Final Exam Review Questions-Answers

Origins of Agriculture and First Farmers Characteristics of wild vs. domesticated seeds and plants Domesticated: seeds of cereals are larger, crops produce a higher yield per unit of area, lose their natural seed dispersal mechanisms, cereals have tougher connective tissue holding the seedpods to the stem Wild: cereal?s axis is brittle, sections of the axis break off one by one, edible portion is enclosed in a tough husk Examples of domesticated animals/plants from class Wheat, barley, teosinte corn, llamas, squash, sheep, goat 7 areas where agriculture was independently invented Near East (Fertile Crescent), Central Mexico, South China, North China, South Central Andes, Eastern United States, Sub-Saharan Africa Where was it first invented and why? Fertile Crescent ? people got use to the easy way of life, hard times hit Costs and benefits of agricultural invention Broad spectrum revolution: a period during which a wider range of plant and animal life was hunted, gathered, collected. It lead to food production, human control over reproduction of plants and animals Food production 1st took place during Neolithic era (asso. w/ warmer temp) Clovis tools tradition: a sophisticated stone technology based on a point that was fastened to the end of a hunting spear Sedentism (staying put in one place) came before agriculture Adaptive Strategies: Making a Living Yehudi Cohen's adaptive strategies: Foraging: hunting/gathering, rely on natural resources for substance. Often live in 100 or less groups. Ex: !Kung San Pastoralism: herds, animals. Neur/Basseri Horticulture: plots like fallow for varying lengths of time (compare with agriculture) Agriculture: characterized by continuous/intensive use of land and labor Industrialism horticulture and agriculture are organized around food production while the other ones doesn't really What is the difference 'pastoral nomadism' and 'transhumance' Pastoral nomadism: movement throughout the year by the whole pastoral group, in pursuit of strategic resources Transhumance: part of the population moves seasonally while the other part remains in villages What do the three types of reciprocity generalized reciprocity: giving with no specific expectation of exchange balanced reciprocity: exchanges between people who are more distantly related than are ppl of the same group negative reciprocity: dealing w/ people outside or of their social systems, reciprocity is carefully calculated What is potlatching? What are the functions of feasts? Potlatching: competitive feast among Indians on the North Pacific Coast of NA. Functions: sometimes as a memorial to the dead, prestige increased with the lavishness of the potlach Culture Sketches: The Basseri (why have government attempts to 'sedentize' them struggled?) idea that they can still live the same way, but in one place. you can't change one w/o changing everything KINSHIP, DESCENT, AND MARRIAGE Kinship, what is it? What are its functions? Not sure um?organizes social/political life? different types of kinship organization Lineal: uncle applies to FB/ MB. Direct line of descent that leads to and from ego Bifurcate Merging: splits the mother?s and father?s side but merges same sex siblings of each parent. Like, mother and mother?s sister are under the same term (1) Generational: uses the same term for parents and their siblings. Does not distinguish between mother?s and father?s side. Basically just male/female member Bifurcate Collateral: most specific. Separate terms for M, F, MB, MZ, FB, FZ matrilineal/patrilineal/ambilineal descent matrilineal: people join the mother?s group automatically at birth Know the basic kinship chart symbols and how to interpret a chart at a basic level. For example: Triangle: male, circle: female, square: don?t know the sex, shaded shape: ego. = married, crossed out shape: dead Lineal vs. Collateral Kin. Collateral: relative who is not in ego?s direct line such as B, Z, FB, MZ Affinal vs, Consanguineal kin: Affinals: relatives by marriage. Consaguineal: relatives with the same ancestor Family of orientation/ Family of procreation. Procreation: nuclear family when one marries and has kids Cross Cousins/ Parallel Cousins Parallel: cousin from parents? same sexed sibling. Ex: Father?s brother?s kids, or mother?s sister?s kids Cross Cousins: cousin from parents? opposite sexed sibling. Ex: Father?s sister?s kids Marriage Functions: regulates social links between sexuality/procreation, socially legitimate children, builds alliances, establishes connections, regulating descent (transmission of inheritance) 3 types: polygny, polyandry, serial monogamy exogamy vs endogamy exogamy: rule requiring people to marry outside their own group (bigger social network, adaptive value) endogamy: rule or practice of marriage between ppl of same social group marriage exchange bridewealth - Money or goods transferred to a women?s family from the man?s after marriage. Brideservice - Obligations a husband owes his wife?s family after marriage Dowry - Substantial gifts transferred to the husband?s family from the wife?s family after marriage. Significance to understanding marriage? it is more of a relationship btwn groups for non-industrialzed societies Theories of incest taboos It is universal because incest horror is instinctive, because of this feeling, early humans banned it Early Homo saw that abnormal offspring were born from incestuous unions, to prevent this they banned it Originated to direct sexual feeling outside (to avoid disruptioion of) existing family structure/relations Most accepted explanation: Arose in order to ensure exogamy, because it was adaptively advantageous Types of families (nuclear, extended) Culture Sketches: Tiwi and marriage practices, beliefs, functions Traditional Tiwi culture ruled that all woman must be married?, before birth - death Belief: an woman becomes pregnant because a spirit enters her body. A woman who was widowed did not leave the grave of her husband without a new spouse?wow I suggest you read this in the book. Its kind of?long. Pg 227s SEX, GENDER AND MARRIAGE What is the difference between sex and gender? Sex: biological Gender: cultural construction of sexual difference. Performance Gender Roles (what are the characteristics of gender roles): tasks and activities a cuture assigns to the sexes Gender Stereotypes: oversimplified, strongly held beliefs about males/females Gender stratification: unequal distribution of rewards between men and women Gender effects (social, economic, political, kinship, etc.). Patriarchy vs. matriarchy: a society ruled by men vs a society ruled by women Sexual orientation: a person?s habitual sexual attraction to: heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual Rosie the Riveter, the State and gender roles Not sure um?during the world wars, notion of women biologically unfit for hard labor faded What do the terms 'mommy track' and 'glass ceiling' refer to? Mommy track describe women leaving the workforce (to pursue childbearing. Glass ceiling: a ceiling based on organizational bias in the work force that prevents minorities and women from advancing to leadership positions RELIGION/MAGIC Main features of religion (according to Kottak esp.) Cultural universal Include both spirits and impersonal forces Rituals concerned with supernatural beings, powers and forces What are core functions of religion? - intellectual/cognitive, psychological and social. Explain the world, answer questions about how and why the world is the way it is Validate: religious beliefs lend moral weight to decisions and rules, maintain social order Give meaning to events in the world, make what appears to be random explainable Orient: give people a stance to take toward the world Problems of defining religion Tylor: religion evolved through stages, beginning with animism polytheism monotheism. An ethnocentric understanding of process = problem with defining religion. Animism, Totemism, Mana, Taboo Animism: the earliest form of religion, belief in spiritual beings Totemism: uses nature as model for society, enhanced by symbolic association with and imitation of natural order Mana: sacred impersonal force. Belief in supernatural forces. Explains what happen in sleep/death Taboo: set apart as sacred and off-limits to ordinary people 4 categories of religion: shamanic, communal, Olympian, monotheistic Shamanic - part-time religious figures who mediate btwn ppl and supernatural beings and foes Communal Shamans + community rituals: lack full-time religious specialists Polytheism: believe in several deities who control aspects of nature Olympian: arose with state organization and marked social stratification Full-time religious specialists = professional priesthoods Pantheons: collections of supernatural beings (gods with specialized functions) Monotheistic: 1 eternal, omniscient/omnipotent/ omnipresent being, has priesthoods and notions of divine power Rituals and Rites of passage (separation, liminality (communitas), incorporation) Rituals: formal, invariant and earnest acts that require people to join actively in a social collectivity Stylized, repetitive, stereotyped. Can be secular as well as religious, forms a social community, operates to reduce differences in wealth, a form of social control. Rites of passage: customs assoc. w/ transition from place/ stage of life to another. Involve change in social status 3 phases: separation, liminality and incorporation Separation: people withdraw from the group and begin moving from one place/status to another Liminality: the limbo during which people have left one place but have not entered the next Incorporation: reenter society Communitas: an intense community spirit, a feeling of great social solidarity, equality and togetherness What is Syncretism: : cultural mixes, including religious blends, that emerge from acculturation Revisit the Kottak section on Sacred Cattle in India Hindu doctrine of ahimsa: a principle of nonviolence that forbids the killing of animals generally people in India protect and revere zebu cattle Uses power of religion to ensure that a valuable resource (cows) are nto destroyed, even in times of extreme need Western assumptions: ethnocentric and wrong Irrationally ignoring a valuable food b/c cultural/religious tradition, don?t know how to raise proper cattle (skinny zebus). Hindus are set in their ways = refuse to develop rationally. Indian view of cows: important role in an Indian ecosystem. Essential to Indian cultural adaptation. Biologically adapted to poor pasture land and a marginal environment, Provides fertilizer and fuel, Indispensable for peasants, affordable How does Kottak describe what magic is?: supernatural techniques intended to accomplish specific aims Functions of 'Magic' : explain the uncertain, establish control, dispel doubts Contagious vs. Imitative magic Imitative: to produce a desired affect by imitating it (voodoo) Contagious: whatever is done to an object is believed to affect a person who once had contact with it ART *film: In and Out of Africa What are the processes through wood becomes art? How does art get its value? How is art studied in an anthropological perspective (chap 22) Religion, Individuality, Representations of art and culture, Communication, Politics, Cultural transmission, Continuity and change, music, POLITICAL SYSTEMS AND DIFFERENCE TRIBES, BANDS ,CHIEFDOMS, AND STATES? Bands: small, mobile, kin-based groups with little differential power Economic type: foraging Type of regulation: local Status system: based on prestige (not differential access) Tribes: Have villages and/or descent groups (clans and lineages) Economic type: based on nonintensive food production (horticulture, pastoralism) Regulation: local, temporary regional, Lack a formal government [DIVISION regarding basis of status: bands/tribes: prestige chiefdoms/state: differential access to resources] Chiefdoms: intermediate between tribe and state. Kin-based social relations (like bands, tribes) Economic type: productive horticulture, pastoral nomadism, agriculture. Trade? Social status: based on seniority of descent from kinship/descent Regulation: permanent political structure State: formal government structure and socioeconomic stratification Economic type: agriculture, industrialisms Type of regulation: permanent regional Basic divisions/ differences between a chiefdom and state States: much clearer class divisions Social relations: Chiefdom: kin-based (kinship, marriage, descent, age, generation, gender) States: brings non-relatives together and oblige them to pledge allegiance to a government Social stratification a key distinguishing features of states What is ?everyday politics?? formal government vs. informal forms of governance, everyday and state forms of "social control?) Different ways of studying the state in anthropology (see Powerpoint here) State an an idea vs state as an system, function of concealment State and everyday life (routine rituals of the state, moral regulation ?posters that tells you not to smoke?) What are Max Weber's Dimensions of stratification (Wealth, Power and Presitge) Wealth: material assets economic status Power: ability to exercise one?s will over others political status Prestige: ?cultural capital.? Esteem, respect, or approval for exemplary things social status What does Philip Abrams say comprises the two basic components of the state (see Powerpoint slide) The state as an Idea vs. the state as a System: Institution with power to withhold info Function of ?concealment? Power: gives ?it? (classification? State?) life by insisting on hiding and fostering interest Hidden and Public transcripts Hidden: the critique of power that goes on off stage, where the power holders can?t see it Public: describes the open, public interactions between superodinates and subordinatess Hegemony: a stratified social order in which subordinates comply with domination by internalizing their ruler?s values and accepting the ?naturalness? of domination (the internalization of a dominant ideology) Offer explanations about why the existing order is in everyone?s interest: ?this is the way things were meant to be?. Instilling desire to consent and be complacent What are the functions of the state? How does a state administer its citizens? Population control, judiciary, enforcement, taxation. Ruling system, government. Conduct censuses and demarcate boundaries MODERN PROJECTS, COLONIALISM AND ITS AFTERMATHS -Industrial Revolution Modern World System: a world in which nations are economically and politically interdependent Imperialism - policy of extending the rule of a nation or empire over other nation Colonialism - political, social economic and cultural domination of a territory and its people by a foreign power for a extended period of time Core/Periphery/Semi-periphery Core: geographic center. The dominant position in the world system, consisting of the strongest and most powerful nations. Semiperiphery: intermediate - Industrialized nations, Export industrial goods + commodities (like core) but lack power + economic dominance of core Periphery: Less mechanized economic activities, produces raw materials, agricultural commodities, human labor open systems vs. closed systems ? can move up vs ppl locked into their parent?s social position Globalization: accelerating interdependence of nations in a world system linked economically. Promotes intercultural communication which bring ppl from different societies into direct contact more diversity, new stuff. neoliberalism as a cultural ideology revival of smith?s economic liberalism. Gov. should not regulate private enterprise and free markets should rule. Deregulation: no barriers, regulations to commerce is helpful No tariffs if possible, fewer manufacturing restrictions = better Profits from lowering costs A capitalist focus on individualism: more emphasis on ?individual responsibility?, privatization Culturally compatible development: Respond to local needs, collaborate with local traditions, focus on gender equality, remain flexible Avoid: Overinnovation: too much change. People resist too much major change. Underdifferentiation: tendency to view ?the less-developed countries? as more alike than they are. Neglect of cultural diversity (ethnocentrism). different reasons for European colonial expansions (causes of economic expansions/ different 'intervention philosophies') Why in England? Had fewer workers: with increased need for products had to transform their domestic manufacturing system by industrializing Drew on national advantages in natural resources Particular cultural values + religion contributed to industrialization Intervention philosophies ideological justification for outsiders to guide local peoples in specific directions development projects ? problems ethnocentrism: regarding one's own culture as being superior and judging other from the perspective of your own underdifferentiation: ignoring cultural diversity. Viewing less developed countries as an undifferentiated group overinnovation: chara. of projects that require major changes in natives? daily lives, esp. interfere w/ routines values of core vs. periphery/semi-periphery NATIONAL TRAJECTORIES/TRANSNATIONAL ANTHROPOLOGIES Counterintuitive consequences of neoliberal expansions Anti-globalization movements ?Grassroots? environmental racism movements Art as a form of political intervention Three Basic Theories of Representation Reflective: ?language? is a mirror on reality Intentional: we impose meanings that we intend onto reality Constructivist: make meanings using systems of signs + concepts that already exist "Biological Citizenship,"?Chernobyl (demonstrating injury from the nuclear fallout increased the kinds of resources one had access to) 'Free market tuberculosis' ? sell tb tests so you could be moved into a better hospital Reverse ethnography: deals with visibility, power, and diversity and objectification people as subjects/ people as objects. Coco Fusco: plays with key themes in contemporary life: Westernization, cultural essentialism, globalized diversity. *Film: Life and Debt: What is the film's basic argument, political viewpoint? What were specific effects of IMF loan conditions? 3.10.08 Theories of representation : Reflective: you can represent the world by creating a mirror image of it. Intentional. Constructive Benefits Costs predictable in time and space more work increase in productivity lower adult stature uniform ripening lower quality of food/worse nutrition larger seeds less variety increase in starch (calories) heavier disease burden storable surplus territoriality and competition higher populations vulnerable to collapse Anthro111 Final Exam Review 3