Cultural Anthropology/Glossary

A

Anthropology

The scientific study of human beings as social organisms.

Applied anthropology

The practice of applying anthropological theory and or methods to solve human problems.

Archeology

The study and interpretation of the human past through examination of the material artifacts and remains left behind.

Achieved status

refers to the status level an individual in society has earned through work, education, luck, and/or social climbing. Achieved status is changeable throughout one's life.

Ataque de Nervios

State of mind characterized by uncontrollable shouting, crying, aggressiveness, shaking or trembling, fainting, and suicidal gestures. Typically follows a stressful event in one's life, and is accompanied by amnesia for the ataque.

B

Biological Anthropology (also Physical Anthropology)

The study of human biology using principles of genetics, osteology, comparative primatology, evolution and adaptation.

C

Chronemics

A type of nonverbal communication, this tends to cover the role of time when studying nonverbal communication.

Cline

Genetic variation between populations of species that are isolated in their reproduction.

Collective Investigation

A way of gathering bits and pieces of information from different sources.

D

Diaspora: A group of people who have relocated from their place of origination to varied foreign lands.

E

Ethnography

A scientific of describing different people and their cultures.

H

Haptics

To use your sense of touch to move objects or manipulate other types of matter.

I

Ideology

A system of ideas and ideals or manner of thinking which are characteristics of a group, social class, or individual.

Imperialism

The act of extending a particular country's power, either from military force and colonialism or through diplomacy

Intrinsic Quality

This usually has to do with the nature of people and or animals. Ex: Both humans and animals have to feed themselves in order to survive.

N

Natural Selection

A system in which nature chooses who lives and dies.

Nonverbal Communication

This includes gestures with in body language to indicate what that person is thinking or what they want to do.

O

Opprobrium

Extremely harsh criticism, censure or judgement.

P

Positivist Approach

Based around the central idea of positivism, ( positive knowledge is based on natural phenomena with their properties and relations are verified by scientific method). Main goal is to produce objective knowledge.

Proxemics

The amount of space that people feel necessary to put between themselves and others as they interact; usually dependent on the region and culture that the people came from.

Q

Qualitative

a type of data that describes the results of an experiment or trial.

T

Taxonomic Analysis

A catalog that usually has an arrangement and sometimes has a division or a predetermined system according to science.

Triangulation

Finding and drawing different measurements of groups often found in territories or regions.