Cultural Anthropology

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Cultural Anthropology by Mind Map: Cultural Anthropology

1. Fieldwork and Ethnography

1.1. "In the 1960s and 1970s, anthropologists came under heavy criticism for their role in colonialism, particularly for intentionally and unintentionally providing information on local cultures to colonial administrators and military agents" (Guest 99).

1.2. This chapter discusses the how cultural anthropologists conduct research. Ethnographic fieldwork involves living and interacting with a community of people over an extended period to better understand their lives. This chapter also goes into moral and ethical concerns surrounding ethnographic fieldwork.

1.3. Documentary gives new glimpse at Jane Goodall’s early research

2. Language

2.1. "...language does not control or restrict our thinking. Languages are dynamic. They change and adapt as the natural and cultural worlds shift" (Guest 120).

2.2. This chapter discusses linguistic anthropology, language, and language's role in culture. According to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, different languages create different ways of thinking. Languages establish certain mental categories of reality, like a grammar for organizing the worldview that that shapes people's perception of the world (Guest 118).

2.3. Key & Peele on 'code-switching' & the 2016 presidential candidates

2.4. Big Mouth - Code-switchin' HD

3. Gender and Sexuality

3.1. "Humans are born with biological sex, but we learn to be women and men…We learn what kinds of behavior are perceived as masculine or feminine," (Guest 275)

3.2. This chapter discusses gender, sexuality, and how gender roles are a constructed by culture. One main take away from this chapter is the difference between sex and gender. Sex refers to observable physical differences between male and female humans, whereas gender refers to the expectations of thought and behavior that each culture assigns to people of different sexes (Guest 273).

4. Global Economy

4.1. Guest defines an economy as "A cultural adaptation to the environment that enables a group of humans to use the available land, resources, and labor to satisfy their needs and to thrive" (Guest 440). This chapter applies that definition on a global scale. It discusses our complex network of exchanges and our dependence on each others resources.

4.2. "A piece of chocolate, a cup of coffee, or an iPhone can link the wealthiest resident of a world capital or a student at an elite college to a subsistence farmer in Africa or a factory worker in China" (Guest 437).

5. Race and Racism

5.1. This chapter aims to deconstruct the flawed classification system known as race and racism. Race is a cultural construct that is not fixed in nature, it has no biological relation. There are three components to racism; individual racism, institutional racism, and racial ideology.

5.2. "The classification of people based on phenotype, particularly skin color, became the key framework for creating a hierarchy of races— with Europeans at the top— that linked people’s looks with assumptions about their intelligence, physical abilities, capacity for culture, and basic worth" (Guest 203).

6. Politics and Power

6.1. This chapter explains different ways humans distribute power and how political climates are formed around that distribution. Guest states "In this chapter, we explore power as it is expressed through political systems and processes: the way humans have organized themselves in small groups, the role of the state in national and international politics, and the ability of people (nonstate actors) to engage in politics and exercise power through individual action and social movements outside the direct control of the state" (527).

6.2. "In a global economy with increasing flows of people, money, goods, and ideas, state borders are becoming more porous" (Guest 539).

7. Anthropology in a Global Age

7.1. “Although the global economy is creating extreme wealth, it is also creating extreme poverty…Fully 40 percent of the world’s population live in poverty, defined as income of less than $2.00 per day. And nearly 1 billion people live in extreme poverty, surviving on less than $1.25 each day” (Guest 20).

7.2. This chapter aims to define anthropology, globalization, and how the two are intertwined. On one hand, globalization is connecting the world. Things like music and entertainment are becoming streamlined in developed nations across the globe. However, this advancement in communication and technology is redefining culture as we know it, forcing anthropologists to rethink the way they conduct research and communicate their findings.

7.3. Undercover in a Bangladesh clothing factory

8. Culture

8.1. "Culture is not fixed. It is invented, changed, contested, and negotiated. Nor is it bounded. It moves and flows across regions and between people" (Guest 57)

8.2. Culture is "A system of knowledge, beliefs, patterns of behavior, artifacts, and institutions that are created, learned, shared, and contested by a group of people" (Guest 35). This chapter essentially breaks down what culture is, how it's created, and its relation to power.

8.3. Yanomami: From Machetes to Mobile Phones

9. Religion

9.1. "Marx was also highly critical of the role of religion in society, famously calling religion “the opiate of the masses” (Marx and Engels 1957)" (Guest 583).

9.2. This chapter seeks to define and analyze religion from an anthropological perspective. Guest defines religion as "A set of beliefs and rituals based on a unique vision of how the world ought to be, often focused on a supernatural power and lived out in community" (573).

10. Class and Inequality

10.1. This chapter attempts to define class and breaks down the negative impacts that come from living in a class based society. Essentially, inequality stems from the relationship of the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. Guest states "The bourgeoisie, or capitalist class, owned the means of production...needed to make things. The proletariat, or working class, lacked land to grow their own food, tools to make their own products, and capital to build workshops or factories. Unable to make their own living, they sold their work—their labor— to capitalists in return for wages" (394).

10.2. "In the United States one’s life chances are heavily influenced by the class position of one’s family— the financial and cultural resources passed from generation to generation" (Guest 404)

11. Ethnicity and Nationalism

11.1. This chapter seeks to define ethnicity and its relationship to nationalism. 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). Guest states "Nationalism emerges when a sense of ethnic community combines with a desire to create and maintain a nation-state in a location where that sense of common destiny can be lived out" (254).

11.2. "When threatened or challenged, people often turn to local alliances for support, safety, and protection. Ethnicity is one of the strongest sources of solidarity available" (Guest 241).