lOMoARcPSD|12404876 Anthro Final Notes Introduction to Anthropology (University of Waterloo) StuDocu is not sponsored or endorsed by any college or university Downloaded by Aryan Kainth (kaintharyan1741@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|12404876 Alisha Dhanji ANTH 100 Jan, 6th 2017 February 27th 2017 Human Diversity: Race and Racism What is Race? - Textbook: In biology, the taxonomic category of a subspecies that is not applicable to humans because the division of humans into discrete types does not represent the true nature of human biological variation. In some societies, race is an important cultural category (p. 147) - Cultural categories are just as important as biological ones - Race is more than juts a biological concept - Ethnicity was more cultural and race was more biological but now its not so easy to separate - Race and ethnicity Classifying human Diversity - A way to categorize humans o A way to deal with observed difference Linnaeus: Europaeus, americanus, asiaticus, afer Blumenbach: Caucasian, American, Mongolian, Malay, Ethiopian Forensics: Caucasoid, Mongoloid, Negroid Clinal Distribution - Sun Melanin Skin Colour - Due to migration adding Vitamin D to food make sure everyone gets enough nutrients to grow healthy bones - Clinal Distribution No sharp breaks between skin colours and areas Human Diversity - Biological Difference Race and Colonialism - Linked to colonialism and conquest o Hierarchy of races o Strategy for ranking and controlling populations Racism - Bias - Stereotyping - Discrimination o Overt Systematic o Covert Structural/Institutional (less obvious) - Identity o Intersectionality - “Racism is not about how you look, it is about how people assign meaning to the way you look” – Robin D.G. Kelley (Historian, UCLA) Dealing with Difference Feelings towards other groups Positive Negative Emphasis on Difference Low: Overcome or ignore difference Colourblindness Assimilation Racism Downloaded by Aryan Kainth (kaintharyan1741@gmail.com) High: Emphasize Difference Multiculturalism Separatism/Segregation (genocide) lOMoARcPSD|12404876 Alisha Dhanji ANTH 100 Jan, 6th 2017 - Bias Stereotyping Discrimination o Overt Systematic o Covert Structural/Institutional - Identity o Intersectionality What is Race? - Just like culture, you can not have a race on your own o Dialogic: Something you give yourself, but also something other people give you - Race is relational: o When we construct ‘them’ as a ‘race’ we also construct ‘us’ as a ‘race’ - Different depending on context o Race is “highly mutable and situationally defined” o Depends on social conditions race can be conflated with social class, poverty, religion, etc. “I was black once, when I was poor” - Larry Holmes (Boxer, from Orser, 1998, p 664) - Although ‘everyone knows’ what ‘race’ is, ‘race’ is not a ‘fact’ but a discourse, an idea, a concept, a process of meaning-making - Race is: o A dialogue o A social and cultural construction o Linked to biological variation o “The cultural interpretation of biological difference” Effects of Racism - Social inequality - Health o Negative effects o Personalized medicine Tay-Sachs as a ‘Jewish Disease’ It also affects Louisiana Cajun Populations and French Canadians What is Race? - Although ‘everyone knows’ what ‘race’ is, ‘race’ is not a ‘fact’ but a discourse, an idea, a concept, a process of meaning-making - Race is: o A dialogue o A Social and Cultural construction o Linked to biological variation - Race is: o “The cultural interpretation of biological difference” March 1st 2017 Social Identity and Personality - Racism Rosa Parks o Different classifications of race/colour o Lead to classifications of space o Institutions (police) come together in making racism consequential for different races Racism - A doctorine of superiority by which one group justifies the dehumanization of others based on their distinctive physical characteristics Downloaded by Aryan Kainth (kaintharyan1741@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|12404876 Alisha Dhanji - ANTH 100 Jan, 6th 2017 It is not just about discriminatory ideas, values or attitudes but is also a political problem Racial conflicts result from social stereotypes, not known scientific facts Race and Human Diversity - Humans are single, highly variable species inhabiting the entire globe - Through biological processes are responsible for human variation, the biological concept of race cannot be applied to human diversity - The vast majority of human variation exists within populations rather than among them Humans are Unfinished Animals - Humans are not specialized, not “optimized” for any specific task - We are born incomplete, unfinished, but with the capacity to learn and be formed/cultivated - Standing, sitting, walking, writing, mimics, and gestures are all cultural techniques - Although our bodies are given naturally, how we use them is a product of our society’s culture - Young children shape their body (and its uses) according to the control mechanisms of “their” society (through imitation, controlled guidance, …) - By contributing to the shaping/cultivation of a child the members of a society express that it is one of “theirs” - Enculturation The process by which a society’s culture is transmitted from one generation to another and individuals become members of their society What is the most fundamental distinction in our social world? - Self vs. Other - “I/Myself” vs. “The Rest of The World” Bodily Matters - For a child there must be no doubt about “me” and “it”; and then about “we” and “they” - But where is the difference in case of things like feces, urine, semen, menstrual blood, hair clippings, nail parings, body dirt, spittle? - “Where is the edge of me?” - “What am I, against the world?” Self vs. Other - Realization of child that “body of mother” is different from “body of self” - When you hurt, others may not - When others die, you live - Self vs. Other(s) division is the template for all other binary social divisions made by humans - Which criteria are available for distinction? o Gender, family, vocation, residence Enculturation and Self-Awareness - Enculturation, the process by which individuals become members of their society, begins soon after birth” o For enculturation to proceed, individuals must possess self-awareness, the ability to perceive and reflect upon themselves as individuals Self-Awareness and Orientations - The development of self-awareness involves: o Object Orientation: Cultural meaning assigned to material objects o Spatial Orientation: Ability to get form one space or object to another o Temporal Orientation: Gives people a sense of their place in time o Normative Orientation: Moral values, ideals, and principles assigned cultural importance Example: Sleeping patterns different in different cultures Downloaded by Aryan Kainth (kaintharyan1741@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|12404876 Alisha Dhanji ANTH 100 Jan, 6th 2017 March 3rd 2017 Gender Child Rearing: Dependence Training - Dependence Training o Socializes people to think of themselves in terms of the larger whole Child Rearing: Independence Training - Independence Training o Fosters individual self-reliance and personal achievement Interdependence Training - Combination of independence and dependence training - Child-rearing practices meant to promote the key value of being an interdependent member of society – capable of acting alone but cherished by the group (e.g., Beng of West Africa) Child-Rearing among the Ju/’hoansi (Namibia) - In traditional Ju/’hoansi society: children raised by mothers and fathers - Children do not fear or respect male authority any more than female authority - Dependence training Study of Three Societies: - Arapesh: o Men and women equally peaceful in temperament - Mundugumor: o Men and women equally war-like in temperament - Tchambuli o Women do most practical work, men decorate themselves Culture and Personality - Personality is the distinctive way a person thinks, feels and behaves o Early childhood experiences may play key role in shaping adult personality o Mead: biology is not destiny Gender: - The cultural elaborations and meanings assigned to the biological differentiation between the sexes Is “Male to Female” like “Culture to Nature” - Women: Menstruation (dangerous/ly polluting) role in procreation associates them with “nature”? - Men: Cultivated through elaborate initiation rituals? The Female Body: A Ventriloquist’s Puppet? - Naturalization of meanings concerning the female (and male) body is ideological Alternative Genders - Transgender are people who occupy a culturally accepted intermediate position in the binary male-female gender construction ( independent of sexual orientation) o Many cultures have created social space for transgendered individuals whoa re culturally accepted as a third gender category - Intersexual: Individuals who do not fit nearly into either male or female biological standard or into a binary gender standard Downloaded by Aryan Kainth (kaintharyan1741@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|12404876 Alisha Dhanji - ANTH 100 Jan, 6th 2017 Transsexual people choose medical assistance to change from one sex to another Chapter 9:Language and Communication Monday March 6th 2017 Language as a System of Symbols Edmund Leach - “For the anthropologist, language is a part of culture, not a thing in itself” Symbol - ? Language as a System of Symbols Language: A system of communication using symbolic sounds, gestures, or marks that are put together according to certain rules, resulting in meanings that are intelligible to all who share that language Symbols: Signs that are arbitrarily linked to something else and represent it by convention (not in a meaningful way) Charles Sanders Peirce: What is a Sign? - “A sign is something which stands to somebody for something in some respect or capacity” - “A sign does not function as a sign unless it be understood as a sign” Ferdinand de Saussure - See figures - Without language, thought is vague, unchartered nebula. There are no pre-existing ideas, and nothing is distinct before the appearance of language (…) The characteristic role of language with respect to thought is not to create a material phonic means for expressing ideas but to serve as a link between thought and sound, under conditions that of necessity bring about the reciprocal delimitations of units We cannot think (and communicate) without shared language, symbols and classifications “Our colonization of each other’s minds is the price we pay for thought” – Mary Douglas Face-to-Face Communication - “Real time” - Turn taking and its timing - Gestures and mimics visible - Intonation Theory of Language (Main Points) - Language is a symbolic system - There is no transparent relationship between worlds and things - Meaning is not the same as reference - The system is relatively arbitrary El Silbo Gomero - See video Wednesday March 8th Language and Culture Edmund Leach - “For the anthropologist, language is a part of culture, not a thing in itself” Edward Sapir: Linguistic Relativity Downloaded by Aryan Kainth (kaintharyan1741@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|12404876 Alisha Dhanji - ANTH 100 Jan, 6th 2017 “The fact of the matter is that the “real world” is to a large extent unconsciously built up on the language habits of the group. No two languages are ever sufficiently similar to be considered as representing the same social reality. The worlds in which different societies live are distinct worlds, not merely the same world with different labels attached to them.” – Delaney (2004: 137) Noam Chomsky - Syntactic Structures o “Deep structure of language common to all humans, cognitive processes likewise” (claim of universalism) Metaphor, Language and Culture - Greek metaphorein = to transport, carry over “Richard is a lion” (not: Richard is like a lion similie) - “Interaction view” of metaphor by Richards (1936) and Black (1954) - Lakoff/Johnson: Metaphors We Live By (1980): “The essence of metaphor is understanding and experiencing one kind in terms of another” (p. 5) - “Our ordinary conceptual system, in terms of which we both think and act, is fundamentally metaphorical in nature” (p. 3) A Cultural Difference? The Nuer (South Sudan) - “The Nuer have no expressions equivalent to “time” in our language, and they cannot, therefore, as we can, speak of time as though it were something actual, which passes, can be wasted, can be saved and so forth. I do not think that they ever experience the same feeling of fighting against time or of having to coordinate activities with an abstract passage of time (…) nuer are fortunate” – Evans-Pritchard World Color Survey - Different cultures have different names for different colors Week 10 Friday March 10th: Writing and Media Aoe vs Human Vocal System - Close relatives - Similarities but the arrangement is different allows for articulation of more diverse sounds - As a result conceptual thought is aided by the diverse sounds we can produce Nim Chimpsky - Famous chimpanzee adopted by a family - Nuclear family with adopted chimp - Chimp learned basics of sign language to level of about 2-3 year old - See video “Time is Money” - “Remember that time is money.” (Benjamin Franklin Advice to a Young Tradesman, 1748) - How does “time is money” become plausible in Canadian culture (if it is)? Binsi - Where is North, South, East, West? Linguistic relativity ties into culture through language Culture relays onto physical activities involving direction What is a bad breakup? - Lack of trust Downloaded by Aryan Kainth (kaintharyan1741@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|12404876 Alisha Dhanji - ANTH 100 Jan, 6th 2017 Long distance Ignoring the other partner Face-to-Face Conversation - Skype conversation (delayed) - “Real time” - Turn-taking and its timing - Gestures and mimics visible - Intonation - Richest in clues about intentions Media Diaries (ANTH 303) - See list Uruk - in Iraq Ruins can be found Writing may have originated not from writing letters/poems but used for a device for remembering Socrates - The danger of writing - Writing… o Is inhuman o Destroys authentic dialogue o Is impersonal o Cannot acknowledge the individuality of its interlocutors o Is promiscuous in distribution Is Writing (just) fixated speech? - “The written form – here is the point [philosopher Jacques] Derrida would underscore – is the decisive way to tell “but” and “butt” apart. (The very ideas of an isolated word and of spelling are derivative of specific writing technologies.) Writing as much as speech defines the word.” (Peters 2013) Writing: Test as a formatted space - Blank spaces - Upper and lower cases - 16th, commas, slashes, cognitive order Is Writing only linear? - No - Table of contents non linear Operational Writing - Not just fixating speech but going from calculating in letters, to roman numerals to numbers - One plus one - I+I - 1+1 - Writing is a technique of the body and significantly externalizes memory and cognition Week 11 Monday March 13th: Subsistence & Exchange Downloaded by Aryan Kainth (kaintharyan1741@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|12404876 Alisha Dhanji ANTH 100 Jan, 6th 2017 Monday: Modes of Subsistence / Introducing The Nuer Cultural Adaptation - A people’s cultural adaptation consists of a complex of ideas, activities and technologies that enable them to survive and thrive o The process of adaptation establishes an ever-shifting balance between the needs of a population and its environment Modes of Subsistence - Food-Foraging Societies - Food-Producing Societies (invention of Neolithic Revolution) o Horticulture When small communities of gardeners work with simple hand tools, using neither irrigation nor the plow, it is known as horticulture One widespread form of horticulture is Swidden farming or slashand-burn cultivation: o The natural vegetation is cut, the slash is subsequently burned, and crops are then planted among the ashes o Major environmental concern, can see from space o Wanderfeldbau, nomadisme agricole: Moving practitioners (who are suspected of escaping state rule) o “Slash and Burn”: Has become synonymous with environmental destruction o “Swidden” less loaded term, derived from swithen: old English “to singe” o Food Production: Agriculture Crop cultivation that involves irrigation, fertilizers, and the wooden and/or metal plow pulled by harnessed draft animals is known as agriculture Agriculturalists are able to grow surplus food – providing not only for their own needs but for those of various full-time specialists and nonproducing consumers as well o Pastoralism Pastoralism relies on breeding and managing migratory herds of domesticated grazing animals, such as cattle, sheep and goats: Pastoralists are usually nomadic, moving as needed to provide animals with pasture and water There are more than 21 million pastoralists in Africa and Asia alone - Industrial Societies o Industrial Food Production: Involves large-scale businesses involved in mass food production, processing and marketing that rely primarily on labor-saving machines Subsistence Exchange - Order by subsistence or by exchange/distribution? Food Foragers: Ju/’hoansi (Namibia) - Food foraging was often a characteristic of this group of people Areas of Early Domestication - Fishing - The Fertile Crescent: Plant Domestication o First Wave (10,000 years ago): Wheat, Barley, Peas Already edible, high yields, being sown is easy, grow quickly, stored easily Only two hereditary modifications (seed dispersal/germination inhibition) Downloaded by Aryan Kainth (kaintharyan1741@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|12404876 Alisha Dhanji ANTH 100 Jan, 6th 2017 Second Wave (8,000 – 6,000 years ago): fruit and nut trees (olives, figs, dates, pomegranates, grapes) Need three years after planting for first fruits, 10 years to full production Grown from cuttings (identical descendants from productive tree) o Third Wave: Apples, pears, plums and cherries Need grafting to propagate good qualities (invented in China) o Animal Domestication Dogs, Goats, Sheep, Pigs, Cows Meat, milk, fertilizer, leather, wool, pulling plows and drawing carts, military vehicles, germs Harold Conklin (1929-2016) - WW II: In Pacific as US Soldier, Professor at Yale University, Fieldwork in the Philippines - Hanunoo Color Categories (1955) - The relation of Hanunoo Agriculture to the Plant World o The Properties of Cattle and Milk - “Milk requires neither storage nor transport, being daily renewed, but, on the other hand, involves a straight dependence on water and vegetation which not only permits, but compels a wandering life. Such a life nurtures the qualities of the shepherd – courage, love of fighting, and contempt of hunger and hardship – rather than shapes and the industrious character of the peasant.” (Evans-Pritchard, The Nuer, 1940, p. 25) “Symbiosis” - “Nuer tend to define all social processes and relationships in terms of cattle. Their - “The Bedouin Arab has been called the parasite of the came. With some justice the Nuer may be called the parasite of the cow.” (p. 30) - “In truth, their relation is symbiotic; Cattle and men sustain life by their reciprocal services to one another” (p. 36) A Perfect World? - Nuer cattle husbandry could not in any important particular be improved in their present ecological relations; that, consequently, more knowledge than they possess would in no way assist them; and that, were it not for their unceasing vigilance and care the cattle would not survive the harsh conditions of the environment. (p. 36) Week 11- March 15th 2017: Modes of Subsistence (cont’d)/ Labour / Distribution and Exchange Edward Evans-Pritchard – The Nuer 1940 - Hut would be center of universe and as you go outwards it increases in distance - Taking the individual living in the hut and looks at things at greater proximity Modes of Subsistence - Food-foraging societies - Food producing societies o Horticulture o Agriculture o Pastoralism - Industrial Societies - Industrial Food Production: Involves large-scale businesses involved in mass food production, processing, and marketing that rely primarily on labor-saving machines Production and Its Resources - There are three primary resources in any culture: o Materials (land and water resources) Downloaded by Aryan Kainth (kaintharyan1741@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|12404876 Alisha Dhanji o o ANTH 100 Jan, 6th 2017 Technology Labour Labour Resources and Patterns - In addition to raw materials and technology, labour is a key resource in any economic system o Two features are almost always present in human cultures: a basic division of labour by gender and by age Division of Labour by Age - In all societies, there is some type of division of labour by age: o In traditional farming societies, children and older people make a greater contribution to the economy in terms of work than in postindustrial societies Division of Labour by Gender - There are three common patterns of division of labour by gender: o Flexible/integrated It is often the most common among food foragers and subsistence farmers Men and women perform up to 35 percent of activities with equal participation Boys and girls learn to value cooperation over competition Adult men and women interact with each other on a relatively equal basis o Segregated Almost all work is defined as either masculine or feminine, so men and women rarely engage in joint efforts It is most common in pastoral nomadic, intensive agricultural and industrial societies Typically men are expected to be tough, aggressive and competitive o Dual Sex Configuration In this pattern, men and women carry out their work separately, as in societies segregated by gender, but the relationship between them is one of balanced complementarity rather than inequality Although competition is a prevailing ethic, each gender manages its own affairs, and the interests of both men and women are represented at all levels Cooperative Labour - Cooperative work groups can be found in every type of society - If the effort involves the whole community, a festive spirit permeates the work Distribution and Exchange - Reciprocity: A transaction between two parties whereby goods and services of roughly equivalent value are exchanged - Generalized Reciprocity: The value of the gift is not calculated, nor is time of repayment specified - Balanced Reciprocity: Giving and receiving are specific as to the value of goods and the time of their delivery - Negative Reciprocity: The aim is to get something for as little as possible ad may involve hard bargaining, manipulation, cheating and theft Redistribution - Is a form of exchange in which goods flow into a central place where they are sorted and reallocated - Three motives in redistribution: o Gain a position of power through a display of wealth and generosity o Assure those who support the leadership an adequate standard of living Downloaded by Aryan Kainth (kaintharyan1741@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|12404876 Alisha Dhanji o ANTH 100 Jan, 6th 2017 Establish alliances with leaders of other groups Week 11 - March 17th 2017: Markets/Local Economies, Global Capitalism, Informal Economies Gift Exchange – Marcel Mauss (1872-1950) - Obligation to give - Obligation to receive - Obligation to reciprocate - Bowsprits of Kula canoes (Trobriand Islands, Papua New Guinea) - Bronislaw Malinowski (Argonauts of the Western Pacific (1922)) Mauss: The Gift - What rule of legality and self-interest, in societies of a backward and archaic type, compels the gift that has been received to be obligatorily reciprocated? What power resides in the object given that causes its recipient to pay it back? (Mauss, The Gift, 1923) - What is the spirit of the gift? Marcel Mauss Robert Hertz Elsdon Best - If you want to hunt birds in the forest you have to go to the priest first and get a container with sentified and ritually activated substances so the hunter can take this and puts it somewhere in the forest Trade and Barter - Trade is a transaction in which two or more people are involved in the exchange of something - Barter is when no money is involved and parties negotiate a direct exchange of trade goods - Barter is when no money is involved and parties negotiate a direct exchange of trade goods - Trade shoes for a shirt with no exchange of money is called barter – known as original economic conditions for humans (original point of money) - Barter for goods you want and give away goods you no longer need – bartering goods in a place (market) with several groups of people a general form of value will be put in place for coats, tea, coffee (basic needs) From Gifts to Commodities (& Money) - The Gift by Marcel Mauss - Capital by Karl Marx - Robert Hertz Market Exchange - The buying and selling of goods and services, with prices set by rules of supply and demand Marx View of Money - Gold as the money-commodity - Increases flexibility of trade in space and time - Money o Medium of exchange o Scale and unit of value (commensuration) o Store of value Downloaded by Aryan Kainth (kaintharyan1741@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|12404876 Alisha Dhanji ANTH 100 Jan, 6th 2017 Gift – – – – – Exchange bound to specific social relations Exchange governed by social norms Inalienable Qualitative (e.g., Kula items of different value, but bound to their history/context) Reciprocation delayed Commodity - Any good or service produced by human labour and offered as product for general sale on the market - Alienable - Fungible (quantitative/one scale of value) - Price determined by a market (demand/supply) - Exchange immediate Markets - A place where sellers gather and receive the bids of buyers for their product, agreeing on a price - Or is this a mechanism instead of place? Limits of Commensuration - What about organs? Children? Sex? The Environment? Cultural Values? Week 12 Monday March 20th: Politics, Power and Violence Monday: Tribes and States Focus on Chapter Outline: - Systems of Political Organization - Cultural Controls and the Maintenance of Order - Violent Conflict and Warfare - Resistance to Domination and Repression Politics - Politics: The process of determining who gets what, when, where and how Systems of Political Organization - Political Organization: The way power is distributed and embedded in society; the means through which a society creates and maintains social order and reduces social disorder - Power: The ability of individuals or groups to impose their will upon others and make them do things against their own wants or wishes Types of Political Organization - There are four primary types of political organizations: o Un-centralized Political systems Bands Tribes o Centralized Political Systems (clear center of power) Chiefdoms States - We will look at tribes and states African Political Systems - Book by Evans Pritchard - Studied political institutions in Africa Downloaded by Aryan Kainth (kaintharyan1741@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|12404876 Alisha Dhanji ANTH 100 Jan, 6th 2017 African Political Systems (1940) - “We do not wish to imply, however, that anthropology is indifferent to practical affairs. The policy of Indirect Rule is now generally accepted in British Africa. We would suggest that it can only prove advantageous in the long run if the principles of African political systems, such as this book deals with, are understood.” (p. 1) - Hierarchy of power - “We have not found that the theories of political philosophers have helped us to understand the societies we have studied and we consider them of little scientific value; for their conclusions are seldom formulated in terms of observed behaviour or capable of being tested by this criterion. Political philosophy has chiefly concerned itself with how men ought to live and what for of government they ought to have, rather than with what are their political habits and institutions.” (p. 4) Imaginary Anthropology - Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) - Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712 – 1778) “Anthropology is philosophy with the people in: - Tim Ingold African Political Systems (1940) - Group A (Primitive States) are societies which have… o Centralized Authority o Administrative Machinery o Judicial Institutions occupying the - Group B (Stateless Societies) are societies, which have… o Lack of Centralized Authority o Lack Administrative Machinery o Lack Judicial Institutions African Political Systems (1940) - “In both groups of societies kinship and domestic ties have an important role in the lives of individuals, but their relation to the political system is of secondary order.” (p. 6) - Political relations between territorial segments… - … regulated by administration (Primitive states)… regulated by segmentary… States - A political institution established to manage and defend a complex, socially stratified society occupying a territory (p. 296) Individuals cease part of their freedom Accept obedience Are subject to the laws of a state by simple virtue of being within its boundaries Redistribution - Redistribution is a form of exchange in which goods flow into a central place where they are stored and allocated… - Three motives in redistribution: o Gain a position of power through a display of wealth and generosity o Assure those who support the leadership an adequate standard of living o Establish alliances with leaders of groups - Example: Inca Empire of Peru o State founded on irrigation agriculture o City populations to over 50,000 people, most fed by excess production of agriculture o No private property in land Downloaded by Aryan Kainth (kaintharyan1741@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|12404876 Alisha Dhanji o o ANTH 100 Jan, 6th 2017 Producers keep one-third of produce, give two thirds to states and temples All wealth belongs to king who is also a sun-deity What is a Tribe? - State-less society - Kinship based - Genealogical roots in common ancestor Evans Pritchard: What is A Nuer Tribe? - “The most obvious characteristic is its territorial unity and exclusiveness…” - “It has a name which is the symbol of its distinction. The tribesmen have a sense of patriotism: they are proud to be members of their tribe and they consider it superior to other tribes.” - Population of a tribe: few 100s – 45000 souls - “Each tribe is economically self-sufficient, having its own pastures, water-supplies, and fishing reservations, which its members alone have the right to exploit.” (p. 278) Recap: Lineality and Lineages - Lineage: Genealogical reckoning back to apical ancestor - Clan: Such an ancestor considered as mythical, often non-human, figure who lived in distant past - Lineages & clans are usually exogamic units - Rules of exogamy “We vs They” In small-scale societies people know their relatedness/non-relatedness to specific others Types of Political Organizations - There are four primary types of political organizations o Uncentralized Political Systems: Bands Tribes o Centralized Political Systems Chiefdoms States Week 12 - Wednesday March 22nd 2017: Order and Conflict The Nuer - A description of the modes of livelihood and political institutions of a Nilotic people by Edward Evans Pritchard What is a tribe? - State-less society - Kinship based - Genealogical roots in a common ancestor Evans-Pritchard: “What is a Nuer Tribe?” - “A tribe is the largest community which considers that disputes between its members should be settled by arbitration…[I]t ought to combine against other communities of the same kind and against foreigners.” - “Within a tribe there is law: there is a machinery for settling disputes and a moral obligation to conclude them sooner or later. If a man kills a fellow tribesman, it is possible to prevent, or curtail, a feud by payment of cattle.” presumes equality of individuals - “Between tribe and tribe there is no means of bringing together the parties to a dispute and compensation is neither offered or demanded. Thus, if a man of one tribe kills a man of another tribe, retribution can only take the form of intertribal warfare.” Downloaded by Aryan Kainth (kaintharyan1741@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|12404876 Alisha Dhanji - ANTH 100 Jan, 6th 2017 “…we may speak of the Nuer as a nation, though only in a cultural sense, of there is no common political organization or central administration.” Week 12 - Friday March 24th 2017: Resistance to Domination Dinka vs. Nuer Tribe …. Feud by payment of cattle South Sudan - Conflict among cattle herd Dinka/Nuer Relations - Dinka/Nuer relations more fluid than depicted by Evans-Pritchard: Many intermarriages, shared oral traditions and cultural practices - Nuer: 19th century expansion, incorporation of Dinka groups, making outsiders feel like insiders: “shared language, co-residence, love of cattle, community participation, moral conformity make a Nuer” (Performative Identity) - Dinka: “Came to stress their identity through shared blood lines” (Primordial Identity) - Compensation of cattle also for Dinka/Nuer murders etc. - Before 1991: Dinka accepted as Nuer chiefs, but not vice versa - Before 1991: Regional codes of warfare ethics - Taking cattle “legitimate”, but rape of enemies’ women rare and condemned/no intentional killing of women, children, elders during violent confrontations/ no destruction of houses and homesteads - Since late 1980s: Riek Machar (Nuer Leader) stresses difference of previous localized feuds/homicides and “government war” - Riek Machar and others argues that traditional ethics applied only to killing with spears, but not to killing with guns: reduced responsibility (less personal involvement in the act of killing) - Dinka and Nuer women less firmly rooted in ethnic identities than men - In patrilineal kinship they confer their spouse’s ethnic identity on their children - Dinka and Nuer marry exogamously: Women inevitably married to (relative) strangers, are “not of the same blood” as their men - At first women at cross-roads of conflict: mediated dialogue/peace-making after 1991 increasing violence against women - Killing a “Dinka Child” as killing a “Dinka” primordial understanding of ethnicity (vs. previous performance understanding) Dinka/Nuer Relations - “The irony is that, despite the ‘hyper-masculinized’ military subculture, Nuer men – like their Dinka counterparts – have become less and less capable of fulfilling their most important social role as the protectors of their immediate families, homesteads and herds - Hutchinson argues for re-establishing women’s role as mediators in peace-making (grassroots workshops have been successful in late 90s) Ethnic Group: People who collectively and publicly identify themselves as a distinct group based on shared cultural features such as common origin, language, customs and traditional beliefs Ethnicity: This term, rooted in the Greek work ethnikos (“nation”) and related to ethnos (“custom”) is the expression for the set of cultural ideas held by an ethnic group Conflict Can Produce Social Cohesion and Essence - The idea of an isolated “ethnic group” is nonsensical! ethnicity comes to matter as an aspect of a relationship Downloaded by Aryan Kainth (kaintharyan1741@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|12404876 Alisha Dhanji ANTH 100 Jan, 6th 2017 A Paradox of our Time - Cultural differences have become in many regards less apparent (because of more contact, modernization) - But: ethnic identity and self-consciousness become increasingly important o The more similar people become, the more they are concerned about remaining distinctive It is truism that anything is similar to, and also different from, anything else. It depends, we usually say, on the criteria. To the man who speaks of similarity or of analogy, we therefore at once post the question: similar with respect to what? – Thomas Kuhn Social Order: Internalized vs. Externalized Control - Externalized control: Sanctions, laws, coerce conformity to acceptable social behaviors - Internalized controls: Gazes, gossip, shaming - Most people aim to get through their delay affairs with avoiding trouble. Doing so requires skills that are often culture-specific - Conduct oneself as a proper citizen Nonviolent Resistance - End of colonial periods commonly marked by wards of idependence (US, Alferia, etc.) - In other cases vicil disobedience was successful - Ex.: Ghandi’s movement of satyagraha (“insistence on truth”) - Sathyam (truthfulness [also to oneself]) - Influenced MLK WEEK 13 - Monday March 27, 2017 CLASS CANCELLED WEEK 13 - Wednesday March 29, 2017 CLASS CANCELLED WEEK 13 - Friday March 31, 2017 Strange Beliefs - Azande Granaries o Evans Pritchard o Search for an extra explanation - Azande oracles Termite Mound Iwa Benge o Who is accusing who for witchcraft o Accusations were always on socially equal, local people that had specific locations in society o Different technologies to diagnose o Zande Binza (witch-doctor) o “Witches, as Azande conceive them, cannot exist” (Evans Pritchard) - What is Azande witchcraft good for? o Explains unfortunate events (“it explains more than science”) o Suggests remedies o Brings social tension into the open o Has normative effect on society - Animism o Animism: A belief that nature is animated or energized by distinct personalized spirit beings separable from bodies Downloaded by Aryan Kainth (kaintharyan1741@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|12404876 Alisha Dhanji ANTH 100 Spirits, such as souls and ghosts, are believed to dwell in humans, animals and also other natural (inanimate) features This is common among people who see themselves as part of nature, rather than superior to it Sir Edward Tylor (1832-1917) Supernatural Beings and Spiritual Forces o A hallmark of religion is the belief in supernatural beings and spiritual forces. These can be divided into three categories: God and Goddesses Are great but remote beings that control the universe or a specific part of it: o If more than one is recognized (polytheism), each has charge of a particular part of the universe. Sometimes only one is recognized (monotheism) o A pantheon, or the collection of Gods and Goddesses such as those of the Greeks, is common in non-western states Whether people recognize gods, goddesses or both, has to do with how men and women relate to each other in everyday life Ancestral Spirits Belief in ancestral spirits is based on the idea that human beings are made up of a body and a soul or vital spirit: o Beliefs in ancestral spirits is found especially among people having unilineal descent systems o Strong beliefs are commonly found in societies associated with descent groups and ancestor orientation Other sorts of spirit beings But, Religion also.. o Stirs our minds with an elaborate imagery of humanity’s condition and fate o Gives comfort and solace o Allays anxieties o Moves to frenzy o Can be a very deep emotional affair Robert Ranulph Marett (1866-1943) Is there something more basic? o Taylor: Focuses on objects and beings o Durkheim: It is more objective to focus on subjective experience Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) o Beliefs, objects and practices of religion: varied o Stance of the believer: more uniform o People react toward certain classes of phenomena, activities, objects and people with a sense of awe, even fear o Different and removed from everyday reality o Sacred vs. Profane Durkheim: What makes things sacred or profane? o Religion Is within and among us, but is more than any of us It transcends individuals, outlives them Has controlling power over us Invades our sense of identity Transcends life, suffuses consciousness and constrains people Just like society - - - - Jan, 6th 2017 Monday, April 3rd 2017 – Course Summary & Review for the Final Exam Downloaded by Aryan Kainth (kaintharyan1741@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|12404876 Alisha Dhanji ANTH 100 Jan, 6th 2017 Humans are Unfinished Animals - Young children shape their body (and its uses) according to the control mechanisms of “their” society (through imitation, controlled guidance, …) - By contributing to the shaping/cultivation of a child the members of a society express that it is one of “theirs” - Reason is not the foundation for reasonable behaviour Corpse Bride - Song One of the most significant facts about us may be that we all begin with the natural equipment to live a thousand kinds of life but end having lived only once – Clifford Greens Kinship is “Plastic” - Understood as cultural, kinship offers resources for structuring society, forming groups and alliances, organizing labor, passing on wealth, etc. - Kinship is not natural it is plastic, expandable Ardi Lucy Turkana Boy - Fossil records - Fossil Bipedalism human specialty - Adapted form great apes - Opening in the skull as a clue shows which fossils were bipedal Laetoli Footprints - 3.6 million years ago - 2-3 humans walking Speech and Writing in the History of Humanity - Probably the main discoveries/inventions after use of fire and tools - Formation of speech conditional on the refinement of vocal tract made possible by bipedalism and tool use - Fire and tools enable to move digestion partly out of body (externalize it) - Writing a technique of the body significantly externalizes memory and cognition - Tool traditions o Mousterian Tool Tradition Neanderthals Like human ancestors Evidence for burials Hint at religion Discovery of Fire - Domesticating fire o Domus (latin): house, home o Using fire is monopology of genus homo (past 500,000 years) o Externalizes digestion o Eating uncooked grains: only 10-15% of nutritional value Fire and Clothing essential for Migrating to the Americas - Human migration - America wouldn’t have been settled if it hadn’t been for fire to make it over the journey Domestication of Maize (Corn) SAMPLE QUESTIONS In an uncentralized political system, the principal means of social organization is: A)Formal institutions B)Class C) Downloaded by Aryan Kainth (kaintharyan1741@gmail.com) D) KINSHIP lOMoARcPSD|12404876 Alisha Dhanji ANTH 100 Jan, 6th 2017 The Fertile Crescent: Animal Domestication - Dogs, goats, sheep, pigs, etc. Caralhoyuk (Turkey) FINAL EXAM: - No chapter 15 - Lineages will be important - Main ancestors - Kinship is malleable Racism Humans are Unfinished Animals Enculturation (Textbook, Chapter 10) What is the most fundamental distinction in our social world? Margaret Mead - Diversity of gender roles Language as a System of Symbols Ferdinand de Saussure - Communicate if share same system - We cannot think (and communicate) without shared language, symbols and classifications Writing - Cuneiform Tablet: Administrative account of barley distribution, Uruk Writing: Text as a formatted space A decisive step was the invention of blank spaces between words. This structured writing grammatically Writing is a technique of the body Speech and Writing in the History of Humanity - Writing – significantly externalizes memory and cognition Gift Exchange Market Exchange (from gifts to commodities) Types of Political Organizations Azande Oracles Is there something more basic? Durkheim: What makes things sacred or profane? - “There is no false religion” Downloaded by Aryan Kainth (kaintharyan1741@gmail.com)
