ANTH150 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Structural Violence, Omnishambles
10 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
ANTH150 Lecture
VIII: Language and Culture
Ethnicity
• An ethnic group shares certain beliefs, values, customs, and norms because of their common
background
• Definition: a collective of people (with a sense of group membership) who believe they share
a common sense of identity that may be be based on history, territory, language, culture,
ancestry, or religion, or a combination of these (Comaroff 1987)
Ethnicity is Subjective
• Discrepancies? Is there a difference between who one self-identifies and how other people
identify them?
Social Stratification
• Refers to hierarchical relationships among different groups, as though they were arranged in
layers
• At each layer, people possess unequal shares of scarce resources (money, power, resources,
etc)
• Membership can be ascribed or achieved
Structural Violence
• They are structural because they are embedded in the political and economic organisation of
our social world. They are violent because they cause injury to people. (Paul Farmer)
• Children learn quickly about these structures in society and the systems of discrimination
Language
• Why do anthropologists study language?
• To talk with people
• Language tells us about aspects of culture
• Communicates more than its referential meaning
• What do you “assume” about a person based on how they speak?
What is Language?
• A systematic set of symbols and signs with learned and shared meanings
• Linguistics = scientific inquiry into human language
Linguistic Anthropology
• Explores how language shapes communications, forms social identity and group membership,
organises large-scale cultural beliefs and ideologies, and develops a common cultural
representation of social and natural worlds
Design Features of Language
• Productivity
• Displacement
• Is arbitrary
• Is learned
• It is discrete
Productivity Examples?
• Ginormous (gigantic + enormous)
• Chillax (chill + relax)
• Gription (grip + friction)
• Omnishambles
find more resources at oneclass.com
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Document Summary
Social stratification: refers to hierarchical relationships among different groups, as though they were arranged in layers, at each layer, people possess unequal shares of scarce resources (money, power, resources, etc, membership can be ascribed or achieved. Structural violence: they are structural because they are embedded in the political and economic organisation of our social world. They are violent because they cause injury to people. (paul farmer: children learn quickly about these structures in society and the systems of discrimination. What is language: a systematic set of symbols and signs with learned and shared meanings, linguistics = scientific inquiry into human language. Linguistic anthropology: explores how language shapes communications, forms social identity and group membership, organises large-scale cultural beliefs and ideologies, and develops a common cultural representation of social and natural worlds. Productivity examples: ginormous (gigantic + enormous, chillax (chill + relax, gription (grip + friction, omnishambles.
