Glossary

A

Achieved Status: A social role / position that is aquired through accomplishments rather than birthright and that is very fluid.

Acculturation: A source of culture change in which a dominant group imposes cultural elements onto a subordinate group.

Adaptive Strategy: The complex of cultural systems that vary together and are identified by how food is attained.

Agriculture: A food getting strategy that involves the intensive cultivation of domesticated plants and animals with the use of technology.

Ambilineal Descent:A type of unilineal descent that is traced seperately through both female/mother's line and male/father's line independently.

Animatism: The belief in an impersonal supernatural force.

Animism: The belief in personal supernatural forces usually taking the form of ghosts and/or ancestor spirits (not gods).

Anthropology: The study of humans.

Apical Ancestor: The individual at the top of a descent group to which all individuals within the descent group trace their descent.

Applied Anthropology: The application of anthropological data, perspectives, theory and methods to identify, assess, and solve contemporary social problems.

Archeology: The anthropological study of past cultures.

Artifact: Anything made, modified or manipulated by humans.

Assimilation: The process by which a minority group is incorporated into a more dominant group, with the minority group usually losing its own identity.

Ascribed Status: A social role / position that a person is born with and cannot readily change.

Authority: Socially approved influence.

Avunculocal: Type of residence pattern associated with matrilineal societies where the bride and groom live with or near the groom's maternal uncle.

B

Bagi: Red shelled necklaces used in Kula exchange. Also known as soulava.

Balanced Reciprocity: A type of reciprocity characterized by giving with the expectation of receiving something of approximately equal value either immediately or sometime in the near future.

Band: Political system associated with foraging.

Belief: Any idea or concept taken on faith that cannot be scientifically tested.

Berdache: The third gender in Zuni society.

Bilateral Descent: Descent system in which descent is traced through both the mother's and father's side with no distinction made between the two sides.

Bound Morpheme: A minimal meaning segment that cannot stand on its own as a word.

Bride Price: A type of marriage exchange in which the husband compensates the wife's family for the loss of her labor.

C

Capital: Goods used to produce or procure other goods.

Caste: A category of ascribed social status most closely associated with India.

Chief: Leadership position in which all power and authority is in the hands of one individual. Associated with chiefdoms.

Chiefdom: Poltical system associated with early agriculture.

Civilization: A level of complexity of a society indicated by the presence of cities, writing and a formal government system.

Clan: A descent group for which the apical ancestor is unknown.

Closed-system: A type of communication system where there are only a finite number of calls to represent a finite number of things.

Colonialism: The political, social, economic, and cultural domination of a territory and its people by a foreign power for an extended period of time.

Communication: The transmission of information from one individual to another individual or group.

Critical Cultural Relativism: A modified view of cultural relativism that poses questions about cultural practices and ideas in terms of who accepts them and why, and who they might be harming or helping.

Cross Cousin: Your mother's brother's child or your father's sister's child.

Cultivation: Food production, as opposed to just gathering and hunting.

Cultural Anthropology: The anthropological study of contemporary cultures.

Cultural Relativism: The perspective that one should view beliefs and customs within the context of the culture of those being studied.

Cultural Resource Management (CRM): The branch of archeology devoted to protecting archeological sites primarily located in developed areas through excavation and legislation.

Culture: Traditions and customs that govern behavior and beliefs that is distinctly human and transmitted through learning.

Culture Shock: A severe psychological reaction that results from adjusting to the realities of a society radically different from one's own.

D

Data: Information acquired through systematic observation.

Dieties: Omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent supernatiral beings of non-human origin. Synonomous with gods.

Descent Group: A group that claims membership to a particular kin group based on a set of descent rules.

Descent Rules: A set of rules based on how people are related that is used to assign membership in a descent group.

Diffusion: A source of culture change in which cultural elements transfer from one group to another due to cultural contact.

Discovery: The process of becoming aware of something that already exists.

Displacement: The ability to speak about things and/or events that are not present in time and/or space.

Dowry: A type of marriage exchange in which the brides family provides goods for the bride to take into the marriage with her.

E

Egalitarian: A type of social system characterized by individuals having equal status and equal access to necessary resources.

Ego: The individual from which kinship is traced; the referrent in a kinship diagram. Represented by a filled in square.

Emic: An insiders understanding of how the world works.

Enculturation: The process through which humans learn and transmit culture and language.

Endogamous: Pertaining to marrying within a social group.

Ethnic Group: A group of people sharing a unique common heritage, set of cultural values and usually language.

Ethnicity: Identification with a particular ethnic group.

Ethnobotany: The study of the relationship between plants and people.

Ethnocide: The intentional and systematic destruction of a cultural group

Ethnocentrism: Judging another cultures beliefs and/or values based on your own cultural beliefs and/or values.

Ethnography: A written account of a particular culture based on first hand observation.

Ethnology: The comparative study of cultures to develop theories about humans and humanity.

Ethnomusicology: The study of the relationship between music and people.

Etic: An outsider's understanding of how the world works.

Extragenetic: Outside of the genes; Not coded for by genes.

F

Fieldwork: The period of time, traditionally a year or more, an anthropologist spends immersed in the culture being studied.

Foraging: A food getting strategy that involves hunting and gathering.

Fraternal Polyandry: A type of marriage where one wife is married to a set of brothers.

G

Gender: The cultural values and meanings elaborating the differences between sexes within a society and assigning roles associated with those differences.

Generalized Reciprocity: A type of reciprocity characterized by giving without the expectation of return.

Ghosts: Supernatural beings of human origin that have limited knowledge and power. Synonomous with spirits.

Globalization: The ongoing spread of goods, people, information and capital around the world promoting a global economy.

Gods: Omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent supernatiral beings of non-human origin. Synonomous with deities.

H

Head Man / Big Man: Nominal leadership position associated with tribal societies.

Hijra: The third gender in Indian society.

Historical Archeology: The anthropological study of past cultures that had written records.

Historical Linguistics: The study of how languages change over time.

Holism: The concept that all things are interconnected and therefore must be studied in context. One must consider the whole picture, not just the parts.

Horticulture: A food getting strategy that involves cultivating naturally occuring, wild foods with only the use of simple technology.

Household: A group of individuals who live together and cooperate in producing subsistence for their group that share the same dwelling.

Hypothesis: A testable proposition about the relationship between a set of variables.

I

Industrialism: A food getting strategy that involves high degrees of mechanization and removes individuals from the direct production of food in favor of individuals selling their labor for wages that they can then use to purchase food.

Innovation: A source of culture change that is the result of discovery and invention.

Invention: The process of taking something that already exists and modifying it to make something new.

J

K

Kinesics: The study of non-verbal communication.

Kula: A system of ceremonial exchange practiced among the Trobriand Islanders.

Kuru: A protein prion disease primarily found among the Fore of Papua New Guinea passed through eating the brains of their infected human ancestors.

L

Language: A type of communication system primarily used by humans that imparts meaning through the use of sounds or gestures arranged according to a set of rules.

Lexicon: The dictionary of a language.

Lineage: A descent group that can be traced to a particular known descendent.

Linguistics: The anthropological study of language and communication.

M

Market Exchange: An economic system where goods are bought and sold with their value being determined by supply and demand.

Marriage: A socially approved reproductive and economic unit.

Matriarchy: A society where women are in power. There is no such thing as a matriarchal society.

Matrilineal Descent: A type of unilineal descent that is traced through the female/mother's line.

Matrilocal: Type of residence pattern associated with matrilineal societies where the bride and groom live with or near the bride's family.

Mediation: An informal means of settling disputes primarily found in tribal societies.

Monogamy: A type of marriage where there is only one wife and one husband at any given time.

Monotheism: The belief in one supreme deity.

Morphemes: The smallest significant meaning segments in a language.

Morphology: The study of how phonemes combine to produce morphemes.

Mwali: White shell armbands use in Kula exchange.

N

Neolocal: Type of residence pattern associated with nuclear families in which the bride and groom both leave their families households to establish their own independent household.

O

Open-system: A type of communication system where there are an unlimited number of symbols that can be produced and new symbols can be introduced.

Ordeal: A means of determining guilt or innocence by having those who are accused submit themselves to dangerous or harmful tests believed to be under supernatural control.

P

Paleoanthropology: The study of the fossilized remains of human ancestors.

Parallel Cousin: Your mother's sister's child or your father's brother's child.

Participant Observation: The primary method of data collection used by anthropologists which involves immersing oneself in the culture being studied.

Pastoralism: A food getting strategy that relies on the products and/or bi-products of domesticated and partially domesticated herds.

Patriarchy: A society where men are in power. All societies are patriarchal.

Patrilineal Descent: A type of unilineal descent that is traced through the male/father's line.

Patrilocal: Type of residence pattern associated with patrilineal societies where the bride and groom live with or near the groom's family.

Physical (or Biological) Anthropology: The anthropological study of humans as biological beings.

Phonemes: The smallest significant sound contrasts in a language.

Phonology: The study of sounds used in speech.

Plural Society: A Society in which multiple ethnic groups coexist in a single geographic area but have little interaction.

Polyandry: A type of marriage where one wife is married to multiple husbands. Usually takes the form of fraternal polyandry.

Polygamy: A category of marriage that involves one person marrying multiple spouses. Includes polygyny and polyandry.

Polygyny: A type of marriage where one husband is married to multiple wives.

Polytheism: The belief in many gods.

Power: The ability to exercise one's will over others.

Prehistoric Archeology: The anthropological study of past cultures that did not have written records.

Primary Data: Data collected first hand from the original source. As opposed to secondary data which is data that has been collected and compiled by others that the researcher can then access through books, databases or things of that nature.

Primatology: The study of primates.

Productivity: A unique characteristic of language that allows people to use a finite set of rules to create an infinite number of meanings.

Proto-Indo-European: The proto language from which Germanic, Romance, Indic and many other languages developed.

Proto-language: A language from which many related languages derived.

Q

R

Race: An ethnic group assumed to have a biological basis.

Racism: Discrimination against a particular group of people based on their racial classification.

Reciprocity: Giving and taking without the use of money.

Redistribution: The accumulation of goods by a central authority who then distributes those goods throughout the community as he/she sees fit.

Religion: Cultural knowledge of the supernatural that people use to cope with the ultimate problems of human existence.

Religious Syncretism: The combination of multiple religious systems to create a new religious system that contains elements from those original systems.

Revitalization Movements: Social movements, often of a religious nature, that either have the purpose of totally reforming a society to restore the old ways or creating a new social order.

S

Santaria: A religious system that combines elements from traditional Latino beliefs and Christianity.

Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis: Theory that different languages produce different ways of thinking.

Science: A systematic approach to exploring the world that involves developing and testing hypotheses.

Sex: The biological aspect of gender--either male (XY) or female (XX).

Sister Languages: Languages that derive from the same proto-language.

Slash and Burn: Technique used in horticulture for clearing the land.

Sociolinguistics: The study of how language and communication are used in social contexts.

Spirits: Supernatural beings of human origin that have limited knowledge and power. Synonomous with ghosts.

State: Political system associated with later agriculture and industrialism.

Status: Any social position held by an individual within a society.

Structural Linguistics: The study of the differences and similarities between contemporary languages.

Syntax: Rules regarding word placement in a language.

Subsistence System: The system used to get the goods, primarily food, needed for survival.

T

Theory: A general, supported statement about the relationship between variables.

Totem: An object that represents membership in a clan.

Tribe: Political system associated with horticulture.

U

Unbound Morpheme: A minimal meaning segment that can stand on its own as a word.

Universal Grammar: The organizing principles of language found within all languages.

Unlilineal Descent: A category of descent group in which descent is traced through one line--either the mother's or the father's.

V

Variables: Specific characteristics or things that may assume any number of values.

Voodoo: A religious system that combines elements from traditional African religion with Catholicism.

W

X

Y

Z