Key Concepts For Midterm
armchair anthropology (lecture): a person who has book knowledge but has
never had practical experience. He/She might know the theory but has never tried
it out by him/herself. sad
Participan
...
Key Concepts For Midterm
armchair anthropology (lecture): a person who has book knowledge but has
never had practical experience. He/She might know the theory but has never tried
it out by him/herself. sad
Participant Observation: . A technique of field of research, which an investigator
(participant observer) studies the life of a group by sharing in its activities
Ethnography: The study and systematic recording of human cultures; also a
descriptive work produced from such research.
“Othering”: 2 purposes: reflect on North American cultural differences, and
reflect on dangers of “othering” too much.
4 fields of Anthropology: biological anthropology, cultural anthropology,
linguistic anthropology, and archaeology
Denaturalize: Denaturalized things we take for granted as normal or as objective
truths (makes them seem less “natural”)
Ethnocentrism: The often implicit idea that your culture or group or lifestyle is
the center of everything. Entails limited tolerance of other cultures.
Cultural Relativism: The values or practices of one culture or society cannot be
perfectly translated into the terms of another cultural group. (Opposite of
ethnocentrism)
Moral Relativism: The belief that all moral/ethical positions are equally valid and
can’t be judged.
Culture: The system of shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviours, and artifacts
that the members of society use to cope with their world and with one another, and
that are transmitted from generation to generation through learning
Metalanguage: the ability to think about language, to be aware of how language
works also the relationship between language and other cultural factors
“metalinguistic commentary” is commentary about how language works, that
reflects a self-conscious awareness of language
Language Prescriptivism: The practice or belief held by some people that certain
ways of speaking are better or more correct than others. Think of this as the camp
of “language purists” – who don’t like innovations in language (like “textspeak”)
very much.
Language Registers: A particular style of language that is used in certain social
settings or with particular groups. For example, you all speak and write in a
different “register” or style with your friends than you do with your professor. At
least, I’m hoping you do. ;-) [ß see what I just did there?! Lol]
Diglossic: A situation in which two languages are used by the same community.
Codeswitching: when you switch between one “register” (way of speaking) to
another bilingual people often code switch between both languages when talking
with their family, for example, or young people might codeswitch between
formal/informal registers.
ethnographer as a positioned subject:
● Reflexive-reflecting upon yourself
● Reaching on culture, influencing it, in change of their own emotions
● Writing yourself into research (1st person)
The cultural “logic” or rationale of a practice: At times, you have to feel
something yourself in order to truly understand it. We shouldn’t assume a symbolic
depth to cultural practice. ( Week 3 slide 6 and 7)
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Emotional Force: emphasizes that some things matter more emotionally than
others — and you can’t always describe this in purely logical terms. (week 3 slide
20)
Thick Description: is necessary to avoid attributing your own assumptions,
feelings, rationales, etc ( week 3 slide 20)
Ryle’s Wink: A simple gesture that can have multiple meanings depending on the situation or culture
Emic/etic: Emic is the insider view. Etic is the outsider's view.
● anthros seek to capture the “emic” perspective while retaining their capacity
to describe things from the “etic” perspective ( week 3 slide 20)
hydraulic model of emotions:This is based on the notion that negative emotions
must be articulated/expressed in order to be resolved; feelings that fester inside the
body are are believed to impair the self and prevent “healing” from taking place.
Emotional Economies: Thinking about how emotions are prompted, felt,
experienced, expressed, and circulated. Emotions can be thought about as objects
that are constituted by and animated through social relations (following Mauss). It
is also bound up with material economies
Invention of Orphans: Dikhutsana – those who are “cut off” (parentless AND
kinless)
● Diorphans – new population category coming from aid organizations —
new meaning but still associated with the older category
● Orphans were symbols of the worst of the aids…. But also of hope for
humanity.
Ethnographic dazzle: Norms in society ** (not sure)
Rules: Regularities and consistent patterns in a behaviour. The conventions or
collective understandings- governing these behaviour patterns.
“grammar” of a culture (Fox)
cultural “reflexes” (Fox)
class system in England, class aspirations
class anxiety (Fox):
● English people in the lower class and middle class are always anxious of
their positions in society
● Each class wants to look richer than they are, making them feel they are
from a higher class
● Though, people in upper class are not class conscious, they have nothing to
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