socio-cultural anthro Flashcards
(175 cards)
1
Q
colonial uses of anthropology
A
- study of colonized by colonizers
- “primitive”, “native”, “no history”
- served colonial administrations
- inherently colonial (active in classifying people into ethic groups)
2
Q
idea of a people
A
- social construct
3
Q
metropolitan / metropolis
A
- centered in the colonizing countries
4
Q
fields of anthropology (physical/evolutionary/biological)
A
- physical appearance
5
Q
fields of anthropology
(archaeology)
A
- material culture (objects, culture, tech)
- especially from the past
6
Q
fields of anthropology (socio-cultural)
A
- customs, ideas, social organization
7
Q
fields of anthropology (linguistic)
A
- what language is spoken via geography
8
Q
decolonizing anthropology
A
- decenter the colonial gaze and step away from typical position
- change the demographics of anthro (make it less white-centric)
- introduce global context (ethnography of west, not just racialized groups)
9
Q
culture
A
- what we learn from each other vs. what was programmed by our genes
10
Q
culture
A
language as a principal tool of
- social construction (group understanding of the world, people, and their relationships)
- communication
- identity formation
11
Q
culture
A
cultural universals and particulars
- significantly different but not infinitely different
- cultures have more in common than not
12
Q
culture
A
cultures reflect global influence (colonization)
- weather
- politics
- economy
13
Q
culture
A
languages have more in common than not
- nouns, verbs, word order
- sentence formation
14
Q
culture
A
identity formation
- sameness (affect: community)
- difference (affect: othering)
15
Q
culture
A
- culture and language are human universals
- universals (language/culture) are innate
- transmitted via genes
16
Q
adaptive value of social transmission
A
- flexible: major changes occur easily (generationally and species wide)
- language and culture preserves species
- specific language and culture develop to cope with specific environmental and social contexts (niches)
17
Q
gift economies
A
- potlatch
- dowry
- moka
- kula trade
18
Q
adaption in humans and other animals
A
- the proportion of social to genetic transmission is qualitatively greater in humans than in other animals
19
Q
anthropocene
A
- geological epoch where humans are in control of environmental state + future
20
Q
technology
A
- can be a threat (biotech and ai will replace humans)
21
Q
community and difference
A
- positive affect of group identity
22
Q
imagined communities (benedict anderson)
A
- extends community beyond fact-to-face contact (profession, nation, etc)
23
Q
difference
A
the negative affect of group identity: othering (fear/prejudice/opinion of other group/outsiders)
24
Q
competition, inequality, conflict
A
- stems primarily from competition for resources and power
- ideology: prejudice, racism
- political economy: competition for resources
25
social construction
- utilizes terms like "invented"
- race, gender, nationality are invented
- works with material reality, but transforms and shapes it into social reality
- skin color is a material reality; however, that does not mean it is a social construct
26
anthromorphism
- animals seen as human
- animal breeds are comparable to human races
27
race
- invention whose material reality is genetic pools
- category of imagines common descent
- folk notion, NOT scientific
- product of racialization, a social construct
- races exist, but not as scientific category
- notion with history; different through periods of time
- anti black white supremacy justifies slavery
- different races' different genetic characteristics are socially constructed (not different to be justified scientifically)
28
one drop rule
- if you have any black blood = youre "black"
- not a natural fact, but a social construct
- classification is given by social context and language
- ex. wasians are seen primarily as white in asia/asian contexts
29
types of race
- people/nation (english race)
- regional population (nordic race)
- speakers of a family of languages (aryan race)
- dispersed group of conquerors (anglo-saxon race)
30
signification >= semiosis
- making signs/sense
- linguistic and non linguistic signs/symbols
31
nature of signs
- signifier
- signified
- icon
- index
- symbol
32
anthropological linguistics and semiotics
- ferdinand de saussure's view of semiosis
= signifier and signified
= material and immaterial
= together the signifier and the signified make up the sign
33
icon
- shares some of their physical form (shape, sound, etc) with the referent
- ex. beware of moose sign shows moose silhouette
34
index
- do not share form (shape, sound, etc) with the referent, but indicates it
- ex. poison's symbol is a skull = death
35
symbol
- arbitrary
- no palpable relation to the referent
- wedding rings symbolize marriage
36
denotation
- what a sign means literally
37
connotation
- what a sign implies
38
the unrepresentable
- it's ineffable, transcendental
- signs (linguistic and other) attempt to construct a reality that we can think and talk about
39
stages of development
- the real, the imaginary, the symbolic, the self as a construct
40
the real
may not always be the same as what exists independently of semiosis
41
jargon v ordinary language
- reality is what is real (ordinary language)
- reality is how we understand the real (humanities/social science jargon)
- it is our "reality"
42
species specific construction of reality
- different animals see things differently
- what is the real unconstructed scene?
43
colors
- the color spectrum is continuous and its a language that divides it into units
- color distinctions vary across languages
44
social construction and perception
- people did not understand terms as essentially different due to language disparities
45
social construction of the self
- our concept of having a self is not entirely given by nature
- it is constructed in society, by signs, especially language
46
whorf hypothesis
- each lnaguage decisively influences the way its speakers think
- different languages construct different realities
- linguistic relativity
47
theory
- like colors and race, there is a continuum out of which language delineates a distinguishable "self"
- all our experiences and actions are united in the distinct whole called "I"
- largely through social construction
48
jacque lacan
- stages of how the self develops
49
jacque lacan's real
- when born, there is no self
- undifferentiated/no signs/uncategorized experience
50
jacque lacan's imaginary / mirror
- infant begins to develop self
- cannot express itself without language
= corresponds to icons rather than words
51
jacque lacan's symbolic
- language appears to child (mainly symbols)
- learnt from parents/society
- world is categorized by signifiers
- ex. ego = "I"
- systematic, socially constructed, socially sanctioned, not nature-given
- not Lacan's real, but reality
52
"I" as a symbol
- occurrence of "I" is a signifier, whose meaning is developed from relations to other signifiers
53
inner conversation
- we are both "I" and "You" to ourselves
- one party coaches the other
- the "coach" is influenced by society and it represents society
- ex. freud's superego = voice of self and society - superego included in inner conversations
54
language and signs
- make sense of the world
- how we appear to others
55
erving goffman
- saving and losing 'face'
- 'face' is how we appear to others
- 'facework' = how we maintain face
- social media enables facework and projects ourselves to be desirable
56
religion
- spirituality
- community
- politics
57
anthropological attitude to religion
- not to judge or to establish truth/falsehood
- recognize the nature and role of religion in its social/cultural context
- what religion might mean as a general characteristic
58
religion or spirituality
spirituality is an aspect of religion
- many equate religion to
- a.) organized religion
- b.) religious beliefs/texts
in anthropology, we look beyond a&b
59
jacques lacan's religion
- refused to discuss a relationship between his psychoanalysis and religion
- reality = the world
60
clifford geertz's religion
- animatism: the belief that a common spirit pervades the world
- dao (chinese)
- karma (hindu)
- god (?)
61
abrahamic religion
- judaism, christianity, islam
- one god (monotheism) who revealed himself to abraham
- sacred books: torah, bible, quran
62
religion is NOT necessarily
- a modern or western one
- none of the ff exist in ALL religions: 'god,' holy text, dogma, natural history
63
religion
- a doubtful but revealing etymology
- 're-link'
-re-link the world as we understand (sigify) it
64
ritual by victor turner
- liminality: a powerful, possibly dangerous state at 'the threshold'
65
EX. balinese theatre
- plays where it is a civic duty to participate
- trance dance: powerful spirits enter people (rangda and barong)
- universal order depends on the balance of these forces
- trance dance is part of reality for the balinese
66
religion in the law
- secular law can conflict with religious law = abortion, insulting religion, etc.
-the divine = source of the law
- divine are above the law?
67
religion as imagined communities
- oldest and most widespread form of imagined community (more so than nation)
- likely to transcend the state as a form / organization
68
religion in politics
- religion extends social relations to the sacred
69
religion and physical space
- spatial rituals linking 'worldly' to the sacred (liminal)
- processions, pilgrimages, sacred sites
70
sacred sites
- sacralized: functioning in ways resembling the sacred (parliament building, hockey hall of fame, home, homeland)
- sacred sites: holy land (can embody conflict over land ownership/control)
71
does religion cause war?
- no more than culture, language, or ideas
- conflict is caused not by difference but competition of resources
72
supernatural world
- some religious thinking posits the existence of beings in a parallel, mostly invisible world
- spirit world, heaven, netherworld
- religion links the regular world to the supernatural
- the link is LIMINAL and the liminal is sacred
73
materializations of the sacred
- sacred performances (rituals)
- spirit possessions
- sacred places
- sacred people
74
sacred performances (rituals)
- motion in space
- linking the sacred and the profance
- liminal
- ex. pilgrimage, wedding, secular rituals
75
spirit possessions
- spirits are liminal between culture and society (reality) and the (ineffable, unsymbolized) real
76
sacred places
- heterotopia by foucault
- a differnet place where the presence of other places is powerful
- makes 'utopia' possible
- includes holy places and bad places
- sacred precinct of tenochtitlan
77
sacred people
- liminal between 'this world' and the beyond (reality and the real)
- the incarnation of jesus
- the buddha (siddharta gautama)
- 'celebrities:' have not existed since time immemorial (commercial and capitalist)
78
religious identity
community: religious identity, conflict, political identity
79
identity
- demand loyalty, kin, religion, nation
- all are political and must be performed to function
- unmarked religious identity: default, often unmentioned (in Christian countries, Christianity is the norm + expected)
80
imagined community
- benedict anderson
- a group who feel and act like a community but don't know each other personally
81
nation
- fosters unity over class/ethnic/religious divisions
- depoliticizes the community
- a 'unit' constructed through diversity + continuity
82
national identities
- constructed, imagined, and they change
- reality out of the real
- nation is a transcendental signifier
83
identities
- multiple, flexible, changing
- suggests heterogeneity (x)
- homogenous nation: an impossible construction, always in the making
84
ethnonationalism
- nationalism based on imagined common descent
85
civic nationalism
- nationalism based on residence / citizenship
86
jus sanguinis vs. jus soil citizenship
- blood vs. soil
- descent vs. citizenship
- most citizenship is mixed, but mostly jus soil
87
bordering
- the activity of marking national, ethnic, and racial borders
- geographic and internal
88
multiculturalism
- used to create national unity
- multi-ethnic / nationality / background
89
language and national identity
- 19th century europe
- the origin of modern linguistic enthnonationalism
90
language and dialect
- political and identity labels
- some languages are very similar and can be understood to an extent
- ex. norweigan and danish / russian and ukraninan
91
relatedness via family and kin
- share identity, economic functions, living space, community
- lewis henry morgan: fictive kinship
92
kinship
- consanguineal (by descent, blood)
- affinal (by marriage)
- not an imagined community but a model for one
93
patrilineage
- everyone descended from the same male line
- mother not part of the lineage
- children belong to the patriarchal side
94
matrilineage
- reckoned on the female side
- father is not part of the lineage
95
avunculate
- mother's brother is the most powerful male
- wendat, iroquois
96
trobriand island society (malinowski)
- matrilineal, avuncular society
- biological father is a playmate who is sidelined in power dynamics
97
social construction of common descent
- adoptive and fostering relations: flexibility of relatedness
98
social construction of common descent: janet carsten in malaysia
- langkawi, malaysia
- food produces blood: commensality (eating together = blood relations)
99
social construction of common descent: rita segato in brazil
- recife, brazil
- circulation of children among families
- religion: imanja and oxum
- legitimate mother: strict and authoritarian
- adoptive mother: affectionate and familiar
100
marriage
- reproductive alliance between families
- can involve 2+ people
- love marriage vs. arranged marriage
101
participant observation
- the ethnographer spends time in the field alongside their subject
- essential method of sociocultural anthro
- is this science?
- can ethnographers be biased and lose objectivity?
102
cultural relativism
- attitude that goes with participant observation
- asks for the respect and acknowledgment that each culture is a unique entity with its own genus, views, and characteristics
- differences are caused by society, economy, and politics but not culture
103
noam chomsky
- innate universal 'language acquisition device'
- language is innate and universal
- all humans have a language, from society
- from 6 years old+
104
universal levels of language
- texts
- sentences
- words
- phonemes
- phonetics
- language
105
deep structure / surface structure in syntax
- check notes pp 64
106
universal (absolute) vs. particular moral values
- believing that universal values exist regardless of culture is the opposite of moral relativism
- cultural relativism allows for moral universals and moral particulars
107
absolute or relative morality examples
- female genital mutilation?
- polygamy?
- abortion?
- does culture excuse morals
108
moral relativism
- there are no absolute values
- what is good/evil depends on cultures
109
cultural relativism
- assumptions and behaviors mean different things in different cultures
- recognize historical, social, and economic conditions that affect behavior
110
moral issues in anthroplogy
- ethics: about moral conduct, good/bad
- may be universals and particulars (culture)
- fieldwork often poses ethical questions
111
ethics in the political economy
- raising and distribution of wealth including production and trade in relation to government, law, and social orgs
- ethical decisions are made in the context of the political economy
112
global organ trade
- shows connection between ethics and economics
- neoliberalism
- consent is problematic when organ donor is poor
- world is divided into potential donors and potential recipients (who is likely to be which?)
- functions alongside human trafficking and illicit animal trade
- donors, recipients, and mediators follow path of "free" global interaction
- medical professionals, businesspeople, and criminals organize organ trade
113
neoliberalism
- free interactions among free consenting individuals
- promotes an unrestricted free market
114
biopower
- michael focault
- political and economic power are inscribed on human bodies
- who gets to live/die
115
economy: base of culture
- human survival requires food, clothing, and ways to change the environment to support life
116
economic system
- regular and anthropological
- anthropological is less rule based and more fieldwork heavy; when pursuing the ethnographic method, results will be less generalized
117
base and structure
- old and new marxist models
- see pp 66
118
old marxist model
- super structure: government, family, religion, education, culture
- base (economy): means and relations of production
- pyramid of hierarchy where ss is on top
119
new marxist model
- super structure: government, family, religion, education, culture
- base (economy): means and relations of production
- both sides have mutual influence and are equal
120
means of production (MOP)
- natural resources like tools, mines, factories, offices, infrastructure, etc.
121
relations of production (ROP)
- social relationships required by economy like lords, serfs, employers, employees, teachers, students, etc.
122
economic systems
- each system has different bases (MOP/ROP) which correlate with different superstructures (politics, beliefs, rituals, art, etc.)
- arranged historically (though new systems don't replace old ones)
- past systems have adapted to life in the 'post-industrial' system
- indigenous systems are usually pre-industrial, but had to adapt
123
history of economic systems
- foraging, horticulture, pastoralism, agriculture, industrialism
124
foraging
- 50-40k years ago
- hunting and gathering
- minimal environmental manipulation
- group herd hunting
- ex. inuit, !kung people
- superstructure: egalitarian, rudimentary labor division, flexible gender roles, free sexual behavior, informal authority, little surplus, nature based religion
125
horticulture / slash and burn
- 10k years ago
- greater environmental manipulation, but on a small scale so not so hazardous
- ex. wendat, iroquois, appalachia, indonesia
- superstructure: chiefs and hierarchy, focus on natural cycles and seasons, harvest rituals, knowledge of time, solstices, and space
126
pastoralism
- 10-12k years ago
- herding and nomadism
- depend on and live with live animals (dog, camel, sheep, horses)
- nomadic life with large settlements
- individual and group ownership of the MOP (animals, land)
- superstructure: male dominated, unequal social status, chiefs/states/empires, conflicts, belief in Gods, the great steppe
127
agriculture
- 5-10k years ago
- intensive
- environmentally harmful due to use of tools
- central wealth accumulation
- large concentration of people
- ex. urban centers, towns, merchants, artisans, traders, land owners, peasants, feudalism, involuntary labor, craft specialization, little upward/downward mobility
- superstructure: ideologies justify social inequality, writing, public buildings, sciences, art styles, religious specialists, shurch power
128
industrialism
- the economic base
- post industrial society
- these all exist today (currently in this epoch)
- NO teleology (progress with a direction)
- ex. MOP, ROP, manufacturing, wage labor, unprecedented surplus, large cities, megalopoles
129
global impact of western colonialism and capitalism
- no economic system that has been untouched by colonialism and capitalism
- traditional plains culture
130
capitalism and money
- capital; anything one owns that can make them wealthier
- money is financial capital
- in industrial and capitalist society, almost all value can be expressed as money
- capital organizes society and it is an impersonal force
131
gift exchange
- marcel mauss' theory of gift
- in traditional society, gifts are a way to cement society
- receiving a gift entails an obligation and establishes a relationship
132
market exchange
- items are bartered for economic value
- ex. kula ring exchange in trobriand islands
- no monetary value, just a show of status
133
a classic sociological classification of classes
- includes social capital as well as economic
- industrialists/investors/bankers: the high bourgeoisie or capitalist: the upper class
- originated among the townsfolk of the agricultural period
- upper middle class: doctors and lawyers
- lower middle class: white collar workers
- working class: blue collar workers (largest class that originated among peasants)
134
individualist superstructures
- market ideology (liberalism)
- the market is an impersonal and abstract exchange mechanism
- items are exchanged for money and vice versa
- the market orders society: invisible hand by adam smith
- free market ideology: limit government interference
- liberalism and neoliberalism
135
global impact of capitalism and western colonialism
- agriculture, capitalism, and imperialism
- globalized agriculture
- indentured laborers, plantation workers brought from africa and enslaved
- russian peasants were enserfed (bought/sold as a group)
136
agribusiness
- conflict between globalized large-scale agribusiness = deforestation, racial conflict, environmental degradation
- ex. tutsi and hutu: rwanda and burundi: pastoralists (tutsi) and agriculturalists (hutu)
137
contact in north america
- unequal encounter between indigenous plains, prairie people, and europeans
- horses introduced from europe and traded to the west
138
indigeneity
- a condition of indigenous people with similarities world wide
- not just about having been there first
- a condition of historic land dispossession by settler colonists
- fourth world movement
- indigenous rights intersects with environmental rights
139
industrialist superstructure
- love marriage
- adolescence and youth culture, expanding education, standing armies
140
nationalism
- demands for a nation state appeared at a time when large markets were needed to facilitate use of capital
- large scale use of capital often demanded the national government's protection from corruption
- colonial exploitation: a competitive project among capitalist nations
141
colonialism
- political domination by an imperial power (incorporating a territory with a status of subordination)
- premised on violence using asymmetrical power given to the colonizer by superior military tech via the industrial revolution
- transforming local economy and incorporating it into the colonial powers economy and world capitalist system
- racialized division of labor
- mainly abolished by the 1970s
142
settler colonialism
- dispossessing local people of land and brining it into legal ownership of settlers (aka colonizers)
143
necropolitics
- achille mbembe
- direct violence, politics of impoverishment, negative health policies by the colonial power
144
post industrial society
- 1970s---
- means of production: knowledge production
- relations of production: within the state
- in rich countries, service sector as important or even more important than manufacturing
- increasing income disparities
- growth of unemployed/underemployed surplus populations (homeless, urban slums, etc.)
145
post industrialist relations beyond the state
- neoliberal policies: deregulation of border controls, supranational free markets
- outsourcing
- global south struggles with industrialization
- wealth gap increases
146
people moving
- increased mobility of capital is not matched by increased mobility of labor
- middle class rises in the global south; many want to migrate to global north
147
people without jobs
- 'bad neighborhood'
- failed states among poor countries
- corruption issues
148
emerging markets
- majority of the poor live in the global south
- eventually they will catch up
149
postcolony
- a former colony or dominated country, now independent
- all former colonies; taken together
- inherited means of production
150
coloniality
- the character of colonial relations
151
developmental models
- foreign aid
152
market (neoliberal) models of development
- neoliberal government's encourage market + privitization
153
market models
- IMF and world bank
- international and dominated by the USA and the west
154
microfinance
- very small loans to poor people in the global south
- does it really work? may empower minorities
155
the digital revolution: human - machine interaction
- humans create machines to help, but may cause damage
- we fear that machines will destroy us
- frankenstein, AI, robots
156
the digital revolution: human - animal interaction
- affected by digital tech
- animal to human transplants
- cloning
- lab grown meat
157
why are we afraid of robots?
- look dead, reminder of mortality, unpredictable, challenge reality, hard to destroy, intelligence
158
robot rebellion
- karel kapek: coined the term "robot" which means worker
- robot rebellion = represents the slave and labor revolt
- cyborgs are part human part machine
159
artificial intelligence (AI)
- does it think? does it have its own will? will it take over?
160
the internet of things
- objects take initiative based on info, rather than direct prompting (spying)
161
virtuality
- image, objects, and people generated from code
- no limit, and challenges what its like to be human, original/copy, signified/signifier, material/immaterial, base/superstructure, MOP by nonhumans, ROP is a human privilege
162
human-machine fusion
- mixing mechanics, biology, and virtuality
- cyborgs/androids
163
who rules the digital world?
- internet is out of control, but it benefits the powerful
- surveilance
164
collecting big data
- databases that collect info for the government, corporations, etc
- used in warfare, advertising, law enforcement, academic research
- surveillance is out of our control
- surveillance vs privacy
165
panoptic surveillance
- michael focault
- a feature of power in industrial and post industrial society
166
big data algorithms
- target ads, fights crime, prevents diseases, etc.
- privacy issues (AI, chatGPT)
- governmental surveillance (whistleblowers, hackers)
- digitalized warfare and surveillance: tech can win wars (drones, targeted killings)
- asymmetrical warfare: powerful state fights a weaker state (high tech v. low tech)
167
malfunctions of digital warfare
- bias built into design
- lack of qualitative data = lack of understanding
- inability to prevent evasion of surveillance
- surveillance errors: collateral damage, failure to complete, expanding violences
168
hegemony and violence
- hegemony: non-violence exercise of control by the powerful
- obtained by implicit threat of violence and the prestige associated with power
- as long as power can be exercised without violence, non-violent hegemony is ideal
169
quote by antonio gramsci
"spontaneous" consent given by the great masses of the population to the general direction imposed on social life by the dominant fundamental group; this consent is historically caused by the prestige... which the dominant group enjoys because of its position and function in the world of production.
170
consent
- necessary part of hegemony
- ex. working class speakers accept that upper/middle class speech is the standard and better
- people come closer to standard on formal occasions
171
non-standard language persists
- among family and friends, non standard language and bad manners are counter hegemonic
- horizontal solidarity vs vertical prestige
172
counter movement: political counter hegemony
- always been a part of capitalism
- karl polanyi
- movement (towards free market, individual based life, flattening group movements, etc.)
173
counter movement: marx's socialism
- increase role of society via the government in moderating the greediness of capitalism
- more control of the market
174
counter movement: corporatism
- the state represents communities, not individuals
175
incorporation
- commercialization
- diffuses the original agenda; compromises it
