1. Chapter 2: Culture
1.1. Learned and Taught : culture can be learned (enculturation) and taught in a formal or informal situation
1.1.1. Formal : cultural institutions like schools, medical systems, media, police/military, and religious institutions
1.1.2. Informal : unconscious learning and teaching through family, friends, and social events (like a birthday party)
1.2. Race and Ethnicity : Race is classified "as a flawed system of classification, created, and re-created over time, that uses physical characteristics (such as skin color, hair texture, eye shape, and eye color) to divide the human population..." (Guest 197)
1.2.1. Race is a social construct yet the US classifies 6 different racial categories that are strict,
1.2.2. In the US, ethnicity mainly pertains to Hispanic or Latino groups and is irrelevant to race. (In the end, you must choose a race to identify with.
1.3. Franz Boas
1.3.1. He rejected the idea of unilineal cultural evolution : all cultures naturally evolve through the same sequence of stages
1.3.1.1. Savagery (early) → barbarism (middle) → civilization (later states)
1.3.2. Boas presented historical particularism, which conceptualizes the uniqueness of the development of cultures due to their different histories
1.4. Nature vs Nurture : the idea that people learn and develop based on their environment and/or genetics
1.4.1. Nature entitles the determination of gender differences, racial categories, ethnic divisions, and sexuality (debatable)
1.4.1.1. All things biological
1.4.2. Nurture involves culture, values, and experiences that shape a person's behavior
2. Chapter 1: Anthropology in the Global Age
2.1. Cultural Anthropology : is field of anthropology that focuses on people's communities, behaviors, beliefs, and institutions and its relation to how people live, work, and interact with each other
2.1.1. Imperialism : was an opportunity for European countries to come in contact with a variety of cultures during the colonial period and Age of Exploration
2.1.2. Franz Boas : was the founder of American Anthropology. He studied and worked against racial categorization, focusing on transitioning European immigrant children in the US to "New World" values
2.1.3. Audrey Richards developed the anthropological research standards while researching the Bemba society in Zambia. There, she learned about this society's nutritional habits and rites of passage among other concepts
2.2. "Cultural Relativism calls for the suspension of judgement while attempting to understand a group's beliefs and practices within their own cultural context." (Guest 43)
2.2.1. Opposes the idea of ethnocentrism which was the controversial idea that one's culture was above other cultures
2.2.2. Cultural relativism is an opportunity to be tolerant towards other cultures unlike our own
2.3. Ethnographic Fieldwork : is a primary research strategy in cultural anthro that involves living within the community one is researching over an extended period to understand that community's life better
2.3.1. Social scientists focus on what society needs vs anthropologists let society speak
2.3.2. Participant Observation : is a strategy involving both participation in and observation of the daily life of the studied people
2.4. Lenses used in Anthropology
2.4.1. Four-Field Approach : is a lens anthropologists use that involves physical anthro, archeology, linguistic anthro, and cultural anthro to study humanity
2.4.2. Holism : is similar to the four-field approach in regards to learning about humanity as a whole; includes culture, biology, history, and language
3. Chapter 4: Language
3.1. Origins of Language: anthropologists and primatologists have researched communication among apes, but mainly attribute it to humans.
3.1.1. Language is "a system of communication that uses symbols―like words, sounds, and gestures―organized according to certain rules, to convey any kind of information (Guest 113).
3.1.2. Apes lack the physical apparatus (vocal cords, tongue, and lips), whereas humans have the apparatus to form words.
3.1.3. Humans gain the (fluent and coherent) linguistic ability around age 2-3, imitating their trainers (parents, guardians, etc).
3.1.3.1. Apes are said to have challenged this idea of imitation.
3.2. Descriptive Linguistics : the study of the sounds, symbols, and gestures of a language, and their combination into forms that communicate meaning.
3.2.1. Phonemes : the smallest units of sound that can make a difference in meaning
3.2.1.1. Phonology : the study of what sounds exists and their importance to a language
3.2.2. Rules of sound in terms of morphemes, morphology, and syntax
3.2.2.1. Morphemes : the smallest units of sound that carry meaning of their own
3.2.2.2. Morphology : the study of patterns and rules oh how sounds combine to make morphemes
3.2.2.3. Syntax : specific patterns and rules for constructing phrases and sentences
3.3. Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis : the idea that different languages create different ways of thinking (Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf)
3.3.1. Whorf made linguistic research on Hopi society : it is dfferent from English; there is no no separate verb tense for past, present, and future; the past and present are one lived reality; and the future is hypothetical
3.3.2. Versus Ferdinand de Saussure, Claude Levi-Strauss, and Noam Chomsky's theory of human language acquisition
3.3.2.1. Human brain is hardwired for basic framework
3.3.2.2. Universal grammar : a similar structure in all languages
3.3.2.3. Humans share a similar language ability
3.4. Language and Gender : men and women speak differently
3.4.1. Difference model : models the communication between men and women is cross-cultural communication
3.4.1.1. Girls hangout indoors in small groups
3.4.1.2. Boys play outside in large competitive groups
3.4.2. Dominance model : West, Lakoff, Holmes, and Cameron describe language and gender superiority
3.4.2.1. Men adopt a linguistic strategies of dominance through commands, explanations, contradictions, criticisms, challenges, and accusations
3.4.2.2. Woman adopt a linguistic strategy through submission, request, agreeance, support, accommodation, acceptance, and apologies
4. Chapter 15: Religion
4.1. Edward Tylor (1871) believed that cultures initial concepts on the supernatural related to death and dreaming
4.1.1. The dream world is a place where some essence travels to; in death, the essence leaves the body
4.1.2. Belief in a soul : travels when we're dreaming and goes ~somewhere~ after death
4.2. Religion is "a set of beliefs based on a unique vision of how the world ought to be, often revealed through insights into a supernatural power and lived out in a community" (Guest 573)
4.2.1. Ritual activities that reinforces, recall, instill, and explore collective beliefs like weekly mass, baptism, bar/bat mitzvah , weddings, funerals, pilgrimages
4.2.2. Symbols used in religious rituals, that represent key aspects of the religion for its followers
4.2.2.1. Anthropologists use certain tools or concepts to understand religion
4.2.2.1.1. Sacred : anything that is considered holy
4.2.2.1.2. Profane : anything that is considered not holy
4.2.2.1.3. Ritual : an act or series of act regularly repeated over years or generations that embody the beliefs of a group of people and create a sense of continuity and belonging
4.2.3. Specialists who assist the average believer to bridge everyday life experiences and the religion’s ideals and supernatural aspects like priests, imams, shamans, gurus, medicine men and women
4.3. Rites of Passage : a category of ritual that enacts a change of status from one life stage to another either for an individual or a group
4.3.1. 1) separation of existing identity
4.3.2. 2) phase of transition or liminality
4.3.3. 3) incorporation/reincorporation with new identity
5. Chapter 14: Politics and Power
5.1. Groups in Power
5.1.1. Band : a small kinship-based group of foragers who hunt and gather for a living over a particular territory
5.1.2. Tribe is "indigenous group of people with its own set of loyalties and leaders living to some extent outside the direct control of a centralized, authoritative state" (Guest 532)
5.1.3. Chiefdom : an autonomous political unit composed of a number of villages or communities under the permanent control of a paramount chief
5.2. 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
5.2.1. Administrative, communication, and military infrastructures define and enforce state borders
5.2.1.1. State serves as a source of laws and law enforcement
5.2.2. Hegemony : the ability of a dominant group to create consent and agreement within a population without the use of force
5.2.2.1. promoting intense feelings of nationalism to promote the perception of the state as a unified entity
5.3. As globalization progresses, the boundaries of the state shrink
5.3.1. Civil society organizations : a local nongovernmental organization that challenges state policies and uneven development, and advocates for resources and opportunities
5.3.2. international coalitions mobilize international sentiment and pressure the nation-states to address pressing societal issues occurring within their borders
5.3.2.1. coalitions challenge the ultimate claims of state sovereignty over affair within state borders
5.4. The relationship between violence/war and poltics/state
5.4.1. Humans are naturally peaceful and violent
5.4.1.1. Organized human violence can be seen as a natural expressions physiological factors like testosterone, DNA, and neural wiring
5.4.1.2. violence arises through cultural practices and patterns that overwhelm basic human nature (humans are peaceful)
5.4.1.3. humans may be naturally prone to violence but culturally capable or incapable of avoiding it
5.4.2. Militarization : the contested social process through which a civil society organizes for the production of military violence
5.4.3. States promote the character of soldiers are heroes for defending a nation (their service as strong and virtuous warriors, protectors, and conquerors)
6. Chapter 5: Human Origins
6.1. Dating : Scientists use this process to determine how old a fossil or rock is.
6.1.1. Relative Dating : is based on material found near the object getting dated. This could be a stone, artifact, or any other fossilized object
6.1.2. Absolute Dating : uses more precise tools. For example, using Carbon-14's half life, carbon dating has become popular in dating how long ago the bodies of the fossils existed.
6.2. Evolution : (Darwinism) every living thing is representative of multiple biological adaptations over thousands on generations. This happens in response to changes in a natural environment
6.2.1. Natural Selection : is the process by which organisms with features that are adaptable to the environment survive and reproduce and increase frequency (like the blue dodo bird)
6.2.1.1. Light/nonmelanic (cc) vs dark/melanic (Cc or CC) moths in Britain during the Industrial Revolution
6.2.2. Positive Selection : process in which advantageous genetics variants quickly increase in frequency in a population (Galapagos finches)
6.3. Genetics : affected the evolution process through mutations in human DNA, gene flow, and genetic drifts
6.3.1. Gene Flow : the movement of genetic material within a population and among diverse populations (especially once Columbus arrived in 1492)
6.3.2. Genetic Drift "is more rapid in smaller, more isolated populations as a small number of changes can have a statistically more significant influence." (Guest 168)
6.3.2.1. random and unpredictable changes in DNA
6.4. Human Ancestors : humanity has evolved from varies species of hominid; from the australopithecus, homo habilis, homo erectus, homo florensiensis, neantertals to the now existing homo sapiens
6.4.1. Bipedalism : the ability to habitually walk on two legs; ancestors spent a lot of time on the ground
6.4.2. Skulls : over time, as humanity gained more resources, skulls evolved to fit new diets and a larger brain
7. Chapter 8: Gender
7.1. Sex vs Gender : sex is the observable physical difference between male and female, and gender is expectations of thought and behavior that each culture assigns to people
7.1.1. Biology determines 3 factors for sex: genitalia, gonads, & sex chromosomes
7.1.2. Sexual dimorphism : the phenotypic differences between males and females of the same species (hair distribution, weight, height, strength, breast size, voice)
7.2. Cultural Construction of Gender : way humans learn to behave and recognize what is a man or woman
7.2.1. Differences between how male & female children are treated : gender appropriate names, haircuts, clothing, jewelry, colors, spoken to in gender appropriate language/tones
7.2.2. Gender becomes a powerful invisible framework : gendered dance, playing, dating, mating, parenting, loving etc. (Rubin 1975; Lorber 1994; Bonvillain 2007; Brettel and Sargent 2009)
7.2.2.1. Sports: males get privilege (addn'l coaching, training, basketball, soccer, lacrosse, football, wrestling); whereas females are essentially coddled (gymnastics, figure skating, cheerleading)
7.3. Gender Performance is "the way gender identity is expressed through action" (Guest 282)
7.3.1. Masculine : aggressive, physical, tough, competitive, sports oriented, testosterone driven, strong, unemotional
7.3.2. Feminine : gentle, kind, loving, nurturing, smart, persuasive, talkative, enticing, emotional
7.4. Gender and Power : complex, but there is generally more male dominance (Women = Nature; Man = Culture)
7.4.1. Gender stratification : unequal distribution of power and access to a group’s resources, opp., rights, and privileges based on gender
7.4.2. Gender stereotypes : preconceived notion about the attributes of, differences between, and proper roles for men and women in a culture
7.4.3. Gender ideology : a set of cultural ideas, usually stereotypical, about the essential character of different gender that functions to promote and justify gender stratification
8. Chapter 9: Sexuality
8.1. Human Sexuality is "the complex range of desires, beliefs, and behaviors that are related to erotic physical contact, intimacy, and pleasure" (Guest 314)
8.1.1. Heterosexuality : attraction to and sexual relations between individuals of the opposite sex
8.1.2. Homosexuality : attraction to and sexual relations between individuals of the same sex
8.1.3. Bisexuality : attraction to and sexual relation with members of both sexes
8.1.4. Asexuality : a lack of erotic attraction to others
8.2. Globally, sexuality can be as flexible and inflexible in different countries and regions
8.2.1. Same-gender “Mati work” in Suriname: women who who form intimate spiritual, emotional, and sexual relationships with other women
8.2.1.1. 3 out of 4 women engage “mati work” live in the same household or separately, share child rearing, have variations of sexual relations with men and women, male relationships for child rearing, and prefer visiting relationships with males
8.2.2. Machismo and sexuality in Nicaragua : Roger Lancaster researched machismo in 1980’s in Managua and learned that manhood is constantly threatened (Constant need to perform machismo)
8.2.2.1. In a same sex relationship : a cochon is the queer, faggot, gay and passive receiver; and a machista → sexual conquest of whoever available and penetrator (power and sexuality intersect)
8.3. Sexuality and relations of power : Michel Foucault (1978) stated sexuality as “an especially dense transfer point for relations of power”
8.3.1. Sexuality like the categories of race, class, ethnicity, and gender is a focal point to negotiate power
8.3.2. Sexual violence : violence perpetuated through sexually related physical assaults such as rape (especially in college campuses)
8.4. Lesbian and gay marriages
8.4.1. Rituals of Resistance and Acceptance: resisting federal recognition, but cceptance and conformity to traditions of wider society still exists
8.4.2. Obergefell v. Hodges : Legalization of same sex marriage; Demonstrates fluidity and malleability of sexuality
9. Chapter 10: Class and Inequality
9.1. Egalitarian societies: "a group based on the sharing of resources to ensure success with a relative absence of hierarchy and violence" (Guest 390)
9.1.1. Using a system of reciprocity that is based on balanced, generalized, and negative
9.1.2. Create a network of sharing and caring
9.1.3. The largest part of our species history has been spent in egalitarian society...longer than we have been socially straified
9.2. Karl Marx (1801-1882) : Bourgeoisie and Proletariat...in regards to the transition away from egalitarian societies
9.2.1. Bourgeoisie : capitalist that owns the means of production
9.2.1.1. Vast profits for Bourgeoisie were created on the back of the Proletariat
9.2.1.2. Bourgeoisie have shifted from manufacturing to the financial sector
9.2.2. Proletariat : class of laborers who own only their labor
9.2.2.1. Proletariat or working class sell their labor and are conflicted by race, gender, ethnicity
9.3. Poverty
9.3.1. 2013 US Census reported 45.3 million or 14.5% of US lived in poverty ; 20% of children in US live in poverty ; 2013 Poverty line was $11,888 for single person $23,834 for family of four
9.3.2. As a pathology : Dysfunctional behavior, Dysfunctional attitude, and Dysfunctional values
9.3.3. As a structural economic problem : No jobs, inadequate education and healthcare, failure to invest in cities, etc & poverty is interconnected to global system (expansion of global capitalism)
9.4. The effects of global inequality
9.4.1. Globalization has created opportunities for wealth, but also poverty
9.4.1.1. THE HAVE LITTLE : 40% of the world lives in poverty ($2 a day) ; 877 million live in extreme poverty ($1 a day)
9.4.1.2. THE HAVE LOTS : 1,426 billionaires ; 2% own half of the wealth of the planet!!
9.4.2. Food and malnutrition : UN World Food Program 870 million people go hungry every day ; 200 million children under five are malnourished
9.4.3. Health and mortality : HIV/AIDS kill millions every year Mortality ; developed nations 78; developing nations 58
9.4.4. Climate change : Extreme weather conditions are dangerous for the poor (Katrina 2006)
10. Chapter 12: Global Economy
10.1. Economy : a cultural adaptation to the environment that enables a group of humans to use the available resources to satisfy their needs and to thrive
10.1.1. Food foraging : hunting, fishing, and gathering plants to eat ; majority of our species history spent as food foragers
10.1.2. Pastoralism : a strategy for food production involving the domestication of animals (Examples: Lama, cow, horse, dog, sheep, goats, etc.)
10.1.2.1. Cultures all over the world domesticated animals
10.1.3. Horticulture : the cultivation of plants for subsistence through non-intensive use of land and labor ; domestication of plants 11,000 years ago
10.1.3.1. Tigris and Euphrates Rivers (Fertile Crescent)
10.1.3.2. Pakistan Indus valley, China’s Yellow River Valley, Nile Valley, Mexico, and Andes
10.1.4. Agriculture : cultures all over the world domesticated animals
10.2. Patterns of Distribution
10.2.1. Negative reciprocity : Gift giving where one of the parties attempts to exploit the gift giver
10.2.2. Redistribution : "form of exchange in which accumulated wealth is collected from the members of the group and reallocated in a different pattern" (Guest 391)
10.2.3. Middle class : federal Minimum Wage is $7.25 ; cost of living in Los Angeles: 75K
10.3. Colonialism : when nation-state extends political, economic and military power beyond own borders
10.3.1. Triangle Trade : Sugar was introduced to the Americas by Columbus; furs became an important trade item ; soon the Caribbean was filled with sugar cane plantations
10.3.2. Slavery : forced to work sugar cane plantations ; slave labor subsidized European expansion ; financed the American Colonies
10.3.3. Industrial Revolution : A major period of social and economic change around the world ; European expansion, urbanization, development of technology’s and factory system
10.4. Modern World Economic System
10.4.1. Development-post-WWII strategy of wealthy nations to spur: Global economic growth ; alleviate poverty ; raise living standards through strategic investment in national economies of former colonies
10.4.2. Underdevelopment and Dependency Theory : One bill to rule them all ; colonialism used soldiers and tanks ; today colonialism uses banks
11. Chapter 6: Race and Racism
11.1. Race : a flawed system of classification with no biological basis, that uses certain physical characteristics to divide the human population in supposedly distinct group
11.1.1. Though a myth, powerful framework of privilege and access to resources
11.1.2. Race is constructed differently in every country
11.1.2.1. In the US: White or European American, Black or African American, Asian American, American Indian/Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander (according to the US Census)
11.1.2.2. In Brazil: Alva (pure white), alva-escuro (off white), alva-rasada (pinkish white), branca (white), clara (light), blanca morena (darkish white), branca suja (dirty white), café (coffee colored), café con leite (coffee with milk), canela (cinnamon), preta (black), pretinha (lighter black) (Fluehr-Lobban 2006)
11.1.3. Phenotype: the way genes are expressed in an organisms...can lead to stereotypes
11.2. Colonialism lead to the construction of race
11.2.1. Colonialism is "the practice by which a nation states extends political, economic, and military power beyond its border over an extended period in other countries or regions to secure...raw materials, cheap labor, and markets" (Guest 203)
11.2.2. Europeans during the colonial period classified non-European cultures as inferior based on phenotype, justified exploitation and colonial conquest, led to eradication of indigenous populations of Americas, and justified trans-Atlantic slave trade
11.3. Racism comes in different forms and is based on the idea of ranking people are superior to the inferior (allocating access to power, privilege, resources, and opportunity)
11.3.1. Individual racism : personal prejudiced beliefs an discriminatory actions based on race
11.3.1.1. Microaggressions : common verbal or behavioral indignities/slights that express hostile, derogatory, and negative messages about someone's race, sexual orientation, or religion.
11.3.2. Institutional racism : racial inequality is structured through key cultural institutions, policies, and systems
11.3.2.1. Police and pinpointing black males for crimes they did not commit
11.3.3. Racial ideology : set of popular ideas about race that allows the discriminatory behaviors of individuals and institutions to seem reasonable, rational, and normal
11.4. Constructing whiteness in US society
11.4.1. White Supremacy : the belief that Whites are biologically different from and superior to people of other races
11.4.1.1. 1790-1860 African Americans (AA) were considered three-fifths a person
11.4.2. Roots of Whiteness are in slavery and the genocide of Native Americans
11.4.3. Jim Crow Laws were implemented after the US Civil War to legally enforce segregation, particularly in the South, after the end of slavery
11.4.3.1. Hypodescent : one drop of blood rule; assignment of children of racially “mixed unions to the subordinate group
12. Chapter 7: Ethnicity & Nationalism
12.1. Ethnicity is "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" (Guest 240)
12.1.1. Origin myths : one method of teaching and reinforcing ethnic identity; a story told about the founding and history of a particular group to reinforce a sense of common identity
12.1.2. Ethnic boundary markers : a practice/belief, such as food, clothing, language, shared name, or religion used to signify who is in a group and who is not
12.1.3. Not biologically fixed : situational negotiation of identity is an individual's self-identification with a particular group that can shift according to social location
12.2. Ethnicity can be created, mobilized, and contested
12.2.1. Identity entrepreneurs : political, military, or religious leaders who promote a worldview through the lens of ethnicity and use war, propaganda, and state power to mobilize people against those whom they perceive as a danger
12.2.2. Ethnic cleansing : efforts by representatives of one ethnic or religious group to remove or destroy another group in a particular geographic area
12.2.2.1. Holocaust
12.2.3. Assimilation : the process through which minorities accept the patterns and norms of the dominant culture and cease to exist as separate groups
12.3. The existence of ethnicity leads to the sense of nationalism
12.3.1. Nationalism: the desire of an ethnic community to create and/or maintain a nation-state
12.3.2. Imagined community: 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
12.4. Anticolonialism and nationalism
12.4.1. Centuries of colonial rule all over the world created intense social situations by othering
12.4.1.1. European nations needed to tame the wild, backward, tribal heathens
12.4.2. Post WWII European countries lost control of their colonies (uprising and warfare)
12.4.2.1. The rise of their own Nationalism to combat the colonial nations came about