Basics
What is culture?
Culture is the way we are together.
What are two core ethnographic methods?
What are the three parts of the savage slot?
The idea that others are subhuman and should be rejected; that others are broken and should be fixed; and that others are above us and should be praised ... sometimes all at the same time.
Do your beliefs and values help or hinder in the search for truth?
Both. Subjectivity can shut your eyes to things; it can also open your eyes to things that others would miss.
Survey is best for collecting fast context, easily measured (quantifiable) info, or very limited (brief) open-ended input.
Where is the field?
The field is everywhere people are.
What's the meaning of emic and etic?
Emic is insider perspective, using the language and viewpoints of the participant. Etic is outsider perspective, using comparison and analysis.
What is multispecies ethnography?
It's a way of doing anthropology not limited to the study of humans; it can focus on any living thing, as well as beings that are not biological organisms (e.g. rocks, rivers).
How should an anthropologist react to something that seems dumb or false, and why?
Everything has cultural worth, so don't just dismiss it. Get curious. Try to understand.
Explain: anthropologists find the strange in the familiar, and the familiar in the strange.
This is an approach that can help us understand each other and the world more deeply. Everything is weird (we can find oddness and wonder in it) and not-weird (we can stop othering it).
How did we define anthropology in this class?
Anthropology is a disciplined study of being human.
For the two core ethnographic methods: what situations are they each appropriate for?
Interview is best for exploring story, insight and perspective. Participant observation is best for recording behavior (actions and interactions) and building relationship over time.
What is knowledge and how is it made?
Knowledge is a cultural consensus that's hashed out, reinforced, and passed down by people trying to explain the way things are.
How should an anthropologist react to something that conflicts with their values?
Stay centered in your values. Do not accept big claims uncritically. Use your good judgement.
Why do anthropologists care so much about kinship?
Culture starts with family (i.e. family is a source of culture) and many life experiences revolve around it (i.e. family is an axis of culture). Family is a basic social unit.
What use is theory?
Theory is a thinking tool that can help explain the world as you experience it.
What four tips or approaches can anthropologists use to find a question?
We try on different viewpoints, question assumptions, interrogate boundaries, and find the strange in the familiar and the familiar in the strange.
Why learn anthropological theories?
They help us understand history and hegemony: the ideas that shaped society, which are still with us. They equip us to use the good and resist the bad.
How can an anthropologist help an at-risk culture?
Don't rush in and decide how to save them. Support their priorities and follow their lead.
What are five ways people can react to cultural norms?
Conform to the norm, try to conform but fail, blend in on the surface but nonconform secretly, resist the norm in subtle ways, disrupt the norm openly.
What is the main idea behind anthropology?
There are a lot of different ways to be human.
What are four core ethical practices in anthropology?
Do no harm, obtain informed consent, protect participant privacy, offer the participant access to the final work.
Who was Franz Boas and why is he important?
Franz Boas is considered the father of American anthropology. In the leadup to WW2 he was actively antiracist and fought back against eugenicist ideas. He worked with diverse students, many of whom went on to do groundbreaking work in the discipline.
If objectivity is impossible, what three values should an anthropologist strive for instead?
Rigor, complexity and integrity.
What does it mean to interrogate boundaries? (Six things.)
Look for 1) overlaps across lines, 2) movement back and forth, and 3) outliers. Consider 4) alternatives (how else could this line have been drawn), 5) values (what does this line-drawing prioritize), and 6) impacts (who does it affect).