Anthropology Glossary

The following is a brief glossary of anthropology terms. I am posting it mostly because of the discussions I've been writing on the fiction page. I thought it would be helpful to have a glossary of terms I used.

Click an index letter below to jump to terms:

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z #

acephalous society: A society which has neither a leader no central leadership, and is relatively egalitarian. Most foraging societies are acephalous.
adaptation: The process by which a people or person adjusts to the environment in order to survive.
affinity: A relationship brought about as a result of marriage.
agriculturalism: A subsistence strategy in which crops are grown using irrigation, fertilizers and draft animals or machinery.
agriculturalist: Those who practice agriculture.
animal husbandry: The raising and breeding of an animal. Pastoralist cultures focus on the husbandry of a single animal, usually a large, herbivorous herd animal such as horses or cattle.
animatism: A belief in an omnipresent supernatural force or power.
animism: A belief in a near infinite number of spirits which dwell in places and in animals, or wander the earth.
anthropology: The scientific study of all things human, including past, present and future human existence.

to top of page

band: An egalitarian method of social and political organization made up of several families with no central leadership. It's commonly found within foraging societies.
B.C.E.: Before Common Era. Refers to the time period corresponding to B.C.
B.P.: Before Present. Used by anthropologists to refer to time periods that occurred not too long ago.
bureaucracy: Specialized organization responsible for running the day-to-day operation of a society. Bureaucracies do not emerge until societies become large, complex and populated with a variety of specialists. These are often agriculturalist societies.

to top of page

camp: 1) A temporary settlement used primarily by foragers and pastoralists.
2) A level of political organization in pastoralist societies composed of several families. The composition of the camp is always changing.
carry capacity: The number of people who can be supported by the available resources and technology in an area of land. Carry capacity is used in biology as a way to measure how much life a plot of land can support.
caste: A social status based on occupation. A person is born into their caste and cannot leave it to enter another caste.
C.E.: Common Era. Refers to the time period corresponding to A.D.
clan: A group of people who claim decendency from a common ancestor but who cannot trace actual links to that ancestor.
class: A social division based on a person's relationship to the means of production. Classes also share a collective identity. In general, a person can move from one class to another.
coalition: A temporary alliance aimed at achieving a specific political goal or political purpose.
cultural relativism: Judging and interpreting others in terms of their culture, traditions and beliefs. Cultural relativism is an attempt to understand another culture without judging it by the standards of your own culture.
culture: A set of learned rules, standards or manners shared within a human group that describes a range of behaviors and beliefs that are proper, acceptable and valid, and are in place to promote the survival of the group. These rules govern all aspects of behavior within a human group and provide for repercussions when the rules are violated. These rules also govern relationships to other human groups and the environment.
culture shock: Psychological strains caused by the adjustment to a different culture.

to top of page

deviants: Persons judged by society as being too far removed from a "norm" that is defined by cultural practices or those in power. Deviancy is unacceptable behavior that must be dealt with.
diffusionism: The concept that the main way cultures change is through borrowing cultural practices from other cultures.
division of labor: The way in which work is divided in a society. In most instances, a division of labor exists along gender and age differences.

to top of page

egalitarian: Refers to a society in which people are economically and politically equal. These societies do not exclude people because they are poor or perform specialized tasks. Foraging societies tend to be the most egalitarian of all societies.
enculturation: The process of learning one's native culture as one grows up.
environment: In anthropology, the physical, biological and social surroundings in which a person or people live.
ethnocentrism: Judging another culture by the values and traditions of your own culture.
ethnography: The process of describing a culture.
ethnology: The process of understanding how and why a culture functions.

to top of page

fallow: A period of time during which a field is not planted and natural growth is allowed to return to the area. This period restores soil nutrients that have been depleted because of farming.
fauna: Animal life.
flora: Plant life.
food sharing: The practice of sharing food with members of a group in order to promote solidarity and create social obligations that can be called upon at a later time.
foraging: One of the major human subsistence strategies in which people collect wild plants and hunt wild animals to eat. Foraging peoples live in semi-isolated groups of between 20 and 30 individuals. By and larger, they don't establish permanent settlements, but instead migrate within a home range as resources in an area become scarce. People who practice this form of subsistence are called foragers or hunter-gathers.
forager: A person or society that practices foraging as their primary subsistence strategy.

to top of page

herbivore: Animal that only eats plants.
horticulture: One of the major human subsistence strategies in which people use simple hand tools to raise crops in small gardens. People who practice this form of subsistence are called horticulturalists.
horticulturalist: A person who practices horticulture as their primary subsistence pattern.
hunter-gather: see forager

to top of page

intensive agriculture: One of the major human subsistence strategies in which full time farmers produce high yields of crops using irrigation, fertilizer, pesticides and herbicides as well as large beasts of burden and eventually mechanized equipment. Intensive agriculture supports a large population with relatively few full time farmers. Intensive agriculture is partly responsible for the emergence of urban centers starting around 5 K.Y.A.
intercropping: Planting a variety of crops in a single field.

to top of page

kinship: A culturally recognized relationship based on decent and marriage.
K.Y.A.: Thousand Years Ago. Used as shorthand particularly in archaeology when dealing with time spans.

to top of page

language: A collection of rules that govern communication between people. The ability to use language is an innate, biological human ability.
large-scale society: A society which has cities, complex economy, specialists, industry and uses agricultural techniques.
lineage: Descent from a common ancestor through known links.

to top of page

marriage: Socially sanctioned sexual and economic union between two (or more) people. Every culture has its own practices and beliefs about marriage, including the reasons for getting married, what makes an ideal match and repercussions for ending a marriage.
mega fauna: Large terrestrial animals, such as mammoths.
monogamy: Marriage practice in which a person is married to only one spouse.
M.Y.A.: Million Years Ago. Shorthand used primarily by physical anthropologists when they are describing a time period several million years ago.
myth: A sacred story explaining aspects of a religious belief in terms of real world referents or experiences.

to top of page

nomad: One who practices nomadism.
nomadism: A way of life in which the people do not settle down in permanent settlements. Foragers and pastoralist are typically nomadic.

to top of page

pastoralism: A subsistence strategy in which the culture of a nomadic society revolves around the raising and breeding of a specific animal. The animal figures prominently into all aspects of life, including important rituals such as marriage and coming of age ceremonies. The animal is often used as a measure of wealth.
pastoralist: A person who practices pastoralism as their primary subsistence strategy.
patriarchy: Form of political organization in which the males of the society have the most political power.
patrilineal descent: Tracing one's ancestry through the male line.
plant husbandry: The breeding and raising of plants.
polyandry: Marriage practice in which a woman has multiple husbands.
polygamy: Marriage practice in which a person has multiple spouses.
polygyny: Marriage practice in which a man has multiple wives.
population: A group of people included in a study or discussion.

to top of page

race: Category for classifying people based on physical characteristics, such as skin color. Race is an arbitrary, culturally condition classification with no real basis save the personal judgment of an individual.
reciprocity: The exchange of goods and services of approximately equal value between two or more parties. The exchange doesn't have to take place immediately. For instance, a person can buy her friend dinner, and later the friend repays that gift by buying her dinner. Reciprocity is one way a group of people form close relationships to promote the well being of the entire group.
religion: The worship of supernatural forces or entities that provides shape, meaning and understanding of the universe.
rite of passage: Ritual associated with a transition point in a person's life. Some American rites of passage are high school and collage graduate, the sixteenth birthday, and the twenty-first birthday.
ritual: Highly formalized, repetitive behavior that takes place at a certain time and place. Rituals often mark important events, such as the beginning of a new planting season or a rite of passage.

to top of page

sedentary: Characterizes a settlement pattern in which people live in semi-permanent or permanent dwellings. Most horticulturalists and nearly all agriculturalists are sedentary.
shaman: A person who is in direct contact with the spirit world via an altered state of consciousness. Shaman's often have spirits at their command to carry out both good and evil deeds.
shifting agriculture: see shifting cultivation
shifting cultivation: A method of crop production in which the farmer uses slash-and-burn techniques to clear a field and plant their crops. Once the field's nutrients have been depleted, another field is cleared and the old field is left fallow.
slash-and-burn: Farming technique used by horticulturalists in which the natural vegetation is cut away and burned. The potash, a result of the burning of the vegetation, acts as a fertilizer for new crops. No other forms of fertilizer are used. Slash-and-burn agriculture rapidly depletes soil nutrients and after a few years, a new field must be opened.
society: Abstract pattern of the ways in which humans interact.
status: Social standing based on birth or the results of individual effort.
subsistence strategies: The ways in which a society attains its food and other necessities.
subsistence base: The primary food source a society uses within its subsistence pattern.

to top of page

technology: The knowledge and skills a group of people possess in order to extract resources and make things.
transhumance: A form of pastoralism in which migratory herding takes place between a limited number of locations at which semi-permanent settlements exist. These locations are typically between cooler lands during the summer and warmer lands during the winter. Diet may also be augmented by limited crop production.
tribe: A group of nominally independent people who share common language, cultural characteristics and territory, and are unified by a common factor.

to top of page

unilineal decent: Tracking kinship through a single line of ancestors.
urban centers: Settlement pattern with concentrated numbers of permanent dwellings. Urban centers appeared along with intensive agriculture techniques and job specialization.

to top of page

warfare: Formalized armed combat between groups representing rival communities.
wealth: Objects or resources that are useful or have exchange value.
world view: The collection of beliefs a group of people have about themselves and the world around them.

to top of page

Sources:

Anthropology, Seventh Edition
Contemporary Cultural Anthropology, Third Edition
Anthromorphemics
Anthropology Tutorials