AAD 252 Study Guide - Final Guide: Sociocultural Anthropology, Nonverbal Communication, Language Ideology
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13 Feb 2018
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ANTA02 Lecture 1 – Introduction to Course !
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January, 2 2017: Week 01 !
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So What Exactly is Anthropology? !
• Humans past and presents – behaviours, lifestyles, language, cultures, !
• Evolution of humans – includes primate behaviour !
• Huge discipline 4 fields (Archaeology, Biological, Linguistic, Sociocultural) !
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Archaeology/Physical: !
• Material Culture !
• Digging up things, looking at tombs, evacuating dig sites !
• Specially, material culture of past human societies !
• How we live and how we changed over time !
• Also look at contemporary societies !
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Biological/Evolutionary: !
• Human population change over historical times– from an evolutionary perspective !
• Disease, migration, diet, nutrition, biological diversity, etc. – through the lens of
exploring, gathering from human remains (dead bodies) that they dig up and learn up !
• Issues like primate behaviour and communication !
• Study of human evolution !
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Linguistic Anthropology: !
• Human communication (also non-verbal) – language systems and non-verbal
communication (i.e., body language, emotional states, gestures) !
• “Discourse analysis” – ways of talking, language, breaking down linguistics !
• How language shapes – and reflects – people’s values, beliefs, worldviews !
• Evolution of language through human communication – how language changes !
• Language ideology !
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!! 2!!
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Comic: compound words, joke that different words for snow (hundred words for snow), world
around you shapes the way language operates; there is a greater vocab for different types of
snow. Languages shapes based on our language and it sheds light on the world of how
intuits view their world. !
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Last Two Speakers of Dying Language Refuse to Talk to Each Other: !
• Two elderly people who live in Mexico – live close together but they refuse to talk to
each other; they are the last ones who speak a dying language “ “ !
• About something everyone does – everyone texts nowadays !
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Sociocultural Anthropology: !
• Study of how humans interact (lived culture, everyday lives, how culture is created and
reformed through daily life) !
• Culture differences !
• Making sense of human interaction “people watching” !
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Medical Anthropology: (Sometimes field, not included in 4) !
• A 5th field – acknowledges it’s a separate field !
• Focuses on how health and healing are expressed differently in cultures !
• How hospitals and doctors operate in their knowledge of disease !
• Body issue (variations in body issues in different cultures) !
• NOT separate field – it can be approached from the socio/culture or biological aspects
of anthropology !
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Disclaimer: Whenever we talk about anthropology, unless otherwise specified we mean
sociocultural !
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Stereotypes of Anthropology: !
• First – book “The Innocent Anthropologist – notes from a Mud Hunt” – they study
bizarre weird cultures and they lived in mud hunts in a weird ethnic group and then they
write about they experience o There is some truth to this !
o Problem: ignores the fact that it looks at today cultures (private schools, Canadian
university, wall street – can be done anywhere not just weird places) !

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• Indian Jones (founds tombs that are cursed) – exploring primitive, distinct cultures
(most of us are not adventures, very boring, normal day tasks) !
• 2nd blog girl goes to Africa – stereotype that anthropologists go to weird excoriate
places then goes back and changes FB profile – “Voluntarism” !
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Comic: When the people in hut see the anthropologist coming off from the boat so they hid their
tv and phone so they appear to be weirder and strange (non-western like) !
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But: Good Anthropology Does Not “Exoticize”: !
• Yes, we seek to understand differences !
• But also to help us understand ourselves! !
• Getting outside our comfort zone !
• Goal – help understand our ways of doing things aren’t normal at all, reflect on our
everyday lives, look at things we take advantage of daily !
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Anthropological Warm-Up Exercise: Greetings: !
• What are some of the ways we humans “greet” each other? !
o Handshakes o Hugs o Fist bumps o High Five o Bowing o Kneeling o Waving
o Smiling !
o Kissing (cheeks, hand, forehead, air kisses) !
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Creepy People Watching … or Anthropological Awesomeness? !
• There is a fine line of what is appropriate in one culture and what is not in another
culture Learning to Become Aware of the Patterns in which We Are All Enmeshed:
· We share similar behaviours in different cultures !
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History of the Discipline: !
• Anthropology has a horrible history !
• It was created to handmade into colonialism !
• Started the colonialism regime (anthropologists were brought in to help soldiers to civil
the native to the colonist own cultures; helped understand how these natives operated) !
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Armchair Anthropology vs. Fieldwork: !