ANT- 102 Cult Anthropology, history homework help

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On pages 310, 337, and 363 in your textbook, you will find review questions corresponding to that material in chapters 11, 12, and 13. Please write a 1-2 page response paper in which you chose one or two questions from each of the pages and answer/reflect on them.

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16 COLONIALISM AND CULTURAL TRANSFORMATIONS 420 17 LIVING IN A GLOBAL WORLD 448 10 Contents Special Features xiii Preface xvi 1 WHAT IS ANTHROPOLOGY? 1 PREVIEW 1 THE STUDY OF HUMANITY 3 The Concept of Culture 4 A Holistic Perspective 4 A Comparative Perspective 4 THE FOUR SUBFIELDS OF ANTHROPOLOGY 5 Cultural Anthropology 6 Linguistic Anthropology 10 Archaeology 11 Biological Anthropology 12 APPLIED ANTHROPOLOGY 15 CHAPTER SUMMARY 17 11 REVIEW QUESTIONS 18 MYANTHROLAB CONNECTIONS 18 2 THE NATURE OF CULTURE 19 PREVIEW 19 WHAT IS CULTURE? 20 CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE 22 Culture Is Shared 22 Culture Is Learned 24 Culture Is Adaptive 26 Culture Is Integrated 28 Culture Is Based on Symbols 30 Culture Organizes the Way People Think about the World 31 CULTURE CHANGE 33 Internal Culture Change 34 External Culture Change 36 GLOBAL CULTURE 38 CHAPTER SUMMARY 42 REVIEW QUESTIONS 43 12 MYANTHROLAB CONNECTIONS 43 3 STUDYING CULTURE 44 PREVIEW 44 ANTHROPOLOGY AND THE EXPLANATION OF CULTURAL DIVERSITY 46 Evolutionism 47 Empiricism 47 Functionalism 48 Modern Theoretical Perspectives: An Overview 49 Materialist Perspectives 49 Structuralist Perspectives 50 Interpretive Anthropology 51 Conflict Perspectives and the Analysis of Culture and Power 51 Reflexive Anthropology 52 ETHNOGRAPHY AND FIELDWORK 53 Cross-Cultural Comparisons 53 Ethnohistorical Research 55 Ethnographic Fieldwork 55 13 Doing Fieldwork 55 Anthropological Research in Urban Societies 57 THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF ANTHROPOLOGY 64 Ethical Issues in Anthropology 64 CHAPTER SUMMARY 66 REVIEW QUESTIONS 67 MYANTHROLAB CONNECTIONS 67 4 LANGUAGE AND CULTURE 68 PREVIEW 68 WHAT IS LANGUAGE? 70 THE COMPONENTS OF LANGUAGE 71 Phonology: The System of Sounds 72 Morphology: The Structure of Words 72 Syntax: The Structure of Sentences 72 Semantics: The Study of Meaning 73 NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION 74 LINGUISTIC ANTHROPOLOGY 76 Linguistic Relativity 76 14 Language, Worldview, and Revitalization Efforts 79 The Study of Language Speakers 79 Language and Dialects 79 Language and Gender, Class, and Race 81 African American English 82 ETHNOSEMANTICS 85 Componential Analysis 85 Cultural Presuppositions 85 Ethnography of Communication 86 PROCESSES OF LANGUAGE CHANGE 87 Creoles, Pidgins, and Lingua Francas 88 Historical Linguistics 89 Loanwords 89 LANGUAGE AND GLOBALIZATION 91 CHAPTER SUMMARY 95 REVIEW QUESTIONS 95 MYANTHROLAB CONNECTIONS 96 5 LEARNING ONE’S CULTURE 97 15 PREVIEW 97 THE PROCESS OF ENCULTURATION 99 Becoming a Human Being 100 Child Rearing 101 INFORMAL AND FORMAL LEARNING 107 Learning Skills and Values 107 Learning Behavioral Expectations 108 Age and Gender Socialization 110 Rites of Passage 113 Schooling 114 PSYCHOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 120 Culture and Personality Traits 120 Culture and Self-Concept 122 Culture and Cognition 123 DEVIANCE AND ABNORMAL BEHAVIOR IN CROSS-CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE 125 Responses to “Mental Illness” 125 Culture-Specific Psychological Disorders 126 16 CHAPTER SUMMARY 129 REVIEW QUESTIONS 129 MYANTHROLAB CONNECTIONS 130 6 MAKING A LIVING 131 PREVIEW 131 ECONOMIC ANTHROPOLOGY 132 UNDERSTANDING HUMAN SUBSISTENCE PATTERNS 133 Foraging versus Food Production 133 Ecosystem, Adaptation, and Carrying Capacity 134 Subsistence and Settlement Pattern 135 Subsistence and Population 135 Subsistence, Work, and Division of Labor 135 Subsistence and Social Relations 135 FORAGING 136 Ecological Factors 136 Optimal Foraging 137 Population Factors 137 Social and Cultural Factors 138 17 Land, Labor, and Production in Foraging Societies 142 PASTORALISM 143 Combined Subsistence Strategies 143 Land and Labor in Pastoralist Societies 144 Nomadic Pastoralism 144 HORTICULTURE 148 Impacts of Sedentism and Surpluses 149 Slash-and-Burn Horticulture 149 Gender Allocation of Work 149 AGRICULTURE 152 Intensive Agriculture and Crop Variety 154 SUBSISTENCE AND CULTURE CHANGE 155 CHAPTER SUMMARY 157 REVIEW QUESTIONS 157 MYANTHROLAB CONNECTIONS 158 7 ECONOMIC SYSTEMS 159 PREVIEW 159 ANALYZING ECONOMIC SYSTEMS 161 18 Allocating Land and Resources 161 Producing Goods 162 Organizing Labor 162 Distributing and Exchanging Products and Services 165 MARKET ECONOMIES AND CAPITALISM 169 IMPACTS OF COLONIAL EXPANSION, INDUSTRIALISM, AND GLOBALIZATION 171 Colonialism and the Exploitation of Labor 172 Industrial Economies 173 Industrial Agriculture 174 Social Consequences of Capitalism and Industrialism 178 COMPARING SUBSISTENCE STRATEGIES 181 CHAPTER SUMMARY 183 REVIEW QUESTIONS 184 MYANTHROLAB CONNECTIONS 184 8 KINSHIP AND DESCENT 185 PREVIEW 185 KINSHIP SYSTEMS 186 19 Bilateral Descent 188 Unilineal Descent 189 MATRILINEAL AND PATRILINEAL SYSTEMS 190 Prevalence of Matrilineal and Patrilineal Descent 190 Matrilineal and Patrilineal Societies Compared 191 Influence and Inheritance in Unilineal Descent Groups 192 Other Forms of Unilineal Descent 194 UNILINEAL DESCENT GROUPS 195 Lineages 195 Exogamy and Endogamy 196 Clans 197 Phratries and Moieties 200 PATTERNS OF RELATIONSHIPS 203 PATTERNS OF CHANGE 204 KINSHIP TERMINOLOGY SYSTEMS 206 The Eskimo and Hawaiian Systems 207 The Crow, Omaha, and Sudanese Systems 208 CHAPTER SUMMARY 211 20 REVIEW QUESTIONS 212 MYANTHROLAB CONNECTIONS 212 9 MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY 213 PREVIEW 213 DEFINING MARRIAGE AND FAMILY 215 FAMILIES AND IDEAL TYPES 217 Nuclear Families 217 Extended and Joint Families 218 ENDOGAMY, EXOGAMY, AND THE INCEST TABOO 221 Effects of Exogamy on Social Organization 221 Effects of Endogamy on Social Organization 222 FORMS OF MARRIAGE 223 Polygyny and Polyandry 223 Explanations of Polygyny 224 Specialized Adaptive Forms of Marriage 225 Same-Sex Marriage 226 MARRIAGE AS ALLIANCE AND ECONOMIC EXCHANGE 227 Bridewealth and Brideservice 228 21 Groom-Service and Groom-Wealth 228 Dowry 229 MARRIAGE AS A RITE OF PASSAGE 231 PATTERNS OF RESIDENCE AFTER MARRIAGE 234 Matrilocal and Patrilocal Residence 234 Avunculocal Residence 234 Bilocal and Neolocal Residence 235 Correlates of Residence Patterns 235 WIDOWHOOD AND DIVORCE 238 The Levirate and Sororate 238 Divorce 238 CHAPTER SUMMARY 243 REVIEW QUESTIONS 244 MYANTHROLAB CONNECTIONS 244 10 GENDER 245 PREVIEW 245 SEX AND GENDER 246 Evolutionary Perspectives 247 22 The Cultural Construction of Gender Identity 249 Gender and Sexuality 250 Gender and Homosexuality 251 GENDER ROLES AND RELATIONS 254 Division of Labor by Gender 254 Gender and Status 256 GENDER AND SUBSISTENCE 260 Foragers and Gender 260 Gender in Pastoral Societies 262 Gender in Horticultural Societies 264 Gender in Agricultural States 266 Industrialism, Postindustrialism, and Gender 266 GLOBALIZATION AND GENDER 273 Women’s Roles in Urban and Rural Economic Development 274 Women in Changing Socialist States 276 Gender and Political Representation 277 Impacts of Ideology on Gender Constructs 278 CHAPTER SUMMARY 281 23 REVIEW QUESTIONS 282 MYANTHROLAB CONNECTIONS 282 11 EQUALITY AND INEQUALITY 283 PREVIEW 283 EQUALITY, INEQUALITY, AND SOCIAL STRATIFICATION 284 Egalitarian Societies 286 Ranked Societies 286 Stratified Societies 287 Explaining Social Stratification 290 CASTE AND CLASS 292 Determinants of Class 292 Social Class and Language 294 Slavery 295 RACE AND ETHNICITY 296 Race as Caste 296 Race in the United States 297 White Privilege 299 Race in Brazil 300 24 Ethnic Identity 301 CLASS, RACE, ETHNICITY, AND IDEOLOGY IN AMERICAN SOCIETY 304 CHAPTER SUMMARY 309 REVIEW QUESTIONS 310 MYANTHROLAB CONNECTIONS 310 12 POLITICAL SYSTEMS 311 PREVIEW 311 POLITICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 312 TYPES OF POLITICAL ORGANIZATION 313 Bands 314 Tribes 316 Confederacies 318 Chiefdoms 321 CHARACTERISTICS OF STATE SOCIETIES 328 POLITICAL CHANGE AND STATE SOCIETIES 333 CHAPTER SUMMARY 337 REVIEW QUESTIONS 337 25 MYANTHROLAB CONNECTIONS 338 13 CONFLICT AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION 339 PREVIEW 339 EVOLUTIONARY PERSPECTIVES ON CONFLICT 341 AVOIDING CONFLICT 342 Politeness 343 Channeled Aggression 343 Role of Reciprocity in Conflict Avoidance 346 WITCHCRAFT AND RITUAL IN CONFLICT RESOLUTION 347 PATTERNS OF FAMILY AND COMMUNITY CONFLICT 348 Family Violence 348 Conflicts in Bands and Tribes 349 Blood Vengeance and the Feud 350 PATTERNS OF CONFLICT BETWEEN GROUPS 351 Warfare 351 Impacts of Globalization on Warfare 352 Warfare in State Societies 356 CHAPTER SUMMARY 362 26 REVIEW QUESTIONS 363 MYANTHROLAB CONNECTIONS 363 14 RELIGION 364 PREVIEW 364 WHAT IS RELIGION? 366 THE ORIGINS AND FUNCTIONS OF RELIGION 368 Explaining the World 368 Solace, Healing, and Emotional Release 369 Social Cohesion 369 Social Control 369 Economic Adaptation 369 SPIRIT BEINGS AND FORCES 371 Animism and Animatism 371 Gods and Heroes 371 Ancestors, Ghosts, and Demons 371 Mana, Totems, and Taboos 372 RELIGIOUS PRACTITIONERS 374 Mediums, Diviners, and Healers 374 27 Shamans and Priests 375 RELIGIOUS PRACTICE 375 Sacred and Secular Rituals 376 Prayer and Sacrifice 377 Rites of Passage 378 Healing or Curing 381 Magic and Witchcraft 383 RELIGION AND CULTURE CHANGE 385 Revitalization Movements 385 Cargo Cults 386 Role of Founders in Buddhist, Judeo-Christian, and Islamic Traditions 387 Religion and Globalization 388 CHAPTER SUMMARY 390 REVIEW QUESTIONS 393 MYANTHROLAB CONNECTIONS 393 15 THE ARTS 394 PREVIEW 394 28 WHAT IS ART? 396 CULTURAL AESTHETICS 397 BODY ART 399 ORIGINS AND FUNCTIONS OF ART OBJECTS 401 THE ARTS OF SOUND AND MOVEMENT 405 ORAL LITERATURE AND WRITTEN TEXTS 408 ART AND GLOBALIZATION 410 Art and Identity 411 Art in the Global Economy 412 Art and Tourism 413 CHAPTER SUMMARY 418 REVIEW QUESTIONS 418 MYANTHROLAB CONNECTIONS 419 16 COLONIALISM AND CULTURAL TRANSFORMATIONS 420 PREVIEW 420 EUROPEAN COLONIALISM 422 Colonialism Defined 422 A World System 423 29 Types of Colonies 423 THE EUROPEAN SLAVE TRADE 425 Slavery in Africa 425 Slavery in the Americas 426 TRADE AND SETTLEMENT IN NORTH AMERICA 427 The Fur Trade 427 Westward Expansion and Depopulation 428 SPANISH COLONIZATION IN THE AMERICAS 429 Spanish Landholding in the Colonies 430 Mining Quotas 431 Intermarriage 431 The Mission System 431 AGENTS OF DIRECTED CULTURE CHANGE 432 Missionaries 432 Schoolteachers 433 Government Officials 433 A Cash Economy 434 JUSTIFICATIONS FOR COLONIAL RULE 434 30 White Man’s Burden 435 A Sacred Trust 435 The Reservation System 436 REACTIONS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES TO EUROPEAN COLONIZERS 438 Trade Goods and Gods 439 Guns and Other Technological Wonders 440 Native Resistance and Retaliation 440 GLOBALIZATION IN THE POSTCOLONIAL ERA 442 CHAPTER SUMMARY 445 REVIEW QUESTIONS 446 MYANTHROLAB CONNECTIONS 447 17 LIVING IN A GLOBAL WORLD 448 PREVIEW 448 MIGRATION 451 Rural-to-Urban Migration 451 Transnational Migration 454 ETHNOGENESIS AND ETHNIC IDENTITIES 455 31 Transnationalism 456 Nationalism and Pluralism 457 Genocide? The Case of Rwanda 459 Reactions against Pluralism 460 Globalization and Cultural Identities 461 A Global Identity? 461 CULTURAL MINORITIES IN A GLOBAL WORLD 462 United States and Canada 463 Mexico and Indigenismo 466 Brazil and the “Indian Problem” 468 Indians of the Brazilian Savanna 470 “Uncontacted Tribes” in the Amazon 471 Costs of Economic Development in Ecuador and Bolivia 472 Developments in Africa 473 LEGAL RIGHTS AND INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION 476 CLIMATE CHANGE AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLES 478 CONSERVATION, ECOTOURISM, AND INDIGENOUS LANDS 482 CHAPTER SUMMARY 486 32 REVIEW QUESTIONS 486 MYANTHROLAB CONNECTIONS 487 GLOSSARY 489 REFERENCES 497 CREDITS 509 INDEX 511 33 Special Features Case Study Environment, Adaptation, and Disease: Malaria and Sickle-Cell Anemia in Africa and the United States 14 Daughter from Danang 24 Maladaptive Adaptations: Kuru and Mad Cow 27 Consequences of Cultural Integration: Women and Work in the United States 29 Life in Riverfront: A Midwestern Town Seen through Japanese Eyes 61 Ebonics: Language and Politics 83 Sleeping Arrangements in Two Cultures 104 Language and Social Interaction in Japan 109 The Education of Aztec Children 115 A Foraging Society: The Dobe Ju/’hoansi 138 A Pastoral Society: The Basseri, Nomadic Pastoralists of Iran 145 A Farming Society: The Kaluli of Papua New Guinea 151 Child Laborers Today 163 34 The Potlatch: An Example of Economic and Social Reciprocity 165 A Patrilineal Society: The Ganda of Uganda 199 Two Matrilineal Societies: The Mohawks and the Trobriand Islanders 201 A Wedding in Nepal 231 Residence in Rural North India and Western Borneo 236 Marriage and Divorce among the Kpelle of Liberia 240 Two-Spirits: A Third Gender 252 Male Dominance in Traditional Chinese Culture 267 The Samoans: A Ranked Society 287 Out-Groups of Japan 297 Ethnic Identity in the United States 302 A Band Society: The Tiwis of Northern Australia 315 Age-Linked Associations in Tribal Societies: The Hidatsa and the Maasai 319 The Inca of Peru and Ecuador 332 Conflict Avoidance Strategies in Japan 343 Conflict Resolution among the Semai of Malaysia 344 Pomoan (California) and Sambian (Papua New Guinea) Warfare 353 35 Pigs for the Ancestors 370 Making Contact with the Spirit World 377 Puberty Rites among the Apache and the Suku 380 Yoruba Art 398 Tourists among the Toraja 415 Lakota Trade and the Consequences of Change in Economic Production 429 Indigenous Colonized Societies of Australia and Tasmania 437 Labor Migration in Mexico 453 Ethnic Identity in Sudan 456 Papua New Guinea’s Customary Law 477 Culture Change Documenting Changes in the Lives of Australian Aborigines 54 Changing Norms in Language Use in the United States 80 Changing Attitudes toward Childhood and Child Care in the United States 105 Transformations of Nuer Economy and Society 146 Deforestation, Environmental Change, and Resource Sustainability 175 36 Cheyenne Descent 205 The Changing American Family 218 Dowry in India 229 Transformation of Gender Status in a Foraging Society 261 Transformation of American Work in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries 270 Caste in India 292 Globalization and the Transformation of a Tongan Chiefdom into an Island State 326 Reestablishing Traditional Native American Methods of Dispute Resolution: Banishment and the Diné Peace-Maker Court 354 The Development of Religious Denominations 389 Diné Art Responds to Market Forces 413 Impacts of the European Slave Trade on African States 426 Impacts of Indonesian State Expansion 458 Controversies What Are the Limits of Cultural Relativism? 8 How Do Anthropologists Present Knowledge about the People They Study? 62 37 Is There Such a Thing as National Character? 124 Explaining the Incest Taboo 222 Is Male Dominance Universal? 258 Origins of the State 331 Interpreting “Art”: The Case of Inca Quipus 404 Who “Owns” the Past? NAGPRA and American Anthropology 466 In Their Own Voices Why Save Our Languages 11 Hamlet and the Tiv 34 Fieldwork and the Phone 58 Honoring Native Languages 77 Going to School in Ake, Nigeria 118 An Inupiaq Whaler’s Wife 140 “Free to Do as You Like” 166 Wedding Songs from North India 193 “I Hear That I’m Going to Get Married!” 232 Tsetsele Fantan on Women and AIDS in Botswana 275 38 The Souls of Black Folk 300 Constitution of the Iroquois Confederacy 324 Testimony from South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Hearings of 1998 358 Macumba, Trance and Spirit Healing 383 Artists Talk about Art 402 Nelson Mandela on the Struggle against Apartheid in South Africa 441 Viktor Kaisiepo on the International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People 475 Anthropology Applied Cultural Survival 16 Development Anthropology 41 Human Terrain System 65 Languages Lost and Found 94 The Ethnobotany of Psychotropic Substances 128 Interpreting Economic Activity from Archaeological Remains 156 Economic Anthropologists and Consumer Behavior 182 Linkages Genealogy Projects 210 39 Anthropologists as Expert Witnesses 242 Advocacy for Women 280 Working against Human Trafficking 308 Anthropologists and the NGOs 336 Legal Anthropology 361 Medical Anthropology and Ethnomedicine 391 Ethnomusicology 417 Establishing the Xingu National Park 444 FUNAI Anthropologists 485 40 Preface Cultural Anthropology, Third Edition, is intended to introduce students to the concepts and methods that anthropologists bring to the study of cross-cultural diversity. It focuses on understanding how cultural practices and beliefs develop, how they are integrated, and how they change. The goal of this book is consistent with one of the goals of most anthropology teachers, to excite students about the world in which we all live. Although much in people’s behaviors and attitudes differs throughout the world, much also unites us. The book therefore provides a global view of humanity’s many facets. It takes a traditional approach in chapter organization, focusing on various aspects of societal organization and expression. It also makes central the role of cultural change, processes of adaptation and transformation that are integral to all societies. In addition to learning about other peoples, anthropology as a discipline and a framework of analysis has the potential to help students appreciate the cultural patterns underlying their own behaviors, beliefs, and attitudes. This book attempts to present the voices of the peoples who anthropologists often study. Through these voices, and through analyses of indigenous and marginalized people today, students may come to understand the global processes that affect us all. An important feature distinguishing this text is its thorough focus on culture change, derived both from internal processes of adaptation and innovation as well as from external forces through contact with other peoples. The context of contact is critical, of course. In some cases, contact is friendly and benign, each group exchanging ideas, practices, and material goods as equals. In other cases, contact occurs between groups that are unequal in their power and ability to control their own lives and exert control over others. In focusing on change, this text highlights the notion that the societies and cultures that people develop are dynamic systems, adapted to new situations and invigorated by new ideas. 41 The focus on culture change is carried into the discussions of global trends, whether these are the processes of past colonial expansion or of modern globalization. These two kinds of processes are interrelated because modern globalization has resulted from the legacies of colonial expansion. These issues are discussed throughout the book, culminating in the final two chapters. What’s New in this Edition Substantial reworking of the discussions of culture in chapter 3 New section on language and globalization in chapter 4 A new section on White Privilege in chapter 11 Expanded discussion in chapter 12 covering warfare and state societies, including current issues in the Middle East Expanded discussion of revitalization movements and the role of Moses as a religious leader in chapter 14 New section in chapter 16 on World Systems Theory Several new sections in chapter 17 : Indians of the Brazilian Savanna; “Uncontacted Tribes” of the Amazon; Conservation, Ecotourism, and Indigenous Peoples; and Climate Change and Indigenous Peoples Also in chapter 17 , expanded discussions of sections on Cultural Minorities in a Global World: Native peoples in the U.S. and Canada (Legal issues, taxation, boarding schools, economic and social data); the war in the Sudan Throughout: changes to clarify terms, concepts, expanded discussions. Format of the Book The book consists of seventeen chapters covering the breadth of the discipline of cultural anthropology. The first three chapters lay the groundwork for the study of human culture. Chapter 1 (What Is Anthropology?) presents the basic outline of the field of anthropology, describing its development, exemplifying its various subdisciplines, and introducing some of its basic 42 theoretical questions. Chapter 2 (The Nature of Culture) discusses some universal characteristics of culture and describes how human societies are organized to meet people’s needs. It also introduces a key focus of this text, namely understanding that cultures are dynamic systems of behavior and belief, ever changing and adjusting to internal and external forces. Chapter 3 (Studying Culture) takes a closer look at the specific methodologies that anthropologists have developed to analyze cultural behavior and build theories to explain both similarities and differences found throughout the world. It offers an array of theoretical perspectives used to analyze culture. It also takes readers into the experience of fieldwork, a hallmark of anthropological research. The next two chapters describe the systems of language and socialization basic to all human societies. Chapter 4 (Language and Culture) introduces topics in the structure of language but concentrates on the complex relationships between language and other aspects of culture. Chapter 5 (Learning One’s Culture) addresses the various perspectives that different societies take about the ways that parents and families raise their children and teach them the norms and values of their communities. Following these sections, the text proceeds with discussions of specific topics within cultural anthropology. Chapters 6 (Making a Living) and 7 (Economic Systems) focus on subsistence practices, ways of making a living, and patterns of production and exchange. Chapters 8 (Kinship and Descent) and 9 (Marriage and the Family) describe the various systems of kinship found throughout the world, detailing different patterns of reckoning descent and forming marriages and families. In Chapter 10 (Gender), we look closely at issues of gender, attempting to understand the conditions under which egalitarian gender relationships and attitudes are sustained as well as the conditions under which inequality between men and women is established. Chapter 11 (Equality and Inequality) also considers issues of inequality in the realm of social stratification, analyzing social segmentation on the basis of caste, class, race, and ethnicity. Chapter 12 (Political Systems) furthers this discussion in the analysis of political systems, including ways of establishing leadership, arriving at group decisions, and settling disputes both within a community and between communities. This last topic is continued in Chapter 13 (Conflict and Conflict Resolution), a unique chapter that takes a 43 detailed look at the reasons for conflict and the methods of conflict resolution in different types of societies. Chapters 14 (Religion) and 15 (The Arts) focus on various aspects of expressive and symbolic culture. Chapter 14 is concerned with the ways that people express religious beliefs and organize religious practice. It relates these beliefs and practices to other aspects of social, economic, and political life. Chapter 15 is concerned with aesthetic values and their embodiment in artistic production. Finally, Chapters 16 (Colonialism and Cultural Transformations) and 17 (Living in a Global World) are directly concerned with themes of cultural change that permeate the text and are addressed in every chapter. Chapter 16 focuses on the processes of cultural transformation emanating from European colonization beginning in the sixteenth century, although the dynamics of colonial and imperial control both predate and follow European dominance. In the final chapter of the book, we look at recent global trends influencing the lives of indigenous peoples in the twenty-first-century and discover how these trends have local manifestations. Special Features In addition to the focus on change, the text is tied together by a number of features of content and style. Each chapter begins with a narrative, usually a sacred or secular story that dramatizes important themes discussed in the chapter. 44 In Their Own Voices boxes feature the words of indigenous peoples whose lives are discussed in the text. Case Study features provide extended discussions that enable students to understand complex relationships among various practices. 45 Culture Change features present material focusing specifically on the ways that culture is transformed. They stress the interconnections among material change, behavioral practices, and ideology, demonstrating the complex interactions that result from change. Anthropology Applied boxes have been expanded and highlight the roles that anthropologists play in applying theory and knowledge to practical concerns. 46 Controversies boxes present differing opinions about key theoretical or research topics. Globalization Icons contribute to and strengthen the emphasis on culture change and situate cultural transformations in their global context. Finally, the book contains pedagogical features including a margin glossary and marginal notes, preview and summary questions, critical thinking questions, and both section reviews and chapter summaries. These features help students focus on significant ideas and concepts presented in each chapter. Support for Instructors and Students This book is accompanied by an extensive learning package to enhance the experience of both instructors and students. NEW MyAnthroLab: MyAnthroLab provides engaging experiences that personalize, stimulate, and measure learning for each student. Key components 47 include: MyAnthroLab MyAnthroLibrary features over 20 full-length ethnographies and over 200 case studies and articles, on a wide range of anthropological topics to help students better understand course material. Guidance on careers in anthropology—including interviews with anthropologists and an interactive career footprint—shows students how they can apply anthropology throughout their future. NPR Program Broadcasts, including 90 selections relevant to the study to anthropology, help students engage with the material. The Pearson eText lets students access their textbook anytime and anywhere they want. A personalized study plan for each student helps them succeed in the course and beyond. Assessment tied to every video, application, and chapter enables both instructors and students to track progress and get immediate feedback. With results feeding into a powerful gradebook, the assessment program helps instructors identify student challenges early—and find the best resources with which to help students. 48 Class Prep collects the very best class presentation resources in one convenient online destination, so instructors can keep students engaged throughout every class. Please see your local Pearson representative for access to MyAnthroLab. Instructor’s Manual with Tests (0205860389) For each chapter in the text, this valuable resource provides a chapter outline, preview questions, lecture topics, research topics, and questions for classroom discussion. In addition, test questions in multiplechoice and essay formats are available for each chapter; the answers are page-referenced to the text. For easy access, this manual is available within the instructor section of MyAnthroLab for Cultural Anthropology, Third Edition, or at www.pearsonhighered.com MyTest (0205860397) This computerized software allows instructors to create their own personalized exams, to edit any or all of the existing test questions, and to add new questions. Other special features of this program include random generation of test questions, creation of alternate versions of the same test, scrambling question sequence, and test preview before printing. For easy access, this software is available within the instructor section of MyAnthroLab for Cultural Anthropology, Third Edition, or at www.pearsonhighered.com PowerPoint Presentation for Cultural Anthropology (0205860427) These PowerPoint slides combine text and graphics for each chapter to help instructors convey anthropological principles in a clear and engaging way. In addition, Classroom Response System (CRS) In-Class Questions allow for instant, class-wide student responses to chapter-specific questions during lectures for teachers to gauge student comprehension. For easy access, they are available within the instructor section of MyAnthroLab for Cultural Anthropology, Third Edition, or at www.pearsonhighered.com EthnoQuest® This interactive multimedia simulation includes a series of ten ethnographic encounters with the culture of a fictional Mexican village set in a computer-based learning environment. It provides students with a realistic problemsolving experience and is designed to help students experience the 49 fieldwork of a cultural anthropologist. Please see your Pearson sales representative for more information about EthnoQuest®. Acknowledgments I wish to thank the many people who contributed ideas, time, and support to this project. The encouragement and advice of Nancy Roberts, publisher of anthropology at Pearson, is especially appreciated and acknowledged. I also wish to thank Nicole Conforti, Editorial Project Manager and Carol O’Rourke, Production Project Manager from Pearson. The final stages of production were also managed by Claire Stanton of Premedia Global aided by the skillful photo research of Stephen Merland. In addition, I wish to acknowledge, with thanks, support from Bard College at Simon’s Rock that provided for student research assistants, especially Natalie Cowan, Ramiz Shaikh, and Dat Nguyen, who helped identify and collect sources for some of the new sections and for statistical updates. Dat also revised the index for this edition. I thank Bard College at Simon’s Rock for their support and the assistants for their perseverance. 50 Finally, I would like to thank the reviewers whose careful reading and valuable suggestions aided me in refining this revision. Responsibility for the final version is, of course, my own. For their constructive reviewing of the first and second editions, I would like to thank the following: Diane Baxter, University of Oregon; John Beatty, Brooklyn College; Ann Louise Bragdon, Northwest College – Houston Community College System; Vaughn M. Bryant, Texas A&M University; Andrew Buckser, Purdue University; Ratimaya Bush, Wright State University; Gregory R. Campbell, The University of Montana; Erve Chambers, University of Maryland; Wanda Clark, South Plains College; Samuel Gerald Collins, Towson University; Karla L. Davis, University of South Florida; William W. Donner, Kutztown University; Charles O. Ellenbaum, College of DuPage; Blenda Femenias, Brown University; Carol Hayman, Austin Community College; Dorothy Hodgson, Rutgers; David E. Jones, University of Central Florida; Barry D. Kass, State University of New York – Orange County; Theresa Kintz, Wilkes University; Joshua S. Levin, Community College of Southern Nevada; Susan R. Martin, Michigan Tech University; Geoffrey G. Pope, William Patterson University; Kevin Rafferty, Community College of Southern Nevada; Frank A. Salamone, Iona College; Josh Schendel, University of Tennessee; Wesley Shumar, Drexel University; Susan R. Trencher, George Mason University; John Ambenge, Middlesex Community College; Michael Angrosino, University of South Florida; Christina Beard-Moose, Suffolk County Community College; Vaughn M. Bryant, Texas A&M University; Samuel Gerald Collins, Towson University; Molly Doane, University of Illinois at Chicago; William W. Donner, Kutztown University; Louis Forline, University of Nevada, Reno; Renee Garcia, Saddleback College; Ellen S. Ginsburg, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences; Jon Hageman, Northeastern Illinois University; Barbara Jones, Brookdale Community College; Susan R. Martin, Michigan Technological University; Derek Maxfield, Capital Community College; Chrisy Moutsatsos, Iowa State University; Richard Scaglion, University of Pittsburgh; Angela M. Siner, University of Toledo; James Todd, Modesto Junior College; Susan R. Trencher, George Mason University; Cassandra White, Georgia State University; Herbert Ziegler, Chesapeake College. 51 I would like to thank the following people who offered suggestions for the third edition: Amber Clifford, University of Central Missouri Lorna Beard,University of Arkansas – Ft. Smith Henry W. Shulz,City College of San Francisco Pearsce Paul Creasman,University of Arizona Linda Jerofke,Eastern Oregon University Andrew Kinkella,Moorpark College Kerry Pataki,Portland Community College Robert Davis,Treasure Valley Community College 52 Chapter 1 What is Anthropology? 53 54 Preview What are the core concepts of anthropology? How does anthropology overlap with other fields? What two perspectives do anthropologists use to study cultures? What is globalization? How can the concepts of culture contact and culture change help us understand globalization? What are the four subfields of anthropology? How is the study of culture integrated into each subfield? How is cultural relativism different from ethical relativism? What is applied anthropology? What contributions can applied anthropologists offer other fields? Listen to the Chapter Audio on myanthrolab.com Read on myanthrolab.com There were villagers at the Middle Place and a girl had her home there ... where she kept a flock of turkeys. At the Middle Place they were having a Yaaya Dance ... and during the first day this girl ... stayed with her turkeys taking care of them.... [I]t seems she didn’t go to the dance on the first day, that day she fed her turkeys ... and so the dance went on and she could hear the drum. 55 When she spoke to her turkeys about this, they said, “If you went it wouldn’t turn out well: who would take care of us?” That’s what her turkeys told her. She listened to them and they slept through the night. Then it was the second day of the dance and ... with the Yaaya Dance half over she spoke to her big tom turkey: “My father-child, if they’re going to do it again tomorrow why can’t I go?” she said. “Well if you went, it wouldn’t turn out well.” That’s what he told her. “Well then I mustn’t go.” ... The next day was a nice warm day, and again she heard the drum over there. Then she went around feeding her turkeys, and when it was the middle of the day, she asked again, right at noon. “If you went, it wouldn’t turn out well ... our lives depend on your thoughtfulness,” that’s what the turkeys told her. “Well then, that’s the way it will be,” she said, and she listened to them. But around sunset the drum could be heard, and she was getting more anxious to go.... She went up on her roof and she could see the crowd of people. It was the third day of the dance. That night she asked the same one she asked before and he told her, “Well, if you must go, then you must dress well.... “You must think of us, for if you stay all afternoon, until sunset, then it won’t turn out well for you,” he told her.... 56 The next day the sun was shining, and she went among her turkeys and ... when she had fed them she said, “My fathers, my children, I’m going to the Middle Place. I’m going to the dance,” she said. “Be on your way, but think of us....” That’s what her children told her. She went to where the place was, and when she entered the plaza ..., she went down and danced, and she didn’t think about her children. Finally it was mid-day, and ... she was just dancing away until it was late, the time when the shadows are very long. The turkeys said, “Our mother, our child doesn’t know what’s right.” “Well then, I must go and I’ll just warn her and come right back and whether she hears me or not, we’ll leave before she gets here,” that’s what the turkey said, and he flew ... along until he came to where they were dancing, and there he glided down to the place and ... sang, “Kyana tok tok Kyana tok tok.” The one who was dancing heard him. He flew back to the place where they were penned, and the girl ran all the way back. When she got to the place where they were penned, they sang again, they sang and flew away.... When she came near they all went away and she couldn’t catch up to them. Long ago, this was lived.... From Finding the Center: Narrative Poetry of the Zuni Indians. 2nd edition, translated by Denis Tedlock, reprinted by permission of The University of Nebraska Press. © 1999 by Denis Tedlock. 57 “The Girl Who Took Care of the Turkeys” is a Zuni narrative. A Native American people who live in what is now New Mexico, Zunis traditionally supported themselves by farming. They also kept domesticated turkeys, whose feathers they used to make ceremonial gear. In the story, the young girl uses kin terms when addressing the turkeys to indicate her close bonds with them. You may have noticed similarities between this Zuni story and the European story of Cinderella. In both, the central character is a young woman who wants to go to a dance but is at first dissuaded or, in Cinderella’s case, prevented from doing so. Eventually, she does attend, but is warned that she must be sure to return home early. In both stories, the girl stays past the appointed time because she is enjoying herself. The Zuni and European stories, however, differ in both outcomes and details. The similarities and differences between these stories are no coincidence. Zunis first learned the Cinderella story from white settlers in the 1880s and transformed the tale to fit their circumstances, values, and way of life. This is an example of selective borrowing that takes place when members of different cultures meet, share experiences, and learn from one another. Global influences have accelerated borrowing over the last five centuries. 58 The European folk-tale Cinderella has been retold countless times. In this musical version by Rodgers and Hammerstein, the cast includes Brandy, Whitney Houston, and Whoopi Goldberg. The Zunis reverse the ethical standing of the story’s characters. Cinderella, who yearns to go to the ball, is a virtuous and long-suffering servant to her wicked family. The Zuni girl is also a caretaker for her family, the flock of turkeys (whom she significantly addresses as “father” and “child”), but she is not a figure of virtue. On the contrary, to go to the dance, she has to neglect her duties, threatening the turkeys’ well-being, as they say to her, “You must think of us.” And what happens? Cinderella marries the prince and emerges triumphant, but disaster befalls the Zuni girl. The European story of individual virtue and fortitude rewarded has become a Zuni story of moral failing and irresponsibility to one’s relatives and dependents. The differences between Europeans and Zunis fit into a 59 The differences between Europeans and Zunis fit into a constellation of features that define Zuni and European culture—the languages they speak, how they feed and shelter themselves, what they wear, the material goods they value, how they make those goods and distribute them among themselves, how they form families, households, and alliances, and how they worship the deities they believe in. This concept—culture—is central to the discipline of anthropology in general and to cultural anthropology, the subject of this book, in particular. The Study of Humanity Anthropology, broadly defined, is the study of humanity, from its evolutionary origins millions of years ago to its present worldwide diversity. Many other disciplines, of course, also focus on one aspect or another of humanity. Like sociology, economics, political science, psychology, and other behavioral and social sciences, anthropology is concerned with how people organize their lives and relate to one another in interacting, interconnected groups—societies — that share basic beliefs and practices. Like economists, anthropologists are interested in society’s material foundations—how people produce and distribute food and other goods. Like sociologists, anthropologists are interested in how people structure their relations in society—in families, at work, in institutions. Like political scientists, anthropologists are interested in power and authority: who has them and how they are allocated. And, like psychologists, anthropologists are interested in individual development and the interaction between society and individual people. anthropology The study of humanity, from its evolutionary origins millions of years ago to its current worldwide diversity. 60 societies Populations of people living in organized groups with social institutions and expectations of behavior. Also, anthropologists share an interest in human evolution and human anatomy with those in the biological sciences. They share an interest in the past of peoples and communities with historians. As the discussion of the Zuni story that opens this chapter suggests, they share an interest in how people express themselves with students of literature, art, and music. And they are interested in the diversity of human philosophical systems, ethical systems, and religious beliefs. Cultural anthropologists seek to explain people’s thoughts and behaviors in terms of their culture or way of life. Although anthropology shares many interests with other disciplines, the following key features distinguish it as a separate area of study: A focus on the concept of culture 61 A holistic perspective A comparative perspective These features are the source of anthropology’s insights into both common humanity and the diversity with which that humanity is expressed. The Concept of Culture Anthropology is unique in its focus on the role of culture in shaping human behavior. We examine this important concept in detail in Chapter 2 . For now, we can define culture as the learned values, beliefs, and rules of conduct shared to some extent by the members of a society and that govern their behavior with one another and how they think about themselves and the world. Culture can be broadly divided into symbolic culture —people’s ideas and means of communicating those ideas—and material culture —the tools, utensils, clothing, housing, and other objects that people make or use. culture The learned values, beliefs, and rules of conduct that are shared to some extent by the members of a society, and that govern their behavior with one another. symbolic culture The ideas people have about themselves, others, and the world, and the ways that people express these ideas. 62 material culture The tools people make and use, the clothing and ornaments they wear, the buildings they live in, and the household utensils they use. A Holistic Perspective Unlike other behavioral and social sciences, anthropology views cultures from a holistic perspective —as an integrated whole, no part of which can be completely understood in isolation. How people arrange rooms in their homes, for example, is related to their marriage and family patterns, which in turn are related to how they earn a living. Thus, the single-family home with individual bedrooms that became the norm in America’s suburbs in the twentieth century reflects the value Americans place on individualism and the nuclear family— husband, wife, and their children. These values, in turn, are consistent with an economy in which families are dependent on wage earners acting individually and competitively to find employment. Thus, a holistic perspective that considers the interconnections among factors that contribute to people’s behavior helps us understand the kinds of homes in which they live. holistic perspective A perspective in anthropology that views culture as an integrated whole, no part of which can be completely understood without considering the whole. Anthropologists, then, attempt to understand all aspects of human culture, past and present. They are interested in people’s economic lives and in learning 63 about the food they eat, how they obtain their food, and how they organize their work. They also study people’s political lives to know how they organize their communities, select their leaders, and make group decisions. And they investigate people’s social lives to understand how they organize their families— whom they marry and live with, and to whom they consider themselves related. Anthropologists also study people’s religious lives to learn about the kinds of deities they worship, their beliefs about the spirit world, and the ceremonies they perform. Anthropologists understand that cultural norms and values guide but do not dictate people’s behavior. They also know that people often idealize their own practices, projecting beliefs about what they do even though their actual behavior may differ from those ideals. For example, when workers are asked about their job responsibilities, they may talk about official procedures and regulations even though their daily work is more flexible and unpredictable. A Comparative Perspective The juxtaposition of the Cinderella story and the Zuni narrative of “The Girl Who Took Care of the Turkeys” is a small example of anthropology’s comparative 64 The ubiquity of electronic music developed in Japan and Korea is an example of global cultural exchange. perspective at work. Comparing the two stories opens a window onto the contrasting values of Zuni and European cultures and increases our understanding of each. Anthropology is fundamentally comparative, basing its findings on cultural data drawn from societies throughout the world and from throughout human history. Anthropologists collect data about behavior and beliefs in many societies to document the diversity of human culture and to understand common patterns in how people adapt to their environments, adjust to their neighbors, and develop unique cultural institutions. This comparative perspective can challenge common assumptions about human nature based solely on European or North American culture. For example, as you will learn in Chapter 9 , marriage and family take many different forms worldwide. Only through systematic comparison can we hope to determine what aspects of marriage and family—or any other aspect of culture, for that matter—might be universal (found in all human societies) and which aspects vary from society to society. comparative perspective An approach in anthropology that uses data about the behaviors and beliefs in many societies to document both cultural universals and cultural diversity. The Comparative Perspective and Culture Change The comparative, or “cross-cultural,” perspective also helps people reexamine their own culture. Cultures are not static. They change in response to internal 65 and external pressures. Anthropology’s comparative perspective is a powerful tool for understanding culture change . Because this concept is so important, each subsequent chapter of this textbook contains a special feature on culture change. culture change Changes in people’s ways of life over time through both internal and external forces. The Comparative Perspective and Globalization The comparative perspective also allows anthropologists to evaluate the impact of globalization. Globalization is the spread of economic, political, and cultural influences across a large geographic area or many different societies. Through globalization, many countries and communities are enmeshed in networks of power and influence that extend far beyond their borders, exchanging goods and services, forms of entertainment, and information technologies. Although all countries can contribute to globalization in principle, dominant countries have more control over the flow of goods and services and exert more influence over other societies in practice. However, no one country or region of the world currently controls the process of globalizing. Rather, many powerful countries contribute to globalization. globalization The spread of economic, political, and cultural influences throughout a very large geographic area or through a great number of different societies. Through globalization, many countries and local communities are enmeshed in networks of power and influence far 66 beyond their borders, exchanging goods and services, forms of entertainment, and information technologies. Globalization has occurred in the past when states and empires expanded their influence far beyond their borders. However, one of the distinctions of globalization today is the speed with which it is transforming local cultures as they participate in a worldwide system of interconnected economies and polities. These influences are also changing other aspects of culture, including family structures, religious practices, and aesthetic forms. Along with the export of products and technologies, rapid communications and information systems also spread attitudes and values throughout the world, including capitalist cultural practices, consumerism, cultural icons, and media and entertainment. Finally, globalization is uneven, both in the degree to which goods and services are exchanged in different places and in the way it creates inequalities as well as similarities. Chapter 2 will further explore cultural transformation and globalization, and their causes and consequences, and they will be considered in depth in Chapters 16 and 17 . Culture change is not, however, a recent phenomenon. Cultures are not and never were static systems. Indeed, changes in beliefs and practices help to strengthen societies and to endow them with the resilience to survive. Therefore, change and stability are not opposite processes. They depend on one another. That is why we highlight examples of cultural transformations throughout this text. Globalization Culture contact and culture change, such as occurred between the Europeans and Zuni, underlie the phenomenon of globalization. Globalization is a major theme of this textbook. The symbol that appears here and elsewhere 67 throughout this textbook calls your attention to globalization-related issues. What signs of globalization do you see in your immediate surroundings— for example, in your clothes, cars, and information or communications technologies? Review Anthropology focuses on the study of all aspects of being human. It has many concepts and subjects in common with other behavioral and social sciences, and with biological sciences. Core concepts include culture, culture change, and globalization. Three characteristics differentiate anthropology from other fields: the concept of culture, the holistic perspective, and the comparative perspective. The Four Subfields of Anthropology Almost since it emerged as an academic discipline in the late nineteenth century, anthropology in North America has encompassed four subfields, each with its own focus, methodologies, and theories: cultural anthropology, linguistic anthropology, archaeology, and 68 Figure 1.1 Subfields of Anthropology biological (or physical) anthropology. Each subfield also has branches or interest areas (see Figure 1.1 ). Table 1.1 identifies some of the many kinds of work anthropologists perform. Watch the Animation: The Fields of Anthropology on myanthrolab.com 69 Cultural Anthropology Cultural anthropology is, as the term implies, the study of culture—that is, the study of cultural behavior, attitudes, values, and conceptions of the world. The work of cultural anthropologists centers on ethnology , developing theories to explain cultural processes based on the comparative study of societies throughout the world. The method they use to gather these data is called ethnography , a holistic, intensive study of groups through observation, interview, participation, and analysis. cultural anthropology The study of cultural behavior, especially the comparative study of living and recent human cultures. ethnology Aspect of cultural anthropology involved with building theories about cultural behaviors and forms. ethnography Aspect of cultural anthropology involved with observing and documenting peoples’ ways of life. 70 To conduct ethnographic research, anthropologists do “fieldwork”; that is, they live among the people they are studying to compile a full record of their activities. They learn about people’s behaviors, beliefs, and attitudes. They study how they make their living, obtain their food, and supply themselves with tools, equipment, and other products. They study how families and communities are organized, and how people form clubs or associations, discuss common interests, make group decisions, and resolve disputes. And they investigate the relationship between the people and larger social institutions—the nations they are part of and their place in the local, regional, and global economies. indigenous societies Peoples who are now minority groups in state societies but who were formerly independent and have occupied their territories for a long time. Collecting ethnographic information is a significant part of the preservation of indigenous cultures. It contributes to the fund of comparative data cultural anthropologists use to address questions about human cultural diversity. These questions—such as how people acquire culture, how culture affects personality, how family structures and gender roles vary, the role of art and religion, and the impact of global economic forces on local cultures—are the subjects of the chapters of this textbook. In anthropology’s early years, cultural anthropologists primarily studied nonWestern societies, particularly traditional, indigenous societies —peoples who were once independent and have occupied their territories for a long time but are now usually minority groups in larger states. These early researchers favored societies in regions of the world that the West’s expanding influence had left relatively unaffected or, like the native societies of southern Africa or North and South America, had been overwhelmed and transformed by conquest. The idea was that a small, comparatively homogeneous society could 71 serve as a kind of laboratory for understanding humanity. Over the years, cultural anthropologists have challenged this view, however, and globalization has all but ended cultural isolation. Today, cultural anthropologists are likely to do an ethnographic study of, say, a small town in the American Midwest, Table 1.1 Career Opportunities in the Four Subfields of Anthropology Field Definition Examples Cultural Anthropology The study of human culture Ethnographer Ethnologist Museum curator University or college professor International business consultant Cross-cultural researcher Linguistic Anthropology The study of language International business consultant Diplomatic communications worker Administrator Ethnographer Domestic communications worker University or college professor Archaeology The study of past cultures Cultural resource management worker Museum curator University or college professor State archaeologist Historical archaeologist Zoo archaeologist 72 Environmental consultant Biological (Physical) The study of human origins and Primatologist Anthropology biological diversity Geneticist University or college professor Medical researcher Genetic counselor Forensic specialist Government investigator Human rights investigator Biomedical anthropologist Somali refugees adapting to life in Minnesota, Americans participating in a hospice program, changing political systems in Afghanistan, or life in a prison. ethnocentrism The widespread human tendency to perceive the ways of doing things in one’s own culture as normal and natural and that of others as strange, inferior, and possibly even unnatural or inhuman. 73 Cultural anthropologists study how refugees like these Somali Bantu adapt to American life and how American communities adapt to refugees. Two important concepts—ethnocentrism and cultural relativism—influence the anthropological approach to ethnography and cross-cultural research. Ethnocentrism refers to the tendency for people to see themselves metaphorically as being at the center of the universe. They perceive their own culture’s way of doing things (making a living, raising children, governing, worshipping) as normal and natural and that of others as strange and possibly inferior or even unnatural or inhuman. Of course, it seems like common sense to acknowledge that people feel more comfortable in their own social and cultural milieu, engaging in familiar and routine activities. Ethnocentrism is only dangerous when it is used to justify either verbal or physical attacks against other people. Governments, for example, often ethnocentrically justify their economic and military dominance over other peoples by claiming the natural superiority of their culture. The ancient Romans, Chinese, Aztecs, Incas, and others similarly held themselves superior to the people they conquered. This tendency to view one’s Controversies What Are the Limits of Cultural Relativism? 74 The controversial practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) or female circumcision, prevalent in twenty-eight countries in Africa and found in other regions as well, illustrates the uneasy relationship between cultural relativism and concern for individual human rights. FGM removes part or all of the external genitals of prepubescent girls. The procedure varies but usually entails the removal of the clitoris. In some areas, particularly in southern Egypt, Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, and Mali, it also includes infibulation—the stitching closed—of the vagina, leaving only a tiny opening for the passage of urine and menstrual blood. The United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women suggests that at least 100 million women living today have been subjected to FGM, whereas the World Health Organization (WHO) puts the number at more than 132 million women and girls in Africa alone, estimating also that about 2 million procedures are performed annually (Ras-Work 2006; Almroth et al. 2005). Although FGM is now sometimes performed in hospitals, local midwives usually perform the procedure, working with crude tools and without anesthesia on girls who are typically between 5 and 11 years old. The two most common names by which the practice is known—female genital mutilation and female circumcision—reflect opposing attitudes toward it. Calling the practice female circumcision equates it with male circumcision, which is also debated but more widely accepted. The term female genital mutilation was introduced by the United Nations InterAfrican Committee (IAC) on Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children, a group established to help end the practice. This term reflects “the cruel and radical operation so many young girls are forced to undergo” involving “the removal of healthy organs” (Armstrong 1991, 42). Although its exact origin is unknown, FGM predates both Christianity and Islam, and occurs among peoples of both faiths and among followers of traditional African religions. It is most common, however, in predominantly Islamic regions of Africa and is associated with strongly patriarchal cultures—that is, cultures that stress the subordination of women to male authority. 75 Medical risks for girls undergoing the procedure reportedly include pain, shock, loss of bladder and bowel control, and potentially fatal infections and hemorrhaging (Gruenbaum 1993). Infibulation in particular can have serious, painful, long-term consequences. Defenders of the procedure claim that there is no reliable evidence of its increasing a girl’s risk of death or of excessive rates of medical complication. Opponents claim that FGM reduces a woman’s capacity for sexual pleasure and that infibulation makes sexual intercourse and childbirth painful. Groups who practice FGM defend it on cultural grounds. In their view, infibulation helps ensure a woman’s premarital chastity and her sexual fidelity to her husband while increasing his sexual pleasure. Some prominent African women, such as Fuambai Ahmadu, an anthropologist from Sierra Leone, defend the practice. On the basis of her research, Ahmadu (2000, 304–05) views it as an emotionally positive validation of womanhood. In her interviews, African women reported that the practice did not diminish their sexual drive, inhibit sexual activity, or prevent sexual satisfaction, and that it did not adversely affect their health or birthing. The women looked forward to carrying on the tradition and initiating their younger female relatives into the pride of womanhood. Other local observers, such as Olayinka Koso-Thomas (1992), a physician from Sierra Leone, oppose the practice for its brutality, its dangerous consequences, and its role in perpetuating the subordination of women. Some anthropologists, citing cultural relativism and the ideal of objectivity, do not support outside organizations that pressure African, Middle Eastern, and Indonesian governments to abolish FGM. Although they don’t condone the procedure, they prefer to hope for change from within. Other anthropologists point out that, although cultural relativism may help us understand a culture on its own terms, it can also help us understand how cultural beliefs reinforce inequalities by convincing people to accept practices that may be harmful and demeaning as natural. Recent medical studies indicate multiple harmful effects of FGM. Research carried out by the World Health Organization (WHO) in six African countries concluded that, compared to women who have not had 76 FGM, “... deliveries to women who have undergone FGM are significantly more likely to be complicated by cesarean section, postpartum hemorrhage, tearing of the vaginal wall, extended maternal hospital stay, and inpatient perinatal death [infant mortality]” (WHO 2006, 1835). The study was conducted in hospitals, and outcomes for women who give birth at home might be even more negative because emergency medical treatment would not be available. Another medical study of women in Sudan reported that women who had undergone the most extensive types of FGM were the most likely to be infertile (Almroth et al. 2005, 390). Because fertility in women is highly valued, particularly in patriarchal cultures, the finding that FGM is a significant cause of infertility might be an effective argument against the procedure. Many anthropologists, together with health workers, women’s rights advocates, and human rights organizations, oppose FGM and are working to end it, with some success. In 1995, a United Nations– sponsored Conference on the Status of Women declared FGM to be a violation of human rights. In 1996, the U.S. Board of Immigration Appeals, ruling that FGM is a form of persecution, granted political asylum to a young woman from Togo who feared returning to her native country because she would be forced to undergo the procedure as a prelude to her arranged marriage (Dugger 1996, A1, B2). In response to campaigns against FGM, sixteen African governments have outlawed it, and others have taken steps to limit its severity and improve the conditions under which it is performed (Ras-Work 2006, 10). These initiatives have not eradicated FGM. Still, recent reports indicate that some women who specialize in the procedure have decided not to continue performing it. For example, a grassroots organization called Womankind Kenya has persuaded influential practitioners to join their cause. Among the arguments they use are teachings from the Koran that some imams interpret as opposing FGM (Lacey 2004). The Inter-African Committee of the United Nations is also organizing around the issues of religion, sponsoring conferences of Muslim and Christian religious leaders to speak out against FGM (Ras-Work 2006). Outreach programs are 77 also training practitioners in other work, and are promoting messages about women’s worthiness and the value of their bodies. Critical Thinking Questions Are there universal human rights? Who defines those rights? What are the benefits and risks of intervening in other people’s ways of life? own cultural norms as superior to others was also prevalent in European colonialism in modern-day imperialist ventures. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, many Europeans assumed they represented the highest form of civilization, and ranked other societies beneath them according to how closely they approached middle-class European appearance, practices, and values. Early anthropologists, hardly immune to this pervasive ethnocentrism, developed evolutionary schemes that ranked people on a scale of progress from “savagery” to “civilization,” with middle- and upperclass Europeans at the top. Watch the Video: Relativity on gmyanthrolab.com To counter the influence of ethnocentrism, cultural anthropologists try to approach cultures from the viewpoint of cultural relativism . That is, they try to analyze a culture in terms of that culture, rather than in terms of the anthropologist’s culture. This principle is central to cultural anthropology. For example, in the nineteenth century, native peoples of the Pacific Northwest of North America engaged in rituals, called potlatches, which included feasting and giveaways of large amounts of food and personal and ceremonial property. Missionaries and officials in the United States and Canada considered these activities harmful, wasteful, and illogical because they contradicted Euro78 American values that stress the importance of accumulating and saving wealth rather than giving away or destroying wealth. But anthropologists came to understand the economic and social significance of potlatches to the native peoples. We will discuss the meaning of potlatches in more detail in Chapter 7 , but for now note that they effectively redistributed food and other goods to all members of a community. These displays of generosity also raised the social standing of the hosts because generosity, not accumulation, was a valued trait. cultural relativism An approach in anthropology that stresses the importance of analyzing cultures in each culture’s own terms rather than in terms of the culture of the anthropologist. This does not mean, however, that all cultural behavior must be condoned. Globalization Globalization has included the spread of Western beliefs and values codified as laws on human rights. Although cultural anthropologists usually take for granted the need to embrace cultural relativism in their work, there is debate about the extent to which it is possible to apply the principle. Anthropologists, like everyone else, are products of their own society. No matter how objective they try to be, their own cultural experience inevitably colors how they analyze and interpret the behavior of people in other cultures. Anthropologists need to acknowledge the potential effect of their own attitudes and values on the kinds of research problems they formulate and how they interpret other people’s behavior. 79 Although cultural relativism requires anthropologists to try to understand other cultures on each culture’s terms, it does not require them to abandon their own ethical standards or to condone oppressive practices. Cultural relativism, in other words, is not the same as ethical relativism , the acceptance of all ethical systems as equivalent to each other. Nevertheless, anthropologists have different views on the applicability of cultural and ethical relativism, as the Controversies feature on pages 8–9 illustrates. This is, and no doubt will continue to be, a topic of disagreement and controversy within the field. ethical relativism The belief that all rights and wrongs are relative to time, place, and culture, such that no moral judgments of behavior can be made. Linguistic Anthropology Linguistics, the study of language, is a separate academic discipline independent of anthropology. However, language is a key concern of anthropology. Not only is it a defining feature of all cultures, language is also the primary means by which we express culture and transmit it from one generation to the next. Globalization With the spread of English and other languages of business, globalization has endangered native languages as well as the ways of life those languages express. 80 Linguistic anthropology , discussed in more detail in Chapter 4 , shares with linguistics an interest in the nature of language itself, but with an added focus on the interconnections among language, culture, and society. To gain insight into social categories, for example, linguistic anthropologists might investigate how people use language in different social contexts. Do people use a formal style of speech in one situation and an informal style in another? Do they vary words, pronunciation, and grammar in different social contexts? Do they speak differently to relatives and nonrelatives, friends and strangers, males and females, children and adults? linguistic anthropology The study of language and communication, and the relationship between language and other aspects of culture and society. Some linguistic anthropologists study the languages of indigenous peoples to document their grammars and vocabularies. This is critical work because increasing globalization has led to the worldwide advancement of English and other languages of business, often to the detriment of local languages. In their attempts to keep pace with the new world order, and under pressure from globalizing economic and political forces, native peoples are losing their traditions, and their languages are becoming extinct. Many indigenous peoples are under pressure to abandon their own languages and adopt the official languages of the countries in which they find themselves. For example, in the United States and Canada, many indigenous languages have only a few speakers because of the intense pressures on native peoples to use English or French in place of their own languages. These social and political factors began under European colonialism, but they have continued in Canada and the United States. However, dozens of programs run by indigenous 81 Americans and Canadians, and assisted by linguists, are now documenting and teaching indigenous languages so that they can be maintained and revitalized. Linguistic anthropologists also document how language changes over time within a culture. And they are witnesses to how the expanding influence of a few globally spoken languages has reduced the number of indigenous languages spoken in the world. Endangered languages include Western languages as well, such as Gaelic (in both Scotland and Ireland), Breton (spoken in France), and Yiddish. Other linguistic anthropologists specialize in historical linguistics . Their work is based on the premise that people who speak related languages are culturally and historically related, descended from a common ancestral people. By looking at the relationships among languages in a large area, historical linguists can help determine how people have migrated to arrive in the territories they now occupy. For example, the Apaches in New Mexico, the Navajos in Arizona, and the Hupas of northern California all speak related languages, which are, in turn, related to a family of languages known as Athabascan. Most Athabascan speakers occupy a large area of western Canada and Alaska. These linguistic ties suggest that the Hupas, Navajos and Apaches are all descended from Athabascan groups that migrated south from Canada. historical linguistics The study of changes in language and communication over time and between peoples in contact. By studying how people have borrowed words and grammatical patterns from other languages, historical linguists can also gain insight into how groups have interacted over time. Combined with archaeological evidence, these kinds of analyses can produce a rich picture of the historical relationship among peoples 82 who otherwise left no written records, contributing to our understanding of the processes of culture change. Do you use words among friends that you would never use in a job interview, in class, or with children? What does your use of language reveal about your relationships to the people you address? When she died in 2008, Marie Smith Jones was the last speaker of Eyak, a NaDene language of Alaska. In Their Own Voices Why Save Our Languages In this excerpt, Richard Littlebear describes some of the reasons that his Native Cheyenne language is threatened with loss and suggests some ways to keep it from dying. Littlebear is a member of the Cheyenne nation and a teacher of the Cheyenne language. 83 Why save our languages, since they now seem to have no political, economic, or global relevance? That is exactly the reason why we should save our languages, because it is the spiritual relevance deeply embedded in our languages that makes them relevant to us as American Indians today. If we just spoke them, all of our languages would be healthier; but that is not what’s happening. We do not speak our languages, and our languages are dying. We are also confronted with a voracious language, English, that gobbles up everything in its way. The Cheyenne people began making the change to a different type of culture and to a written language about a century ago. Those of us who speak the Cheyenne language are quite possibly the last generation able to joke in our own language. A second idea is that language is the basis of sovereignty. We have all the attributes that constitute sovereign nations: a governance structure, law and order, jurisprudence, literature, a land base, spiritual and sacred practices, and that one attribute that holds all of these others together— our languages. A third idea is that of protocol in the language used in ceremonies. The dilemma is that the people who have the right to use that vocabulary and language, and who have done the rituals, are dying. The loss of this specialized language will become a major obstacle in retaining the full richness of our languages and cultures. We need to make our children see our languages and cultures as viable and just as valuable as anything they see on television, in movies, or on videos. In closing, I want to relate an experience I had in Alaska. I met Marie Smith, the last Native speaker of the Eyak language. It was truly a profoundly moving experience for me. I felt that I was sitting in the 84 presence of a whole universe of knowledge that could be gone in one last breath. That’s how fragile that linguistic universe seemed. It was really difficult for me to stop talking to her, because I wanted to remember every moment of our encounter. I do not want any more of our languages to have that experience of having one last speaker. I want all of our languages to last forever, to always be around to nurture our children, to bolster their identities, to perpetuate our cultures. The Cheyenne language is my language. English is also my language. Yet it is Cheyenne that I want to use when my time is completed here on this earth and journey on to the spirit world. (Source: Just Speak Your Language, Richard Littlebear, in Native American Voices: A Reader, third edition (eds. Susan Lobo, Steve Talbot, Traci Morris), Prentice-Hall, pp. 90–92. 2010. Critical Thinking Question How does Dune Lankard’s story illustrate the perspectives that cultural anthropology can bring to the study of people and their ways of life? Archaeology Archaeology is the study of material culture. Its methods apply to both historic cultures, those with written records, and prehistoric cultures, those that predate the invention of writing. Archaeologists have also applied their methods to living societies, a subfield called ethnoarchaeology, with sometimes surprising results. archaeology 85 The study of past cultures, both historic cultures with written records and prehistoric cultures that predate the invention of writing. Unlike cultural anthropologists, who can interact with and talk to living people, archaeologists rely mostly on evidence from material culture and the sites where people lived. Such evidence includes, among many other things, the tools that people made and used, the clothing and ornaments they wore, the buildings they lived and worked in, the remains of the plants and animals they relied on, and how they buried their dead. This kind of evidence can reveal how people lived in the past. The remains of small, temporary encampments, for example, might indicate that the people who used them foraged their food. If the encampment had a lot of stone debris, it was likely used as a workshop for making stone tools. A settlement with permanent dwellings near farmable land and irrigation canals would have been inhabited by agriculturalists. Judging from the density of settlements and household refuse like fragments of pots, archaeologists can estimate the population of a region at a particular time. The size and distribution of dwellings in a settlement or region can reveal aspects of a society’s social structure. If a few of the houses in a settlement are much larger than most others, if they contain many more objects than other dwellings, especially luxury items, archaeologists can conclude that some people were wealthier than others. In contrast, if all of the houses are more or less the same size and contain similar types and amounts of possessions, archaeologists can infer that all of the people lived in more or less the same fashion and were probably of equal status. Skeletal remains can provide similar clues to social structure. Archaeologists working at a site in Peru called Chavín de Huántar, which flourished from around 800 B.C. to 200 B.C., found evidence from skeletons that the people living close to the site’s center ate better than those who lived on its margins. This 86 evidence, combined with similar findings from other sites, suggests that Chavín society was becoming more stratified—that is, divided into classes (Burger 1992a; 1992b). These 3.6-million-year-old tracks of hominids walking through an ashfall from a distant volcanic eruption in Tanzania are the first evidence of fully bipedal locomotion in ancient humans. What might an analysis of refuse reveal about life in a dormitory? 87 Archaeologists can also tell us about people’s relationships with members of other communities. In much of the world, indigenous trading networks supplied people with goods and products not found in their own territories. Archaeologists can reconstruct these trading networks by studying the distribution of trade goods in relation to their place of origin. Similar evidence also can trace migrations, warfare, and conquest. Written records add enormously to our understanding of the past, but they do not replace the need for archaeology. Archaeology provides a richer understanding of how people lived and worked than do documents alone. People write and keep records about what is important to them. Because the elite members of a society are usually those who are literate, the historical record is more likely to reflect their interests and points of view than that of poor and marginal people. Archaeology can help correct those biases. In 1991, construction in lower Manhattan in New York City uncovered the five-acre African Burial Ground containing the remains of 10,000 to 20,000 enslaved and free African Americans. Archaeologists were able to determine the diets, health, and causes of death of many of the people buried there, documenting the role slavery played in New York City in the early eighteenth century, a feature of urban life previously not well known (Encyclopedia of New York State 2008). Archaeological methods can help address important issues in contemporary societies. In the 1970s, the archaeologist William Rathje founded the Arizona Garbage Project to study what Americans throw away and what happens to this refuse. Rathje defined archaeology as the discipline that learns from garbage (Rathje and Murphy, 1992). Among the surprising findings, fast-food packaging actually makes up less than 1 percent of the volume of American landfills, contrary to popular opinion and the estimates of experts. Compacted paper takes up the most space. Archaeology’s great chronological depth—from humanity’s origins millions of years ago to twenty-first-century landfills—makes it particularly suited to the study of culture change. Theories of culture change are one of the discipline’s main concerns. For example, many archaeologists are interested in the processes that led to the first cities thousands of years ago, and with them the 88 first states—societies with centralized governments, administrative bureaucracies, and inequalities of wealth and power. Watch the Video: Being an Archaeologist on myanthrolab.com Globalization The global spread of humans was made possible by the evolution of the capacity for culture and the development and spread of the first tool traditions. Biological Anthropology Biological, or physical, anthropology is the study of human origins and contemporary biological diversity. In the popular imagination, the study of human origins, or paleoanthropology , is probably the most visible face of biological anthropology. Paleoanthropologists seek to decipher the fossil record—the usually fragmentary remains of human forebears and related animals—to understand human evolution. Paleoanthropologists have also turned to the science of genetics and the study of DNA for clues to human origins. biological, or physical, anthropology 89 The study of human origins and contemporary biological diversity. paleoanthropology The study of the fossil record, especially skeletal remains, to understand the process and products of human evolution. Humans are primates; we belong, in other words, to the same order of animals that includes monkeys and apes. DNA evidence indicates that we share a common ancestry with gorillas and chimpanzees—our closest living relatives— and that our evolutionary line separated from theirs in Africa between 5 million and 8 million years ago. Working from fossil evidence, paleoanthropologists are reconstructing the complex course of human evolution. They study changes in the environment in which our ancestors emerged millions of years ago to understand the adaptive benefits of the physical changes they underwent. They study the size and structure of teeth to learn about our ancestors’ diets. And they study the distribution of fossils worldwide to learn how and when our ancestors migrated out of Africa and populated most of Earth. Once humans began to create clothes, shelters, and tools appropriate for environments from the Arctic to the tropics, they no longer depended exclusively on their physical characteristics for survival. With language and more complex social organization, they could enhance group survival. Thus, paleoanthropologists are particularly interested in clues to the emergence of human culture. Here their interests and methods overlap with those of archaeologists as they excavate sites looking for evidence of early toolmaking in association with fossils. 90 Some physical anthropologists study nonhuman primates to gain insight into the nature of our own species. The primatologist Jane Goodall, for example, spent years observing the behavior of chimpanzees in the wild, and her discoveries about their social behavior have a bearing on the origins of our own social behavior. Goodall also found that chimpanzees can make and use rudimentary tools. In addition to human origins and primate social behavior, physical anthropologists also study the interaction of biology, culture, and environment to understand humanity’s current biological diversity. For example, the Inuit, an indigenous people of Arctic Canada, have developed ways to clothe and shelter themselves to survive in their harsh environment, but they also appear to have a greater rate of blood flow to their bodily extremities in response to cold than other people do (Itoh 1980; McElroy and Townsend 1989, 26–29). Indigenous inhabitants of the Andes Mountains in South America have a greater than average lung capacity, which is an adaptation to the low oxygen of their highaltitude environment. And people from regions rich in dairy products are genetically adapted to digest milk easily, whereas adults from regions where milk is not a traditional part of the diet are not. These lactase-deficient adults have digestive problems when they drink milk. Skin color also is in part an adaptation to climatic conditions and exposure to sun, as darker skin has a higher content of melanin, a substance that protects against overabsorption of the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays (Rensberger 2001, 83). We discuss the social significance and interpretation of skin color further in Chapter 12 . The subfield of medical anthropology focuses on health and disease in human populations. Medical anthropologists investigate the susceptibilities or resistances of populations to specific diseases. They also trace the spread of diseases within a population and from one population to another. Before the arrival of the first Europeans and Africans in South and North America in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, for example, smallpox, measles, and other infectious diseases were unknown. As a result, Native Americans, unlike the newcomers, had no natural immunity to the diseases. The results were catastrophic; once exposed to the diseases, millions of Native Americans died. 91 medical anthropology A discipline that bridges cultural and biological anthropology, focusing on health and disease in human populations. A reconstruction of “Lucy,” an early hominid living some 3.2 million years ago. In contrast to the vulnerabilities of indigenous peoples of the Americas, some populations have advantageous resistances to diseases endemic in their areas, as the following Case Study investigates. 92 Case Study Environment, Adaptation, and Disease: Malaria and Sickle-Cell Anemia in Africa and the United States Study of the incidence of two diseases, malaria and sickle-cell anemia, demonstrates how the processes of biological adaptation and culture change can interact to affect human health. Sickle-cell anemia is a genetic disease that causes red blood cells to have a sickle shape rather than their normal disk shape. Sickled cells cannot hold and transport oxygen normally. Because the disease can be fatal in those who have inherited the recessive gene from both parents, one might expect that the sickle-cell trait would naturally die out in a population. However, individuals who carry one dominant and one recessive copy of the gene survive and also happen to have immunity from another disease—malaria. Malaria is an infectious disease spread by the Anopheles mosquito. Both diseases are extremely debilitating and potentially fatal. And both are endemic to West Africa, the ancestral homeland of most African Americans. 93 What does this analysis of sickle-cell anemia and malaria suggest about the relationships between biological and cultural factors in human health? By not transporting oxygen properly and clogging organs, sickled red blood cells cause lifelong, potentially life-threatening health problems for people with this genetic disorder. The genetic trait that causes sickle-cell anemia probably evolved in human populations in West Africa about 2,400 years ago (Edelstein 1986). At the time, dense forests covered much of West Africa. The inhabitants had lived for millennia by hunting and collecting wild plants. The Anopheles mosquito was present; however, because it breeds in unshaded pools of standing water, the mostly shady conditions of the forest kept its numbers in check. Around 2,000 years ago, however, farming peoples from East Africa began to filter into West Africa, displacing the indigenous population and clearing forestlands for their fields. This created the open areas with standing pools of water in which the Anopheles mosquito thrives (Foster and Anderson 1978). As farming spread, so did malaria. As the human population and its cattle herds increased, so did the mosquito population and malaria. 94 Those who inherit the sickle-cell gene from one parent gain some resistance to malaria, which lessens the severity of the infection. As a result, the sickle-cell gene has spread in malaria-stricken areas. An estimated 30 percent of West African farmers carry the gene. The lowest incidence of the gene is among those who live in still-forested peripheral areas of West Africa, where the Anopheles mosquito and malaria are also less prevalent. The adaptive advantage of the sickle-cell trait, then, is high in populations that live in areas where malaria is prevalent but is less for those who live where the disease is less common. In the United States, where malaria is rare, people of West African descent have higher rates of the sickle-cell gene than do nonAfricans, but their rates are much lower than among West Africans today. If the cultural practice of farming helped spread malaria in West Africa, diet may contribute to the adaptive advantage of the sickle-cell gene. Common crops grown in Africa and the West Indies, including cassava (manioc), yams, sorghum, millet, sugarcane, and lima beans, reduce the severity of the symptoms of sickle-cell anemia because they contain chemical compounds that interfere with the sickling of the red blood cells. This may explain why a lower 95 percentage of Africans suffer from sickle-cell anemia than do African Americans, even though more West Africans have the sickle-cell gene. A study revealed that Jamaicans with sickle-cell anemia had relatively mild symptoms when they lived in Jamaica and ate a Jamaican diet, but experienced more severe symptoms when they migrated to the United States or Britain and changed their eating habits (Frisancho 1981). Read the Document on myanthrolab.com View the Map Distribution of Sickle Cell Trait on myanthrolab.com Review Anthropology has four subfields: cultural anthropology, linguistic anthropology, archaeology, and biological (or physical) anthropology. Because we all are prone to be ethnocentric, cultural anthropologists adopt the method of ethnography and the perspective of cultural relativism to avoid being judgmental of other cultures. The work of linguistic anthropologists and archaeologists sheds light on culture change, and subdisciplines such as medical anthropology combine biological and cultural anthropology. Applied Anthropology Applied anthropology intersects with and draws from the four major subfields. Indeed, many anthropologists regard applied anthropology as a fifth subfield of anthropology. Applied anthropologists employ anthropological understandings and perspectives to work outside traditional academic settings. For example, some biological anthropologists work as forensic anthropologists , applying their knowledge of human anatomy to help solve crimes. Working for police departments, the Federal Bureau of 96 Investigation (FBI), and other law enforcement agencies, forensic anthropologists can help determine the cause of death by examining a victim’s remains and the physical evidence found at a crime scene. Forensic anthropologists’ knowledge of skeletal anatomy, blood types, and biochemical markers in the blood can also help identify a victim and provide leads to suspects. Forensic anthropologists have also been asked to study human remains for evidence of human rights abuses that occur during wars and civil conflicts. applied anthropology An area of anthropology that applies the techniques and theories of the field to problem solving outside of traditional academic settings. forensic anthropologists Biological anthropologists who analyze human remains in the service of criminal justice and families of disaster victims. Many government agencies, such as the FBI’s behavioral science unit Violent Criminal Apprehension Program (ViCAP), employ forensic anthropologists. Forensic anthropologists and archaeologists also work for the Central Identification Laboratory—Hawaii (CILHI). Members of CILHI have traveled to Vietnam and Korea to find the remains of downed airplanes in attempts to identify people missing in action (MIAs) from the Vietnam and Korean wars. Forensic anthropologists also helped identify remains of victims of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City. 97 Applied archaeology has grown with federal and state laws that protect archaeological sites and materials, which has led to the creation of the field of cultural resource management (CRM) . Laws now require archaeological surveys in advance of many highway and other construction projects to assess their impact on archaeological sites. The need for these assessments has given rise to contract archaeology , in which archaeologists are hired to do this kind of research. cultural resource management (CRM) The application of archaeology to preserve and protect historic structures and prehistoric sites. contract archaeology The application of archaeology to assess the potential impact of construction on archaeological sites and to salvage archaeological evidence. Globalization Anthropology-based advocacy centers on protecting and preserving the native cultures of small-scale societies that share these goals from the impacts of globalization. Archaeologists’ findings about the past can also be used to solve contemporary problems. Archaeologists working around Lake Titicaca in the Andes of South America, for example, discovered an ancient and productive method of 98 cultivation that had fallen into disuse. They helped reintroduce this method to local farmers, which substantially increased their yields. Some linguistic anthropologists apply their skills to preserve indigenous languages. They may work with native speakers to prepare dictionaries, grammars, and other aids for use in language classes and schools. Their work helps indigenous communities counter the rapid decline in the number of people who speak local languages. Collecting data from speakers of endangered languages is a fieldwork priority for linguistic anthropologists. Cultural anthropologists complete applied anthropology work in nonacademic settings, such as government agencies, nongovernment organizations, charitable foundations, and private companies. Some help shape the policies of city, state, and federal agencies that deliver services to local communities; for example, they may advise on the best ways to Anthropology Applied Cultural Survival Cultural anthropologists sometimes help indigenous communities improve their economic conditions, adapt to change, and preserve their traditions. They help communities find ways to use their resources productively while protecting their environment and cultural heritage. Some anthropologists have also helped protect indigenous peoples’ rights to land and resources and their rights to continue cultural practices. 99 Cultural Survival is an organization founded by anthropologists that promotes the rights, voices, and visions of indigenous peoples around the world. The organization deals with conflict and migration, cultural preservation, improvement of health care, indigenous economic enterprises, law and self-determination, and the preservation of natural resources. Its initiatives include publications to publicize issues and share 100 news, indigenous curricula, fair trade stores and exchanges such as the Coffee Alliance, legal defense, and an indigenous action network. Not all applied anthropology concerns native peoples and their cultural survival, however. Some cultural anthropologists advise government agencies and private companies on how to overcome resistance from indigenous and rural communities to policies and projects that benefit national governments and private concerns but threaten indigenous rights and resources. 101 Critical Thinking Question How can anthropological research affect public policy, private enterprise, and advocacy for indigenous peoples? contact different populations in a community to deliver services. These may be health care services, such as vaccinations, legal aid services, or preschool and other educational opportunities for children. Cultural anthropologists work in research firms and think tanks to solve social problems. They also help communities, companies, and organizations to resolve management disputes and conflicts. They help resolve labor and workplace issues and work for courts to develop and implement alternative sentencing programs for offenders. Anthropologists may act as advocates and testify in courts to support native claims to land or other benefits or rights, and may help indigenous people present their history and culture from a native perspective. Cultural Survival, for example, helps native peoples in Ecuador, Peru, and Brazil protect their interests in the face of globalization. Medical anthropologists may help preserve traditional medical practices and pharmaceuticals, and encourage practitioners of both traditional and Western medicine to understand the physical and psychological benefits of both medical 102 models for developing treatment procedures that combine both forms of medicine. How might Western pharmaceutical companies employ the services of anthropologists? Anthropologists who work for industries and corporations analyze workplace interactions to suggest improvements in the working environment and worker productivity. Anthropologists may provide sensitivity training for American businesspeople planning to meet overseas with their foreign counterparts. Anthropologists even study consumer habits to help companies increase sales or develop new products and services. For example, Canon employed a team of anthropologists to study the kinds of pictures and notes that families create and affix to their walls and refrigerators. The company used the findings to develop Canon Creative software, which allows families to make their own greeting cards, posters, and T-shirts, and thus increased printer sales (Hafner 1999). Watch the Video: Career Videos on myanthrolab.com Review Applied anthropology is the practical use of all four subfields of anthropology outside academia. Applied anthropology includes forensic anthropologists, workers in cultural resource management, contract archaeologists, and linguistic and cultural anthropologists. All applied anthropologists use their training in other fields of anthropology. Study and Review on myanthrolab.com 103 104 Chapter Summary The Study of Humanity Anthropology is the study of humanity, from its evolutionary origins millions of years ago to today’s worldwide diversity of peoples and cultures. Three features distinguish anthropology from other social sciences: a focus on the concept of culture, a holistic perspective, and a comparative perspective. Culture is the constellation of learned values, beliefs, and rules of conduct that members of a society share. Culture change and globalization are important subjects of anthropological research. Anthropology’s holistic perspective focuses on culture as an integrated whole, the various features and patterns of which can only be understood in relation to one another. Anthropology’s comparative perspective is based on cultural data drawn from societies throughout the world and from throughout human history, documenting the diversity of human culture in an attempt to understand common patterns in people’s adaptations to their environments and their unique cultural institutions. The Four Subfields of Anthropology Cultural anthropology is the comparative st...
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ANTHROPOLOGY

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CULTURE

What is enculturation?
This is the process through which children acquire or learn their cultures and social
knowledge so as to function as a complete member of a given society. In all societies around the
globe, enculturation starts immediately a child is born and goes on to maturity. Enculturation
takes place principally non-explicit and informal means ...


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