Chapter 1: “Anthropology and the Study of Culture” Objectives

o Define what is anthropology

● The study of humanity, including its prehistoric origins and contemporary human
diversity
o Recognize what is cultural anthropology
● The study of living peoples and their cultures, including variation and change
● Cultural anthropology is one of four fields within anthropology, including
biological/physical, archaeology, and linguistic. Cultural anthropology has a direct
emphasis on behavior and belief/thought.
o Summarize the distinctive features of cultural anthropology This is one of the TAs - cultural
relativism (for all of anthropology), yes, but the other theories listed are not distinctive features,
just important theories.
● Functionalism - parts work to support the whole
● Cultural relativism - each culture should be understood according to that culture. (don’t
judge based on your culture’s standards)
● Cultural materialism - studying culture based on the material aspects of life
(environment, how people make a living, differences in wealth and power)
● Interpretive anthropology - symbolic approach. Seeks to understand culture by studying
what people think about and their ideas (what’s important to them?)

Chapter 1 Terms
o Anthropology- the study of humanity; including prehistoric origins and contemporary human
diversity.
o Biological Anthropology -- the study of humans as biological organisms, which includes
evolution and contemporary variation.
o Archaeology -- studying past human cultures through their material remains
o Linguistic Anthropology -- the study of human communication, including its origins, history,
contemporary variation and change.
o Cultural Anthropology- the study of living people and their cultures, including variation and
change
o Culture: refers to peoples learned and shared behaviors and beliefs.
o Applied Anthropology -- Using anthropological knowledge to prevent or solve problems, as
well as shape and achieve policy goals
o Functionalism- theoretical approach established by Malinowski. Theory that culture is similar
to a biological organism in which parts work together to support the operation and maintenance
of the whole
o Cultural Relativism -- The viewpoint that each culture must be understood in terms of the
values and ideas of that particular culture. This breaks down into two subcategories. Absolute
cultural relativism is the belief that whatever is practiced in a particular culture cannot be
questioned or changed. Doing so would fall under ethnocentrism. Critical cultural relativism, in
contrast, permits questioning practices and ideas. Specifically, it allows anthropologists to look
at who accepts the practices and why, as well as how they might be harmful or helpful.
o Interpretive Anthropology- understanding a culture by studying what people think about,
their explanation of their lives, and symbols that are important to them
o Agency: the capacity of individuals to act independently and to make their own free
choices. The structure versus agency debate may be understood as an issue of
socialization against autonomy in determining whether an individual acts as a free
agent or in a manner dictated by social structure
o Microculture: a culture within a culture
o Holism: the view that one must study all aspects of culture to understand it
o Globalization/Localization: increased international ties related to movement of goods, info,
and people (diseases can spread faster/ you can contact other doctors from different countries
who specialize in the specific field) and what is localization?
Localization is the transformation of global culture by local cultures into something new
example ? japanese hip-hop
o Class: measured in terms of income or wealth
o “Race”: based on supposedly homogeneous and largely superficial biological traits (skin
color, hair characteristics)
o Ethnicity: based on shared sense of identity concerning history, heritage, language
o Indigenous People: people who have a long standing connection with their home territories
that predates colonial or outside society
o Gender: culturally constructed and learned behaviors attributed to males, females, blended
genders
o Ethnocentrism - Judging another culture by the standards of one’s own culture rather than
by the standards of that particular culture

Chapter 3: “Researching Culture” Objectives

o Discuss how cultural anthropologists do research
Participant Observation = Learning about culture by living in a culture for an extended
period (living with the people, participating in their everyday life, learning the language)
Fieldwork = Research conducted in the field, which is any place where people and
culture are found. Etic approach where data is collected according to the researcher's’
questions and categories; “deductive”; goal of being able to test a hypothesis. Emic
approach where it seeks to understand what insiders say and understand about their
culture; “inductive”; not hypothesis-driven
o Recognize what fieldwork in cultural anthropology involves
- Choosing a topic
- Funding
- Permission to conduct research
- Language training
- Site selection
- Gaining rapport-close relationship, understanding
o List some urgent issues in cultural anthropology research
 Physical and psychological risks, violence, war zone anthropology

Chapter 3 Terms
o Culture shock -- feeling of uneasiness, loneliness, and/or anxiety that occurs when a person
shifts from one culture to a different one. Reverse culture is also a problem when researchers
return to their home cultures.
o Emic vs. etic:
Etic = data collected according to researcher’s questions (testing hypotheses)-
Emic = seeks to understand what insiders say about their culture
o Ethnography - firsthand, detailed description of a living culture, based on personal
observation
o Fieldwork - research in the field (any place where people and culture are found); goal: to
record as much as possible of a people’s language, songs, rituals, and social life b/c many
cultures were disappearing
o Informed consent -- Important (and ethical) part of research that requires the researcher to
inform the research participants of the intent, scope, and possible effects of the study, as well as
their agreement to be in the study. In oral-based cultures, written consent is not always an
option, so oral consent is often sufficient for IRBs.
o Interview vs. Questionnaire
An interview is a technique used to gather verbal data through questions or guided
conversation. A questionnaire is a formal research instrument containing a preset series of
questions that the anthropologist asks in a face-to-face, mail, email, or phone
o Mixed methods : data collected using qualitative and quantitative data.
o Multi-sited research -- fieldwork conducted on a topic in more than one location. Lanita
Jacobs-Hughey’s research on hair is a good example of this (refer to chapter 3’s page on
Participant observation for fleshed out details on her work).
o Participant observation -- a research method used to learn about culture that involves living
in said culture for extended period while gathering data. Bronislaw Malinowski is considered the
“father” of this methodology, particularly for his work in the Trobriand Islands.
o Qualitative vs. Quantitative data -
● Quantitative - numeric information. The example given in the book was the amount of
land in relation to the population or numbers of people with a particular health problem.
Often used in deductive methods.
● Qualitative - non numeric data, often used for inductive methods. The example from the
book was recordings of myths and conversations, as well as filming of events.
o Rapport (and how to gain it) a trusting relationship between the researcher and the study
population
Chapter 7: “Disease, Illness, and Healing” Objectives
o Describe the scope of Ethnomedicine and how it has changed in recent times
● The study of cross-cultural health systems
● All cultures have a “health system,” which includes:
○ Perceptions and beliefs about the body
■ Cultures are different in the way they define people’s bodies: perception
of what a body is, perception of internal and external parts, separation of
mind and body, attitudes towards death, attitudes towards surgery
○ Classifications of health problems
○ Prevention measures
○ Healing/healers
o Explain the three major theoretical approaches in medical anthropology
● Ecological/Epidemiological
○ Focus on the environmental stressors of all sorts
○ Reliance on the epidemiological triangle (host, environment, agent)
○ Confluence of environment and culture in causing disease
○ Urbanization/disease distribution/infrastructure/etc.
○ Heavily applied for public health interventions
○ Cholera example: this model recognizes poor infrastructure as the cause of
cholera and pushes for renovation
● Interpretivist
○ Describes symbolic cultural meanings associated with diseases (HIV/AIDS. Type
2 diabetes, lice, etc)
● Critical Medical Anthropology
○ Poverty and political history as primary sources of human disease and suffering
○ Social disparities as indicators of disease
○ Cholera: this model asks why is the infrastructure is bad? And attempts to
implement broad interventions in regard to the economic source of the issue
o Recognize how globalization is affecting health, illness, and healing.
● The global export of Western Biomedicine
○ While other cultures rapidly adopted WBM, healing practices from other cultures
also caught on in the west
● Global trade and migration
○ Diseases that at one point may have been geographically restricted can now
spread rapidly worldwide
● Diseases of development
○ Health problems caused/increased by economic development activities that have
detrimental effects on the environment and people’s relationship with it. Diseases
that appear in the developing world are now a threat to developed nations around
the world

Chapter 7 Terms
o Critical medical anthropological approach
 ● An approach within medical anthropology involving the analysis of how economic and
political structures shape people’s health status, their access to health care, and the
prevailing medical systems that exist in relation to them.
o Culture-specific syndrome (e.g., susto) - a health problem and set of symptoms associated
with a particular culture
o Interpretive medical anthropological approach
● Describes symbolic cultural meanings associated with diseases (HIV/AIDS, Type II
Diabetes, lice, etc.)
● The placebo effect and the performative aspects of cures
o Disease vs. Illness
● Disease is a biological health problem that is objective and universal; for example,
cancer
● Illness involves culturally shaped perceptions and experiences of a health problem; for
example, the effect that cancer has on the specific individual
o Disease of development
● Health problems caused/increased by economic development activities that have
detrimental effects on the environment and people’s relationship with it. Diseases that
appear in the developing world are now a threat to developed nations around the world
o Ecological/epidemiological approach - Focus on environmental stressors of all
sorts;Identifies poor infrastructure as the cause of a disease like cholera and pushes for
renovation
o Ethno-etiology - A culturally specific causal explanation for health problems and suffering
o Ethnomedicine - the study of cross-cultural health systems
o Humoral healing - healing that emphasizes balance among natural elements within the body
o Medicalization - labeling a particular issue as medical and requiring medical treatment when,
in fact, that issue or problem is economic or political
o Medical pluralism - existence of more than one health system in a culture
o Phytotherapy - healing through the use of plants
o Placebo effect - a positive result from a healing method due to symbolic or otherwise
nonmaterial factor
o Shaman or shamanka: a male or female healer, respectively, whose healing methods rely
on communication with the spirit world
o Somatization - process through which the body absorbs and expresses stress and manifests
symptoms of suffering
o Stigma - a negative categorization of a person or group on the basis of some characteristic
such as a disease or disability
o Structural suffering - human health problems caused by such economic and political factors
as war, famine, forced migration, poverty
o Western biomedicine (WBM) - a healing approach based on modern Western science that
emphasizes technology for diagnosing and treating health problems related to the human body

Chapter 11: “Communication” Objectives

o Summarize the ways that humans communicate
 Language consists of basic sounds, vocabulary, and syntax
o Discuss how communication relates to cultural diversity and social inequality
o List examples of language change
-historical linguistics: using formal methods that compare shifts over time and across
space in aspects of language, such as phonetics, syntax, and semantics.

Chapter 11 Terms
o Call system - a form of oral communication among nonhuman primates with a set repertoire
of meaningful sounds generated in response to environmental factors
o Communication -- process of sending and receiving meaningful messages. We
communicate through spoken/signed word, gestures, body language, and technology. An
important note is that human communication involves 2 unique characteristics. The first is
productivity or the ability to communicate a nearly infinite amount of messages efficiently. The
other is displacement or the ability to talk about things in the past or future tense.
o Creole vs. Pidgin Creole is a 2nd generation of language speakers. Groups of people have
claimed this as their native language.
Pidgins are first generation speakers of a language. No one’s native language.
o Digital divide - social inequality in access to new and emerging information technology,
notably access to up-to-date computers, internet, and training related to their use
o Discourse - culturally patterned verbal language including varieties of speech, participation
and meaning
o Displacement - a feature of human language whereby people are able to talk about events in
the past and future
o Ethnosemantics - the study of the meanings of words, phrases, and sentences in particular
sign language cultural contexts
o Global language - a language spoken widely throughout the world and in diverse cultural
contexts, often replacing indigenous languages
o Language -- a form of communication that is based on a systematic set of learned symbols
and signed shared among a group and passed down through generations
o Phoneme - sounds that make a difference for meaning in a spoken language. Phonetics is
the study of phonemes. Depending on your own culture, it can be difficult (or even impossible)
to learn and produce to certain phonetic sounds that are found in other languages.
o Productivity - a feature of human language whereby people are able to communicate a
potentially infinite number of messages efficiently
o Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis a perspective in linguistic anthropology saying that language
determines thought
o Sign language a form of communication that uses mainly hand movements to convey
messages
o Sociolinguistics a perspective in linguistic anthropology which says that culture, society, and
a person’s social position determines language
o Tag question a question placed at the end of a sentence seeking affirmation (“it’s a nice day,
isn’t it?”)
 Chapter 12: “Religion” Objectives
o Describe how anthropologists define religion and its key features
-beliefs and behavior related to supernatural beings and forces.
o Recognize how globalization has affected world religions
o Identify examples of religious change in contemporary times

· Chapter 12 Terms
o Animatism- idea that things in nature have supernatural powers
-a belief system in which the supernatural is conceived of as an impersonal power.
o Doctrine vs. Myth
● Doctrine: direct and formalized statements about religious beliefs
● Myth: a narrative with a plot that involves the supernaturals
○ Levi Strauss believed myths help people deal with deep conceptual
contradictions through stories with a mediating factor
○ Materialists: myths store and transmit information related to making a living and
managing economic crisis
o Life-cycle ritual: go from a place of not being apart of something and you go through a
process in becoming a part of something (non-religious)
o Magic - people attempt to compel supernatural forces and beings to act in certain ways.
● Imitative magic - holds the assumption that if item “X” is like item “Y”, actions done to
item “X” will also impact item “Y”. Voodoo dolls??
● Contagious magic - things once in contact with a person can still have an effect on that
same person.
o Pilgrimage: round-trip travel to a sacred place or places for purposes of religious
devotion or ritual.
o Priest or priestess- associated with states, full time religious specialists, formal training,
priestly lineage, may have substantial secular power
o Religion- beliefs and behavior related to supernatural beings and forces
o Religious pluralism: multiple in the same place. *the condition in which two or more religions
coexist either as complementary to each other or as competing systems.
vs. Religious syncretism: combined two elements of separate religions. *the blending of
features of two or more religions.
o Revitalization movement: a socioreligious movement, usually organized by a prophetic
leader, that seeks to construct a more satisfying situation by reviving all or parts of a religion
that has been threatened by outside forces or by adopting new practices and beliefs.
o Ritual: patterned behavior that has to do with the supernatural realm.
o Ritual of inversion: a ritual in which normal social roles and order are temporarily
reversed.
o Sacrifice- a ritual in which something is offered to the supernatural.
o World religion- text based, have many followers, across country borders. A term coined in
the nineteenth century to refer to a religion that is based on written sources, has many followers,
is regionally widespread, and is concerned with salvation.
o Taboo- A prohibition that a society places on a particular form of behavior
o Fetish- An object (usually man-made/tangible) believed to have supernatural powers.

Chapter 13: “Expressive Culture” Objectives

o Summarize how culture is expressed through art
o Illustrate what play and leisure reveal about culture
o Explain how cultural heritage is a contested resource in contemporary times

· Chapter 13 Terms
o Art - application of imagination, skill, and style to matter, movement, and sound that goes
beyond what is purely practical. It’s related to a variety of subjects - politics, economics, human
development, psychology, healing, social control, and entertainment. It’s often divided between
folk art and fine art, which is addressed below.
o Blood sport -- a competition that explicitly seeks to bring about a flow of blood from, or even
the death of, human-human contestants, human-animal, or animal-animal contestants. The only
examples that I can think of for human-human is MMA. Animal-animal would be cock/rooster
fighting. (go cocks)
o Ethno-esthetics - culturally specific definitions of what art is.
o Ethnomusicology -- cross-cultural study of music
o Expressive culture - behaviors and beliefs related to art, leisure, and/or play
o Heterotopia -- something formed from elements drawn from multiple and/or diverse contexts.
Foucault.
o Intangible cultural heritage vs. Material cultural heritage:
- Intangible cultural heritage: UNESCO’s view of culture as manifested in oral traditions,
language, performing arts, rituals, and festive events, knowledge and practices about
nature and the universe, and craft making.
- Material cultural heritage: the sites, monuments, building, and movable objects
considered to have outstanding value to humanity.
o Fine art vs. Folk art -
● Fine art is produced through formal training/specialists, and the work is usually
associated with the artist. It’s also usually expensive and/or rare.
● Folk art is produced by artists with no formal training and is not meant to be sold. It’s
functional in the sense that it’s for everyday use (i.e. baskets or pottery). It’s also
produced anonymously, so there’s no real connection to a specific artist.
o Repatriation: returning art or other objects from museums to the people with whom they
originated.
==========

Additional Points to Consider

● Know the difference between the four field with examples of each (as well as applied
anthropology)
 - Biological: evolution. *the study of humans as biological organisms, including
contemporary human diversity.
- Cultural: diff aspects of society. *the study of living peoples and their cultures,
including variation and change.
- Linguistic: language *the study of human communication, including its origins,
history, and contemporary variation and change.
- Archaeology: artifacts. *the study of past human cultures through their material
remains.
- Applied: “Anthropology put to good use.” Using anthropology to solve current
societal problems.
● What kind of work would each do?
○ Biological: they would look at humans and other biological organisms.
○ Cultural: Look at global trends or try to figure out cultural patterns.
○ Linguistic: Learn multiple language and figure out how certain ones function(ed).
○ Archaeology: study artifacts to find more about them and the cultures that they
are from.
● How would they go about studying it?
○ Biological: Look at humans throughout the ages.
■ Primatologists: study nonhuman members of the order of mammals called
primates.
■ Paleoanthropologists: study human evolution on the basis of the fossil
records.
■ Study of Contemporary Human Biological Variation: seek to explain
differences in the biological makeup and behavior of contemporary
humans.
○ Cultural: cultural anthropologists learn about culture by spending a long time,
typically a year or more, living with the people they study
○ Linguistic: they study language in everyday use, or discourse, and how it relates
to power structure at local, regional, and international levels
○ Archaeology: participating in excavations, documenting their findings.
● For example: what methods of research would a cultural anthropologist use to study
culture?
● What kind of data would each use?

- Who establishes the code of ethics for anthropology and why was it created?
-American Anthropological Association
- history of public anthropology, historical examinations of ethics in anthropology, the
role of ethical codes in museums, and considerations of individual anthropologist’s
presentation of their work
o What does AAA do to influence how researchers interact with various groups / communities /
animals?
o What is an anthropologist’s first responsibility under the code of ethics?
-respect and consider the welfare and human rights of all, anthropologists have a
responsibility to the people/subjects they are studying.
· Define and Give Examples: Please note, any example that demonstrates your
understanding of the term will work. You do not necessarily need to use examples from the
textbook/lecture/section.

o Culture vs. Microculture

USA vs NJ
o Qualitative Data vs. Quantitative data.
o Cultural Relativism vs. Ethnocentrism
Community individual culture vs judging other cultures based on own views
o Dialect vs. Pidgin vs. Creole
- A regionally or socially distinctive variety of a language (dialect) Vs combo of two
+ languages vs from pidgin but its own native speakers
o Know the global languages:
- The Global Languages: English, Spanish (German, French) spoken outside of it’s area
of origin
- Emerging Global Language: Mandarin.
o Disease vs. illness
-objective and universal VS culturally shaped health problem
o Religious pluralism vs. Religious syncretism:
- Pluralism: A society that has more than one religious practice
- Syncretism: coming together
o Call system vs. language
-communication among nonhuman primates using sounds vs systematic set of
learned symbols and signs
o Ritual vs. taboo
-patterned behavior VS something that is frowned upon.
o Material cultural heritage vs. intangible cultural heritage
-”things”/materials vs thing that cannot be possessed physically
o Fine art vs. folk art
- Made by artists for profit vs made by amateurs with no intention to sell
o Myth vs. Doctrine
Narrative w supernaturals(spoken) vs formal statements about religious beliefs(written)
o Magic vs. Religion
- attempt to compel supernatural beings vs beliefs and behavior related to
supernatural beings
o Cultural Appropriation vs. Cultural Appreciation
-bad vs good

- Globalization’s impacts on
● Anthropological research
● Healing and disease
● Communication
● Religion