Anthropology: Social Groups, Power, Status e

11/2/09

Creation of social grouping

-who has access to resources?

Ex. property and wealth

-Political alliances

-who will raise children

-who will marry whom

-Subsistence strategies affect social groups

Ex. Foragers and pastoralists tend to keep groups with kin (except groups with age sets)

The Band

-Small groups for mobility

- face to face

-membership flexible

-social leveling

Leadership

-no power but authority and influence are temporary

Ex. Wise Woman, Medicine Man, Designated Driver

-types of decisions: migration, food distribution, resolve conflicts

Horticulture: cultivation of crops using only hand tools

Ex. Yanomami

-extended families form core work group

-children work more (caring for siblings, fetching fuel, hauling water)

-gender roles are clearly defined

The Tribe

Organized through kin

-corporate: several bands with similar lifestyle and language

-lineages: members trace descent from common ancestor

-clan: members trace descent from mythical beings

-ascribed: born into

-achieved: work to get

-part time authority

Pastoralism: animals are private property and land is shared with use rights

-kin is basic unit

-gender roles

-mobile

-tribes and chiefdoms

Chiefdoms (Ex. Maasai)

-permanent leader

-supernatural authority

Ex. Muhammed

-leadership is ascribed

solve conflicts and lead wars

Confederacies

-chiefdoms are joined

Ex. Nuer

-Segmentary lineages: close kin stand together against distant family

-Marriage is the heart of political and economic alliances

Agriculture: growing crops by use of fertilizer and plowing

-intensive strategy: continuous use of the same land

-permanent settlements

-large population

-large amount of occupational specialization

States

- religious beliefs and symbols tied to state

- hierarchal and patriarchal- male control over technology and war

-power to manipulate info

Ex. taxing

-Power of central gov't to coerce

Ex. draft

The four P's

Power- equal ability to control

Property- equal access to land

Prestige- class

Pleasure- anything not covered above

Anthropology: Comparison

10/28/09

Cross cultural

-Specific--->General--->Specific
Ex. Ati-Atihan--->celebration and parade---->Mardi Gras

Brazil: Carnaval

-Blocos: eight neighborhoods with 4000+ people

-Samba: Music, African/Potugese history

-History can be different though practices look similar
Ex. Filipino: Freedom and sensuality of pre cristian culture
African: absorbing dignity and power from Indian neighbors
Brazil: artistic expression and gender reversal
Fraternal polyandry: Woman marries brothers to keep resources in the family

Anthropology: Comparing vs. judging

10/26/09

Looking at cultures in your day to day life is often compared to looking through a pair of glasses. If you're looking at your own culture the glasses are focused and clear. If you're looking at another culture the view is distorted, kind of like looking through someone elses glasses.

Ethnocentrism is judging another culture by the standards of your own culture.Every strange action or belief another culture pracitces has a meaning or purpose. For example Thomas in the middle east and the belief in the evil eye.

The latah are women in Padang Kemunting and the Phillipines. Malays have a special name, explanation and meanings for the Latah. A scientific explanation for latah is that they're Hyper startlers. Hyper startlers have imitative behaviour, vulgar language, violent body movements, and often drop or throw things when surprised. An Emic (inside) explanation is that latah is hereditary, had been teased too much, and women lack enough semengat. An Edic (outside) explanation is that the latah, since often being widowed or older women, are just attention whores.

Cultural relativism is the idea that a culture must be understood in terms of its own values and beliefs not other cultures values and beliefs.

Absolute idea: Whatever goes on in a culture must not be questioned or changed.

Critical idea: Questions practices and power. Asks if its really okay for cultures to be left alone about their practices.

Cultural adaptation: change in response to environmental changes.

Maladaptive: reduces a cultures chance for survival. Ex.Pollution

And that was class. =]

Anthropology: Meanings

10/21/09

-Certain symbols in a society are repeated and show the core values of the culture.
Ex. Baseball= 'America's pasttime'

-Modularity- idea that everything has it's own place
This idea is practiced solely in the midwest because in other regions every aspect of life is connected.

-Panopticon- seeing everything in a room standing from one place
Ex. Prisons and classrooms

Beliefs

-Ritualized myths, stories, and dramas show our worldview, our most cherished values. Ex. Cop shows show good vs bad and chaos vs order

-Everyday rituals reinforce our beliefs, what we do says something about what we believe Ex. Washing our hands prevents sickness

Magic

-definition: an attempt top manipulate the laws of nature for good or evil; used to accomplish goals
Ex. crops, fertility cure of illness

-You call on supernatural when there's a gap in information or need to have powers to solve a problem. Ex. ghost sickness (navajo in 1920's)

Types

-Sorcery and witchcraft: innate psychic power to cause harm
-Sypathetic/imatative: bruning effigies
-Contagious: things once in contact can influence another person
Ex. Voodoo dolls

Anthropology: Symbols

10-19-09

Today in ANT 160 we discussed the use of symbols in real life.

In anthropology the question that helps the anthropologists analyze cultures and information is 'What does this mean?'. Anthropologists interpret,translate, compare, and explain the information that they gather.

Culture is largely expressed through symbols.

Symbols

-Are learned/not universal/ arbitrary(random)
-Are conventional/negotiated/ the norm/ habitual
-Guide our actions.
-Can be secular (not religious) or sacred.
-Are often complex.
-Aren't always agreed on.
-Encourage negotiation and dialouge.
-Are reinforced in rituals.

Language

-Is a collection of symbols.
-Is about learning the meaning/ context.
Literal VS connotation

Meaning

-Can be extended with metaphors or metonyms-context is essential.
-Metaphors=Something is like something else
-Metonyms=Substituting part for a whole
Ex. the crown=royal

Ritual

-Symbolic action/formal behaviour. (Acts, utterances, and objects)
-Condenses meaning (ex.voting)
-Not always religious, but always associated with belief.
-Highly formalized.
-Equalizes situations.
-Involves change.
-Social conciousness achieved.
-Worldview=Set of ideas and assumptions about the way the wrold works.
-Key scenarios=Action considered correct and successful. (note~ this is subject to perspective.) Ex-OCD

Interesting things

-Women in malaysia have key scenarios such as the Latah and semangat.
-referent- the thing or idea that a symbol, word, or phrase refers to.
-Paralanguage- supports language (ex. gestures and facial expressions)

Anthropology: lets start once more, but from the beginning.

Today in Anthropology our new teacher, Patricia Howard, decided it was best for us to start from the beginning since we hadn't learned anything previously.

We discussed the Maori culture and their use of moko tattoos to distinguish class, family, martial status, and other categories. Males usually get full facial tattoos while females only mokos that cover the lips and chin area.
See here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkaGjbt-Oog

Comparisons help us to understand the familiar. An example of this is comparing foreign tattoo practices such as that of the Maori to American tattoo practices. She asked question like; Why do we get tattoos? and Whats similar about the different cultures?

We then reviewed the definition of culture and how its learned not inherited. How its a means of adaptation and how culture is shared (values, norms, ideas, beliefs, and behaviors).

The last thing we talked about was Economics, a.k.a Subsistance strategies, are linked with other aspects of life. Foraging and hunting and gathering cultures such as the San-Kalahari are nomadic, which means they migrate with the changing of seasons. In this culture their diet is 85% Mongongo nuts and 15% meat. The women bring in the nuts and the men bring in the meats. In other cultures like the Netsilik the diet is made up mostly of meat so the men bring in 95% of the food while the women bring in 5%.

Many nomadic cultures are made of of nuclear families since it'd be hard to move about hundreds of people. This face to face interaction helps them establish roles in the community since they are egalitarian. Egalitarian cultures are those with equal access to property, power, prestige and pleasure.

Lastly we learned about Holism, which is how people form societies based upon economics. This is how everything is linked. For example a trip to the grocery store requires thinking about economics and the social organization of a community.

Thats class for 10-14-09

~Namaste~