ANTH 1020 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Trobriand Islands, Clothing, Human Terrain System
Document Summary
A distinctive comparative, cross-cultural perspective compared to the idea that all people are essentially the same. Anthropology: the study of the human species and its immediate ancestors. Anthropology is the exploration of human diversity in time and space. Society: organized life in groups: people share society with other animals, but culture is distinctly human. Culture: tradition and custom, transmitted through learning, that form and guide the beliefs and behavior of the people exposed to them. Children learn such a tradition by growing up in a particular society, through a process called enculturation. The most important element in cultural traditions is their transmission through learning rather than through biological inheritance. Culture itself is not biological, but it rests on certain features of human biology. Adaptation, variation, and change: adaptation: the processes by which organisms cope with environmental forces and stresses, such as those posed by climate, able to inhabit widely variant ecological niches, adaptability.
