Cultural Anthropology Chapter 12: Politics and Power

Band
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Terms in this set (15)
Band
A small kinship based group of foragers who hunt and gather for a living over a particular territory
Tribe
Originally viewed as a culturally distinct multi-band population that imagined itself as one people descended from a common ancestor. Currently used to describe an indigenous group with its own set of loyalties and leaders living to some extent outside the control of a centralized authoritative state
Chiefdom
An autonomous political unit composed of a number of villages or communities under the permanent control of a paramount chief
State
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
Hegemony
The ability of a dominant group to create consent and agreement within a population without the use or threat of force
Civil Society Organization
A local non-governmental organization that challenges state policies and uneven development, and advocated for resources and opportunities for members of its local communities
Militarization
The contested social process through which a civil society organizes for the production of military violence
Agency
The potential power of individuals and groups to contest cultural norms, values, mental maps of reality, symbols, institutions, and structures of power
Social Movement
Collective group actions in response to uneven development, inequality, and injustice that seek to build institutional networks to transform cultural patterns and government policies
Framing Process
The creation of shared meanings and definitions that motivate and justify collective action by social movements
How is power maintained in a society? Give examples of authority that is maintained through force as well as authority maintained through coercion or informed consent.Through authority or force. For example authority has the ability to cause others to act a certain way based on characteristics such as honor, statues, knowledge, ability, and respect. Force can be maintained through violence or the threat of violence.What is political ideology?Determines what we see as legitimate and illegitimate uses of power and authority. Some examples are liberalism and socialism. Liberalism focuses on individualism, self-reliance, personal responsibility, equality before the law and limited government. Socialism believe that individuals should be equal before the law, but that not all people can develop independently of each other and instead individual development is a collective or social effort.If nations are imagined communities, what are some of the mechanisms used to help create a sense of unified national identity????What is cultural citizenship and how is it demonstrated?Cultural citizenship is the right to participate in creating official versions of history, language, culture, or politics. It is demonstrated by being able to insert the diverse cultural history of the specifications within the general history and national memory, or by representing the own culture within the cultural compound by other equal identities and specifications.James Ferguson's article describes the unintended side effects of development projects in Lesotho, in Southern Africa. Explain how development agencies misunderstood the cultural relevance of cattle in Basotho society.Development agencies misunderstood the cultural relevance of cattle in Basotho society by categorizing them as an industry in themselves. Instead, cattle are actually a form of retirement insurance and savings for people involved in wage labor.