| Study Guide for ANT 101, First Test Here are some of the key points discussed in the course so far. Items in bold are of extreme importance and highly likely to appear on the test. Other items are of normal importance. You are of course responsible for all material covered in class and in the book, whether it appears on this guide or not, but minor or trivial points from lectures or readings will not be heavily emphasized on the test. 1. What is Anthropology? The study of diversity of human bodies and behavior in the past and present Know the 4 subfields of anthropology: cultural, physical/biological, archaeology, linguistics Know the Anthropological perspective: cross-cultural/comparative, holistic, relativistic although relativism was covered in your essay assignment and will not be stressed again on the test Don't worry about the various more recent forms of anthropology Take a quick look at the ethics discussion 2. What is Culture? Know about E.B. Tylor's 1871 definition Know the difference between Society and culture Understand how Culture is (1) shared (2) learned (3) integrated (4) symbolic (5) adaptive Know about "guided reinvention of culture" Know about Linton's 4 levels of cultural distribution (universal, alternative, specialty, peculiarity) Cultural variation and Subculture Fieldwork: Know about participant observation and the role of informants What is Ethnocentrism? Be familiar with analogies like "Culture like a pair of glasses" or "Culture is like a computer program" 3. The Origins of Anthropology Ethnocentrism is the "natural" condition of humans, therefore other societies are not worth studying or thinking about-they are just barbarians, savages, infidels, or non-humans Certainty in your own beliefs and "truths" makes a science like anthropology impossible, and uniformity of beliefs in a society makes certainty likely. Understand the events around 1500 in Europe that began to make human diversity more obvious and more urgent: (1) voyages of discovery/ contact with "primitive" societies, (2) Renaissance, (3) travels to and trade with other civilizations like China and Islam, (4) Protestant Reformation Know the ideas of "man in a state of nature" or "noble savage" Understand the meaning and significance of the social contract concept Know about19th century colonialism and evolutionary theory: questions of colonial administration and origins of culture = cultural evolutionism (speculative history and "cultural stages") Franz Boas and Bronislaw Malinowski invented modern anthropology around 1900-field work, relativism, avoidance of speculative history, intensive study of cultures in the present. Functionalism 4. The Origins of Culture Culture is possible--and necessary--for humans. Culture is not all-or-nothing: humans are not the only species with "culture" or that must learn fundamental survival skills (for example, lions and tigers, birds of prey, killer whales, etc.) Human culture emerged gradually as humans developed their modern physical form Human physical characteristics make human behavior (culture) possible--and necessary. Know the basic primate Physical characteristics: erectness and bipedalism, unspecialized teeth and standard tooth pattern, hands with 5 fingers and fingernails and grasping thumb, good eyes and large brains Behavior characteristics: social groups, dominance and hierarchy, "family" groupings, long childhood (emotional bonding and learning), communication through sound/visual cues/ touch (grooming), eating and hunting meat, using and making tools Note the general idea of origins of the human species (not critical for the test) 5. Language Understand the basic "design features" or characteristics of human language, and how the same skills make culture possible Going from meaningless sound to meaning: phonology, semantics, syntax/grammar Language conveys social information and aims to have a social effect Sociolinguistics: communicating social status and maintaining social structures-dialects, honorific language, gender and class language. Specialized speech styles and "performatives" Understand the Linguistic relativity hypothesis 6. Culture and Personality Understand how Enculturation links "external" culture to "internal" personality Self-awareness is not unique to humans Know why Personality is to the individual as culture is to the society Think about the Sources of personality acquisition in child-rearing practices-explicit training, modeling, exercises Know Modal personality and "national character" "Normal and abnormal" as cultural categories Gender-gender vs. sex. Gender as a cultural category: construction of male and female genders. Alternative genders like berdache or hijra Some social practices that disadvantage women: female infanticide, purdah, suttie, foot-binding, "female circumcision" General: Be prepared to relate or compare separate ideas or concepts from the course Have a variety of examples of main ideas and concepts at your disposal, to use as necessary Be prepared for a possible audio-visual experience (like a video clip) as part of the test |