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Anthropological Terms, Concepts & People
Using your textbook pages 30-39 and the glossary define /explain the following
psychologists, terms and concepts.
Culture:
Ethnographic studies:
Kinship:
Myth:
Participant Observation:
Information about behaviour that transmitted
from one person to another that enables them
to live together successfully. Includes
objects, attitudes, behaviours.
Studying culture and traditions of distinct
people. Assumes that culture is static
(remains the same) and very defined.
How members of a social group keep track
of their ancestors (eg. The family). Also see
pg. 32 for different ways of kinship.
Stories to explain the earth’s and humans’
existence. Heros, Gods. Assure people of
where they have come from and where they
are going. Provides reasons for people to
practice the attitudes and behaviours of the
group.
Living with the people you’re studying to
understand their culture and society from
their perspective.
Table 1: REFLECT
If culture is “transmitted” through objects, attitudes, and behaviours, in where have you learned your
'culture' from. Name 5 sources and explain their influence on you.
Define (pg. 30): Analyzes cultures of living
1. Cultural Anthropology
people
Who was she? What did she do / believe?
Compared Somoan and American cultures.
Observed that the teen years in Somoa were not as
troubling as they were for American teens.
Somoan teen were treaded like adults.
Margaret Mead
Used personal stories, not statistics for her
research.
Who was she? What did she do / believe?
The role of religion in shaping human
personality. Studied Aboriginal societies in
North America.
Said that Culture was a sum of all the
personaility types its people.
Ruth Benedict
Tarrant’s question: Does that mean that
culture has no influence on people? Does
culture change with every new personality?
Or do people feel anome. … Durkheim vs.
Benedict
Table 2: USE IDEAS FROM THEORISTS TO OFFER AN EXPLAINATION
A home-town girl is thrown out of her house after her parents find out she's pregnant. They now refuse
to pay for her College education, and disown her as a daughter.
Define (pg. 30): Analyzes social
2. Social Anthropology
organization of living people.
Who was he? What did he do / believe?
Bronislaw Malinowski
Studied social organization.
New Guinea, Trobriand Islands in the
South Pacific ocean.
- Rejected Cultural Evolutionism. He
said that Anthropologists should only be
observing and reporting, not judging.
Functional Theory: Institutions are designed
to serve the needs of most people in a
society.
Cultural Evolutionism: Cultures and
societies develop in a the same stages.
(savage  primitive  sophisticated)
- rejected as too simplistic, racist, biased,
and ethnocentric.
Ethnocentric: Judging or comparing other
cultures to your own. Everyone thinks
that theirs is the best.
(eg. Polygamy)
Theory: Cultural Materialism - “material
realities” such as technological, economic and
reproductive factors mold culture. For example,
sacred cows in india … Harris says that they are
sacred because they are useful.
Marvin Harris
“material realities” such as technological,
economic and reproductive factors mold
culture. For example, sacred cows in india …
Harris says that they are sacred because they are
useful.
Cultural Infrastructure – influenced by
environmental factors
Cultural Structure – influenced by human needs
for reproduction, kinship, power structures
Cultural Superstructure – influenced by
ideology and symbols – ie,. Religion.
Define (pg. 30): Analyzes social
2. Social Anthropology
organization of living people.
Who was he? What did he do / believe?
Bronislaw Malinowski
Studied social organization.
New Guinea, Trobriand Islands in the
South Pacific ocean.
- Rejected Cultural Evolutionism. He
said that Anthropologists should only be
observing and reporting, not judging.
Functional Theory: Institutions are designed
to serve the needs of most people in a
society.
Cultural Evolutionism: Cultures and
societies develop in a the same stages.
(savage  primitive  sophisticated)
- rejected as too simplistic, racist, biased,
and ethnocentric.
Ethnocentric: Judging or comparing other
cultures to your own. Everyone thinks
that theirs is the best.
(eg. Polygamy)
Theory: Cultural Materialism - “material
realities” such as technological, economic and
reproductive factors mold culture. For example,
sacred cows in india … Harris says that they are
sacred because they are useful.
Marvin Harris
“material realities” such as technological,
economic and reproductive factors mold
culture. For example, sacred cows in india …
Harris says that they are sacred because they are
useful.
Cultural Infrastructure – influenced by
environmental factors
Cultural Structure – influenced by human needs
for reproduction, kinship, power structures
Cultural Superstructure – influenced by
ideology and symbols – ie,. Religion.
Define (pg. 30): Analyzes social
2. Social Anthropology
organization of living people.
Who was he? What did he do / believe?
Bronislaw Malinowski
Studied social organization.
New Guinea, Trobriand Islands in the
South Pacific ocean.
- Rejected Cultural Evolutionism. He
said that Anthropologists should only be
observing and reporting, not judging.
Functional Theory: Institutions are designed
to serve the needs of most people in a
society.
Cultural Evolutionism: Cultures and
societies develop in a the same stages.
(savage  primitive  sophisticated)
- rejected as too simplistic, racist, biased,
and ethnocentric.
Ethnocentric: Judging or comparing other
cultures to your own. Everyone thinks
that theirs is the best.
(eg. Polygamy)
Theory: Cultural Materialism - “material
realities” such as technological, economic and
reproductive factors mold culture. For example,
sacred cows in india … Harris says that they are
sacred because they are useful.
Marvin Harris
“material realities” such as technological,
economic and reproductive factors mold
culture. For example, sacred cows in india …
Harris says that they are sacred because they are
useful.
Cultural Infrastructure – influenced by
environmental factors
Cultural Structure – influenced by human needs
for reproduction, kinship, power structures
Cultural Superstructure – influenced by
ideology and symbols – ie,. Religion.
Define (pg. 30): Analyzes human evolution
3. Physical Anthropology
and genetic development.
Who was he? What did he do / believe?
1924 – found a skull in South Africa that
was part-way between apes and modern
humans.
- His work got many people interested in
human evolution.
Raymond Dart
Who were they? What did they do / believe?
The Leakey Family
Primates:
- Reject the notion that humanoids
originated in Asia. He said that we
originated in Africa.
- Have found fossils that show the
progression of humans from 100 000
years in the past.
- Interested in humans’ use of tools.
- Believed humans had their origins in
primates (apes, monkeys, gorillas).
- Louis Dart (the dad) hired three women
because he felt that women were more
observant than men. They are the next
three people of interest below.
apes, monkeys, gorillas
Who was she? What did she do / believe?
Studied chimpanzees
Slowly became part of the chimp group
Saw them using tools
Understood the complex social structure
(alpha males, care and nurturing of
babies, family transitions)
*Figured that primitive societies had a
complex social structure based on
aggression and strength.
Jane Goodall
Who was she? What did she do / believe?
Studied Orangutans (share 98% of
genetics with humans … though that
means that there is A LOT of difference).
- Social structure also based on aggression
and strength
- Occasionally, orangutans will kill one of
the community members for meat (though
they mostly eat vegetables).
Birute Galdikas
Who was she? What did she do / believe?
Dian Fossey
- Studied gorillas in Rwanda.
- gained acceptance into the gorilla
community by imitating sounds and
habits.
- gorillas display affection towards family
members and aggression towards
outsiders. (like us???)
- was murdered by poachers for trying to
protect the gorillas in 1985.
Table 3: USE IDEAS FROM THEORISTS TO OFFER AN EXPLAINATION
The Wadaa people of the South Pacific ocean (fictional), live at a reef that is home to the largest
breeding grounds of Tiger Sharks in the world. They are mainly a fishing people but swimming is
regarded as something unnatural and hated by the Gods. The Gods say that water is not for man, but
for fish, and those who try to be like fish will be punished.