CHAPTER 3: Fieldwork and Anthropology

Question 1

ethnographic fieldwork

Answer 1

a primary research strategy in cultural anthropology typically involving living and interacting with a community of people over an extended period to better understand their lives.

Question 2

salvage ethnography

Answer 2

fieldwork strategy developed by Franz Boas to collect cultural, material, linguistic, and biological info about Native American populations being devastated by the westward expansion of European settlers.

Question 3

cultural relativism

Answer 3

understanding a group’s beliefs and practices within their own cultural context, without making judgments.

Question 4

participant observation

Answer 4

a key anthropological research strategy involving both participation in and observation of the daily life of the people being studied.

Question 5

reflexivity

Answer 5

a critical self-examination of the role the anthropologist plays and an awareness that one’s identity affects one’s fieldwork and theoretical analyses.

Question 6

engaged anthropology

Answer 6

applying the research strategies and analytical perspectives of anthropology to address concrete challenges facing local communities and the world at large.

Question 7

anthropologist’s toolkit

Answer 7

the tools needed to conduct fieldwork, including information, perspectives, strategies, and even equipment.

Question 8

quantitative data

Answer 8

statistical info about a community that can be measured and compared.

Question 9

qualitative data

Answer 9

descriptive data drawn from non-statistical sources, including personal stories, interviews, life histories, and participant observation.

Question 10

key informants

Answer 10

a community member who advises the anthropologist on community issues, provides feedback, and warns against cultural miscues. Also called “cultural consultant”.

Question 11

rapport

Answer 11

relationships of trust and familiarity with members of the community we study.
deeper rapport = going from and “outsider” to and “insider”.

Question 12

life history

Answer 12

a form of interview that traces the biography of a person over time, examining changes in the person’s life and illuminating the interlocking network of relationships in the community.

Question 13

surveys

Answer 13

an information gathering tool for quantitative data analysis.

Question 14

social network analysis

Answer 14

a method for examinging relationships in a community, often conducted by identifying whom people turn to in times of need.

Question 15

field notes

Answer 15

the anthropologist’s written observations and reflections on places, practices, events and interviews.

Question 16

mapping

Answer 16

the analysis of the physical and/or geographic space where fieldwork is being conducted.

Question 17

built environment

Answer 17

the intentionally designed features of human settlement, including buildings, transportation - public service infrastructure and public spaces.

Question 18

What are the 5 characteristics of language?

Answer 18

1- symbolic
2- arbitrary
3- discreetness (multiple moving parts)
4- abstraction / displacement (can communicate about things that don’t exist or aren’t present.
5- creative / productive (ability to create infinitely new meanings.

Question 19

zeros

Answer 19

elements of a story or a picture that are not told or seen and yet offer kay insights into issues that might be too sensitive to discuss or display publicly.

Question 20

mutual transformation

Answer 20

the potential for both the anthropologist and the members of the community being studied to be transformed by the interactions of fieldwork.

Question 21

emic

Answer 21

an approach to gathering data that investigates how local people think and how they understand the world.

Question 22

etic

Answer 22

description of local behavior and beliefs from the anthropologist’s perspective in ways that can be compared across cultures.

Question 23

ethnology

Answer 23

the analysis and comparison of ethnographic data across cultures.

Question 24

polyvocality

Answer 24

the practice of using many different voices in ethnographic writing and research question development, allowing the reader to hear more directly from the people in the study.

Question 25

informed consent

Answer 25

a key strategy for protecting those being studied by ensuring that they are fully informed of the goals of the project and have clearly indicated their consent to participate.

Question 26

anonymity

Answer 26

protecting the identities of the people involved in a study by changing or omitting their names or other identifying characteristics.

Question 27

What are the 5 Stages of the History of Anthropology?

Answer 27

1- colonialism (unilineal cultural evolution)
2- historical particularism (Franz Boas emphasized fieldwork)
3- configurationalism (culture has personality and that effects our culture)
4- functionalism (culture is a living machine)
5- interpretation anthropology (“insider’s view”)

Question 28

ethnicity

Answer 28

a sense of historical, cultural, and sometimes ancestral connection to a group of people who are imagined to be distinct from those outside the group. (expansive version of kinship) “social organization of cultural difference.”

Question 29

origin myth

Answer 29

a story told about the founding and history of a particular group to reinforce a sense of common identity.

Question 30

ethic boundary markers

Answer 30

a practice or belief used to signify who is in a group and who is not, but yet may change over time.

Question 31

situational negotiation of identity

Answer 31

an individual’s self-identification with a particular group that can shift according to social location.

Question 32

identity entrepreneurs

Answer 32

political, military, or religious leaders who promote a world view through the lens of ethnicity and use war, propaganda, and state power to mobilize people against those whom they perceive as a danger.

Question 33

genocide

Answer 33

the deliberate and systematic destruction of an ethnic or religious group.

Question 34

ethnic cleansing

Answer 34

efforts by representatives of one ethnic or religious group to remove or destroy another group in a particular geographic area.

Question 35

melting pot

Answer 35

a metaphor used to describe the process of immigrant assimilation into U.S. dominant culture.

Question 36

assimilation

Answer 36

the process through which minorities accept the patterns and norms of the dominant culture and cease to exist as separate groups.

Question 37

multiculturalism

Answer 37

a pattern of ethnic relations in which new immigrants and their children enculturate into the dominant culture and cease to exist as separate groups.

Question 38

multiculturalism

Answer 38

a pattern of ethnic relations in which new immigrants and their children enculturate into the dominant national culture and yet retain an ethnic culture.

Question 39

state

Answer 39

an autonomous regional structure of political, economic, and military rule with a central government authorized to make laws and use force to maintain order and defend its territory.

Question 40

nation-state

Answer 40

a political entity, located within a geographic territory with enforced borders, where the population shares a sense of culture, ancestry, and destiny as a people.

Question 41

citizenship

Answer 41

legal membership in a nation-state.

Question 42

nation

Answer 42

a term once used to describe a group of people who shared a place of origin; now used interchangeably with nation-state.

Question 43

nationality

Answer 43

the identification with a group of people thought to share a place of origin.

Question 44

nationalism

Answer 44

the desire of an ethnic community to create and / or maintain a nation-state.

Question 45

imagined community

Answer 45

the invented sense of connection and shared traditions that underlies identification with a particular ethnic group or nation whose members likely will never all meet.

Question 46

diaspora

Answer 46

a group of people living outside their ancestral homeland yet maintaining emotional and material ties to home.