Apy1501 Study Notes

(60 MCQ – 2 hours) WHAT IS ANTHROPOLOGY? Anthropology Produces information on people and what they have in common. • Studies humankind everywhere, both past and present • Studies where people live, the organisation and the general features of people’s languages. Initially what distinguished anthropology from sociology was that Anthropology studied 'preliterate' people. Anthropology as an independent discipline is distinguished from other disciplines that study humankind by the fact that anthropology is concerned with all facets of human existence. The anthropological fieldwork methodology is distinguished from the methodologies of other disciplines that study human beings by its involvement in experiencing something of other people’s live and becoming familiar with their activities in their contexts. An holistic approach to the study of cultures means that anthropologists study all facets of human life including the environmental factors to which people must adapt for survival. Sociocultural anthropologists: • Focus on the lifestyles of the rich diversity of societies as they are found worldwide. • Relations between people in terms of culture Linguistic anthropologists: The relation between language and the other aspects of the life of a society • They initially studied the historical development of unwritten languages of non-western societies. • Study societies to gain an understanding of how cultural phenomena are expressed verbally. • Study the way in which language is used in different social contexts Biological anthropologists: - The influence of biological and hereditary characteristics on behaviour of members of a society. - The physical adaptation of human populations to their environment Biological anthropologists also make use of: • human genetics (the study of inherited human traits) • population biology (the study of the effects of the environment) • Epidemiology (the study of the differing effects of diseases on populations). • They focus on the fossil remains of prehistoric human-like beings Archaeologist: • The material remains of societies which are collected during excavation of sites where people once lived. • past living conditions and changes that occurred in human populations during prehistoric times Fields of application and practical work: • agriculture • resettlement • alcohol and drug abuse • missionary work • cultural resource management • rural and urban development • design and architecture • women and development • community development • conflict resolution • education and schools • war • employment and labour relations • wildlife management • health and medicine • social impact assessment • land use and land claims • succession disputes THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL WAY: Ethnography/ethnographic research: 1. Involves first-hand, direct contact with the people being studied. 2. It is both the process and the product of fieldwork 3. It may include personal network analyses of informants Ethnographic fieldwork as research methodology in anthropology Is used to gather information on the culture of societies by means of the interviewing of informants and participant observation. Anthropological information that has been collected by means of the ethnographic method will be regarded as a more meaningful and accurate representation of peoples’ sociocultural systems when an anthropologist has used the emic and etic research approaches during his/her fieldwork. Emic: Insder - How the people themselves view things. Etic: Outsider: How the scientist interprets (unbiased). The most important sources of information on a particular sociocultural system are the people at grass-roots level. Anthropologists MAINLY gather information about the people they study by means of In-depth interviewing of informants. The latest survey by Unisa’s Bureau of Market Research (BMR) indicates: More than half of all South Africans still fall in the lowest income bracket (In 2008, there were more than 6 million black households living below the “subsistence” level) The South African economy is not creating sufficient job opportunities for the thousands of additional work seekers that enter the market every year. Although there has been significant growth in the number of “black diamonds” (successful/ wealthy black business people), this has further widened the gap between rich and poor. Socioeconomic inequalities are greater than ever. There is a skills shortage, which means that millions of South Africans do not have access to the modern knowledge economy. Millions of foreigners are pouring into the country, legally and illegally. They compete with the locals for work and are often quite innovative. The result is frustration and resentment, particularly among the unemployed, which has led to widespread xenophobic attacks. The anthropologists role in a Development Project: • Cooperating with agriculturists, geographers, engineers and other scientists in multidisciplinary teams on development projects in a local community • Doing sociocultural impact studies so that communities are not disrupted when buildings are erected, highways and dams constructed and oil pipelines laid • Playing the role of cultural broker or mediator between the government or planners and the local community when the latter has to be moved Holism: The term has carried the implication that sociocultural systems and people’s lives, are interconnected in an almost ideal, balanced and perfectly functional way. Contextual perspective (Holistic View): Is based on the expectation that each patterned element or system, for example, religion, kinship, politics and economy, is dependent upon or linked to some other elements within a specific time, situation and locality. Cultural relativism : • One needs to interpret the behavior of people in terms of the sociocultural context in which the behavior is found. • If an excessively cultural relativism approach is followed in anthropology Cultural practices that have a harmful impact on a society may not be questioned Comparative Method: to compare a wide range of sociocultural systems of groups and of people throughout the world. To uncover differences and similarities and even universals, in various systems, to help them understand why humans behave the way they do Research Methords: 1. Qualitative research: • aims to get a better understanding through first-hand experience, observation, participation and truthful reporting of actual conversations. 2. The Genealogical Method: • The study of the principles of kinship, descent and marriage. • Questioning informants about their relatives (kin), naming all those they can remember, living or dead, and indicating the nature of the relationship between them. 3. Network Analysis: This strategy incorporates relationships beyond those established by kinship and marriage and includes relationships derived from friendship, the workplace, sport or a common interest. 4. Life History method • It is not unusual for an anthropologist to ask an informant for an autobiography or life history. • Interprets life’s events by reference to the sociocultural system. • It reveals insights into the ways they and other members of the community, perceive their world. • Life histories also provide data about how individuals adjust to the restraints placed on them by their sociocultural system and to the things that have happened to them. • The matter of personal response is particularly important to those interested in psychological anthropology Reflexivity: • The awareness of the re