Class 10

Anthropology 1540 with Lxbarger at Oakland Community College

About this deck

By: Larry Craig
Textbook:

Cultural Anthropology: The Human Challenge, 13th Edition
Created: 2011-06-14
Size: 28 flashcards
Views: 15

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Power and Political Organization

Power: ability to impose will upon others and make them do things even against their own wants or wishes

Political organization: way power is distributed and embedded in society; how it creates and maintains social order

Kinds Of Political Systems

Uncentralized systems:

* Bands

* Tribes

Centralized systems:

* Chiefdoms

* States

Band Organization

Least complicated and oldest form of political organization

Found among nomadic societies

Small and egalitarian, population dozens and up

No need for formal political systems

Leader, if one, holds no real power

Toma: Ju/’hoansi Headman

This Headman was a big deal to Anthropologist. Known world wide for his appearance in the ethnographic film 'The Hunter'

Tribal Organization

kin-ordered groups share common ancestry, identity, culture, language, and territory

Economy based on crop cultivation or herding

Population: hundreds and up

Informal leadership; authority lies with clans

Chiefdoms

Chief’s authority serves to unite his people in all affairs and at all times

Chief controls economic activities, including re-distributive systems

Highly unstable--lesser chiefs try to take power from higher ranking chiefs

A Kpelle town chief in Liberia, West Africa, listens to a dispute in his district.

Settling disputes is one of several ongoing traditional tasks that fall to paramount chiefs among Kpelle people.

State System

Most formal of all political organizations first appearing about 5,000 years ago

Tendency toward instability

Large numbers of people within defined territory; divided into social classes

Commonly referred to as a civilization

Should not confused with nation

Kurds: A Nation without a State

The Kurds, most of whom live in Iran, Iraq, and Turkey, are an example of a nation without a state.

Political Systems and Legitimacy

Legitimacy : right to govern, hold, use, and allocate power based on values of society.

Varies cross culturally

Religion and Politics

Iran and Great Britain permit a closer relationship between political and religious affairs.

Shiite Muslim religious leader Ayatollah Khamenei is Iran’s supreme spiritual leader and his country’s highest political authority.

England: Queen Elizabeth 'Supreme Govenor' of Church of England

Political Leadership and Gender

Some societies--women politically equal with men:

Iroquoian tribes of New York State -- men held office; women appointed them and could remove them

Igbo of Nigeria -- women held positions that paralleled and balanced those of men

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberia

Brought the country to prosperity by working with the US to relieve all of their debt

Gender and Politics:

Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf inspects members of the Liberian police after taking the presidential oath in January 2006.

The first female president on the African continent, Sirleaf is a Harvard-educated economist who took the world by surprise when she won the head office in her war-torn and poverty-stricken country.

Internalized Controls

Internal beliefs self-imposed by individuals

Cultural controls deeply ingrained in the mind

Usually fear of shame, divine punishment, and magical retaliation

Most societies also have externalized controls

Externalized Controls

Designed to encourage conformity to social norms

Mix of cultural and social control: sanctions

Positive sanctions reward appropriate behavior

Negative sanctions punish behavior

Witchcraft

Witchcraft often employed as social control mechanism in uncentralized societies

May be used either internally or externally

Formal Sanctions

Formal sanctions may involve some form of regulated combat, see here as armed dancers near Mount Hagen in New Guinea demand redress for murder.

Functions of Law

Formal rules of conduct that, when violated, result in application of negative sanctions

Defines relationships among society’s members and their behavior

Allocates authority to employ coercion to enforce sanctions

Aids its own efficient operation by ensuring change is allowed

Crime

Western societies--acts against the state or an individual

Non-state societies--acts against kin-groups or individuals

Three ways disputes are resolved

Settling Disputes

Negotiation--use of direct argument and compromise to arrive voluntarily at mutually satisfactory agreement

Mediation- -Settlement of dispute through negotiation assisted by unbiased third party

Adjudication-- Mediation with unbiased third party making ultimate decision

Inuit Song Duels

Singing insults at one another, the crowd will pick the winner to solve the dispute. This is the traditional approach to dispute resolution among the Inuit of Northern Canada.

War

Over past 5,000 years estimated that humans created and fought over 14,000 wars

Reasons for war vary entirely upon society in which it is found

Each group has own objectives, motives, methods, and scale of warfare

Why War?

One theory for war: aggressive nature of human male, however war is NOT a universal phenomenon

Another theory: people fearing future unpredictable disasters take resources of others

At very least, safe to assume warfare is result of misunderstanding and culture clash

Why Not War?

Countries economically interdependent (trade) have DECREASED chance of going to war

Countries equal in (and recent build-up of) military resources have INCREASED chance

Participatory political systems (democracies) have DECREASED chance compared with authoritarian governments

Cambodia: Politics of Reconciliation after Genocide

Map with skulls of victims of Khmer Rouge regime (1970’s)

1.7 million innocent Cambodians killed

Congo: Mass Murder and Rape

Congo an Africa’s failed states, With a wealth of precious natural resources—including gold, diamonds, and uranium—the country risks splintering. Since 1998, a war has devastated the peoples. Deaths of almost 6 million people, millions homeless. 200,000 refugees fleeing from the horrors of mass murder, pillage, famine, and rape.

Child Soldiers

Today, there are more than 250,000 child soldiers, many as young as 12 years old.

Among them are these boys training to be guerrillas in Sahel, Eritrea.

Warfare in Multinational States

In multinational states, warfare is common as one nationality suppresses others within the country.

About this deck

By: Larry Craig
Textbook:

Cultural Anthropology: The Human Challenge, 13th Edition
Created: 2011-06-14
Size: 28 flashcards
Views: 15

About StudyBlue

“I have used this website for three exams, and I see a huge difference in my test results.”
Naj