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Cultural Anthropology Chapter 1
Introduction
26
Anthropology
Undergraduate 1
02/24/2013

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Term
Anthropology is
Definition
the study of humankind. Five areas of study: cultural anthropology, archaeology, anthropological linguistics, physical anthropology, and applied anthropology.
Term
Cultural anthropology (or social anthropology)
Definition
deals with the description and analysis of cultures - the socially learned traditions of the past and present ages.
Term
Ethnography
Definition
is a firsthand description of a living culture based on personal observation.
Term
Archeology
Definition
examines the material remains of past cultures left behind on or below the surface of the earth.
Term
Anthropological linguistics
Definition
is the study if the great variety of languages spoken by human beings. It is concerned with the way language influences and is influenced by other aspects of human life. Also studies the relationship between the evolution and change of cultures and the evolution and change of languages.
Term
Physical anthropology (or biological anthropology)
Definition
connects the other anthropological fields to the study of animal origins. Also attempts to reconstruct the course of human evolution by studying the fossil remains of ancient human and humanlike species.
Term
Applied anthropology
Definition
uses the findings of cultural, archeological, linguistic, and biological studies to solve practical problems affecting the health, education, security, and prosperity of human beings in many cultural settings.
Term
Holism
Definition
an approach that assumes that any single aspect of culture is integrated with other aspects, so that no single dimension of culture can be understood in isolation.
Term
Fieldwork
Definition
refers to firsthand experience with the people being studied. It involves integration into a community through long-term residence and knowledge of the local language and customs while maintaining the role of observer.
Term
Fieldnotes
Definition
are the data collected by anthropologists.
Term
Interviews
Definition
rely entirely on research subjects as sources of knowledge.
Term
Participant observation
Definition
places the ethnographer at the scene where a combination of direct observation and interviewing provides the evidence from which ethnographic accounts are constructed.
Term
Direct systematic behavior observations
Definition
refer to the study of activity patterns that show patterns of action and interaction of the people we study. Systematic observation is structured by explicit rules: who we observe, where and when we observe them, what we observe, and how we record our observations.
Term
Culture shock
Definition
is the feeling of anxiety and disorientation that develops in an unfamiliar situation when there is confusion about how to behave or what to expect.
Term
Informants
Definition
are people through whom the anthropologist learns about the culture through observation and by asking questions.
Term
Ethnology
Definition
is a study of a particular topic or problem in more than one culture, using a comparative approach (the comparison of ethnographic information from two or more cultures).
Term
A humanistic approach
Definition
aims to describe and interpret each culture on its own terms; it believes comparisons distort the unique qualities of a given culture.
Term
a scientific approach
Definition
aim to explain cultural differences and similarities, it believes that regularities exist across cultures and can be discovered trough empirical data collection and systematic comparison.
Term
Unilinear evolution
Definition
society cannot diverge from one line of development.
Term
Progressionist
Definition
all societies and cultures will eventually evolve from simple to complex.
Term
Degenerationist
Definition
all peoples of the world were once "civilized" people and because of God's curse some of them were degenerated to their present status, thus they will never get to be civilized again.
Term
Anthropology as a separated discipline originated
Definition
in the late 19th century as western colonialists, travelers, and missionaries began to write about the beliefs and customs of the indigenous people they came across.
Term
Sir Edward Burnett Tylor (3)
Definition
Primitive Culture; unilinear evolution; from Great Britain
Term
Franz Boaz (4)
Definition
first American cultural anthropologist; established the first anthropology department at Columbia University in 1896; cultural relativism; against Tylor and Morgan and unilinear evolutionary theory; historical particularism
Term
Bronislaw Malinowski (3)
Definition
Polish; Argonauts of the Western Pacific; fieldwork in Trobriand Islands
Term
Lewis Henry Morgan (3)
Definition
Ancient Society; American; lower/middle/upper status of savagery to lower/middle/upper status of barbarism to civilization.
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