First year anth notes

 People  Franz Boas-cultural determinism, cultural relativism, holism  Bronislaw Malinowski-developed participant observation  Mauss- a French anthropologist, was one of the first scholars to provide an in-depth exploration of reciprocity and the role that gifts play in cultural systems around the world.19 Mauss asked why humans feel obliged to reciprocate when they receive a gift. His answer was that giving and reciprocating gifts, whether these are material objects of our time, creates links between the people involved.  Sir James Frazer is well-known for his 1890 work The Golden Bough: A Study of Comparative Religions. Its title was later changed to A Study in Magic and Religion, and it was one of the first books to describe and record magical and religious beliefs of different culture groups around the world. Yet, this book was not the outcome of extensive study in the field. Instead, Frazer relied on the accounts of others who had traveled, such as scholars, missionaries, and government officials, to formulate his study. Armchair anth  Sir EB tyler-defined culture in a way that is still used today. Significant anthropological writer who did not conduct fieldwork. Armchair anth  There is NO correlation between race, language and culture  Key Terms/Concepts (not a complete list!)  key anthropological perspectives -- holism, relativism, comparison, and fieldwork  Cultural relativism—understand a culture from within their own point of view, not your own  Cultural determinism: the idea that behavioral differences are a result of cultural, not racial or genetic causes.  Cultural relativism- the idea that we should seek to understand another person’s beliefs and behaviors from the perspective of their own culture and not our own.  Ethnocentrism  Four fields of anthropology-cultural, linguistic, biological/physical, archaeological  Culture o All people have it. o Culture is not the same as nature. o Culture is based on symbols. o Culture is learned. o Cultures are integrated. o Cultures interact and change.  Holism— perspective that every individual part of human life (whether it be related to culture, biology, or anything else) is interconnected with everything else. To understand one thing, you need to understand everything connected to it and how they all interact  Plasticity-- is the ability to learn and adapt to different cultures and languages. This also enforces the idea that contrasts in race aren’t all that significant when looking at how similar all humans are, and how all humans could theoretically be a part of any culture  Evolutionism-idea that some cultures are less developed than others due to evolution  Diffusionism-study of geographical distribution and migration of cultures. Looks at cultures like a patchwork.  Salvage Anthropology-documentation of indigenous American cultures that were considered to be dying

o Malownski, Boas  Theorertical paradigms: Functionalism, Structural-Functionalism, French Structuralism, Mauss and gifting, cultural  materialism, Marxist anthropology, symbolic anthropology, interpretism  Fieldwork and fieldwork techniques— o Fieldwork involved observation, interviewing, and documentation of data in the form of ethnographies rather than novels  Participant observation- an inductive form of research that involves surrounding yourself with another culture and spending long periods of time with them, living as they do (Nelson and Braff 2020, 9). It also involves interviews and surveys. It is part of the ethnographic process and can provide access to knowledge that would be difficult to acquire from other research methods (Nelson and Braff 2020, 16). Participant observation was developed in the late 1800s to the early 1900s, around the same time frame that cultural relativism was being developed and ethnocentrism was being questioned (Nelson and Braff 2020, 9).  Ethnography (who wrote the first modern ethnography?)—fieldwork  Ethnography-a type of research in fieldwork that involves studying cultural practices o In cultural anthropology, fieldwork is referred to as ethnography. o A main method is participant observation o Both the process of fieldwork and the end result o Ethnography, an important method of collecting data in fieldwork, involves creating a thorough study of the cultural practices, as well as the background of the practices and interpretations as to why they happen and why they are important (Nelson 2020, 48). Ethnographers collect data through artifacts, archival/historical sources, texts (this could be plays, social media posts, stories, transcripts, etcetera), conversations, and observations (Surette 2020, Fieldwork and Ethics).  Microcultures o microculture, or local culture, refers to distinct patterns of learned and shared behavior and ideas found in local regions and among particular groups. o Microcultures can be based on ethnicity/”race”, gender, age, class, institutions and more.  Deductive- reasoning from the general to the specific; the inverse of inductive reasoning. Deductive research is more common in the natural sciences than in anthropology. In a deductive approach, the researcher creates a hypothesis and then designs a study to prove or disprove the hypothesis. The results of deductive research can be generalizable to other settings. o hypotheses, concrete scientific data collected through observation, interviews. Etic data. Quantitative data  Inductive- a type of reasoning that uses specific information to draw general conclusions. In an inductive approach, the researcher seeks to collect evidence without trying to definitively prove or disprove a hypothesis. The researcher usually first spends time in the field to become familiar with the people before identifying a hypothesis or research question. Inductive research usually is not generalizable to other settings. o no hypotheses. Emic data. Unstructured informal conversation etc. qualitative data  Emic-from the perspective of the studied culture. Their reasons for doing what they do

 Subsistence system-- the set of practices used by members of a society to acquire food.  Foodway-cultural norms and attitudes surrounding food  Carrying capacity- number of calories that can be extracted from a particular unit of land to support a human population. EG the amount of fish in a coral reef  Immediate return system -catching fish and eating it right after,  delayed return system-planting food and waiting six months for it to grow  Four modes of subsistence—see worksheet(Diet, Population Size, Type of Social Structure, Gender roles, Property, consumption, warfare, conflict resolution) o Foraging  Hunt fish gather  Broad spectrum diet  Small  Gender inequality  Move often  Egalitarian o Pastorialists-red neck cow people  Raise domesticated animals for food labour, trading  Nomadic, move several times a year  Animal, animal products, traded grain  Typical gender roles  Share larger resources like land but can accumulate wealth which makes power gaps o Hordiculturalists-hippie gardeners  Grow most of their food in their garden  Raise farm animals, hunt, or fish for protein  Move around for good food growing but never stray too far  Woman have ownership, men take on most of the obligations  Plants are basis of wealth o Agriculture-more modern technology  Use technology to cultivate land and domestic animals  Rapid growing population  Grow abundance of staple crop  Lawyers, doctors, less of a sense of need  Elitism, slavery  Exceptions to the forager standard- o Kwakwakawakw-surplus of fish-able to stay in one place-division of labout-chiefs  Pastoralism—how are animals integrated into society?-eg. Masaai rely on animals, live with them, etc  Pastorialists generally do not kill the animals!!  What is the difference between horticulture and agriculture? Traded and shared, not sold for profit!! Move more often!! Lack of technology  What was the impact of the domestication of animals and plants?-having to move and clear new areas because resources are depleted. Dogs may have been the cause of extinction of wolly mammaths

 How do foragers impact the environment?-selective clearing leads to wild orchards with good growing conditions for food. Eg. Nunak  Reciprocity-generalized, balanced, negative  Modes of consumption  Subsistence vs poverty  Subsistence and globalization—what kind of modes are found in Kelowna?  Fair Trade and El Cacao  How do people push back against globalization?  Describe some of the advantages and disadvantages of globalization? o Diseases, colonization, exploitation of poor countries, neoliberalism, negative use of social media by hate groups o sharing of technology, knowledge and resources, humanitarian efforts, international organization like the UN, crowdsourcing, and a general rise in awareness of issues  How can engaging in a fair trade system push back against globalization? Who benefits? Who doesn’t?  How has globalization changed anthropological fieldwork?  Read the case study on quinoa and think about how you could study this phenomena. Where would you  travel to, who would you talk to and what kind of questions could you ask?  Kinship  Types of descent  Endogamy vs exogamy  Who may you marry?—marriage as culturally defined  Types of kinship relations  Kinship chart Kinds of marriage  Kinds of families  What is a status?  What is a role?  What is a dowry vs a bridewealth?  Status versus role  Kinship term used to describe culturally recognized ties between members of a family, the social statuses used to define family members, and the expected behaviors associated with these statuses.  Kinship systems- Kinship system: the pattern of culturally recognized relationships between family members.  Matrilineal and patrilineal descent (unilineal descent)  Double descent-both parents separately  Cognatic-both at the same time  Bilateral-both sides but not at the same time  unilineal descent recognizes only one sex-based “side” of the family. Unilineal descent can be patrilineal, recognizing only relatives through a line of male ancestors, or matrilineal, recognizing only relatives through a line of female ancestors.  Descent groups- relationships that provide members with a sense of identity and social support based on ties of shared ancestry.

o Taiwan-at one point, daughters were adopted to families as a future in law  What is the relationship between power, authority and legitimacy? What gives someone the right to rule?  Political integration: egalitarian, ranked, stratified o egalitarian—there is no great difference in status or power between individuals and there are as many valued status positions in the societies as there are persons able to fill them o ranked societies; there are substantial differences in the wealth and social status of individuals based on how closely related they are to the chief. In ranked societies, there are a limited number of positions of power or status, and only a few can occupy them o stratified--There are large differences in the wealth, status, and power of individuals based on unequal access to resources and positions of power. Socio-economic classes, for instance, are forms of stratification in many state societies.8  Integration through age/grade sets, gifts and feasting, marriage, segmentary lineage, secret societies  Legitimacy- the perception that an individual has a valid right to leadership o Hereditary, religious spiritual, democracy  Reverse dominance- Reverse dominance: societies in which people reject attempts by any individual to exercise power. o Eg. Dobe/ju/’hoansi  Positive reinforcements- rewards for compliance; examples include medals, financial incentives, and other forms of public recognition.  Negative reinforcements: punishments for noncompliance through fines, imprisonment, and death sentences  Big man: a form of temporary or situational leadership; influence results from acquiring followers.  grade sets—  Age sets—named categories that men of a certain age are assigned at birth  Age grades-groups of men who are close in age and share similar duties. They cycle through different age grades with different responsibilities as they reach different ages  Bachelor associations and men’s houses-places where men or single men go to live, can cut off connections with female family members o Eg. Sanggai festival where teenagers go out into the forest with restrictions than come back to be in mens houses  Gifts and feasting  Marcel Mauss—gift giving is a way of keeping peace among groups and establishing relationships. Marriage can be a form of gift giving. Three rules-give, receive, repay  unilineal descent—patrilineal or matrilineal  lineage- individuals who can trace or demonstrate their descent through a line of males or females back to a founding ancestor.  cross-cousins (matrilineal and patrilineal) versus parallel cousins (matrilineal and patrilineal)  restricted exchange- a marriage system in which only two extended families can engage in this exchange. o Eg. Bilateral cross-cousin marriage

 codified law- formal legal systems in which damages, crimes, remedies, and punishments are specified.  Oaths: the practice of calling on a deity to bear witness to the truth of what one says.  Ordeal: a test used to determine guilt or innocence by submitting the accused to dangerous, painful, or risky tests believed to be controlled by supernatural forces.  oaths and ordeals  Raids: short-term uses of physical force organized and planned to achieve a limited objective.  Caste system: the division of society into hierarchical levels; one’s position is determined by birth and remains fixed for life.  Feuds: disputes of long duration characterized by a state of recurring hostilities between families, lineages, or other kin groups  Potlach- The potlatch system of the Native American groups living in the United States and Canadian northwestern coastal area was long understood as an example of functional gift giving. Traditionally, two groups of clans would perform highly ritualized exchanges of food, blankets, and ritual objects. The system produced status and prestige among participants: by giving away more goods than another person, a chief could build his reputation and gain new respect within the community. After contact with settlers, the excessive gift giving during potlatches escalated to the point that early anthropologists described it as a “war of property.” 33  State versus nation  Nation: an ethnic population.  State: the most complex form of political organization characterized by a central government that has a monopoly over legitimate uses of physical force, a sizeable bureaucracy, a system of formal laws, and a standing military force  What is race?  How can race impact an individual or society?  How is race different from an ethnic group? o Eg. Race-black. Ethnicity-african American, African, etc o race is a social construction that defines groups of humans based on arbitrary physical and/or biological traits that are believed to distinguish them from other humans. An ethnic group, on the other hand, claims a distinct identity based on cultural characteristics and a shared ancestry that are believed to give its members a unique sense of peoplehood or heritage.  Ethnicity/ethnic group- a group of people who identify with each other based on some combination of shared cultural heritage, ancestry, history, country of origin, language, or dialect.  How does race and racial stereotypes play out in the world of sports? o Black people succeeding in sports seen as proof of genetic differences o Said to be bred that way during slavery o Can provide opportunities and upward class mobility o Boxing, basketball  What is reification?-- Reification refers to the process in which an inaccurate concept or idea is so heavily promoted and circulated among people that it begins to take on a life of its own. Eg. Race has been reified  Can human beings be easily classified into racial categories? Explain why or why not.  How can you explain traits like skin colour or lactose tolerance using evolution?

 How do some societies view menstruation?  Female bodily fluids, such as menstrual blood and vaginal secretions, can be dangerous, damaging to men, “impure,” and “polluting,” especially in ritual contexts. In other cases, however, menstrual blood is associated with positive power. A girl’s first menstruation may be celebrated publicly with elaborate community rituals, as among the Bemba in southern Africa, and subsequent monthly flows bring special privileges.20 Men in some small-scale societies go through ritualized nose-bleeding, sometimes called “male menstruation,” though the meanings are quite complex.21  Segregation  Spheres-women domestic men public  How do societies control sexuality? o Language, laws, religion, sex education, sanctions, shame, marriage o Seeing women as threatening  How does marriage serve to regulate sexuality, gender and relationships?  How have societies like Canada and United States changed in relationship to LGBTQAIA individuals and communities? o language  What is the difference between sex and gender? What aspects are at least partially shaped by culture? How do other cultures’ beliefs and practices regarding gender and sexuality differ from those commonly found in Canada? o Sex is biological, gender is shaped by culture and the individual o gender, which is socially and historically constructed.10 Gender is a set of culturally invented expectations and therefore constitutes a role one assumes, learns, and performs, more or less consciously. It is an “identity” one can in theory choose, at least in some societies, although there is tremendous pressure, as in the United States, to conform to the gender role and identity linked to your biologic sex o We learn very early (by at least age three) about the categories of gender in our culture —that individuals are either “male” or “female” and that elaborate beliefs, behaviors, and meanings are associated with each gender. We can think of this complex set of ideas as a gender ideology or a cultural model of gender. o Biological determinism o Hindu deities are difficult to distinguish as male/female o Phyllis Kaberry, an anthropologist who studied the Nsaw of Cameroon in the 1940s, said males in that culture argued that land preparation for the rizga crop was “a woman’s job, which is too strenuous for the men” and that “women could carry heavy loads because they had stronger foreheads.” 7 Among the Aka who live in the present-day o Lahu and Na asian cultures have different roles for men and women but value both equally o !Kung androgynous culture o Central African Republic, fathers have close, intimate, relationships with infants, play major roles in all aspects of infant-care, and can sometimes produce breast milk o Native American two-spirit  Key Terms: definition and significance/example

 Gender ideology: a complex set of beliefs about gender and gendered capacities, propensities, preferences, identities and socially expected behaviors and interactions that apply to males, females, and other gender categories. Gender ideology can differ among cultures and is acquired through enculturation. Also known as a cultural model of gender.  biological determinism—most traits and characteristics are determined at conception rather than throughout their life  Binary  Binary model of gender: cultural definitions of gender that include only two identities–male and female  Third gender: a gender identity that exists in non-binary gender systems offering one or more gender roles separate from male or female.  Two-spirit o Androgynous individuals, males who preferred female roles or dress, and females who took on male roles, were not condemned but regarded as “two-spirits,” a label that had positive connotations. Two-spirits were considered embody a third gender combining elements of both male and female. The key to the two-spirit gender identity was behavior: what individuals did in their communities.16 If a person who was born with a male biological sex felt his identity and chosen lifestyle best matched the social role recognized as female, he could move into a third gender two-spirit category. Today, Native American groups set their own laws regarding same-sex marriage. Many recognize two-spirit individuals, and accept marriage of a two-spirit person to a person of the same biological sex. Although some nations still do not permit same-sex marriage between tribal members, one of the largest tribal nations, the Cherokee legalized same- sex marriages in 2016.  Social regulation of relationships  Legitimizing ideologies== a set of complex belief systems, often developed by those in power, to rationalize, explain, and perpetuate systems of inequality.  Walking marriage  What is religion? How do difference societies define religion? What kinds of questions do religions try to  answer?  How did early anthropologists and others study religion?  Examples: Sir James Frazer, EB Tylor, Emile Durkheim, etc  What are some theories about the origin or function of religion?  Douglas, Durkheim, Freud, Marx, Harris, Geertz  Douglas-examined religion view on pure and unpure things   How can religion govern behavior?  Name and describe the four elements of religion. o Cosmology-explanation of the history of the world, origin story o belief in the supernatural, a realm beyond direct human experience. This belief could include a God or gods, but this is not a requirement

 Collective effervescence: the passion or energy that arises when groups of people share the same thoughts and emotions. Eg. Encore, stadium where everybody stands up and cheers  Cosmology: an explanation for the origin or history of the world.  Zoomorphic—god imagined in animal form  Monotheistic: religious systems that recognize a single supreme God.  Polytheistic: religious systems that recognize several gods.  Reincarnation: the idea that a living being can begin another life in a new body after death.  REMEMBER THAT YOUR ESSAYS AND DEFINITIONS WILL NEED EXAMPLES  Potential Essay Questions (practicing these should help you answer the multiple choice (make sure you know the names of anthropologists and other historical figures and what they accomplished/historical role):  Describe ethnography and the history of ethnographic fieldwork from armchair anthropology to participant observation. What methods were used and how were people being studied viewed? Why were American anthropologists like Kroeber and Boas particularly concerned with conducting salvage ethnography? o Ethnography-in depth study of everyday lives of a culture, to understand the culture and why they do what they do. Months to years living in a community  Originally developed to understand small remote cultures o Armchair anthropology o o Romanticize indigenous culture o Participant observation-going to live with the culture, documenting observations and everything o Feildwork-to describe a culture from within, to make unusual traits seem familiar  As an anthropologist, who are you ethically responsible to according to the American Anthropological Association’s code of ethics? Describe some of the main issues and how has fieldwork changed over the last hundred years. Draw on examples from class to illustrate your answer.  Describe and define the four central concepts of anthropology—culture, holism, plasticity and participant observation—and their significance to the discipline. How did the examination of these themes and adoption of these methods pushed back against 19th century understandings of race and human culture and society? Anthropology is the study of humans: our biology, cultures, languages, artifacts, and history. It is the comparison of different groups to see what we have in common, and how we differ (Nelson and Braff 2020, 5). Its four major subgroups are archaeology, biological anthropology, linguistic anthropology, and cultural anthropology (Nelson and Braff 2020, 10). Some key terms in anthropology are culture, holism, plasticity, and participant observation. Culture refers to the beliefs, practices, and ways of life shared by a group of people. It includes food, technology, symbols, language, laws, attitudes, and religious beliefs (Nelson and Braff 2020, 6). Culture is uniquely human and is something that is learned through the world around us. No culture is stagnant in that they are all ever-changing through globalization and interactions with other cultures (Nelson and Braff 2020, 7; Surette 2020, What is cultural

anthropology?). Culture is intertwined with and impacted by our basic human needs (food, sleep, sex, etc.). Everyone practices culture in some way-and although they are interrelated, cultures differ around the world. An example of this would be symbols; symbols that have one shared meaning in one culture could mean something completely different to another culture (Nelson and Braff 2020, 7). Holism is the perspective that every individual part of human life (whether it be related to culture, biology, or anything else) is interconnected with everything else. To understand one thing, you need to understand everything connected to it and how they all interact (Nelson and Braff 2020, 15). Plasticity is the ability to learn and adapt to different cultures and languages. This also enforces the idea that contrasts in race aren’t all that significant when looking at how similar all humans are, and how all humans could theoretically be a part of any culture (Surette 2020, What is cultural anthropology?). Participant observation is an inductive form of research that involves surrounding yourself with another culture and spending long periods of time with them, living as they do (Nelson and Braff 2020, 9). It also involves interviews and surveys. It is part of the ethnographic process and can provide access to knowledge that would be difficult to acquire from other research methods (Nelson and Braff 2020, 16). Participant observation was developed in the late 1800s to the early 1900s, around the same time frame that cultural relativism was being developed and ethnocentrism was being questioned (Nelson and Braff 2020, 9).   What is the relationship between race and biology in the context of scientific racism? Make sure you define what you mean by “race” as used in modern anthropology. Use skin colour as an example (or another if you have one) and describe how biology addresses human variation and socially constructed racial categories.  Describe the four levels of socio-cultural integration (band, tribe, chiefdom and state) in relation to THREE of the, following characteristics: population size, power and authority, type of integration (egalitarian, ranked and stratified, law and warfare. Give specific examples for each level. o Band  Ju’/hoansi  Egalitarian  Rarely over 100 people  No formal rules/rulers-maybe shamans or mediators o Tribe  Cherokee  war-raids, feuds  Egalitarian  Can have leaders but don’t really have formal leadership rules  Mediation

distribution of labor responsibilities. How have walking marriages and nuclear families changed in the recent past and why?  What is the relationship between race and biology and discuss how race is socially constructed. Use skin colour as an example (or another if you have one), how does biology address human variation? Race is more of a subjective social construct than a scientific fact (Garcia 2020, 219-223). People can not be divided neatly into categories of race. For example, the farther north of the equator ones genetic heritage is, the lighter their skin generally is (with some exceptions). This change in skin tone is on a continuum. There is no border where one skin tone exists on one side and one on the other, because the change is so subtle. Another example is hooded eyes, which are typically associated with Asian heritage. However, hooded eyes exist among people from other continents as well, and there is a lot of variation in eye type among people labelled as belonging to the Asian race. Genetic and biological differences can be larger among groups perceived to be the same race than between groups perceived to be different races (Garcia 2020, 224). There is variation among biological and genetic traits like skin color (and that variation does often correlate with where one’s ancestors are from), but this variation exists on a spectrum, you can not divide people into specific categories like race based upon skin color, eye type, etc. Although the idea of biological race is not backed up by science, race does still exist in a social context. Races like ‘black’ and ‘white’ can reflect culture, and the way society perceives you based on your physical traits, especially your skin color. Race is not really something that someone is born with but rather something that they are labelled as and that they internalize. Race and ethnicity do overlap but are not the same (Garcia 2020, 231). Ethnicity is fluid, can change over time, and is also related to one’s social location. One’s ethnicity is based upon how connected they feel to a specific ethnic group (a group that has a unique identity based on shared ancestry and culture). Racism (which is built from the concept of race) is a huge cause of inequality. Racial common- sense is the belief that it only takes a glance to recognize someone’s race, and that their race coincides with their personality and culture (Surette 2020, Race and Ethnicity). This idea, which is largely accepted as being the truth, can increase misconceptions and stereotypes about races, which can then enable discrimination and systemic inequality. For example, racial stratification occurs when people have differing levels of access to resources based simply on their race. Scientific racism also contributes to inequality because it categorizes different races as being superior or inferior. Scientific racism is a theory that uses characteristics like skin color to divide people into racial categories. Scientific racism theorizes that different races essentially have different levels of worth, with white people being above everyone, and sub-Saharan African people being ranked at the bottom. Scientific racism claims that race comes from biology, and that people can be classified as being a specific race based on their biological features. While scientific racism is based on characteristics like skin color that can be connected

to biology, it is also based upon traits like skull shape, which have been proven to be a result of one’s environment rather than their genetic heritage (Garcia 2020, 224). Racial constructions can also lead to lack of recognition for different ethnic groups. For example, Japan did not recognize the Ainu, an Indigenous group, as being a distinct culture until 2008 (Surette 2020, Race and Ethnicity)  Define globalization. What are the five “scapes” of Globalization as described by Arjun Appadurai? How does clothing or another commodity or product involve all five “scapes”? o ethnoscape (the movement of people across countries and the world), o financesape (the movement and circulation of money throughout the world), o mediascape (how media reaches different people in different parts of the world), o ideoscape (the sharing of ideas across countries or the world) o technoscape (how technology is shared and spread across the world/different regions)  Western gender ideologies are shaped by the origin myth, “Man the Hunter”. Describe how this origin myth is used to explain behavioral differences between men and women set in a binary gender dynamic. How has recent scholarship challenged this myth? o Research on primates shows that society often revolves around the females, who can be quite dominant o Hunting was actually not the primary mode of subsistence o Hunting was not limited to just men, and not so sensationalized with long hard trips coming back with big animals. Eg. Mbuti of central African rainforest-families worked together to herd animals into nets o Women have worked for most of history so were not dependent on men o Motherhood and childbearing was not as debilitating as made out to seem  You are planning to start a research project that will involve traveling to another community to work with a community there. What are the steps you need to take and the factors you need to consider before you go to the field, while you are there and after you leave? o Choose a subject, travel plans, study culture, language, learn how to build trust, o Communication, and language, government restriction og study topics, funding, housing, local rules and attitudes, culture shock, use of electronic devices, difficulty relating, exploitation, safety and privacy of subjects, consent, accessibility of research, fabrication of data, theft of artifacts  What did early anthropologists study and how has this changed over time? o 1.Proto-anthropology-comparing to your own culture, researching from a distance  Sophists-believe in no absolute truth, depends on the context  Hetotodos  Both were missing evidence or theory o 2.Armchair Anthropology of the pre-modern period  Studying from far  Eg. Descriptions of akephaloi/headless people o 3.The rise of Anthropology as a artefact of colonialism  Colonization led to people being able to travel  Empirical/scientific way of thinking

scientists, immersed in Darwinian theories, began to explore the evolutionary 244 PERSPECTIVES: AN OPEN INTRODUCTION TO CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY Figure 13: Female baboon in estrus. Figure 14: Baboon pair in tree: male-female voluntary relations. roots of what they assumed to be universal: male dominance. Of course, scientists, like the rest of us, view the world partially through their own cultural lenses and through a gendered version. Prior to the 1970s, women and gender relations were largely invisible in the research literature and most researchers were male so it is not surprising that 1960s theories reflected prevailing male-oriented folk beliefs about gender. 46 The Hunting Way of Life “Molds Man” (and Woman) The most popular and persistent theories argued that male dominance is universal, rooted in specieswide gendered biological traits that we acquired, first as part of our primate heritage, and further developed as we evolved from apes into humans. Emergence of “the hunting way of life” plays a major role in this story. Crucial components include: a diet consisting primarily of meat, obtained through planned, cooperative hunts, by all-male groups, that lasted several days and covered a wide territory. Such hunts would require persistence, skill, and physical stamina; tool kits to kill, butcher, transport, preserve, and share the meat; and a social organization consisting of a stable home base and a monogamous nuclear family. Several biological changes were attributed to adopting this way of life: a larger and more complex brain, human language, an upright posture (and humans’ unique foot and stride), loss of body hair, a long period of infant dependency, and the absence of “estrus” (ovulation-related female sexual arousal) (Figure 13), which made females sexually “receptive” throughout the monthly cycle. Other human characteristics purportedly made sex more enjoyable: frontal sex and fleshier breasts, buttocks, and genitals, especially the human penis. Making sex “sexier,” some speculated, cemented the pair-bond, helping to keep the man “around” and the family unit stable.47 Hunting was also linked to a “world view” in which the flight of animals from humans seemed natural and (male) aggression became normal, frequent, easy to learn, rewarded, and enjoyable. War, some have suggested, might psychologically be simply a form of hunting and pleasurable for male participants.48 The Hunting Way of Life, in short, “molded man,” giving our species its distinctive characteristics. And as a result, we contemporary humans cannot erase the effects of our hunting past even though we live in cities, stalk nothing but a parking place, and can omit meat from our diets. The biology, psychology, and customs that separate us from the apes—all these we owe to the hunters of time past. And, although the record is incomplete and speculation looms larger than fact, for those who would understand the origin and nature of human behavior there is no choice but to try to understand “Man the Hunter.” —Washburn and Lancaster (1974)49 Gender roles and male dominance were supposed to be part of our evolutionary heritage. Males evolved to be food-providers—stronger, more aggressive, more effective leaders with cooperative and bonding capacities, planning skills, and technological inventiveness (tool-making). In this creation story, females never acquired those capacities because they were burdened by their reproductive 245 roles—pregnancy, giving birth, lactation, and child care—and thus became dependent on males for food and protection. The gender gap widened over time. As males initiated, explored, invented, women stayed at home, nurtured, immersed themselves in domestic life. The result: men are active, women are passive; men are leaders, women are followers; men are dominant, women are subordinate. Many of us have

heard pieces of this Hunting Way of Life story. Some of the men Mukhopadhyay interviewed in Los Angeles in the late 1970s invoked “our hunting past” to explain why they—and men generally—operated barbeques rather than their wives. Women’s qualifications to be president were questioned on biological grounds such as “stamina” and “toughness.” Her women informants, all hospital nurses, doubted their navigational abilities, courage, and strength despite working in intensive care and regularly lifting heavy male patients. Mukhopadhyay encountered serious scholars who cited women’s menstrual cycle and “emotional instability” during ovulation to explain why women “can’t” hunt. Similar stories are invoked today for everything from some men’s love of hunting to why men dominate “technical” fields, accumulate tools, have extra-marital affairs or commit the vast majority of homicides. Strength and toughness remain defining characteristics of masculinity in the United States, and these themes often permeate national political debates.50 One element in the complex debate over gun control is the male-masculine strength-through-guns and man-the-hunter association, and it is still difficult for some males in the United States to feel comfortable with their soft, nurturant, emotional, and artistic sides.51 What is most striking about man-the-hunter scenarios is how closely they resemble 1950s U.S. models of family and gender, which were rooted in the late nineteenth century “cult of domesticity” and “true womanhood.” Father is “head” of the family and the final authority, whether in household decisions or in disciplining children. As “provider,” Father goes “outside” into the cold, cruel world, hunting for work. Mother, as “chief mom,” remains “inside” at the home base, creating a domestic refuge against the “survival of the fittest” “jungle.” American anthropologists seemed to have subconsciously projected their own folk models onto our early human ancestors. Altering this supposedly “fundamental” gender system, according to widely read authors in the 1970s, would go against our basic “human nature.” This belief was applied to the political arena, then a virtually all-male domain, especially at state and national levels. The following quote from 1971 is particularly relevant and worthy of critical evaluation since, for the first time, a major U.S. political party selected a woman as its 2016 presidential candidate (See Text Box 3, Gender and the Presidential Election). To make women equal participants in the political process, we will have to change the very process itself, which means changing a pattern bred into our behavior over the millennia. —Lionel Tiger and Robin Fox 52 Replacing Stories with Reality Decades of research, much of it by a new generation of women scholars, have altered our view of the hunting way of life in our evolutionary past.53 For example, the old stereotype of primates as living in male-centered, male-dominated groups does not accurately describe our closest primate relatives, gorillas, chimpanzees, and bonobos. The stereotypes came from 1960s research on savannah, grounddwelling baboons that suggested they were organized socially by a stable male- dominance hierarchy, the “core” of the group, that was established through force, regulated sexual access to females, and provided internal and external defense of the “troop” in a supposedly hostile savannah environment.54 Females lacked hierarchies or coalitions, were passive, and were part of dominant male “harems.” 246 PERSPECTIVES: AN OPEN INTRODUCTION TO CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY Figure 15: Rhesus monkeys at the Periyar Reserve in Kerala, India. Figure 16: Baboon group with infants being carried by male. Critics first argued that baboons, as monkeys rather than apes, were too far removed from humans evolutionarily to tell us much about early human social organization. Then, further research