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Anthropology CH 1 and 2

Terms in this set (42)

Anthropology
the study of the full scope of human diversity, past and present, and the application of that knowledge to help people of different backgrounds better understand one another
Ethnocentrism
The belief that one's own culture or way of life is normal and natural; using one's own culture to evaluate and judge the practices and ideals of others.
ethnographic fieldwork
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
Four-feild approach
the use of four interrelated disciplines to study humanity : physical anthropology, archaeology, linguistic anthropology, and cultural anthropology
Holism
the anthropological commitment to look at the whole picture of human life - culture, biology, history, and language - across space and time
Physical Anthropology
the study of humans from a biological perspective, particularly how they have evolved over time and adapted to their environments
Palentology
the study of the history of human evolution through the fossil record
Primatology
the study of living nonhuman primates as well as primate fossils to better understand human evolution and early human behavior
Archaeology
the investigation of the human past by means of excavating and analyzing artifacts
prehistoric archaeology
the reconstruction of human behavior in the distant past (before written records) through the examination of artifacts
historic archaeology
the exploration of the more recent past through an examination of physical remains and artifacts as well as written or oral records
Linguistic Anthropology
The study of human language in the past and present.
descriptive linguistics
those who analyze languages and their component parts
historic linguists
those who study how language changes over time within a culture and how languages travel across cultures
sociolinguists
those who study language in its social and cultural contexts
Cultural Anthropology
the study of people's communities, behaviors, beliefs, and institutions, including how people make meaning as they live, work, and play together
participant observation
a key anthropological research strategy involving both participation in and observation of the daily life of the people being studied
ethnology
the analysis and comparison of ethnographic data across cultures
Globalization
the worldwide intensification of interactions and increased movement of money, people, goods, and ideas within and across national borders
time-space compression
the rapid innovation of communication and transportation technologies associated with globalization that transforms the way people think about space and time
flexible accumulation
the increasingly flexible strategies that corporations use to accumulate profits in an era of globalization, enabled by innovative communication and transportation technologies
uneven development
the unequal distribution of the benefits of globalization
Anthropocene
the current historical era in which human activity is reshaping the planet in permanent ways
climate change
Changes to Earth's climate, including global warming produced primarily by increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases created by human activity such as burning fossil fuels and deforestation.
Culture
a system of knowledge, beliefs, patterns of behavior, artifacts, and institutions that are created, learned, and shared by a group of people
Enculturation
the process of learning culture
Norms
ideas or rules about how people should behave in particular situations or toward certain other people
values
fundamental beliefs about what is important, what makes a good life, and what is true, right, and beautiful
symbol
anything that represents something else
mental maps of reality
cultural classifications of what kinds of people and things exist, and the assignment of meaning to those classifications
unilinear cultural evolution
The theory proposed by nineteenth-century anthropologists that all cultures naturally evolve through the same sequence of stages from simple to complex.
Historical Particularism
The idea, attributed to Franz Boas, that cultures develop in specific ways because of their unique histories.
society
the focus of early British anthropologist research whose structure and function could be isolated and studied scientifically
Structural Functionalism
a conceptual framework positing that each element of society serves a particular function to keep the entire system in equilibrium
interpretivist approach
a conceptual framework that sees culture primarily as a symbolic system of deep meaning
thick description
a research strategy that combines detailed description of cultural activity with an analysis of the layers of deep cultural meaning in which those activities are embedded
Power
the ability or potential to bring about change through action or influence
Stratification
the uneven distribution of resources and privileges among participants in a group or culture
hegemony
the ability of a dominant group to create consent and agreement within a population without the use or threat of force
agency
the potential power of individuals and groups to contest cultural norms, values, mental maps of reality, symbols, institutions, and structures of power
Epigenetics
an area of study in the field of genetics exploring ways environmental factors directly affect the expression of genes in ways that may be inherited between generations
human microbiome
the complete collection of microorganisms in the human body's ecosystem
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