anthro

• Why is Gender Fair Language important?


  • Language is a powerful tool
  • Reflects prevailing norms but also a tool for change
  • Can reinforce or challenge existing power structure
  • Not just about being politically correct
  • Understanding of ourselves and the world around us
  • Creating a more just and equitable society
• Inclusive Language Guidelines (American Psychological Association)

  • Gender-exclusive language - terms that lump all people under masculine language or within the gender binary (man or woman)
  • Gender-inclusive language - terms used to be more gender equitable
• "Transgender and Gender Nonconforming" (TGNC)


  Refers to people whose gender identity does not match their sex assigned at birth (e.g., men who were assigned female at birth) or whose gender expression does not match their gender identity (e.g., masculine women)
• Deadnaming


  Being called by one's legal name
• Misgendering


  Being called by pronouns or titles that do not affirm their gender
• Basic Guidelines


  1. Ask for name, pronouns, and titles, regardless of their transgender status

  2. Use lived name, pronouns, and titles
• Etymology of Anthropology


  • Anthropos – man, human
  • Logos – study
• Scope of Anthropology


  • Worldwide - concerned with all varieties of people throughout the world
  • Historical - people in all periods
  • Holistic –the many aspects of human experience as an integrated whole; specific aspects of human physical and social life and connections among them
• The Anthropological Curiosity


  Taking something accepted as typical and asking: "why", and how and why they vary across societies
• Boasian Anthropology


  • Franz Boas (1858-1942) stressed the idea that single cultural traits had to be studied in the context of the society in which they appeared
  • Two major approaches emerged from Boas' descriptive approach: ecological and interpretive approaches
• Ecological Approaches


  • Cultural ecology - The analysis of the relationship between a culture and its environment (Julian Steward, 1902-1972)
• Interpretive Approaches


  • The goal of anthropology is to understand what it means to be a person living in a particular culture
  • Clifford Geertz (1926-2006): culture is like a literary text that can be analyzed for meaning
  • Debate between interpretive and scientific anthropologists: is it possible to describe or measure cultural phenomena in an objective and unbiased way?
• Fields of Anthropology


  • Biological Anthropology
  • Cultural Anthropology
  • Applied Anthropology
• Biological Anthropology


  • Human paleontology (paleoanthropology) – about the emergence of humans and their later evolution, reconstructing: Human evolution (using fossils), Evolutionary relationships (geological information, relationships with primates)
  • Human variation – about how and why contemporary human populations vary biologically or physically, drawing on: Human genetics (study of inherited human traits), Population biology (study of relationship between environment and population characteristics), Epidemiology (variations in effects of diseases on populations)
• Cultural Anthropology


  • Archaeology – the study of past cultures, using material remains reconstructing history, including everyday life and culture
  • Linguistics – anthropological study of languages: Historical linguistics: changes in and relationships among languages over time (usually unwritten languages), Descriptive or structural linguistics: variations across contemporary languages, Sociolinguistics: how language is used in social contexts
  • Ethnology/Cultural Anthroplogy – study how people today and in the recent past differ or are similar in their customary patterns of thought and behavior, and why: Customary behavior, e.g. marriage and kinship, politics, economic systems, religion, folk art, music, Dynamics of culture: how cultures develop and change, Ethnographers: Fieldwork and detailed description, Ethnohistorians: Documents, Cross-cultural researchers: Samples of cultures
• Applied Anthropology


  • Practicing anthropology - Beyond basic research and the academe, Concerned with making anthropological knowledge useful e.g., to correct social problems, Wide range of application: medical field, health, education, development, urban planning; working with government, NGOs, international agencies, etc.
• Anthropology is a young discipline, beginning in the late 1800s. Initially, especially among Westerners, there was resistance to the idea of accounting for human behavior scientifically.
• Anthropology considers both culture and biology of humans in all times and places.
• Anthropology is useful to the degree that it contributes to our understanding of human beings everywhere.
• In addition, anthropology is relevant because it helps to avoid misunderstandings between peoples. If those in one culture can understand why other groups are different from them,they might have less reason to condemn others for behavior that appears strange.
• As the world becomes increasingly interconnected or globalized, the importance of understanding and trying to respect cultural and physical differences becomes more and more important.
• Testing Theories/Explanations


  1. Predict likely outcome if a theory is correct

  2. Test if the data supports the outcome

  3. Theory must relate to observable events

  4. Operational definition: description of the procedure that will be used to measure

  5. Measurement: including comparing, classifying
• Sampling


  • Sampling universe – the list of cases to be sampled from
  • Random sample – all cases selected have an equal chance of being included in the sample, has a better chance of being a representative sample
  • Should be fair and unbiased representation of the sampling universe
• Two Criteria for Anthropological Research

  • Spatial scope of the study
  • Temporal scope of the study (time)
• Ethnography


  • A description and analysis of a single society
  • Valuable source of information for anthropologists in all subfields of the discipline
  • Useful for generating explanations
  • But does not generally provide sufficient data to test a hypothesis (not enough comparison)
  • Methods: Participant-observation, Fieldwork
• Ethnography as Source Material

  • Within-culture comparisons - testing a theory within one society, comparing individuals, families, households, communities, or districts
  • Regional controlled comparisons - Comparison of ethnographic information across societies in a particular region (similar histories and environments)
  • Cross-cultural research - Interpretations based on worldwide comparisons
• Historical Research


  • Ethnohistory: studies of a single society at more than one point in time
  • Advantage: studying the consequences of history can determine what led to it (rather than the other way around)
  • Limitation: time-consuming
• Archaeological Research: Kinds of Evidence

  • Artifacts: Human-made or modified objects, Lithics: stone tools, Ceramics: baked clay, Wood and stone, metals, glass
  • Ecofacts: Natural objects used or affected by humans, or whose presence is caused by the presence of humans, e.g. Remains of food eaten by humans, Remains of plants introduced into a certain location by humans, Remains of pests that exist in a certain location because of the presence of humans
  • Fossils: Hardened remains of animal's skeletal structure, Impression left by a plant or animal on a surface which has hardened
• Digital Anthropology


  • Anthropological study of the relationship between humans and digital technology
  • Fieldwork takes the form of participating in online communities, plus interviews, and use of quantitative data
• UGAT Code of Ethics


  • Truthful
  • Relevant to national and community goals
  • Sincere to the host community; obliged to explain objectives and implications of research
  • Provide a copy of research, preferably in local language – to the local and larger community
  • Has the right to criticize unethical practice of anthropologists and of practices that have an implication on the larger community
• Fieldwork and Ethnography


  • Ethnography: A description of a society's customary behaviors and ideas, The process of recording and interpreting another people's way of life
  • Common Features: First-hand experience and exploration of a particular social or cultural setting, Based on participant-observation (but not exclusively)
  • Ethnographer: A type of ethnologist who spends some time living with, interviewing, and observing a group of people to describe their customs
• Important Elements of Ethnography

  • Holistic perspective: looks at human beings from all perspective; understands culture both in its local manifestation and in relation to the wider context in which it occurs
  • Humanistic perspective: focus on people, with applied aim of reducing suffering and improving the human condition
  • Scientific approach: based on direct experience and observation
• Emic perspective


  Concerned with how local people think, Inside, specific
• Etic perspective


  The focus shifts from local observations, categories, explanations, and interpretations to those of the anthropologist, Outside, broader
• Ethnographic Methods


  • Participant-observation
  • Ethnographic interviewing
  • Oral history/life history
  • Survey
  • Analysis of cultural materials, including social media research
  • Ethnohistory
  • Participatory research
• Fieldwork


  • The central activity of anthropology
  • Fundamental "paradigmatic" elements of anthropology as an academic discipline
  • Source of anthropology's strength (understanding and skills)
  • Study of people in their natural habitat: thus, anthropologist's prolonged residence, immersion
  • Intimate participation in a community and observation of modes of behavior and the organization of social life
• Common Subjective Aspects of Traditional Fieldwork

  • Culture shock
  • "Going native"
• The "field" in anthropology refers to the location where the ethnographic research is conducted.
• Ethnographic interviewing


  Attention to political and cultural contexts of interlocutors and ethnographers
• Oral history/life history


  Documentation of key moments or particular aspect of interviewee's life that has developed over their life course