How do the Na (Mosuo) of China and the Khasi of India treat sexual activity and the raising of children? What kind of kin system do they share?
Na - As lovers their relationship involves affection, respect, and intimacy, but not fidelity, permanence, or responsibility for children.
Khasi - The Khasi have a similar tradition. Showing how cultural elements are interconnected, both cultures are stro
What are the primary functions of marriage? How is it defined in the text and lecture?
- Regulates sexual access.
- Creates a family and stability.
- Expands social group.
- Customs, rules, and obligations for relationships among partners, children, and kin.
According to Edmond Leach, what are the basic rights allocated by marriage? How do these rights correspond to same-sex unions based on anthropological data?
Rights to:
- Labor and Property
- Inheritance
- Legal Parentage
- Monopoly of sexuality
- Joint fund for children
- Socially significant inter-family relationships
How were same-sex marriages historically constructed in Nuer society and in some Native American societies? How do these concepts of same-sex marriage differ from the recent Western concept?
Nuer female-female marriages may occur; a female is transformed into legal 'husband' and pater of kids of the 'wife' and a male not of her lineage
Two-spirits could marry the same sex and have full rights and responsibilities
Advocates argue such couples
What do marriage rules determine?
Preferential marriage rules: cousins. Cross cousins (crosses over gender(father's sister's kids), can marry) (parallel cousins).
Exogamy- marry outside the group
Endogamy- marry inside the group
Homogamy- marry someone with a similar background (class, co
You should understand the concept of incest taboos and their functions.
Incest is universally considered bad, with the exception of the Na. This taboo prevents marriage amongst certain kin ("kissing" cousins).
Explaining the taboo
- Instinctive horror
- Biological degeneration
- Attempt contempt
- Marry out or die out (allian
How do societies based on matrilineal and patrilineal descent differentiate between parallel and cross cousins? For each kind of descent system, relations with which cousins are considered incestuous?
- Parallel cousins are the children of my father's brother and my mother's sister.
- Cross cousins are the children of my father's sister and mother's brother.
- Parallel cousins are considered taboo sex partners. Cross cousins aren't considered insestiou
What are the five explanations presented to explain the incest taboo, what are the weakness of each (if any), and which one is most widely accepted and why?
- Instinctive horror
- Biological degeneration- Through the generations, people aquire retardations or problems (Example: the Russian Royal family had many cases of hemophilia)
- Attempt
- Contempt
- Marry out or Die out- marry other families for more all
What is "royal incest"? Why are such elites able to break the incest taboos of their own societies? What are manifest and latent functions of ancient Egyptian royal incest?
Manifest (emic)- royalty through women
Latent (etic)- maintained ruling ideology and considers royal wealth
- Egyptians believed that royalty ran through the maternal bloodline (manifest). If two rulers with the same "mana" (power to rule based on genealo
Exogamy
marrying outside your group
Endogamy
marrying within your group
Homogamy
The practice of marrying someone similar to you in terms of background, social status, aspirations, and interests.
Levirate
(female) widow marries brother of her deceased husband.
- There is no need for the husband to return the bride wealth, and the alliances continue.
Sororate
(male) widower marries sister of his deceased wife.
- For the same purpose as the levirate, to maintain alliances.
Polygyny
Man has more than one wife at the same time. patrilocality, male prestige. Can be advantageous when used as a survival strategy for foragers (Tiwi men who have many wives that forage)
Polyandry
Woman has more than one husband at one time. matrilocality, more rare. Advantageous when there is a mobile community (due to trade, commerce, and military operations). This ensures that there will be at least one male at home to accomplish man duties. Fra
Bride service
- The husband must work for a specified period of time for his wife's family in exchange for his marital rights.
- Occurs mainly in egalitarian foraging societies, where accumulating material goods for an exchange at marriage is difficult.
- Among the Ju/
Bridewealth
The most common form of marriage exchange.
� Cash or goods are given by the groom's kin to the bride's kin to seal a marriage.
� Legitimates the new reproductive and socioeconomic unit created by the marriage.
� Bride wealth paid at marriage is returned i
Dowry
substantial gifts to husband's family from wife's group. Correlated to low female status.
Neolocal
couple establishes new place of residency (usually due to a job)
Patrilocal
A woman lives with her husband's family after marriage. Commonly associated with patrilocality and internal warfare.
Matrilocal
A man lives in the household of his wife's family. Commonly associated with matrilocality and external warfare.
Bilocal
when a couple can choose between living with either spouses family; adaptively flexible
Avunculocal
A married couple is expected to live with the husband's mother's brother. Associated with matrilineally, but men get wealth and status from their maternal uncles.
What is divorce, and how does it relate to gender stratification? What forces may affect divorce rates in foraging societies? What forces affect divorce rates in the U.S.?
Marriages that are political alliances are harder to break up than marriages that are more individual affairs.
� Bridewealth and dowry discourage divorce.
� Divorce is more common in matrilineal and/or matrilocal societies.
� Divorce is harder in patriloc
What is the broad definition of family provided in lecture?
A married couple or group of adult kinfolk who cooperate economically and in the bringing up of children, and all or most of whom share a common dwelling.
What are ways in which family may vary in form in the U.S.?
In the US, the definition of family changes to accommodate the high divorce rate, same-sex partnerships, working mothers and single parent households, unmarried couples living together, childless couples, and people who never marry and people who remarry.
Be familiar with what the American Anthropological Association has to say about family.
More than a century of anthropology research...across cultures and through time provide no support for the view that either civilization or viable social orders depend on marriage as an exclusively heterosexual institution. Rather, a vast array of family
Nuclear families
Nuclear families include only that of the husband and wife. (Mom, Dad, kids, or a single family). Common in nomadic foraging and industrial societies. Disadvantages: no economic help from others unless absolutely necessary, impermanent. Advantages: mobili
Extended families
Extended families are usually found in lower class societies, for example in North America, there is a big increase in extended family households in lower class Americans. This is said to be an adaptation to poverty. This is the primary unit of social org
What is a kinship system and what are its functions?
Culturally defined relationship established off the basis of blood ties. It provides continuity between generations. A kinship defines a group on whom you can rely on for aid. In TRIBAL and CHIEFDOM cultures, who you are kin to is VERY important. If you w
What are descent groups and what are their functions? Which types of societies are commonly organized by descent groups?
Descent groups are cross-generational affiliations between children and parents common in tribal and chiefdom level societies. Functions: organize domestic life, enculture children, allow transfer of property, carry out religious ritual, settle disputes.
What is unilineal descent, what two forms can it take, and what are its advantages?
Descent based on links through paternal or maternal line
Advantages:
- Forms non overlapping descent groups that perpetuate themselves over time even though membership changes
- Provide clear group membership for everyone in the society
Lineage
group of kin whose members trace descent from a known or demonstrated common apical ancestor
Apical ancestor
a common ancestor from whom a lineage or clan may trace its descent
Patrilineages
- Descent is traced through male lineage
- Inheritance moves from father to son, as does succession to office
- A man's position as father and husband is the most important source of male authority
- Example: Nuer of Sudan
Matrilineages
- Descent is traced through the female line
- Children belong to the mother's descent group
Inheritance from mother to daughter
- The inclusion of a husband in the household is less important
- Women usually have higher status
- Example: Hopi
Segmentary lineages
organized in a hierarchical structure, ranked according to the number of generations they encompass
You should understand what clans and totems are and how they organize unilineal descent systems.
Clan- unilineal kinship group whose members believe they are descended from a common or apical ancestor but who can't trace the link through the known ancestors. A totem is when a clan's apical ancestor is not human.
Double descent
Tracing descent through both matrilineal and patrilineal links, double descent systems occur in only 5% of the world's cultures, in these societies, a person belongs both the the father's group and to the mother's group
Parallel descent
Kinship principle in which descent and inheritance follow gender-linked lines so that men consider themselves descended from their fathers and women from their mothers
Bilateral descent system
a system under which both maternal and paternal lines are used in reckoning descent and inheritance. This is common among foragers and in Western societies.
Kindred
people related to one another by blood, marriage, and adoption
What kind of descent system is dominant in the U.S.?
Cognatic (ambilineal)- a form of bilateral descent in which an individual may choose to affiliate with either the father's or mother's descent group. Membership is fluid as people can change their descent group membership. With unilineal descent, membersh
Ambilineal descent
A form of bilateral descent in which an individual may choose to affiliate with either the father's or mother's descent group
Membership is fluid as people can change their descent group membership
What is a kinship classification system and what is its function? In general, how do they vary?
The emic system of kinship terms and the rules for using these terms.
� Every kinship classification system classes some relatives together and differentiates them from other relatives.
� Some systems have a small number of kinship terms, others have a di
Kin type
refers to the degree of actual genealogical relatedness (E.g. father's brother).
Kin term
culture-specific labels given to different kinds of relatives. (E.g., "uncle", "t�o")
What is a third gender? What examples from non-Western cultures are given in the text and lecture? What is an example in American culture?
Men-women (transvestites). Roberta Close, or many people in Carnaval.
Sex
biological
Gender
social classification
Sexual orientation
a person's habitual sexual attractions and activities
Examples of sexual orientation- heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, and asexual.
Two spirit society of Denver.
What does that mean when anthropologists say that gender is a cultural construct?
Gender is a cultural construct in that each culture defines the way in which a man or woman should act. In Brazil men are welcome to embrace femininity and some even wear dresses.
What did Margaret Mead discover about gender through her ethnography?
Margaret Mead found that gender, in New Guinea, is a construct. In the Arapesh, both sexes act "feminine," and in the Mundugamor (Biwat), both sexes act "masculine.
What does it mean that gender is assigned? Is gender always assigned at birth?
Gender assigned meaning that they give the child their gender. In some cultures, they wait until the child is older so they can see the type of gender they most represent, or they even let the child pick (some Native American tribes), sometimes even becom
What are gender stereotypes? What are some examples in American culture?
oversimplified, strongly held idea of the characteristics of men and women, as well as other genders. Men all speak femininely, they all dress like girls...etc.
What is sexual orientation?
refers to a person's habitual sexual attractions and activities; homosexuality, heterosexuality, asexuality, and bisexuality.
How is sexual orientation defined by the American Psychological Association?
American Psychological Association says "Sexual orientation is an enduring emotional, romantic, sexual, or afectional attraction towards others. It is easily distinguished from other components of sexuality including biological sex, gender identity (the p
Who are the Etoro (Sambia) of New Guinea and how are sexuality and gender expressed in their culture?
As adolescent boys, they have homosexual relations as part of initiation, but enter heterosexual marriages as adults. They believe that semen is a necessary life force for a fetus and crops. Heterosexual intercourse is seen as necessary to reproduce, but
What are some ways that sexual orientation is framed in the U.S.?
Heterosexuality is considered essential for masculine identity.
How does culture limit sexuality and emic concepts of sexual orientation/sexual identity? Upon what factors do sexual norms vary cross-culturally and how do they limit sexual behaviors and beliefs about attractiveness? How was sexuality constructed in the
Sexual norms affect sexual behavior and vary considerably. Cultures differ in the age that sexuality begins and ends, the ways that people make themselves attractive, and the importance of sexual activity and the acceptance of sexual behaviors.
I nnis Bea
What are gendered initiation rites and what are their functions? What are the differences between men and women's initiation rites?
Gendered initiation rites Men's initiation rites usually validate male dominance. They learn the beliefs, skills, and knowledge necessary to participate as an adult man in society. Women's initiation rites is where women often learn the secret women's kno
What are gender roles and what affects their variation? What are the recurrent gender role patterns presented in the text and lecture?
Gender roles are tasks and activities assigned to the sexes. They vary with their environment, economy, adaptive strategy, and types of political and religious systems.
Recurrent gender patterns are expressed and reinforce through religious beliefs and pr
What is gender stratification? How does it correlate with economic roles?
Gender stratification are the ways gendered activities and attributes are related to the unequal distribution of resources, prestige, and power in a society. Roughly equal contribution to subsistence by men and women correlates with decreased gender strat
You should know what the private (domestic)/public dichotomy is and how it relates to differences in status between genders.
Private (domestic)/public dichotomy is the gender system in which women's status is lowered by their cultural identification with the home and children. Men are identified with public, prestigious economic and political roles. Public activities tend to ha
How does this dichotomy vary in terms of a society's subsistence strategy (agriculturalists, etc.)?
Foragers: these spheres are least separate, however, male control over meat distribution is a source of greater prestige.
Horticulturalists: men clear the forest for gardens and thus control the allocation of the land.
Pastoralists: men gain higher status
What is the "Cult of Domesticity" in America?
the public-domestic dichotomy manifests in America as the cult of domesticity. It began in the mid-to-late 19th century as industrialism spread. Initially, women and children worked in factories, but after 1900, they were supplemented by immigrant men. In
How was gender stratified among the Tlingit?
Tlingit- Gender relations were egalitarian and each could earn prestige. Women were often the negotiators and handled money for long-distance trade (often a matrilineal society). Some women were heads of clans. Ideal marriages were between a man and a wom
and the Iroquois?
Iroquois- strong cult of masculinity, yet women's political and ritual influence could rival that of men. External warfare. Women controlled economy; men hunted and fished. Matrons determined entry into longhouses, nominated and impeached chiefs (men), an
What are the cultural correlates associated with matrifocal and patrifocal societies?
In matrifocal societies (often with no resident husband-father) societies, male travel and external warfare combined with a prominent female economic role reduced gender stratification. In patrifocal societies, the spread of patrilineal-patrilocal societi
How do gender relations correlate with subsistence strategies (from foraging to the current global economy)?
Foraging societies- least gender stratification. Hierarchy is the least marked and aggression and completion is discouraged.
Horticultural societies- high degree of segregation between the sexes. Women did most of the labor in these societies.
Pastoral an
What is Female Genital Operation (FGO) or Female Genital Mutilation (FMG)? Where is it prominent? What are the different etic and emic perspectives of the practice?
The practice of removing the clitoris or sewing the lips of the vagina closed.
Emic- to reduce female sexual pleasure and, it is believed in some societies, the likelihood of adultery. Etic- infringes on a basic human right: disposition over one's body an
What are cargo cults? How is the recent Word of Faith or Prosperity Theology movement a Western analogy of a cargo cult?
Religious responses to the expansion of the world capitalist economy.
The televangelist Word of Faith and Prosperity Theology movements in the U.S. and Latin America are analogous: millions of followers believe that God wants Christians to be wealthy; one
How did Wallace define religion? Is it a universality, generality, or particularity?
Wallace defined religion as a belief and ritual concerned with supernatural being, powers, and forces. Religion is a cultural universal. It includes thoughts actions, and practices based on belief in the existence of spirit beings and supernormal forces.
Why is the term supernatural not always applicable to the study of religion?
Divinity in everything is animism. Not supernatural. Everything is natural. Supernatural is a Western Idea, no universal.
What are the primary characteristics of religion?
Religious beliefs reflect other aspects of culture (econ, political stratification, kinship, etc.) Religious behaviors may be separated from or intertwined with secular behavior.
Politics of marriage cannot be separated from totemic ancestors. US had both
As proposed by Tyler and then Wallace, how do religious types correlate with politico-economic systems (egalitarian foragers, etc.)?
Religious and political correlation:
Egalitarian foragers and horticulturalists- more equal nature spirits. Expected. No top gods, similar to no kings.
Agriculturalists- hierarchized agrarian gods, and a ritual year reflecting farming cycles
Centralized s
While Tyler's taxonomy of religion is still considered useful, modern anthropologists consider his concept of religious evolution to be ethnocentric. Why?
inevitable conclusion of all religions. Idea of colonial Western Europe was the epitome of everything. Cross-cultural research shows no form of religion is more "evolved" than another.
What roles does religion often play in controlling society? What are some examples? What does effervescence refer to, who coined the term, and how does it relate to religion?
Rituals. Creates group think. Put's you in the moment, you do things you normally wouldn't do. (Hitler did this). Can be used to mobilize large groups through syste,s of real and perceived rewards and punishments, (Catholics tried, tortured, and executed
What is a cosmology and how may it give order and meaning to people's lives?
Myths (how people came to be, and the order of the universe...i.e. genesis) and sacred narrative deal with fundamental questions in the religious and social order. Provides origin stories and explains the unexplainable and the world "as it really is." Leg
How may religion function to reduce or increase anxiety?
Calling on the help of spiritual beings, particularly in unpredictable situations. Can increase or decrease. (Example; spike in church attendance post 9/11; sickness, natural disasters, etc.) If there is no result, faith crisis (Aztec human sacrifice), pa
How does it reinforce the social order and promote social solidarity?
Reinforces cultural beliefs about good and evil. Provides rationale for social order and gives social values religious authority. Ritual intensifies social solidarity by signaling a common identity and implying a commitment to a shared social and moral or
How is Ahimsa or the Hindu doctrine of nonviolence towards animals an example of how religious beliefs and practices may be interpreted differently from emic and etic perspectives? How does it demonstrate how religion may be adaptive?
Western economic development experts occasionally cite the Hindu cattle taboo to illustrate the idea that religious beliefs can stand in the way of rational economic decisions.
Adaptation: Peasants' use of cattle to pull plows and carts is actually part
How are religious symbols multivocalic?
Religious symbols are multi vocalic; they have various and sometimes contradictory meanings as perceived by individuals and groups. I.e., Celtic cross: Irish-ness, sacrifice, being Christian, punishment, oppression, repression, war, etc. No religious symb
What is a god or deity? How prevalent are supreme creator gods? How prevalent are supreme creator gods that are concerned with human behavior?
Spiritual beings believed to have created or to control some aspect of the world. Supreme creator gods are only present in about � of all societies. Some societies have multiple creator gods, some have multiple creators. Most are transcendental and uninvo
What are ancestor spirits and what are some ways that they may be believed to affect living people's lives? How do the changes in Japanese ancestor worship demonstrate how culture is integrated?
They protect, help, and bring good fortune if their descendants ritually honor the; if not, they bring them misfortune. Japanese ancestor used to be male-centered, as Japan was patrilocal; now kinship is shifting to a bilateral system, and female ancestor
In general, what is the difference between an ancestral spirit and a ghost? Is there a difference in Navaho religion?
Ancestors are related, ghosts are said to be benevolent or malevolent. Ghosts are more active. They may be negative reflections of morality and are dangerous.
What are demons and what are some examples in the text and lecture? How may ghosts and demons be interpreted in a functionalist approach? What are some examples in the lecture?
Demons are spiritual beings with limited influence. (angels, devils, small nature spirits, leprechauns, etc.). In a functionalist interpretation, hauntings and possessions are cultural representations of stressors experienced by people with high social or
What is folk religion and how does it differ from formally institutionalized religion?
Many spiritual beliefs and practices prohibited or discourages by religious authorites. Beliefs in ancestors, folk spirits, ghosts, and demons, despite "high" doctrines. (walking under ladder)
You need to understand the two general kinds of mana, where they are found, and how they function in society.
- Melanesia- a sacred impersonal force that is somewhat like the Western and Asian concepts of luck. Everyone has access to it.
- Polynesia- (i.e., Maori and Tahitian) and associated taboos to prestige and the more hierarchal nature of Polynesian society.
What are rituals and how may they function in society? Examples? What are the functions of ritual or religious speech and dress?
- Repeated, formalized manipulation of religious symbols in sacred contexts. They fulfill practical and symbolic roles, confirmation and adult baptism symbolize spiritual transformations, but also a person's new status and role in society. (baptism, initi
Be familiar with the concept of a rite of passage, the three stages that make up a rite of passage, and the function of such rites in society. In particular, you need to understand the liminal phase. What are some examples?
Rituals that mark a person's movement from one social status to another (birth, puberty, marriage or ordination, and death). Usually marked by an action particular to such rites.
3 phases-
1. Separation (example- at graduation, we are physically separated
What are rites of intensification and carnival or anti-structure rituals? How do they function in society?
They are directed toward the welfare of the group rather than the individual, usually within a festival context. Reinforces social values and norms, and strengthens group identity. Sometimes connected with totems.
What are totems and what social purposes do they serve? How do totemic societies view nature in relation to social order? What is an apical ancestor?
A totem is when a clan's apical ancestor is not human.
Apical ancestor is an ancestor from whom a lineage can trace their decsendence.
What are the main four forms of communication with the spiritual world found cross-culturally?
Prayer, Sacrifice, Magic, Divination
Be able to identify and distinguish between imitative and contagious magic, along with examples of each. What function does magic serve following Malinowski's Anxiety Theory of Magic?
Imaginative (like voodoo dolls; real life copies what you do to the doll) vs. contagious (like physically touching something for luck; example: always throw away your fingernail clipping or hair because people could get them and curse you).
Malinowski's A
What is divination and what are examples of it, including scapulomancy? How do mediums differ from diviners in their general approach to obtaining hidden information?
Divination is a ritual performed to find hidden objects or information via contact with the spiritual. . Mediums/psychics: trance traveling, spirit possession (Vodoo), or spirit. Diviners: tools and interpretation (tarot, scapulomancy, throwing bones on t
Etically speaking, what role does magic play in religion? How may magic be perceived emically?
Magic is part of most, if not all, religious traditions, either officially or as folk practice.
In anthropological terms, what is witchcraft and how do witchcraft accusations and hunts function in societies where they occur? Which groups of people are typically targets of witchcraft accusations and why?
Witchcraft is the belief in the ability to harm others through malevolent thoughts ( = sorcery). Witchcraft accusations and hunts limit social deviancy and function as a leveling mechanism to reduce differences in wealth and status. There was never eviden
What are shamans and what services do they perform for the community? Are they part-time or full-time specialists?
They are faith healers who believed to have rare abilities and/or training to mediate between the human and spiritual worlds - often for curing. Part-time specialists who trade their service for payment or food.
How does illness differ from disease? What roles may religious specialists play in curing systems? What are some examples from the lecture?
Illness is the perception of disease.
Religious practitioners have privileged access to spiritual power to diagnose and cure illnesses.
Traditional healers combine knowledge of healing with ritual and heal through special powers and spiritual mediation.
O
What are priests and what functions do they serve? How are priesthoods associated with other social institutions?
Priests are elected or appointed to a full-time religious office. Priesthoods reflect political structure and often reinforce and legitimize it. As institutions, they tend to resist structural and doctrinal change.
What are prophets and by what process may they bring about religious change? How are they perceived by official religious institutions? What are some historic examples from the lecture?
Charismatic prophets may begin a new religion or modify an existing one by:
Identifying what is wrong with the world.
Presenting a vision of a better world.
Offering a method of transition from the existing world to the better world.
Challenged by religio
What are nativistic and revitalization movements? How do they differ? What social functions do they serve?
Nativistic - Aim to restore what followers believe is a golden age of the past and cultural "purity."
Result from intense social stress.
Native American Ghost Dance (1890).
Most fundamentalist forms of religion.
Eastern European Neo-Paganism (quasi-Romant
What are messianic and millenarian religious views?
Messianic - focus on upcoming messiah who will usher in a utopian world
Millenarian - catastrophe will signal the beginning of a new age and paradise (Jehovah's witness)
How does religious syncretism operate? In what circumstances does it typically occur? What are some examples of this process?
Merging two or more religious traditions due to cultural contact, often hiding beliefs, symbols and practices of one behind similar attributes of the other, afro catholic ones resulted from colonialism but reflected agency and adaptation.
What are New Religious Movements (NRMS), and specifically, what is contemporary Neo-Paganism? What are the broad subdivisions within this new religious movement? How do they differ?
Wicca (modern 'Witchcraft'): polytheistic, nature-based religion with influences from feminism that claims descent from pre-Christian European nature worship.
Reconstructionism: (re)constructed, Euro-ethnocentric, polytheistic, nature-based religions.
Cel