6/2/09

Anthropology
Subdisciplines of General Anthropology 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Sociocultural Archaeological Biological Linguistics Applied Sociocultural Concept Description

Universal Cultural Features: Things shared by a human populations. Example: Rituals will vary among cultures but we all have same purpose; body adornment tattoos, elongated neck, wooden disk in lips Generalized Cultural Features: Things common to several but not all human groups. Example: monogamy, common to some but not all; female infanticide (killing female babies) Particular Cultural Features: Things not shared at all by human groups. Example: cannibalism Archaeological

The branch of anthropology that reconstructs human behavior and cultural patterns from material remains. Ecology: Study of interrelationships among living things in a given environment (or ecosystem) Paleoecology: Concerned with ecosystems of the past. Example: Salem With Trials. Historical Archaeology: Deals with cultures that existed before writing (pre-history) Cultural Resource Management (CRM): Focuses on sites that may be threatened by construction and development (About 40% of U.S. archaeologists are independent contractors for government agencies, and developers) Dating Techniques in Archaeology

Radioactive Carbon Dating: Dating decaying plants and animals by measuring amount of remaining C-14, which has half-life of 5,730 years. Dehdrochonology: Estimating the age of trees by counting growth rings produced by annual rainfall (oldest pine in California 4,900 years old)

Varve Analysis: Dates periods of glacial melting and retreating by counting layers of sediment deposited by ice sheets in glacial lakes (each varve represents a year) Fluorine Analysis: Provides relative dates for bone material by measuring amount of fluorine accumulated in bones from soil. Potassium-Argon: Dating rocks by measuring decay of radioactive potassium into argon, which has half-life of 1.3 billion years. Biological (of Physical Anthropology)

Biological, or Physical Anthropology studies biological variation in time and space. Anthropometry: Measurement of human body parts to explain biological differences among human populations. Human Genetics: Studying the biochemical and mechanical cause of variation in time and space. Paleoanthropology: Study of hominid evolution as revealed by fossils. Primatology: Study of the Biology and behavior of apes, monkeys, and humans. Osteology: Study of bones and skeletal material of past groups. Paleopathology: Investigates evidence of disease in bones. Analysis of Bones and Teeth in Osteology and Paleoanthropology

Type of Skeletal Remain

Type of Data Provided

Teeth: Provide clues about size, age, and type of diet. Limb Bones and Vertebral Column: Provide insights into locomotion and sex of hominid Pelvic Girdle: Used to determine sex of hominid Sutures in the Skull: Degree of closure of sutures used to determine age. Skulls: Contain information about sex (males tend to have larger skulls than females, and female skulls tend to be more round than male skulls) Cranium: Provides information about size and form of brain. Linguistic Anthropology = The study of human speech and language Traces historical ties between languages and groups of languages Studies relationship between language and culture Examines various aspects of nonverbal communication

Analyzes subcultural variations in language Applied Anthropology Applied Anthropology is the branch of Antropology that uses data from research to solve problems faced by societies. Forensic Anthropology: Physical Anthropologists work with corners and law enforcement personnel in the analysis and identification of human remains. Medical Anthropology: Cross-Cultural study of disease, medicine, curing, and mental illness Cultural Resource Management: Evaluating, salvaging , and protecting archaeological resources threatened with destruction Social-Impact Studies: In-depth interviews and ethnological studies to determine the impact of policies and developments on local communities Garbology: Studies garbage to estimate food waste

6/4/09 Principles of Garbology A Nonreactive Measure: Garbologists estimate food waste without affecting the behavior of the subjects. Sampling: Main sampling unit is the census tract. Data Collection: Waste collected from randomly selected households in census tracts. Waste: Defined as any once-edible food except chunks of meat fat. Straight Waste: A significant quantity of an item (for example, half-loaf of bread) Plate Scrapings: Edible food that occurs in quantities less than one ounce. Input: Total weight of food item as indicated by packaging. Findings: 10% of total input wasted.

Chapter 2 Ethnography: participant/observation Main advantage > get detailed information Disadvantage > inability to generalize Emic: Peoples point of view (the insiders view) Etic: Researchers point of view

Phases in the Field Worker Role New Comer Provisional acceptance (wait and see attitude always being watched) Categorical acceptance (acceptance as a professional) Personal acceptance Imminent Migrant Probability Sampling Techniques = Probability sampling allows researchers to collect data from a representative segment of a large population. Simple Random Sample: Use sampling frame and table of random numbers to ensure that every element of the population has an equal change of being included in the sample. Systematic Random Sample: Selecting every Nth person from the sampling frame. Stratified Random Sample: Collecting data separately (and sample randomly) from various subgroups in the population. Judgment Sampling: Reconstructing the history of a people from oral sources by collecting data from limited number of informants. Culture Cultural convergence: Argues that it is possible to have similar cultural characteristics due to similar environments. Symbols: Something that stands for something else. Norms: Rules that govern conduct. Values: Cultural agreement about what is good, right, and desirable. Cultural Lag: Material culture tends to change more rapidly than nonmaterial culture. Material Culture: Physical artifacts produced by a culture. Non-Material Culture: Less tangible, more abstract, creations of a culture. Example: Beliefs and values. Ideal Culture: What people say they do Real Culture: What people really do. Cultural Diffusion: Cultures borrowing from each other. Acculturaltion: Exchange of cultural materials through continuous firsthand contact. (On exam) Enculturation: Process of learning and transmitting culture. (On exam) Globalization of Culture: The development of international culture. High Culture: Cultural products consumed by the elite classes. Popular Culture: Cultural products consumed by the masses.

Subculture: Cultural group with their own distinctive lifestyle. Example: African Americans, Gays, Southerners, etc. Counter Culture: Group of people that we describe as at odds with the dominate culture. Often times want to destroy the culture. Example: KKK, cults, etc. 6/9/09

Ethnocentrism: Levels in Scientific Study of Language

Phonology: Study of the sounds used in language Morphology: Study of ways in which sounds are grouped to form morphemes (rats) Lexicon: Dictionary containing all of the smallest units of speech that have a meaning (morpheme) Phonetics: Study of human speech sounds Syntax: Rules that order words and phrases in sentences Morpheme: The sound itself Speech Sounds

Phonemes: Smallest sound contrast that distinguish meaning (example: B and V) Phones: Sounds made by humans that act as phonemes Phonetics: Study of human speech sounds Phonemics: Study of sound contrast (Craw/Claw) Cultural transmission: Argument that culture is transmitted through language Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis: We understand the world through language (Eskimos have more than 1 term for snow) Displacement: Ability to refer to things which arent there. Style Shift: Variation in speech in different context (Change language when we go to bar, when we go to school, when we go to work..) Diglosia: High and low versions of a language (High>Prestegious) (New Yorkers> Practice stress on R as a way to imitate British upper class) Sociolinguistics: (Completion item of exam) > Study of relationship between social and linguistic variation Minimal Pairs: Words that resemble one another in all but one sound. (Example: Pit and bit) Copula Deletion: Spoken by African Americans leave out the word Are, also drops letters Tag questions: Questions seeking affirmation, placed at the end of a sentence (Its a nice day, isnt it?)

Edges: Phrases that soften the impact of words Honorifics: Phrases that signal respect (Could you please pass the salt?) Language, Appearance, and Reality

Double Speak: Language designed to mislead and alter of perception of reality (Politicians) Euphemism: Word of phrase designed to avoid a harsh or distasteful reality (Ex: Someone has passed away) Jargon: Specialized language of a trade, profession or similar group (Ex: Involuntary conversion of property; inventory shrinkage) Buraeucratese: Piling on of words to overwhelm the audience (Pretends to communicate but does not) Inflated language: Language designed to make ordinary seem extraordinary, and the common uncommon (Ex: Automotive internist, vertical transportation core) Symbolic Domination: One language being preferred over another language

EXAM!!!!!

50 Multiple Choice (1 point a piece) 1. Knowledge of definition 2. Knowledge of material Ask about a statement (from lecture or book) 3. Applied apply the definition (Example: John looks up the definition of the word in a dictionary > Lexicon) 10 TRUE OR FALSE (10 pts) (Something wrong with the definition is false) 10/15 FILL IN THE BLANK (20 pts) Definitions with a blank (Ex: The special language of trade is called _________.) 10/15 SA (20 pts)