Document Text Contents
Page 1
Anthropology Notes
9/11/2011
Chapter 1
Anthropology is the study of humanity, including our prehistoric origins and contemporary
human diversity.
Scientific and humanistic approaches
1. Biological anthropology (physical anthropology): humans as biological organisms, including their
evolution and contemporary variation
a. Primatology, study of nonhuman members of the order of mammals called primates,
which includes a wide range of animals from very small, nocturnal creatures to gorillas,
the largest members.
b. Paleoanthropology, the study of human evolution on the basis of the fossil record. One
important activity is the search for fossils to increase the amount and quality of the
evidence to the way human evolution occurred.
c. Contemporary human biological variation: Define, measure, and seek to explain
differences in the biological makeup and behavior of contemporary humans.
2. Archaeology (prehistory): study of past human cultures through their material remains
a. Study of first Homo sapiens about 200,000 years ago, or of first human made tools,
around 100,000 years ago
b. Prehistoric archaeology: concerns human past before written records
i. Often identify themselves with broad geographic regions, old world being
Europe, Asia, and Africa, and New World being the Americas
c. Historical archaeology: concerns with human past in societies that have written
documents
d. Underwater archaeology: study and preservation of submerged societies
3. Linguistic anthropology: study of human communication, including its origins, history, and
contemporary variation and change
a. Historical linguistics: study of language change over time and how languages are related
b. Descriptive linguistics: or structural linguistics, study of how contemporary languages
differ in terms of their formal structure
c. Sociolinguistics: study of relationships among social variation, social context, and
linguistic variation, including nonverbal communication
4. Cultural anthropology (social anthropology): study of living peoples and their cultures, including
variation and change
a. Culture refers to a people’s learned and shared behaviors and beliefs; devoted
to studying human cultures worldwide, both similarities and differences
Bronislaw Malinowski
o Functionalism: culture is similar to biological organism: parts work to support the
operation and maintenance of the whole
Page 3
o Marvin Harris: “A culture is the total socially acquired life way or life style of a group of
people. It consists of patterned repetitive ways of thinking, feeling, and acting that are
characteristic of the members of a particular society of segment of society.”
o Clifford Geertz: culture consists of symbols, motivations, moods, and thoughts
Culture is not Nature
o Eating
o Drinking
o Sleeping
o Elimination
Culture is based on Symbols
Culture is Learned
Cultures are Integrated
Culture is patterned
Culture is shared
Symbol: an object, word, or action with culturally defined meaning that stands for something
else; most symbols are arbitrary
Globalization: increased and intensified international ties related to the spread of Western,
especially United States, capitalism that affects all world cultures
Localization: the transformation of global culture by local cultures into something new
Clash of civilizations argument says that the spread of Euro American capitalism and lifeways
throughout the world has created disenchantment, alienation, and resentment among other
cultural systems.
McDonaldization under the powerful influence of US dominated corporate culture, the world is
becoming culturally homogeneous
Hybridization when aspects of two or more cultures are mixed to form something new
Localization: the transformation of global culture by local microcultures into something new.
Class: a way of categorizing people based on their economic position in society, usually
measured in terms of income or wealth
Race: a way of categorizing people on the basis of supposedly homogeneous biological traits
Ethnicity: shared sense of identity among a group based on heritage, language, or culture
Indigenous people: a group with a longstanding connection with their home territory predating
colonial or other societies that prevail in that territory
Gender: patterns of culturally constructed and learned behaviors and ideas attributed to males,
females, or blended categories.
Goals of anthropologists
o Ethnography: a firsthand, detailed description of a living culture, based on personal
observation
o Ethnology: the study of a particular topic in more than one culture using ethnographic
material
Ethnocentrism: judging cultures by the standards of one’s own culture rather than by the
standards of that particular culture
Page 4
Biological determinism: a theory that explains human behavior and ideas mainly as the result of
biological features such as genes and hormones
Cultural constructionism: a theory that explains human behavior and ideas mainly the result of
learning
Cultural materialism: examines environment and how people make a living within particular
environments
o Infrastructure: basic material factors such as natural resources, the economy, and
population
o Structure: social organization, kinship, and political organization
o Superstructure: ideas, values, beliefs
Chapter 2
9/13/2011
Fieldwork: research in the field, which is any place where people and culture are found
Armchair anthro: sitting and reading about other cultures
Verandah anthro: typically, natives come to the verandah for interviewing by anthropologist
Lewis Henry Morgan: wrote book League of the Iroquois showing different perspective of
natives
Participant observation: basic fieldwork method in cultural anthro that involves living in a
culture for a long period of time while gathering data. Father of this is Bronislaw Malinowski
o Living with people
o Learning language
o Participating in their everyday life
Multisited research: fieldwork conducted in more than one location in order to understand
the behaviors and ideas of dispersed members of a culture or the relationships among different
levels such as state policy and local culture
BEGINNING FIELD WORK PROCESS
o Project selection: topic should be important and feasible, often chosen by carrying out a
literature review, reading what others have already written
o Funding: Governmental, non-governmental,
o Informed consent: requires that the researcher inform the research participants of the
scope, and possible effects of the study and seek their agreement to be in the study;
required by institutional review boards (IRBs)
Working in the field
o Site Selection
o Gaining Rapport
Rapport: trusting relationship between researcher and he study population
Gatekeepers: people who formally or informally control access to the
group or community
Gift Giving and Exchange
Anthropology Notes
9/11/2011
Chapter 1
Anthropology is the study of humanity, including our prehistoric origins and contemporary
human diversity.
Scientific and humanistic approaches
1. Biological anthropology (physical anthropology): humans as biological organisms, including their
evolution and contemporary variation
a. Primatology, study of nonhuman members of the order of mammals called primates,
which includes a wide range of animals from very small, nocturnal creatures to gorillas,
the largest members.
b. Paleoanthropology, the study of human evolution on the basis of the fossil record. One
important activity is the search for fossils to increase the amount and quality of the
evidence to the way human evolution occurred.
c. Contemporary human biological variation: Define, measure, and seek to explain
differences in the biological makeup and behavior of contemporary humans.
2. Archaeology (prehistory): study of past human cultures through their material remains
a. Study of first Homo sapiens about 200,000 years ago, or of first human made tools,
around 100,000 years ago
b. Prehistoric archaeology: concerns human past before written records
i. Often identify themselves with broad geographic regions, old world being
Europe, Asia, and Africa, and New World being the Americas
c. Historical archaeology: concerns with human past in societies that have written
documents
d. Underwater archaeology: study and preservation of submerged societies
3. Linguistic anthropology: study of human communication, including its origins, history, and
contemporary variation and change
a. Historical linguistics: study of language change over time and how languages are related
b. Descriptive linguistics: or structural linguistics, study of how contemporary languages
differ in terms of their formal structure
c. Sociolinguistics: study of relationships among social variation, social context, and
linguistic variation, including nonverbal communication
4. Cultural anthropology (social anthropology): study of living peoples and their cultures, including
variation and change
a. Culture refers to a people’s learned and shared behaviors and beliefs; devoted
to studying human cultures worldwide, both similarities and differences
Bronislaw Malinowski
o Functionalism: culture is similar to biological organism: parts work to support the
operation and maintenance of the whole
Page 3
o Marvin Harris: “A culture is the total socially acquired life way or life style of a group of
people. It consists of patterned repetitive ways of thinking, feeling, and acting that are
characteristic of the members of a particular society of segment of society.”
o Clifford Geertz: culture consists of symbols, motivations, moods, and thoughts
Culture is not Nature
o Eating
o Drinking
o Sleeping
o Elimination
Culture is based on Symbols
Culture is Learned
Cultures are Integrated
Culture is patterned
Culture is shared
Symbol: an object, word, or action with culturally defined meaning that stands for something
else; most symbols are arbitrary
Globalization: increased and intensified international ties related to the spread of Western,
especially United States, capitalism that affects all world cultures
Localization: the transformation of global culture by local cultures into something new
Clash of civilizations argument says that the spread of Euro American capitalism and lifeways
throughout the world has created disenchantment, alienation, and resentment among other
cultural systems.
McDonaldization under the powerful influence of US dominated corporate culture, the world is
becoming culturally homogeneous
Hybridization when aspects of two or more cultures are mixed to form something new
Localization: the transformation of global culture by local microcultures into something new.
Class: a way of categorizing people based on their economic position in society, usually
measured in terms of income or wealth
Race: a way of categorizing people on the basis of supposedly homogeneous biological traits
Ethnicity: shared sense of identity among a group based on heritage, language, or culture
Indigenous people: a group with a longstanding connection with their home territory predating
colonial or other societies that prevail in that territory
Gender: patterns of culturally constructed and learned behaviors and ideas attributed to males,
females, or blended categories.
Goals of anthropologists
o Ethnography: a firsthand, detailed description of a living culture, based on personal
observation
o Ethnology: the study of a particular topic in more than one culture using ethnographic
material
Ethnocentrism: judging cultures by the standards of one’s own culture rather than by the
standards of that particular culture
Page 4
Biological determinism: a theory that explains human behavior and ideas mainly as the result of
biological features such as genes and hormones
Cultural constructionism: a theory that explains human behavior and ideas mainly the result of
learning
Cultural materialism: examines environment and how people make a living within particular
environments
o Infrastructure: basic material factors such as natural resources, the economy, and
population
o Structure: social organization, kinship, and political organization
o Superstructure: ideas, values, beliefs
Chapter 2
9/13/2011
Fieldwork: research in the field, which is any place where people and culture are found
Armchair anthro: sitting and reading about other cultures
Verandah anthro: typically, natives come to the verandah for interviewing by anthropologist
Lewis Henry Morgan: wrote book League of the Iroquois showing different perspective of
natives
Participant observation: basic fieldwork method in cultural anthro that involves living in a
culture for a long period of time while gathering data. Father of this is Bronislaw Malinowski
o Living with people
o Learning language
o Participating in their everyday life
Multisited research: fieldwork conducted in more than one location in order to understand
the behaviors and ideas of dispersed members of a culture or the relationships among different
levels such as state policy and local culture
BEGINNING FIELD WORK PROCESS
o Project selection: topic should be important and feasible, often chosen by carrying out a
literature review, reading what others have already written
o Funding: Governmental, non-governmental,
o Informed consent: requires that the researcher inform the research participants of the
scope, and possible effects of the study and seek their agreement to be in the study;
required by institutional review boards (IRBs)
Working in the field
o Site Selection
o Gaining Rapport
Rapport: trusting relationship between researcher and he study population
Gatekeepers: people who formally or informally control access to the
group or community
Gift Giving and Exchange
