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Chapter 1-6 EXAM
vocab terms
71
Anthropology
Undergraduate 2
02/06/2011

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Term
Holism(holistic perspective)
Definition
The assumption that any aspect of a culture is integrated with other aspects, so that no dimension of culture can be understood in isolation.
Term
Comparative Perspective
Definition
The insistence by anthropologists that valid hypotheses and theories about humanity be tested with information from a wide range of cultures
Term
Cultural Relativism
Definition
The notion that one should not judge the behavior of other peoples using the standards of one's own culture
Term
Ehtnocentricism
Definition
The attitude or opinion that the morals, values, and customs of one's own culture are superior to those of other peoples
Term
Ethnology
Definition
The study of human cultures from a comparative perspective; often used as a synonym for cultural anthropology
Term
Ethnography
Definition
A written description of the way of life of some human population
Term
Three different definitions of culture
Definition
1. Human's extra-somatic means of adaption
2. Political and social means of navigation through
a complex web of social relationships
3. Webs of meaning
Term
Cultural knowledge
Definition
Information, skills, attitudes, conceptions, beliefs, values and the other mental components of culture that ppl socially learn during enculturation
Term
Patterned behavior
Definition
Within a single culture, the behavior that most people perform when they are in certain culturally defined situations
Term
Enculturation
Definition
The transmission (by means of social learning) of cultural knowledge to the next generation
Term
Norms
Definition
The shared ideals and/or expectations about how certain people ought to act in given situations
Term
role
Definition
Rights and duties that individuals assume because of their perceived personal identity or membership in a social group.
Term
role
Definition
The social and/or economic position a field researcher defines for him or herself in the community being studied.
Term
Cultural Identity
Definition
The cultural tradition a group of people recognize as their own; the shared customs and beliefs that define how a group sees itself as distinctive
Term
Subculture
Definition
Cultural differences characteristic of members of carious ethnic groups, regions, religions, and so forth within a single society or country
Term
Cultural Universals
Definition
Elements of culture that exist in all known human groups or societies
Term
Grammar
Definition
Total system of linguistic knowledge that allows the speakers of a language to send meaningful messages that hearers can understand.
Term
Phoneme
Definition
The smallest unit of sound that speakers unconsciously recognize as distinctive from other sounds; when one phoneme is substituted for another in a morpheme, the meaning of the morpheme alters.
Term
Semantic Domain
Definition
A class of things or properties that are perceived as alike in some fundamental respect; hierarchically organized.
Term
Sociolinguistics
Definition
Specialty within cultural anthropology that studies how language is related to culture and the social uses of speech
Term
Materialism
Definition
Theoretical orientation holding that the main influences on cultural differences and similarities are technology, environment, and how people produce and distribute resources.
Term
Unilineal Evolution
Definition
The nineteenth-century theoretical orientation that held that all human was of life pass through a similar sequence of stages in their development
Term
Historical particularism
Definition
The theoretical orientation emphasizing that each culture is the unique product of all the influences to which it was subjected in its past, making cross-cultural generalizations questionable
Term
Functionalism
Definition
Theoretical orientation that analyzes cultural elements in terms of their useful effects to individuals or to the persistence of the whole society
Term
Multi-lineal evolution (neoevolutionism)
Definition
the mid-twentieth century rebirth of evolutionary approaches to the theoretical study of culture
Term
Key consultant
Definition
A member of society who is especially knowledgable about some subject, and who supplies information to a fieldworker
Term
Participant Observation
Definition
The main technique used in conducting ethnographic fieldwork, involving living among a people and participating in their daily activities
Term
Cross-cultural comparisons
Definition
A methodology for testing a hypothesis using a sample of societies drawn from around the world
Term
Culture shock
Definition
The feeling of uncertainty and anxiety an individual experiences when placed in a strange cultural setting
Term
Horticulture
Definition
A method of cultivation in which hand tools powered by human muscles are used and in which land use in extensive.
Term
Intensive agriculture
Definition
A system of cultivation in which plots are planted annually or semiannually; usually uses irrigation, natural fertilizers, and (in the Old World) plows powered by animals
Term
3 Definitions of Culture
Definition
1. Human's extra-somatic means of adaption 2. Political and social means of navigation through a complex web of social relationships 3. Webs of meaning
Term
Shared aspects of Culture
Definition
1. broadly shared by a group 2. socially learned 3. knowledge and patterned behavior
Term
Discreet units (p. 49)
Definition
In a language, words are composed of these discrete units of sound that are combined to communicate a meaning (ex. j, u, m, p)
Term
Displaced meaning
Definition
Language has this ability to talk about objects, people, things and events that are remote in time and space. EX: play on words
Term
Multimedia potential
Definition
Means that linguistic messages can be transmitted through a variety of media
Term
Dialect
Definition
Variation in speech pattern, including in pronunciation and vocabulary
Term
Human vocal tract
Definition
A remarkable resonating chamber, consisted of lungs, trachea, mouth, and nasal passages
Term
Morpheme
Definition
A combination of phonemes that communicates a standardized meaning
Term
Free Morpheme
Definition
Any morphemes that can stand alone as words
EX: desire, possible, health
Term
Bound Morpheme
Definition
These are attached to free morphemes to modify their meanings in predictable ways
EX: desirable, unhealthy, uncompleted
Term
Proxemics
Definition
Study of the meanings conveyed by space and distance
Term
Discourse
Definition
What is said and how it is said
Term
Nonverbal Communication
Definition
Refers to the facial expression, intentional and implicit messages, touch, and how we move our bodies in order to communicate
Term
Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
Definition
The idea that language influences the perceptions and though patterns of those who speak it, and thus conditions their worldview
Term
Interpretive anthropology
Definition
An anthropological theory: The analysis of cultural elements by explicating meanings to people and understanding them in their local context. Looks at webs of meaning.

Ideologist--->social---->materialist
Term
Interpretive anthropology
Definition
Generally, the emphasis of cultural diversity and the unique qualities of particular cultures
Term
Multi-vocality
Definition
When symbols represent many qualities and abstract values simultaneously and do so materialistically
ex: flags, statues, crosses
Term
Rapport
Definition
The working relationship between the researcher and the members of the community he or she is studying.
Term
Hunting-Gathering Myths
Definition
H/G/F:
-are relatively homogenous
-live in small group and move every few days
-move across landscape w/o planning
-live on the edge of starvation
Term
Social Persona
Definition
One of the many roles a member of a society plays--with different rights and obligations for each
Term
Discreet units
Definition
Morphemes and Phonemes are discreet units. These can be combined in a multitude of ways to create infinite meaning.
Term
Cultural ecology
Definition
An anthropological theory: The scientific comparison or cross-cultural studies of multiple cultures and how they interact with their environments/materials in the environment.

materialists--->social--->ideology
Term
Political economy
Definition
Considered a "Nuanced Science". This anthropological theory focuses on webs of social interaction.

social--->ideology---->materialists
Term
Census
Definition
An early state in the gathering of data. A census gathers information such as age, occupation, marital status and household sizes
Term
Structured Interview
Definition
To ask a set of questions to many people
Term
Unstructured Interview
Definition
To qualitatively,humanistically, and openly interview few people. This approach does not seek out specific answers.
Term
Behavioral observations
Definition
Researchers watch activities and then record what occurs. EX: public activities, ceremonies, economic activities
Term
HRAF Files
Definition
A database of ethnographies
Term
Optimal Foraging Theory
Definition
This helps one understand variability. It contains two assumptions: 1) the forager knows the environment 2) One tries to maximize the benefits while minimizing labor put in (economic rationality)
Term
Charnov's marginal value
Definition
An example of diminishing returns: Any time spent on a patch after this value costs more than to leave
Term
Foragers
Definition
Those who exploit the wild plants and animals of a territory for food.
They move the camp to the resources.
Term
Collectors
Definition
These people move the necessary resources to the camp. They tend to have some storage
Term
Pastoralist
Definition
The type of person that tends to breed and harvest products of livestock(domestication) for food and trade
Term
Domesticated species
Definition
genetic basis of a species altered due to human intervention to a degree when species no longer survive without human intervention
Term
Process of Domestication
Definition
Human control of the distribution, abundance and biological features of species to increase their usefulness to humans
Term
Swidden/Slash-and-burn
Definition
An agricultural method use in tropical areas in which people chop down trees, burn the land, and allow a fallow period until the land can be used for farming again
Term
Transhumance
Definition
The migration of people according to season
Term
Risk minimization
Definition
Methods taken by farmers in order to account for rain fall
Term
Industrialism
Definition
an economic organization of society built largely on mechanized industry rather than agriculture, craftsmanship, or commerce.
Term
Globalization of production
Definition
The ability to harvest fossil fuels, manufacture, and transport them quickly to any part of the world
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