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Mid Term Study Guide, Study Guides, Projects, Research of Social Sciences

Mid Term Study Guide for Anthropology class

Typology: Study Guides, Projects, Research

2024/2025

Uploaded on 04/27/2025

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ANT 121 Midterm Exam Study Guide
Anthropological Basics
Anthropology
The study of humanity
Four fields:
1) Cultural
2) Linguistic
3) Biological
4) Archaeology
Armchair anthropology:
- Relying on secondhand accounts
to make observations about a
culture
Veranda anthropology:
- Step above armchair; in the place
you’re studying, but not living
among and communicating with
the community
Culture
The learned, shared patterns of behavior,
beliefs, values, customs, and practices that
characterize a group or society
- Full range of human social life
- Interactions and social
organization
- How people make sense of the
world
- How meaning is created
Holism:
- Viewing people and cultures as
integrated wholes, not as separate
pieces
Ethnography
In depth study of a group or culture
Participant observation:
- Living with the people you’re
studying/working with,
participating in their daily lives
and cultural activities
Interlocutor:
- Informant in the field who may
provide information themselves
and/or facilitate conversations with
other community members
Might also use interviews, surveys, etc.
Reflexivity
Considering own positionality as the
researcher/anthropologist
- Identify potential cultural biases
- What are your own cultural
frameworks
Anthropology is subjective
Cultural Relativism
The idea that we should try to view people
and cultures from their own perspectives
Franz Boas
- Father of American Anthropology
Opposite of ethnocentrism
Ethnocentrism
Judging another culture based on your
own cultural standards
- Viewing own cultural norms and
experiences as the default, others
as negative or weird
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Anthropological Basics Anthropology The study of humanity Four fields:

  1. Cultural
  2. Linguistic
  3. Biological
  4. Archaeology Armchair anthropology:
  • Relying on secondhand accounts to make observations about a culture Veranda anthropology:
  • Step above armchair; in the place you’re studying, but not living among and communicating with the community Culture The learned, shared patterns of behavior, beliefs, values, customs, and practices that characterize a group or society
  • Full range of human social life
  • Interactions and social organization
  • How people make sense of the world
  • How meaning is created Holism:
  • Viewing people and cultures as integrated wholes, not as separate pieces Ethnography In depth study of a group or culture Participant observation:
  • Living with the people you’re studying/working with, participating in their daily lives and cultural activities Interlocutor:
  • Informant in the field who may provide information themselves and/or facilitate conversations with other community members Might also use interviews, surveys, etc. Reflexivity Considering own positionality as the researcher/anthropologist
  • Identify potential cultural biases
  • What are your own cultural frameworks Anthropology is subjective Cultural Relativism The idea that we should try to view people and cultures from their own perspectives Franz Boas
  • Father of American Anthropology Opposite of ethnocentrism Ethnocentrism Judging another culture based on your own cultural standards
  • Viewing own cultural norms and experiences as the default, others as negative or weird

Theories & Theorists Social Evolutionism Unilineal Evolution: Cultures evolve in universal stages from primitive to advanced (1) Savagery (2) Barbarism (3) Civilization E. B. Tylor Lewis Henry Morgan Historical Particularism Every culture has its own unique history and contexts that have shaped their development

  • Must be viewed from their own perspective Franz Boas Related to cultural relativism and reflexivity Functionalism Each aspect of culture/society exists because it meets individual needs in some way Bronislaw Malinowski:
  • Pioneer of participant observation
  • Trobriand Islands, Kula Ring o Exchange of bracelets with no monetary value o Political and social reciprocity Cultural Ecology The study of societies’ adaptations to the environment
  • Focused on harnessing of energy, increased energy = increased complexity Environmental Determinism:
  • Natural environment determines how culture will evolve or adapt Julian Steward Leslie White Symbolic/Interpretive Anthropology Clifford Geertz Cultures are made up of ‘webs of significance’
  • All action is symbolic, meaning- making Anthropology is a search for meaning, not an objective science

Subsistence Foraging Hunting wild game and gathering wild plants The Ju/’hoansi (Peters-Golden, chp 6) The Mbuti (Haines 2005, 33) The Yolngu (Haines 2005, 35) Pastoralism Breeding and herding of livestock for subsistence (1) Nomadic (2) Semi-nomadic, seasonal, semi- sedentary (3) Sedentary The Basseri (Peters-Golden, chp 3) The Nuer (Haines 2005, 72) The Sarakatsani (Haines 2005, 74) Horticulture The cultivation of small gardens Swidden (slash and burn) agriculture:

  • Regularly moving location of fields
  • Avoids exhaustion of soil
  • May involve clearing trees and other vegetation, including burning to fertilize soil The Trobrianders (Haines 2005, 47) The Hmong (Haines 2005, 48) Agriculture Large-scale/intensive farming to produce a surplus of crops
  • Does not involve moving fields like swidden agriculture
  • Less variety of plants than horticulture (typically only 1- crops per field, sometimes even per region)
  • More intensive technology use (animal-drawn plows, irrigation systems, storage, etc.) Industrialism Mass production of crops using heavy machinery
  • Commercial agriculture industry in the US, massive surplus for profit
  • Harsh on the land and environment