EXAM Flashcards
(75 cards)
1
Q
(En)gendering the World
Gender: DADS
A
(En)gendering the World
Gender: DADS
- Definitions
- Anthropological perspectives
- Diversity
- Socio-economic perspectives
2
Q
Definitions Sex & Gender I
SB
A
Definitions Sex & Gender I
SB:
- Sex is biological, gender is cultural
- Biological/Physical
- Sexual dimorphism
- Human beings as male & female
- The two are the central actors of biological reproduction of the species
- Observable physical characteristics: genitalia
- Unobservable: gonads (ovaries) or chromosomes (XX=female, xy = male)
- Sexual dimorphism
3
Q
Definitions Sex & Gender II
Gender:
Example:
A
Definitions Sex & Gender II
Gender:
- How perceived/assumed biological differences are linked to how people are expected to behave
Example:
- Males and females, due to their physical characteristics ‘should’ exhibit specific behaviours and act in certain ways
4
Q
Gender rules
Most social anthropologist believe gender rules:
A
Gender rules
Most social anthropologist believe gender rules:
- Establish norms for ‘proper’ male and female behaviour
- Are created by societies as a way of explaining kinship relations to offspring
5
Q
Gendered Practices of Biological Cycles: Menstruation:
In Fabianovas home country Slovakia, it was believed that:
The idea that periods should be:
Some feminists criticise birth control pills because:
A
Gendered Practices of Biological Cycles: Menstruation:
- Red Moon, Diana Fabianova
In Fabianovas home country Slovakia, it was believed that:
- Pulling menstruating girls across fields helped to fertilize the soil
The idea that periods should be:
- Concealed contributes to women feeling self-critical about their bodies
Some feminists criticise birth control pills because:
- In their view, the pills distort the natural rythms of womans bodies in order to fit the demands of male-dominated societies
6
Q
How many sexes are there?
A
How many sexes are there?
- Two-sex model
- Third genders… maybe more?
- Intersexed (‘hermaphrodite’)
- Female to male
- More?
- Biology is not destiny with regard to gender identity
7
Q
Characteristics of Third Genders:
A
Characteristics of Third Genders:
- Association with spiritual power or spiritual sanction
- Hijras: A third gender in India
- Seen as neither man or woman
- U shud luv urself
8
Q
Sexualities and Cultural Diversities
Some societies define male homosexual behaviour as:
A
Sexualities and Cultural Diversities
Some societies define male homosexual behaviour as:
- A necessary requirement for hetrosexual relationships in adult
- The Smabia of Papua New Guinea
9
Q
A gendered Life (Time)? A Moment of Concept
Women<> Men:
Older men are more:
Older women who are late in life AND have had children have:
A
A gendered Life (Time)? A Moment of Concept
Women<> Men
- Through lifetime of interaction become like each other
- Because vitality (semen) is transferred to men
Older men are more:
- Effeminate, no longer ‘in prime’
Older women who are late in life AND have had children have:
- Taken the vitality from men and become more like men
10
Q
Gender and Socio-Economic Issues
Different value of male and female roles:
Why?
A
Gender and Socio-Economic Issues
Different value of male and female roles:
- General pattern: male role valued more than female role
Why?
- Usual view: access to economic resources determines value
11
Q
Gender Roles and Economic Roles not always correlated
HB:
A
Gender Roles and Economic Roles not always correlated
HB:
- Hunter-Gatherer’ to ‘Gatherer-Hunter’
- If economically determined women should be valued more than men?
‘Bread-winner’ but still ‘baby carer’
- Economically independent but still often subordinate to male partners in other respects
12
Q
Gender AS an institution
Gender IN institutions:
A
Gender AS an institution
Gender IN institutions:
- Gender can shape an academic discipline and create academic knowledge
13
Q
Gender Is:
A
Gender Is:
- Not a role that you can step into or out of which leaves the ‘real’ you intact ‘underneath’ (recall Geertz on humans w/out culture)
- It is part of your identity… at least in some societies
- Rules that - like most rules - both constrain and enable
14
Q
Language & Gender
Women:
Men:
A
Language & Gender
Women:
- ‘Rapport talk’ - Establish relationship among interlocutors
Men:
- ‘Report talk’ - describe and analyse
15
Q
Linguistic Anthropology
Inspired by?
Language:
A
Linguistic Anthropology
Inspired by?
- The conviction that humanity is distinguished by its capacity for language, that as some have claimed, ‘Man [sic] is the talking animal’
Language:
- Properties, characteristics, grammars
- Links to culture
16
Q
Language
The term is also applied frequently to other types of communicative systems which possess:
A
Language
The term is also applied frequently to other types of communicative systems which possess:
- SYMBOLIC or SEMIOTIC and grammatical features. Thus we may speak of artificial ‘languages’ employed by computers, or of other human and non-human systems of signs as ‘languages’
17
Q
Universality:
A
Universality:
- Found in all cultures world-wide
- Multi-Media
- Non-Verbal
- Cloths
18
Q
Diversity of language
Approximately how many languages are there world wide?
A
Diversity of language
Approximately how many languages are there world wide?
- ~6000 different languages in the world
- Papua New Guinea (PNG) alone has 852 separate languages
- Vanuatu has 100-110 languages
- Despite this diversity, most people in the world speak fewer than 100 of those languages
19
Q
Homo sapiens sapiens:
- Theres an interesting link to watch lecture 23
A
Homo sapiens sapiens:
- Homo sapiens believed to be the only animal capable of speech
- The ‘talking animal’
- There is some research questioning this, for example the speech abilities of the African Grey Parrot
20
Q
Language & Culture:
A
Language & Culture:
- Language <> acquiring culture
- Language about culture/tradition as much as sensory experience
21
Q
Features of Language:
A
Features of Language:
1) Discreteness (has different parts)
2) Arbitrary (convention plays role)
3) Openness (productivity, ambiguity)
4) Displacement (abstraction)
22
Q
Design features of language
Discreteness:
Arbitrariness:
Openness:
A
Design features of language
Discreteness:
- Language has discrete ‘parts’
Arbitrariness:
- No necessary b/w sound and meaning
- Meaning can be ambiguous, allowing for confusion…. but also creativity
Openness:
- New sentences can be generated by speakers and understood by hearers
23
Q
Design Features of language cont.
Displacement:
A
Design Features of language cont.
Displacement:
- Can communicate about phenomenon beyond immediate context or beyond immediate stimulus
- Can talk about being in another lecture theatre
- Can talk about being in another lecture theatre in the future or in the past (tense)
- Can talk about being in another lecture theatre
24
Q
Emes
Phoneme:
Morpheme:
A
Emes
Phoneme:
- Unit of sound
- Unconsciously recognise
- When phoneme substituted meaning changes
- ‘Pig’ vs ‘Big’
- ‘Cat’ vs ‘Bat’
- ‘Got’ vs ‘Not’
- In some languages pitch and tone function the same way
Morpheme:
- Phonemes strung together to generate meaning
25
Tone <> Language:
Tone <> Language:
- Meaning changed by pitch
- 'She has a glass' vs 'She has a glass?'
- In this sentence, the word 'glass' refers to the same object in both sentences, but one is a statement and the other is a question
- In some languages, what seems to be the same word can have different meanings
26
Grammar:
Grammar:
| - Unconscious (for most) rules of language that allows people of same linguistic group to understand each other
27
Arbitrary Conventionality:
Arbitrary Conventionality:
- Particular sound <> particular meaning
- 'dog' in English = 'kukur' in Bengali = 'cane' in italian
28
languages
Languages are:
There are no:
There are no:
This does not mean languages:
languages
Languages are:
- Equal
There are no:
- 'Primitive' human languages, never were
There are no:
- 'Primitive' cultures, especially with implications of inferiority and being earlier in evolution, never were
This does not mean languages:
- Do not change, they do - just like cultures: no culture is static; there is cultural change
29
Gender:
Gender:
- Language can be used in different ways. They can also have social effects, and reinforce inequalities
- To recall the lecture on gender, according to Deborah Tannen in the United States, women engage in 'rapport talk' while men engage in 'report talk'
30
Openness:
Openness:
| - Can generate sentences and new meanings
31
Displacement:
Displacement:
- Displacement allows for abstract concepts and (according to some) rational thought (if rationality requires abstraction)
32
Language <> Culture:
Language <> Culture:
- In what ways are language and culture connected?
33
Linguistic Determinists:
Linguistic Determinists:
- Linguistic determinists argue that language broadly - grammar specifically - determines the ideas and cultures of those who speak it
34
Linguistic determinism is incorrect:
Linguistic determinism is incorrect:
- Language exhibits internal diversity, not just single, unchanging grammar
- Does not account for multilingual people who speak more than on language
35
Discourses(s)
Influence(s) our perceptions, ideas, culture
Discourse =
Discourses(s)
Influence(s) our perceptions, ideas, culture
Discourse = styles of speech
- Hip-hop
- Lecturing
- Preaching
- 'Rapport' vs 'report' talk
- Family conversations
- Joking relationships
36
Anthropology & Art
Anthropologists, today, generally agree that art involves:
Creation by skilful human activity:
Anthropology & Art
Anthropologists, today, generally agree that art involves:
- The creation of aesthetic value
- Value is registered in relation to whether it is pleasing to the senses
- Beautiful (or not beautiful)
Creation by skilful human activity:
- As recognised by context/audience
- A sunset can be beautiful, but not created by humans, though it can be represented in artistic form
37
Maybe some cool links on lecture 24
xsdctfvubhin
38
Cross- Culturally:
Cross- Culturally:
- No necessary separate category of 'art'
- The concept of 'art' is of recent 'western' origin
- Linked to the idea of 'the soul'; the individual 'sole; (and solo) artist
39
Evolutionary Perspectives:
Evolutionary Perspectives:
- Evolution > Art pass through a universal series of evolutionary stages
- 'Primitive art' vs ;high art'
- Notion of 'culture' as 'refinement'
- Rejected in anthropology
- Different from art history
40
Functionalist Perspectives:
Functionalist Perspectives:
- Function > art is a 'part': it has a function within society. Society is a 'system' which exists in its own right - over and above the individuals that create, produce and consume it
- Art plays a role, it does something, meets a social need, is useful
41
Functionalism & Art cont...
FFLEC
Functionalism & Art cont...
- 'Function' can be at the 'individual' level too: individuals needs
- Functionalism: how does art fulfil needs in the present, not what its evolutionary 'past' is
- Largely rejected in social anthropology today
- Expresses and legitimates authority and social divisions
- Channels conflict
42
Art = Aesthetic Value as Meaning:
Art = Aesthetic Value as Meaning:
- Aesthetic value = in-and-of-itself
- Not something that fulfils a practical 'need'
- What aesthetic-value does, people attribute from their own point of view?
43
Functions of Art - Individual
Express Individuality:
Functions of Art - Individual
Express Individuality:
- 'Get it out of your system'!
- Individual emotion
44
Social dimensions of art
Defines, reinforces, reintegrates and/or controls social differences:
Art itself as status marker:
Social dimensions of art
Defines, reinforces, reintegrates and/or controls social differences:
- Gender
- Ethnic identity
- Political status or other ranks, defining roles in the social 'system'
- Carnival as 'steam valve'
Art itself as status marker:
- Art museum: Timeless culture or individual in a particular time?
45
Art as Liberation
Liberation theatre:
Art as Liberation
Liberation theatre:
- Audience participation for social change
- South Africa (opposition to apartheid)
- India against government
46
many Forms
Art comes in many forms, some functional, others not:
Modification for aesthetic reasons:
many Forms
Art comes in many forms, some functional, others not:
- The function does not determine aesthetic
Modification for aesthetic reasons:
- For the pleasure of the senses
47
Art & Language: A connection
RECAP:
Art & Language: A connection
RECAP:
- Design Features of Language
1) Discrete/Discreteness
2) Arbitrary
3) Openness (productivity/ambiguity/creativity)
4) Displacement
48
Displacement & Openness
Displacement:
Openness:
Displacement & Openness
Displacement:
- Can communicate and think about abstract or nonexistent objects, past of future events
- Abstract concepts > rationality
- Not just 'conceptually' abstract
- Gravity <> Beauty
Openness:
- Creates new messages
49
Art and/as Play
the exercise ('use') of displacement and openness in relation to activity (not just language):
Art and/as Play
the exercise ('use') of displacement and openness in relation to activity (not just language):
- The ability not just to talk or think about but also to do things differently
- Explanation of diversity?
50
Play = openness of action:
Play = openness of action:
- Defining and changing meaning
- Defining and changing rules
51
Ethnomusicology:
Ethnomusicology:
How cultures distinguish b/w music and non-musi
- Is there 'better' or 'worse' music?
- Is music 'harmful'?
- Appropriate occasions for music?
52
Solo- Performing <> . Stratification
Small scale:
Large scale:
Solo- Performing <> . Stratification
Small scale:
- Less emphasis on individual artistic expression
- For inuit artist, carving frees some form already inside the material (ivory for example). It is not about externalising - giving form to - inner, individual experiences
Large scale:
- More emphasis on individual artistic expression (the 'solo' artist and/or performer)
- Beyonce is singing her soul, solo. She externalises something that is already inside and 'needs' (?) to get out. Probably her love for her husband Jay Z
53
Check out lecture 24 for links to Inuit Carvings
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54
the individual and the culture? And when?
Idea that art =
But non- Western art:
the individual and the culture? And when?
Idea that art =
- Individual expression > western art shown in museums includes name of the artist (and sometimes the date of the work and also materials out of which they are made)
But non- Western art:
> name of the culture (and sometimes materials out of which are made)
55
Homogenising Assumptions:
Homogenising Assumptions:
- Debate about the individual and individualism is focused in 'the West', whereas for others, the culture is seen as homogenous (so it does not matter who did the work) and also timeless and unchanging (so it is not worth mentioning the date)
56
The 'Word Art' Myths, Stories:
The 'Word Art' Myths, Stories:
- It is the word-art - myths in particular - that, perhaps, most explicitly expresses a truth about art
- It is perhaps the central way we search for significance and meaning in life
57
Data Gathering Techniques:
Data Gathering Techniques:
- Participant-Observation
- Interviewing (both structured & informal)
- Document Analysis
- Photography, video
- ANTH 210 Translating Culture: Reading Ethnographic Texts
58
Steps is Field research:
Steps is Field research:
- Select a research area (problem, topic, question)
- For example, why is there a prohibition against eating pork?
- How is urbanisation possible when people do not have to migrate to towns and cities?
- How have offshore finance centres responded to the global crackdown on tax havens
59
Research design:
Research design:
- Formulate research design
- What is the nature of the problem being investigated
- How receptive are the people being studies
- Collecting & analysing data
- Hearing peoples stories
60
Ethnographic Fieldwork:
Ethnographic Fieldwork:
| - Extended stay with research participants as a way to collect data, stories, experiences, narratives & memories
61
Not always easy:
Not always easy:
- Mental challenges
- Culture shock
- Personal doubt
- Feeling ignorant, awkward, rejection
- Constantly alert
- Cultural Doubt
62
Not always easy cont...
Not always easy cont...
- Physical challenges
- Different
- Food
- Climate
- Hygiene
63
Main methods:
Main methods:
- Participant Observation
- Intimate, regular daily contact: live like 'a native'
- Interviewing
- Questions preset
- Can be structured or unstructured (informal)
64
Ethnographic interviews are different:
Ethnographic interviews are different:
- Interviewer and 'interviewee' may have different (first) languages
- Anthropologists - typically/traditionally - aiming for information on 'culture-as-a-whole', even if via specific topic interview
65
Unstructured (informal) vs Structured Interviews
Unstructured:
Structured:
Unstructured (informal) vs Structured Interviews
Unstructured:
= open-ended questions, allows interviewees to respond in their own way
- But the goal is still to get some 'pre-set' information - for example, about marriage relations, not 'just' to listen to what she or he has to say
Structured:
= Same questions, same sequence, same conditions
- Seek to reduce variability and to increase 'predictability' of results
66
Participant Observation
Geertz:
The anthropologist as:
Participant Observation
Geertz:
- 'Deep Hanging-Out'
The anthropologist as:
- 'Instrument'
67
Ethnograpgy vs Ethnology
Ethnography:
Ethnology:
Ethnograpgy vs Ethnology
Ethnography:
- A description of a particular culture (often based on fieldwork)
Ethnology:
- Comparative point of view, with an eye to possible generalisation
- 'Underlying laws'?
- Use own fieldwork and ethnographies of other anthropologists
68
Multi-Sited Fieldwork:
PEGS
Multi-Sited Fieldwork:
- Presumption that culture exists in a single place, as a single 'thing' with clear boundaries.. this is contested, challenged and undermined
- Especially in great migrations following the end of the Cold War
- Globalisation
- Shift to multi-sited fieldwork linked to a shift towards processual view of culture
69
Ethnohistory:
HAS
Ethnohistory:
- History exist within cultures
- All history is 'ethnohistory' - that is not only the history of a particular group (ethnos) but by a particular group
- Study of how people 'process' events, thus making culture itself a 'process'
70
Criticisms of fieldwork and ethnography:
Criticisms of fieldwork and ethnography:
- Classic Ethnography
- Race
- Europeans studying non-Europeans
- Colonisers studying colonised
- Victors studying victims
- For purpose of further control
- Class: who can afford it?
- Gender: more men than women
- Individualist: why not groups
71
Science, Accuracy & Reliability
Requires flexibility:
The information the ethnographer obtains is:
The presence of the ethnographer can, in itself, change:
Investigator changes:
Science, Accuracy & Reliability
Requires flexibility:
- Use specialist techniques in particular order depending on topic, context
- Ask directly or ask round about
The information the ethnographer obtains is:
- Less easily verified
The presence of the ethnographer can, in itself, change:
- The phenomena being observed
Investigator changes:
- object of study by studying 'it'?
72
Science, Accuracy & Reliability cont...
Differences b/w?
It is not the same as, for instance:
Science, Accuracy & Reliability cont...
Differences b/w?
- Ethnography and 'hard sciences'
It is not the same as, for instance:
- Carrying out experiments in a chemistry lab
73
Accurately Describing a Culture:
Accurately Describing a Culture:
- Seek/Consider
1) The peoples own understanding of their meanings, practices and rules
2) Their own understanding of these meanings, practices, rules and being - and should or should not be - followed
3) Actions and behaviours ethnographers observes
74
Ethnographic Reliability:
Ethnographic Reliability:
- Being honest and transparent about the interpretive aspects of our works
- Being clear about our methods
- Locating ourselves and the research in cultural-historical context
- Recognise we work in a cumulative process continually adding to our knowledge of societies and cultures - no single anthropologist 'knows it all'
75
An On-Going Process:
An On-Going Process:
| - Like culture itself, Anthropology is an on-going process, never-complete, always 'open', never static
