaft to a stone or bone point
Term
Human Revolution Theory
Definition
Outdated theory of a relatively sudden – apparently revolutionary – emergence of language, consciousness and culture in our species
Term
Augrinacian Culture
Definition
Modern human culture with bone tools
Term
Cline
Definition
Geographic distribution gradient of traits
Term
Semispecies
Definition
Populations that have been isolated from each other but have not become truly separate species
Term
Endogamous
Definition
Marriage within own culture
Term
Cultural Resources Management
Definition
Protect historical/cultural sites from developers. Includes scientific and office aspects.
Term
Transhumance model
Definition
people follow animals' migration, learn to herd
Term
Clovis-First Theory
Definition
Humans traveled to North America over Bering Strait. Disproved.
Term
Attribute
Definition
Smallest item of analysis of an artifact
Term
Spatial Patterning
Definition
relationship of each artifact/feature in space and time
Term
Laws of Association
Definition
nature of the chronology and spatial relationship between two objects
Term
Law of Crosscutting Relations
Definition
Any feature that intrudes into a deposit must be younger than the deposit which it intrudes
Term
Habitus
Definition
learned culture absorbed in the course of daily practical living
Term
Protocultural
Definition
behavior having most but not all characteristics of culture
Term
Ecofact
Definition
tool that has not been modified
Term
Neocortex
Definition
portion of brain involved in conscious thought, spatial reasoning, and sensory perception
Term
Worldview
Definition
 Collective interpretation of and response to the natural and cultural environments in which a group of people lives.
Term
Codify
Definition
to arrange systematically. To put into words and other symbols.
Term
Culture Shock
Definition
Psychic distress caused by the strains of adjusting to a different culture or different behaviors.
Term
Ethnographic analogy
Definition
interpreting archaeological data through the observation of analogous activities in existing societies
Term
Relative Dating
Definition
age of one item compared to another
Term
Absolute Dating
Definition
Gives a specific year or range of years for age
Term
Radiometric dating
Definition
Uses the decay rate of a radioactive material
Term
Diffusion
Definition
Once an item is diffused, it is adapted by the society borrowing it and becomes a part of their culture.
Term
Acculturation
Definition
rapid diffusion under the influence of a dominant society
Term
Revolution
Definition
Rapid and extensive culture change generated from within a society
Term
Unilinear evolutionism
Definition
outdated concept of cultural evolution that claims all societies pass through the same series of stages, from savagery to civilization
Term
Diffusionism
Definition
outdated concept of cultural evolution that claims major cultural advances were made by one or a few societies and spread from there to all other societies.
Term
Kulturkreise theory
Definition
proposed small number of early cultural centers from which cultural traditions spread in ever-widening circles to encompass and influence other societies
Term
Historical Particularism
Definition
• American school of cultural evolution that rejected any general theory of culture change but believed that each society could be understood in reference to its particular history.
Term
Garbage Project in Tucson
Definition
accumulating data on resource management behaviors such as recycling, purchases, etc.
Term
Hutterites
Definition
Christian religious sect founded in Moravia (part of present day Czech Republic)
Now found in North America (Amish, Mennnonites, etc)
Term
Biological Anthropology
Definition
study biological species, and sometimes closely related nonhuman species (apes)
Term
Cultural Anthropology
Definition
study species’ unique ability to create ideas, behaviors, technologies, and share them
Term
Linguistic Anthropology
Definition
study language as a human characteristic, explain differences between 3000 existing languages
Term
Archaeology
Definition
study relationships between artifacts and cultures that manufactured and used them
Term
4 subfields of anthropology
Definition
Cultural, Biological, Linguistic, Archaeology
Term
Social stratification
Definition
the presence of acknowledged differences in social status, political influence, and wealth among the people within a society
Term
Horticulture
Definition
Farming using human labor and simple tools
Term
Pastoralism
Definition
Subsistence based on the herding of animals
Term
Generalized reciprocity
Definition
giving with no expectation of equivalent return
Term
Balanced Reciprocity
Definition
giving with expectation of equivalent return
Term
Negative Reciprocity
Definition
try to get the better end of the deal (bargaining)
Term
Market system
Definition
money is used for exchange in place of goods and services; operates on a supply-and-demand basis with profit motive for suppliers
Term
Redistribution
Definition
central collection of surplus goods and their dispersal to people in need of them by centralized authority
Term
Caste
Definition
system of socioeconomic stratification in which strata are closed and person’s membership is determined at birth
Term
Class
Definition
system of stratification in which strata are open and a person may move to a different stratum
Term
Rank
Definition
refers to a society that strives for equal distribution of goods and services through the use of recognized, often temporary, status differences
Term
Participant Observation
Definition
gathering by data by living for an extended time with members of another society
Term
Emic
Definition
actor oriented (insider view)
Term
Edic
Definition
observer oriented
Term
Potlach
Definition
giving away goods to prove wealth; a way of doing battle that redistributes goods
Term
Exchange Value Work
Definition
production of commodities or services for sale in marketplace
Term
Use Value
Definition
products are made and services rendered within families; do not have monetary value
Term
Neolithic Revolution
Definition
The start of farming
Term
Berdache
Definition
Morphological male who does not fill a society’s standard man’s role (nonmasculine, effeminate)
Term
Cross cousins
Definition
opposite-sex sibling's kids (i.e. mother's brother's child). In many cultures, considered ideal for marriage.
Term
Political Organization
Definition
serves same functions as family organization but involves more people and more complex interactions. Band, tribe, state, etc.
Term
Authority
Definition
socially approved use of power
Term
Bands
Definition
No institutional authority, small, nomadic, social pressure
Term
Tribes
Definition
Culturally distinct population. No formal government; however more effective regulatory systems than bands
Term
Chiefdoms
Definition
Authority limited to chief - no hierarchy of power
Term
States
Definition
Hierarchical, centralized form of political organization. Based on formal, codified law
Term
Kinship diagram symbols
Definition
circle = female, triangle = male
Term
Bridewealth
Definition
Husband’s group compensates family of bride for right to marry bride
Term
Dowry
Definition
Women's inheritance taken into marriage
Term
Fictive
Definition
arbitrarily assigned (adoption)
Term
Consanguineal
Definition
blood kin – biological
Term
Fetishes
Definition
Material objects believed to embody “supernatural” power that can aid or protect the owner
Term
Religion
Definition
a system of ideas and rules for behavior based on supernatural explanations
Term
Animism
Definition
possession of supernatural powers by people, animals, places, objects.
Term
Polytheism
Definition
Belief in multiple gods; found in societies that interact more personally with nature
Term
Montheism
Definition
Belief in a single all-powerful God; found in industrial societies
Term
Priests
Definition
Full-time specialists who train for their profession. Religious knowledge.
Term
Shamans
Definition
part-time, supernaturally chosen religious specialist who can manipulate the supernatural
Term
Magic
Definition
use of ritual and paraphernalia to compel or manipulate the supernatural to act in desired ways
Term
co-wife resentment
Definition
one wife goes back to her family, causing resentment between them and her husband
Term
Endocannibalism
Definition
eating of human flesh from members of one’s own society
Term
Altruism
Definition
acting to benefit others while disregarding one’s own welfare
Term
Biological determinism
Definition
idea that human behaviors have a biological basis with minimal influence from culture
Term
Cultural determinism
Definition
idea that behaviors are almost totally the result of learned cultural information, few or no instinctive responses
Term
Functions of religion
Definition
Explanation, validation, integration
Term
Revitalization movements
Definition
Social movements often of a religious nature, purpose of totally reforming society
Term
Cultural reproduction theory
Definition
Students resist school; they are then forced into marginal roles for life
Term
Native anthropologist
Definition
studies own culture
Term
Dani
Definition
Western New Guinea; kuru and endocannibalism
Term
San
Definition
Bushmen. Insult gifts.
Term
Criteria for evaluating success of species
Definition
Reproduction and Longevity
Term
Standard of Living
Definition
most frequent measure of progress; ethnocentric
Term
Kallahari Association
Definition
Grassroots initiative started in 1998
Kichwa Indian artisans with American researcher
Term
Myths and legends
Definition
Hallowed stories that express fundamental cultural values
Term
One World Culture
Definition
“Global Village” or “Modern world system”
Encompasses entire world
Based on technological advancements
Term
Development
Definition
Improvement in quality of humanlife
Achieving adequate levels of economic consumption
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