jajmani system The traditional system of labour obligations and caste services said to obtain between the different castes in traditional South Asian villages. Early accounts stressed the harmonious and integrated nature of these obligations and services, and from the 1960s a revisionist literature developed stressing instead the degree of exploitation and coercion involved. Most recently, C.J. Fuller has argued that the very appearance of a closed system is an artefact of colonial history, rather than an aspect of traditional Indian society.
joint family A type of family composed of two or more (nuclear families linked by ties of siblingship.
jural and moral domains The word ‘jural’ refers to the legal world of rights and obligations and was widely used in mid-century British (structural-functionalism. In (Meyer Fortes’s usage, the jural domain relates to obligations according to status, e.g. obligations within a (lineage. The moral domain is that which transcends the structural principles of the jural domain, e.g. obligations towards one’s family, irrespective of lineage membership.
jural level Especially in kinship, the level of analysis which entails consideration of the rules. In contrast, the (behavioural level is that of what people actually do, and the (categorical level is that implied by the structural constraints, e.g. of a relationship terminology. In studies of prescriptive kinship systems, distinctions between these three levels, behaviour, jural, and categorical, have been likened respectively to the distinction between practice, preference and prescription. See preference and prescription.
karma In South Asian religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism, the law of moral causality in which one’s past actions determine one’s future state.
kin group Any group of people related through real or putative ties of kinship. The term implies no specific means of acquiring such membership, and thus includes (lineal and (collateral groupings alike.
kindred The culturally recognized category to which an individual may trace kin relationship. It is, by definition, egocentric and (bilateral. In other words, each individual has his or her own kindred, and this kindred includes relatives on both the mother’s and the father’s sides. See cognatic society.
Kulturkreis Literally, ‘culture circle’. The concept was employed by the German-Austrian dif-fusionists in reference to a cluster of functionally related (culture traits specific to a historical time and geographical area. See diffusionism, German and Austrian anthropology.
langue and parole (Ferdinand de Saussure’s analytic distinction between the level of language (langue) and the level of speech (parole). Language is the abstract system which is the proper object of analysis for structural linguistics; speech is the infinite variety of things people actually say. The use of the analogy in anthropological structuralism has two important implications: that we are concerned with whole systems, and these systems are necessarily abstracted from the more confusing and messy world of empirical data.
legal pluralism Term widely employed in both the anthropology of law and comparative jurisprudence to indicate that formal courtroom-based procedures are usually only one of a variety of more or less formal systems people employ in order to seek justice or retribution. The term also applied to situations in which two or more formal legal systems co-exist, e.g. in colonial societies or with family law in India.
levirate The marriage or ‘inheritance’ of a woman as a wife by her late husband’s brother. In many African societies, leviratic marriage is either preferred or assumed. It often reflects the fact that a woman is perceived as marrying into a kin group, not merely to an individual member of that group. Cf. (sororate.
lexicostatistics A statistical method for measuring the distance between related languages by the number of (cognates within a set vocabulary. When applied to a presumed time scale (as it usually is), this method is called (glottochronology. The presuppositions of lexicostatistics or glotto-chronology are that vocabulary is lost at a common rate and that it is possible to distinguish cognates from (loan words.
liminality A phase within ritual, especially within rites of passage, in which participants are regarded as being betwixt and between their former social position and the new position to which they are moving. The phase is often accompanied by either the suspension, or reversal, of everyday social values. The term derives from the Latin for ‘threshold’ and was highly elaborated by (Victor Turner in his reworking of (A. van Gennep’s classic formulation.
limited good The belief, said to be held in peasant societies, that the good things in life are limited in quantity and thus that any improvement in social conditions will have to be at the expense of one’s neighbours. Like the related notion of the "culture of poverty, this concept has had much criticism from those who see it as an argument against the potential for social development.
lineage In kinship theory, a descent group formed on the basis of "unilineal descent; lineages may be either "patrilineal ("patrilineages) or "matrilineal ("matrilineages).
lineage theory Another name for descent theory.
lineal A "consanguineal relative who is either an ancestor or a descendant of a given person. Sometimes the term is used loosely as a synonym for "direct relative, i.e. to include "co-lineals as well as lineals proper. Cf. "collateral.
linguistic relativism The notion that each language possesses its own characteristic mode of thought or perception of the world. Thus, people who speak different languages will think differently. The idea is most strongly associated with the work of "B.L. Whorf. See Sapir-Whorf hypothesis.
Linnaean taxonomy The classification system for plants and animals which was devised by Carl von Linne (Carolus Linnaeus) in the eighteenth century, and which forms the basis of modern botanical and zoological classification.
literary criticism The discipline which concerns the analysis and interpretation of literature. Literary criticism has been influenced by anthropological theory, in the case of structuralism, and more recently, has left its own influence in anthropological theory, in the case of postmodernism. See ethnography, poetics.
loan word In linguistics, a word which is ‘borrowed’ from one language to another. For example, totem is borrowed from Ojibwa into English.
locutionary In "speech-act theory, any act of meaningful communication. Cf. "illocutionary, "perlocutionary.
M In kinship, the symbol for the genealogical position of the mother.
Manchester School In anthropology, the group of anthropologists (including "Victor Turner and "Clyde Mitchell) associated with the Manchester department chaired by "Max Gluckman in the 1950s and 1960s. The department had strong links with the "Rhodes-Livingstone Institute, through which it developed a distinctive empirical and analytic style, predominantly concerned with African material, usually acknowledging change in the broader society and process in local social life, and pioneering research in areas like urban anthropology and ethnicity.
manifest and latent functions Manifest functions are those which are recognized by individual "actors, and latent functions are those which are not. The terms were first employed by the sociologist R.K. Merton in a critique of earlier functionalist theory, e.g. in anthropology, which fails to make this distinction.
marker In linguistics, a feature which distinguishes one word from another within the same semantic system. The term is essentially synonymous with a "component or "significatum in componential analyis.
marriage classes In Australian Aboriginal kinship, the "exogamous social categories, whether they be "moieties, sections, or subsections.
mater The Latin for ‘mother’. In anthropology the term designates the social mother, in contrast to the "genetrix or the "carrying mother. Cf. "pater.
materialism Broadly, any approach which emphasizes matter over mind (e.g. materialism in opposition to idealism in philosophy). Within anthropology, the term tends to refer to approaches – like Marxism or cultural materialism -which see the environment, the means of production or other material aspects of society as determining other aspects of society, such as religion.
matriarchy This term refers to domination by female members of society. In the nineteenth century, matriarchy or "’mother right’ was thought to be representative of an early stage of social evolution, and " matrilineal descent was seen as a vestige of such a stage. However, most anthropologists today would sharply distinguish matrilineal descent (in which property and positions are transmitted through female links, but by no means necessarily to women) from matriarchy (in which women hold power).
matrifocal Mother-centred, in reference to the family. Matrifocal families are reported ethno-graphically especially in the Caribbean, but also in Europe and North America.
matrilateral On the mother’s side of the family. Matrilaterality is properly distinguished from (matrilineality, which implies a line of descent through females across generations. All people have matrilateral kin, whereas only people in specifically matrilineal societies have kin recognized as matrilineal.
matrilateral cross-cousin marriage Marriage of a man to his mother’s brother’s daughter or another person belonging to the same relationship category as his mother’s brother’s daughter. Thus, for a woman, marriage is to her father’s sister’s son. By convention, the term ‘matrilateral’ is always taken from the male point of view.
matrilineage A (lineage formed on the basis of (matrilineal descent.
matrilineal In kinship, through the mother’s line. The term implies a recognition of a category of descent inherited by both females and males but transmitted to offspring only by females. Cf. (matrilateral, (patrilineal.
matrilocal Literally, in the mother’s place of residence. In a loose sense, the term is sometimes used as a synonym for (uxorilocal residence. In the stricter sense, ‘matrilocal’ may be taken to imply residence in a matrilineal group generated by uxorilocality repeated through the generations.
means of production In Marxist theory, that part of the economic (base made up of natural resources and technology, as apart from the social (relations of production. See mode of production; cf. (forces of production.
mechanical and statistical models In the first volume of •Structural Anthropology (1958) Levi-Strauss made a distinction between two kinds of models which may be used in structural analysis. Mechanical models are based on phenomena of ‘the same scale’ as whatever it is that is being modelled; statistical models involve differences of scale. He provides two explanatory examples: suicide, in which a mechanical model would be based on the individual circumstances – psychological type, family history of particular suicides, while a statistical model would look at different rates of suicide in different social contexts; and marriage rules, which in some societies may be coherently expressed in terms of particular kin groups in a mechanical model, and in other cases (like modern Western societies), can only be expressed through complex statistical models.
mechanical solidarity One half of (Durkheim’s version of the (great divide between the traditional and the modern. Societies based on mechanical solidarity have no great internal complexity and little division of labour, but a relatively strong (collective consciousness: they are held together by their uniformity. Modern societies, in contrast, are characterized by (organic solidarity, and are held together by their interdependence.
medical pluralism The idea, common in medical anthropology, of different modes of healing (e.g. Western (biomedicine as well as various indigenous practices) being simultaneously available to people in the same sociocultural circumstances.
men’s house A house used by men for sleeping, eating or social activities. These houses are a common feature in societies in Melanesia and Lowland South America, where there is sharp segregation on the basis of gender and strong single-sex solidarity. They are often associated with age groups.
mentality The supposed mental condition of human beings as members of their societies. The term has two different connotations in anthropology. On the one hand it is still strongly associated with (Levy-Bruhl’s arguments about the supposed ‘primitive mentality’, but it is also used by historically minded anthropologists in the broader sense employed by the French (Annales school of historians, for whom the ‘history of mentalities’ referred to an anthropological style of history concerned to recover the distinctive cultural perspective of people in the past.
mercantile capitalism A social system based on competition for control of natural resources and trade in external markets. A mercantile system was significant in the development of European colonialism in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
merging In kinship, the terminological equation of people in the same generation by virtue of same-sex sibling links. For example, a Trobriander calls his father, father’s brother, and mother’s sister’s husband by the same term (tama). Cf. "bifurcate merging, "parallel relative, "skewing.
Mesolithic The ‘stone age’ period between the "Palaeolithic and the "Neolithic. It began in Europe at the end of the last glaciation and is characterized by "microlithic industries.
mestizo In Latin America, a person of ‘mixed’ Indian and Spanish parentage. Originally, the term referred to individuals whose respective parents included one of Indian and one of Spanish origin. Today it is generally employed for anyone whose ancestors include both Indian and Spanish people.
meta- A prefix widely used in anthropological and other social scientific neologisms, usually with the meaning of ‘about’ or ‘at a higher (or more fundamental) level’. So, for example, in problems of translation, a ‘metalanguage’ is a language into which two natural languages can be translated.
metacommunication Communicating about communication. The term was introduced by "G. Bateson to describe the complex process through which humans communicate.
metadescription Describing the act of description. The term is employed by some anthropologists to refer to the practice of ethnography, especially where that practice is regarded as theoretically problematic.
metanarrative A story about stories. The term was employed by the translator of "Lyotard’s The Postmodern Condition (1984) for the French grandes histoires (or ‘big stories’), which Lyotard used to describe the grand post-Enlightenment intellectual schemes of Kant, Hegel and Marx. This is what commentators are referring to when postmodernism is said to be characterized by the ‘decline of metanarratives’.
metaphor In rhetoric, a figure of speech based on analogy: e.g. ‘the tide has turned in our favour’ to mean that events are beginning to develop in the way we want. The linguist "R. Jakobson distinguished between metaphor (based on similarity of relationships) and "metonym (based on contiguity or common substance), a distinction which mapped onto other key pairs in structural linguistics such as "paradigmatic and "syntagmatic. Levi-Strauss has made frequent use of Jakobson’s distinction, as have other structuralists. Other anthropologists have sought to explain apparently bizarre or irrational beliefs in terms of metaphor. More recently psychological anthropologists, influenced by the work of George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, have explored the way in which metaphors structure the acquisition of cultural knowledge. See rationality, cognition.
methodological individualism and methodological holism Methodological individualism is the position (advanced, for example, by the philosopher "Karl Popper) that the individual is the basic and irreducible unit of explanation in social analysis. It is sometimes contrasted to methodological holism, which aims at understanding through social or symbolic structures. Examples of methodological individualism in anthropology would include certain kinds of "transactionalism and "game theory.
metonym In rhetoric, a figure of speech based on the substitution of either a part for a whole, or an associated thing for the thing itself: e.g. talking of ‘the crown’ or ‘the throne’ to refer either to a particular monarch or to monarchy in general. Often contrasted with "metaphor, in which something of radically different substance is used to suggest the properties of whatever it is that is being discussed.
microlithic industries Stone-tool traditions utilizing sophisticated techniques to produce small, accurate implements.
mimesis Literally, imitation or representation. The term has a philosophical history going back to Plato, and has come into anthropology by way of "literary criticism, and is now used in theories and critiques of the nature of "representation.
model A simplified or consciously artificial representation of reality. All social and cultural anthropology is based on the use of models. However, the meaning of models and their relation to reality has been the subject of much debate, especially in the 1960s.
moiety Literally, a half. In parts of Lowland South America and Aboriginal Australia,societies typically divide into two moieties which are recruited through a principle of "unilineal descent (either "matrilineal or "patrilineal). Such moieties are generally "exogamous, which means that an individual always marries into the opposite (and not his or her own) moiety. In the classic theoretical explanation of four-section systems in Aboriginal Australia, both matrilineal and patrilineal moieties are present at the same time, and each individual belongs to one of each. Their intersection thus generates the four sections. However, ethnographic evidence for recognition of both patrilineal and matrilineal moieties at the same time is weak.
monogamy Marriage of one man to one woman at a time. Cf. polygamy.
monogenism The doctrine that all humankind has the same origin. All modern anthropology (at least from evolutionism to structuralism) depends on this notion, which became widely accepted in the middle of the nineteenth century along with Darwinian evolution. The opposite is (polygenism.
monotheism Belief in one god. The concept is not as unproblematic as it may seem, since many religions (notably Hinduism) have an ambiguous distinction between a single divine principal and a multifaceted divinity. Cf. (polytheism.
moral economy A concept widely used in peasant studies and economic anthropology. In an influential article, the historian E.P. Thompson argued that participants in so-called food riots in early modern Britain were animated by a coherent economic ideal – based on ideas of a just price and resistance to naked market principles – which he called the ‘moral economy of the crowd’. The idea was developed, and to some extent transformed, by (James Scott in his Moral Economy of the Peasant (1976), a book which argued that peasant economies are based on mutual institutions designed to insure against risk, rather than on principles of individual maximization.
mores Customs and conventions, especially those which reveal the value system as a whole in any given culture.
mortuary rites Rites involving the disposal of the dead. Disposal can include burial, reburial, cremation, or exposure, and the rites which involve such procedures are equally varied in their symbolic meaning. Such rites may, for example, involve the reincorporation of a spirit with its ancestral lineage or the rebirth of a spirit in another world.
mother-right From the German Mutterrecht, the notion of (matriarchy as the first phase, or an early phase, in human society. It is especially associated with the nineteenth-century Swiss jurist (J. Bachofen, who introduced the concept.
multilinear evolutionism The theory of evolution associated with (J. Steward and his followers. It posits a distinct evolutionary trajectory, contingent on environmental and historical variables, for each society or group of related societies. Steward invented the term in order to distinguish his approach from those of nineteenth-century (unilinear evolutionism and early twentieth-century (universal evolutionism.
mythical charter Malinowski’s term for the supposed normative property of myth, which he saw as defining the correct view of the world and a corresponding correct social action.
Mythologiques Literally, ‘mythologics’, the four volumes on mythology by Levi-Strauss, published in French between 1964 and 1970 and in English between 1970 and 1981.
neo-classical economic theory The dominant theory in twentieth-century economics, based on ‘classical’ assumptions about rational individuals exercising choice on the basis of means-ends calculations.
neocolonialism A relation between former colonial power and former colonies which in some way or another perpetuates the domination which had existed under colonialism.
neo-evolutionism Twentieth-century theoretical perspectives (e.g. those of (J. Steward and L. White) which revived interest in evolutionism rather than functionalist or relativist positions. See (universal evolutionism, (multilinear evolutionism.
Neolithic Literally, of the ‘New Stone Age’. Within social and cultural anthropology, the term tends to refer much more to the subsistence methods and social organizational features thought to be typical of a Neolithic period, rather than to any particular stone tool tradition. Thus the Neolithic is associated with the early development of (agriculture or pastoralism and the formation of social groups to accomplish these tasks efficiently.
neolocal Marriage involving a new place of residence. Neolocality involves a couple moving to a place which is the previous home of neither party.
New Ethnography Another term for the sub-discipline or theoretical perspective developed in American anthropology in the 1960s to focus on the formal relations between cultural categories. More or less synonymous with "cognitive anthropology, at least as that term was then employed. See componential analysis, ethnoscience.
noble savage The romantic ideal of ‘savage’ or ‘natural’ humankind, represented by societies which supposedly lack the unsavoury trappings of advanced civilization. The phrase originated in John Dryden’s play The Conquest of Granada, Part I (1692) but is usually associated with the views of "J.-J. Rousseau. In the eighteenth century, the image of the noble savage was attributed especially to aboriginal inhabitants of North America. See Enlightenment anthropology.
nodal kindred A "kindred whose focus is a set of core siblings. The term was coined by "W. Good-enough to describe ethnographic cases such as the Saami, for whom this type of organization is common.
non-unilineal descent Descent based neither on "patrilineal nor on "matrilineal ties. Approximately synonymous with "cognatic or "bilateral descent.
norm Usually, the established mode of behaviour to which conformity is expected. Sometimes the term refers to the average or typical behaviour, referred to as the statistical norm, rather than the expected behaviour, or ideal norm.
Notes and Queries on Anthropology A handbook for ethnographers, originally intended to prompt travellers (missionaries, colonial officials, etc.) to collect theoretically useful data. Published in six editions between 1874 and 1951, its definitions and guidance served as a point of reference (and a source of dispute) in British anthropology well into the 1960s.
nuclear family A family group consisting of one set of parents and their children but excluding more distant relatives. Cf. "extended family.
objectivism Any approach in social theory which regards its subject matter as in some sense made up of ‘objects’, things which can be objectively observed and assessed, rather than ‘subjects’ which require some special empathetic attention. Another term for various "scientistic or "positivistic approaches to anthropology (e.g. Radcliffe-Brown’s version of functionalism, or American ethnoscience in the 1960s).
oligarchy Rule by a small number of people.
Omaha terminology In "G.P. Murdock’s classification, a relationship terminology similar to "Iroquois but in which MBS is called by the same term as MB. Often such terminologies are found in strongly "patrilineal societies, the principle being that male members of one’s mother’s patrilineage are all called by a single term. See Crow-Omaha systems.
orality An emphasis on the spoken over the written, especially in reference to the notion of writing as being dependent on speech.
organic analogy The idea that ‘society is like an organism’, e.g. in the sense that just as an organism is made up of systems (nervous, circulatory, etc.), so too is society (kinship, politics, economics and religion). This is the best-known version of the organic analogy, as found in Radcliffe-Brown’s func-tionalism.
organic solidarity The modern pole in "Dur-kheim’s contrast between traditional and modern sources of solidarity, organic solidarity is characterized by a relatively complex division of labour, in which each social unit functions as an ‘organ’ within a larger ‘organic’ whole, allowing for greater diversity in individual consciousness. Contrasted to "mechanical solidarity.
Oriental despotism According to "K. Wittfogel, the form of political organization characteristic of societies based on irrigated agriculture with the centralized control of water resources. See also "Asiatic mode of production, "hydraulic civilization.
Palaeolithic Literally, the ‘old stone age’, characterized archaeologically by crude tools and palaeontologically by premodern as well as modern forms of humanity. The period includes, for example, australopithecines and early forms of the genus Homo. The precise definition and delineation of palaeolithic sites has changed since "Lubbock invented the term in 1865, but today it is usually equated with the period ending in Europe with the last glaciation. The following period is known as the (mesolithic.
palaeontology The study of fossils. The boundary between palaeontology and prehistoric archaeology is not precise, and most work on early human sites falls within the bounds of palaeontology.
paradigm, paradigmatic Paradigm is a term with a variety of meanings, depending on context. In common English, it often refers simply to an example. It was given a fuller and more technical meaning by the philosopher of science (Thomas Kuhn who used it to refer to a set of common assumptions, shared by members of a particular scientific community at any one time, which serve to structure and restrict the questions asked by those scientists during periods of what he called ‘normal science’. Kuhn’s sense was swiftly taken up by social scientists to refer loosely to any theoretical tendency. In linguistics, on the other hand, linguists influenced by (Saussure contrast (syntagmatic relations which link successive words or sounds in the chain of spoken language, with paradigmatic (or associative) relations which link together all the words or sounds which might potentially occupy a particular position in the syntagmatic chain.
parallel In kinship, a parallel relative is any relative (e.g. a parallel uncle or aunt) whose relationship is traced through a same-sex sibling link (e.g. FB or MZ, but not MB or FZ); the contrast is with (cross.
parallel cousin A cousin related through a same-sex sibling link. In other words, a father’s brother’s child or mother’s sister’s child. In many societies, parallel cousins are classified in the same way as siblings. Cf. (cross-cousin, (patrilateral parallel cousin marriage.
parallel descent A very rare form of descent in which a man takes membership in the (patrilineal group of his father and the woman takes membership in the (matrilineal group of her mother. It is reported in Lowland South America, e.g. among the Apinaye.
parricide The killing of a parent. The killing of a father is known as patricide, and the killing of a mother, matricide.
participant observation Term used for the most basic technique of anthropological fieldwork,participation in everyday activities, working in the native language and observing events in their everyday context. See ethnography, methodology.
pater The Latin for ‘father’. In anthropology the term designates the person socially recognized as the father, in contrast to the term (genitor, which designates the presumed biological father. Cf. (mater, (genetrix.
paternity Fatherhood. The term usually refers to presumed biological fatherhood.
patriarchy Rule by the father, and by extension, rule in the hands of men. Cf. (matriarchy.
patrilateral In kinship, relations on the father’s side. To be distinguished from (patrilineal, which refers to relations of descent traced through fathers.
patrilateral cross-cousin marriage Marriage of a man to his father’s sister’s daughter or another person belonging to the same relationship category as his father’s sister’s daughter. Thus, for a woman, marriage is to her mother’s brother’s son. Cf. (matrilateral cross-cousin marriage. See kinship.
patrilateral parallel-cousin marriage Marriage of a man to his father’s brother’s daughter, or a woman to her father’s brother’s son. The practice is common in Arab societies, where it serves to keep property within the (patrilineage.
patrilineage A (lineage formed on the basis of (patrilineal descent.
patrilineal In kinship, through the father’s line. The term implies a recognition of a category of descent inherited by both males and females but transmitted to offspring only by males. Cf. (matrilineal, (patrilateral, (unilineal.
patrilocal Marriage in the father’s place of residence. In a loose sense, the term is sometimes used as a synonym for (virilocal residence. In the stricter sense, ‘patrilocal’ is often taken to imply residence in a patrilineal group generated by virilocality repeated through the generations.
performative In (speech-act theory, any utterance which is in some way equivalent to an action: e.g. ‘I name this ship … ‘, ‘I promise you … ‘. Cf. (illocutionary, (perlocutionary.
perlocutionary In "speech-act theory, the effects of an utterance on the feelings or behaviour of the hearer. For example, a perlocutionary act may be one which amuses or frightens the hearer. See also "locutionary, "illocutionary.
petty commodity production Small-scale, often household-based, production for the market, often by rural people also engaged in "subsistence agriculture. Petty commodity production was much debated in "structural Marxism and peasant studies in the 1970s.
peyote A small cactus or the drug (mescaline) made from it. A millenarian peyote cult developed among Native North Americans over a wide area in the late nineteenth century.
phatic communion Malinowski’s term for conversation whose purpose is the establishment or maintenance of social relations, rather than the seeking or imparting of information. Talking about the weather or the prices of goods are examples common in Western societies, as are expressions like ‘hello’ or ‘how do you do?’.
phenomenology A term with varied but related meanings in philosophy, psychology, and sociology. In anthropology, it tends to take its sociological meaning: the study of the ways in which people experience and understand everyday life. As a theoretical perspective, it is closely allied to "ethnomethodology.
phenotype The physical nature of an organism, determined by its "genotype and its environment. See genetics.
phone In linguistics, a sound, i.e. a unit at the "phonetic level of language. Contrast "phoneme.
phoneme, phonemic In linguistics, a phoneme is a meaningful unit of sound peculiar to a particular language. A given phoneme is necessarily an abstraction from the patterns of actual speech: it may, for example, be realized in one, two or more allophones, or sounds which vary according to dialect or appearance in relation to other phonemes (e.g. in English the phoneme /p/ at the beginning of a word is pronounced with breath, whereas it is not if preceeded by an /s/). Phonemes occur within a system unique to a particular language or dialect, namely the phonemic or "phonological system. See emic and etic.
phonetic In linguistics, the study of, or the theoretical level of, the objective auditory or acoustic nature of sounds, independent of their place in the sound system of a given language (the phonology or phonemic system). See emic and etic.
phonology In linguistics, the study of speech sounds as part of a system of such sounds in a given language. Phonology is important in anthropology because structuralist anthropologists, notably Levi-Strauss, have borrowed theoretical ideas from the field.
phratry In kinship, a group of "clans related by common "unilineal descent. The term comes from the Greek word for patrilineal clan (and ultimately from that for brother), but it is most often used in reference to large, often exogamous, Native North American groupings which are larger than the clan but smaller than the indigenous society as a whole.
physical anthropology The branch of anthropology which includes the study of physical difference both in living populations and through human evolution. It is one of the "four fields of anthropology in North America. The term ‘physical anthropology’ has tended to fall into disuse in recent years, and biological anthropology’ has been taken as a more accurate description of the field which has developed from it.
pidgin A new language which contains elements from different natural languages. Often pidgins are used in contact situations, then develop into "creoles as individuals grow up speaking them as natural languages.
polyandry In kinship, the marriage of one woman to more than one man. Adelphic polyandry is the marriage of one woman to a group of brothers. Cf. "polygamy, "polygyny.
polygamy Marriage of one man to more than one woman or one woman to more than one man. Thus it includes both "polygyny and "polyandry. Cf. "monogamy.
polygenism The doctrine that humankind has more than one origin, and by implication that each branch of humankind has a separate origin. Members of the Anthropological Society of London were prominent in its support, against those of the rival Ethnological Society of London who supported (monogenism. Polygenism was commonly accepted in the early nineteenth century but challenged with the coming of Darwinian evolution. See also anthropological societies.
polygyny The marriage of one man to more than one woman. (Sororal polygyny is the marriage of one man to a group of sisters. Cf. (polyandry, (polygamy.
polysemy The characteristic of having more than one meaning.
polytheism Belief in more than one god. Cf. (monotheism.
positivism This term has varied but related meanings. In anthropology, it tends to refer to any approach which treats anthropology as a science concerned with the pursuit of objective knowledge through the collection of facts and the formulation of laws. In its strictest sense, it refers to the scientific methodology of (A. Comte, who in the early nineteenth century sought to place social science on the same philosophical footing as the natural sciences. Cf. (objectivism, (scientism.
postcolonial Referring to the period which begins with the withdrawal of Western colonial rule. In literary criticism, the term has come to be used for a body of radical work on the persistence of colonial representations of the non-European ‘other’, influenced by (E. Said’s Orientalism as well as various strands of (poststructural theory. See colonialism.
post-processual archaeology Any approach in archaeology which goes beyond the mere establishment of a chronological record. Post-processual archaeologists (e.g. Ian Hodder) tend to be interested in some of the same phenomena as social and cultural anthropologists, e.g. ritual and belief. Cf. (processual archaeology.
poststructuralism A broad tendency within (literary criticism and other fields, post-structuralism developed out of structuralist theory in France in the 1970s, and was identified above all with the work of (Jacques Derrida, (Michel Foucault and (Jacques Lacan.
practice What people do, as opposed to what they say. The concept is central to (P. Bourdieu’s notion of (habitus. Cf. preference and prescription.
pragmatics In linguistics, the study of how language is used and what it does, through the interpretation of utterances and their implications in social contexts, rather than what it means, through the (semantic analysis of sentences and their referents. See (deixis, (speech-act.
praxis In Marxist social theory, (practice or practical action, especially that which is directed to fostering radical change.
presentism In historiography, an overly present-focused analysis which sees the past in terms of its anticipation of more recent developments. This approach has been criticized, e.g. by (George Stocking, writing about anthropologists’ own accounts of the history of anthropology.
prestation Term used by (Mauss in his essay on The Gift (and retained in the otherwise flawed first English translation), meaning those gifts and services which make up what Mauss called a ‘total social phenomenon’.
primary and secondary institutions In the culture and personality school, primary institutions are those which define the ‘personality’ of a group, while secondary institutions are those which are derived from this. The distinction was first drawn by (A. Kardiner.
primitive, primitivism Always an ambiguous term in anthropology, primitive is no longer in general use. Prior to the 1970s, it was employed in opposition to ‘civilized’ to refer to peoples who were the subject of most anthropological enquiry. The term was widely and loosely used in a non-pejorative sense through the twentieth century, whereas nineteenth-century evolutionary writers tended to make a more precise distinction between (savagery, (barbarism, and (civilization. Primiti-vism is the ascription of virtue to what is often a romanticized or idealized version of the primitive. The term is widely used, especially in art historical writing on those modernist artists (some influenced by contemporary anthropology) who selfconsciously borrowed motifs and formal elements from so-called primitive art.
primitive promiscuity The notion that humanity once engaged in promiscuous sexual behaviour, prior to the development of the family and "matrilineal and "patrilineal kinship institutions. The notion was common in nineteenth-century discourse on the origins of society, e.g. in the works of Lewis Henry Morgan.
primogeniture Inheritance or succession by the first-born child, or more usually, by the first-born son. Cf. "ultimogeniture.
processual archaeology The approach in archaeology which emphasizes chronology, historical development, or evolution, rather than the understanding of a single given period (e.g. the work of "Lewis Binford). Cf. "post-processual archaeology.
prophet In general terms, either a person who speaks with knowledge on the future or with divine inspiration. Anthropologists have used "Max Weber’s distinction between priests (whose authority derives from their office) and prophets (whose authority derives from their personal qualities or "charisma).
Protestant ethic "Max Weber’s characterization of those qualities of the early Protestant worldview, specifically the ethic of this-worldly asceticism, which he claimed played a crucial part in the emergence of capitalism in Europe.
prototype theory The theory which holds that humans classify their world, not in terms of criteria which must apply to all items in a particular category, but through the recognition of best-cases, or prototypes, which become the model to which other items in the category approximate. The theory originates in Berlin and Kay’s work on colour categories, but has been developed in other areas of cognitive science.
proxemics The field which examines the social use of space. It is associated especially with the work of E.T. Hall.
psychic unity The notion that all humankind shares the same essential "mentality. This nineteenth-century idea underlies diverse perspectives in anthropology, but in more recent times is most strongly associated with Levi-Straussian structuralism.
puberty Biologically, the phase in early adolescence when the sex glands become functional. Many societies mark this phase by rituals which symbolically transform a child into an adult. See rite of passage.
ramage In Polynesian ethnography, a "cog-natic "descent group, or in some usage a system of ranked descent groups.
rationalism In philosophy, the doctrine that knowledge depends on reason rather than on experience, i.e. it is actively structured by the mind. In anthropology, this doctrine is characteristic of approaches such as structuralism. Contrast "empiricism.
reciprocity Mutual exchange or obligation. More generally, the relation between people in an economic system, the obligations they have towards each other in such a system, or the practices they engage in in relation to one another. In Stone Age Economics (1972), "M. Sahlins distinguishes three types of ‘reciprocity’ in the widest sense. Generalized reciprocity involves giving without the expectation of return, and is associated with the family. Balanced reciprocity involves exchanges of equal value between people, and is associated with the community. Negative reciprocity involves economic activities in which people seek to gain at the expense of others (e.g. barter, theft), and is associated with dealings with strangers or people outside the community.
relations of production In Marxist theory, the social relations (e.g. between employer and employee or master and slave) within any given mode of production.
relative deprivation A term common in social psychology and sociology to refer to a situation in which people feel themselves deprived, either in comparison to other people, or in comparison to their own previous condition. Analyses of rebellions, and other overt acts of political resistance, often show that participants are suffering from relative (rather than absolute) deprivation.
representation Anything which stands for, or takes the place of, something else. In philosophy, the idea that our perception of the world is composed of mental representations lies behind "Dur-kheim’s idea of the "collective representation. In politics, we typically delegate our part in active political life to someone who promises to represent our interests. And anthropological writing, of course, involves the attempted representation of other people and their way of life. From the 1980s onward, these meanings have grown increasingly tangled, not least as proponents of multi-culturalism and the politics of identity have raised the question of who, if anyone, has the right to represent, or speak for, anyone else.
reproduction Literally the producing of offspring in each succeeding generation, but more generally can refer to the reproduction of society and culture as in the Marxist concern for (social reproduction.
revitalization A process of conscious cultural, and especially religious, change. Revitalization movements are characterized by the emergence of a (charismatic leader with ideas which overthrow the established order.
Rhodes-Livingstone Institute Now the Zam-bian National Research Institute, this former colonial foundation was instrumental in setting up ethnographic research in Central Africa and in the development of theoretical models based on (action rather than social structure. Associated with it were (M. Gluckman, J.C. Mitchell, (M. Wilson, and others. See (Manchester School.
right and left In many cultures, the right hand or right side of the body is symbolically associated with good and the left hand or left side with evil. Right may also symbolize male, and left, female, etc. The study of right/left symbolism became prominent through the work of (Robert Hertz.
ritual kinship Fictive kin relations which come into being in a ritual context. (Godparenthood and compadrazgo are the classic examples. Cf. (fictive kinship.
ritual of rebellion A form of ritual in which roles are reversed and junior members of society act out roles associated with senior members (e.g. initiates, those of their elders, or commoners, those of their king). Using examples from Southern Africa, (M. Gluckman argued that such rituals serve the function of renewing the existing social order, while appearing to overthrow it. Historians of early modern Europe have examined the extent to which annual rituals like carnival expressed real social protest.
role According to (R. Linton’s classic definition, role is the dynamic aspect of (status. Roles imply activities associated with particular statuses in society.
routinization (Max Weber’s notion of the process by which (charisma develops into routine; i.e. charismatic leaders become established as part of a new social order. In (revitalization movements, routinization is often the outcome.
S In kinship, the symbol for the genealogical position of the son.
salvage archaeology Any archaeological study which is carried out on a site soon to be lost, e.g. through destruction caused by modern building or roadworks.
salvage ethnography Any ethnographic study which is carried out in order to document cultures or institutions which are disappearing or expected to disappear in the near future.
sanction A reward for socially correct behaviour or, more commonly, a punishment for socially incorrect behaviour. See also (social control.
Saussurean With reference to the linguistic theories of (Ferdinand de Saussure.
savage, savagery Although today generally a term of abuse, savage has not always had such connotations in anthropological writings. In the eighteenth century ‘savages’ could be noble as well as ignoble, and ‘savage society’ was regarded by some philosophers as superior to ‘polished society’. In nineteenth-century evolutionary theory, ‘savagery’ was the lowest level of human society, below (barbarism and (civilization. However, in the early twentieth century the terms came into disfavour, replaced at first by (‘primitive’, which, some felt, had fewer negative connotations. Today, both terms are best avoided.
scarification The ritual marking of the body, often in the context of a rite of passage.
schema The idea that our knowledge of the world is structured in terms of mental models, or sche-mas, is common in many areas of cognitive science,and has recently been applied in psychological anthropology in work on cultural models.
schismogenesis "Gregory Bateson’s term for a process of structured interaction in which two opposed entities produce a situation of increased differentiation. Bateson (in Naven [1936]) originally located these processes at the level of the individual, but the term can be extended to collective agents like clans or nation-states. Complementary schismogenesis describes a situation where one party’s behaviour reinforces the other party’s different reaction (e.g. the more one party is assertive, the more the other party is submissive). Symmetrical schismogenesis describes the interaction of two parties who react in the same way to each other (e.g. boasting on one side producing intensified boasting on the other).
scientism Adhering to the procedures or appearance of (‘hard’) science; an alternative to "positivism as a term of anthropological abuse.
secondary ethnocentrism A form of "ethno-centrism in which an anthropologist sees the world not through the lens of his or her own culture, but through that of the culture in which he or she has done fieldwork. Lewis Henry Morgan, for example, was accused of seeing ‘primitive society’ in general as being much like Iroquois society.
secret societies Social groups which are formed for purposes of engaging in secret ritual activities to the exclusion of people of opposite gender (especially men excluding women) and of minors and people who belong to other secret societies. They are common in West Africa, among other places.
sedentarism Staying in one place, i.e. living in a non-nomadic community. The concept is applicable especially to comparisons between nomads and settled (sedentary) groups. See nomadism, pastoralism.
segmentary lineage system A system of descent groups ("lineages) organized around a principle of opposition to one another. According to "Evans-Pritchard’s classic account of Nuer lineage segmentation, if a man is involved in a dispute with a member of a closely related lineage, members of each lineage are brought into the dispute as well. If, however, the dispute is with a man from a very distantly related lineage, then larger lineages, i.e. all those tracing descent back to the disputants’ common ancestors, may be involved. The elegance of Evans-Pritchard’s model, which has been applied with modifications elsewhere in Africa and the Middle East, has now been superseded by the ever more inelegant and intractible ethnographic evidence it has generated. See descent.
semantics The branch of linguistics concerned with the study of meaning. Semantics is traditionally taken as the highest level of linguistic analysis (above "phonetics, "phonology, and "syntax), and therefore the one which marks the bridge between language and the rest of culture.
semiology Another name for "semiotics in Saussure’s sense.
semiotics The general science of "signs. The field was instituted through the work of "Ferdinand de Saussure and has developed, especially in literary and film criticism. There is a second tradition of semiotics which stems from the work of the American philosopher "C.S. Peirce. This tradition emphasizes the connection between ‘natural’ and ‘artificial’ signs. This latter tradition distinguishes signs as "symbols (purely conventional signs such as words), "indexes (natural signs such as smoke as a sign of fire) and "icons (which stand in between, such as maps).
seriation Especially in archaeology, the classification of objects by their sequence; e.g. in evolutionary terms.
shifting cultivation An alternative term for "swidden agriculture, in reference to the fact that such agricultural practices involve regularly moving the cultivated area in order to allow the regeneration of soil and forest cover.
sib In kinship, an alternative term for "clan. "G.P. Murdock employed the term to include both "patrilineal clans (which he called gentes, singular "gens) and "matrilineal ones (which he called clans).
sign, signified, signifier At the most general, something (like a "symbol or a "representation) which stands for, or indicates something else. "Saussure spoke of linguistic signs as made up of a concept (signifie, that which is signified) and a sound-image (signifiant, or signifier). Saussure insisted on the fundamentally arbitrary, or unmotivated, relationship between signifier and signified in the case of the linguistic sign. For "Peirce, on the other hand, signs, which usually share some property with that which is being signified, can be distinguished from symbols, which are wholly conventional.
significatum Within componential analysis,a unit of meaning which distinguishes one term or concept from another. For example, the sig-nificatum male (as opposed to female) distinguishes ‘father’ from ‘mother’. See (connotatum, (marker.
sister’s daughter marriage Marriage of a man to his elder sister’s daughter or a woman to her mother’s brother. This form of marriage is practised in parts of South India and Lowland South America where sisters’ daughters are terminologically equivalent to (cross-cousins.
skewing In kinship, the terminological equation of people in different generations, usually because they belong to the same (lineage. For example, a Trobriander calls his father’s sister’s daughter by the same term as his father’s sister (tabu), both being members of his father’s matrilineal group. The notion is found especially within (transformational analysis, where it defines the rule which generates Crow-Omaha terminology structures. Cf. (merging.
social anthropology In its literal sense, this term tends to refer to the branch of anthropology which emphasizes society over culture (cf. (cultural anthropology). ‘Social anthropology’ is historically the preferred term in British anthropology and is now widely used throughout Europe, whereas ‘cultural anthropology’ tends to be the favoured term in North America. There the term ‘social anthropology’ can have the connotation of a specifically British type of anthropological theory (e.g. some forms of functionalism and structuralism). The differences between the two traditions were probably at their greatest from the 1940s to the 1960s, since when their interests have increasingly merged, as demonstrated by some anthropologists’ use of hybrids like ‘sociocultural anthropology’ to describe their interests.
social charter A culturally understood justification for an action, a social institution, or a set of beliefs. In a classic statement, Malinowski referred to myth as ‘a charter for social action’.
social contract Most literally, an (imaginary) agreement between individuals who decide to give up their complete, natural liberty in order to form a society. By extension, the act of consent on the part of individuals who accept (sociality and the protection afforded by government. The concept was prominent in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, e.g. in the works of (Hobbes and (Rousseau. See Enlightenment anthropology.
social control Any constraint, institution or practice which maintains order in social life.
social fact (Durkheim’s term for the fundamental subject matter of sociology, as expressed in his famous (positivist aphorism that ‘social facts must be studied as things’, in other words as ‘realities external to the individual’. See functionalism.
social formation A term commonly employed by (structural Marxists to mean society. See Marxism and anthropology.
social history The discipline, closely allied to economic history, which emphasizes the social, cultural and technological, rather than the political factors of historical periods or in historical change.
sociality The human capacity for the social. The concept was first prominent in seventeenth and eighteenth-century political philosophy but has earned renewed interest in (ethology and anthropology in the late twentieth century, where some prefer it to the implicit dualism (individual v. society) in the more common term society.
social organization The activities of members of a society as these relate to the social structure. Since Malinowski’s time, the term ‘social organization’ has been the preferred description of society by those who favour approaches focused on social (action (e.g. (R. Firth), whereas ‘social structure’ has been preferred by those (e.g. structuralists and (structural-functionalists) who see society as consisting more of relational elements than activities. See main entry on social structure and social organization.
social reproduction The renewal of the socioeconomic order through processes involving labour, technology, etc. The concept was prominent in Marxist anthropology in the 1970s and 1980s.
social stratification The division of society by ‘vertical’ elements in a hierarchy. Forms of social stratification can include those by class, by caste and by (achieved status. See inequality.
social system A broad-ranging term which sometimes refers to society as a whole, sometimes to its inner workings (in reference to its ‘systematic’ nature), and sometimes to specific ‘systems’, such as the kinship system or the political system.
sororal polygyny Marriage of one man to two or more sisters. In many (polygynous societies it is the preferred form of marriage because, it is felt, sisters are likely to be better co-wives than unrelated women. See (polygamy, (polygyny; cf. (adelphic polyandry.
sororate The marriage or acquisition of a woman as a wife by her late sister’s husband. In many African societies, sororate is either preferred or assumed. It often reflects the fact that (bride-wealth paid for at marriage needs to be reciprocated by the gift of a woman from one kin group to another, and that that reciprocity is not fulfilled if she dies, especially if she dies before bearing children. See (levirate.
soul The spirit, moral aspect or non-material part of a human being. In many religions, souls are believed to survive the death of the physical body. In some religions, it is believed that souls may travel during the lifetime of an individual or otherwise be temporarily removed from the body, e.g. when a person is in a trance state during ritual activity. As a term with a very specific history in the Christian tradition, it may now be felt problematic to apply to other religious traditions.
speech-act theory Speech-act theory refers to a body of work in philosophy and linguistics, drawing upon the work of J.L. Austin and John Searle, which concentrates on what words do in ordinary linguistic interaction. Closely related to (pragmatics, it has produced a set of technical distinctions ((performative, (illocutionary, (perlocutionary, etc.) which have been widely employed by linguistic anthropologists, for example in the analysis of ritual.
speech community Any group of people who speak the same form of speech, or (dialect.
speech event Any act of speech and its associated non-linguistic aspects.
sphere of exchange In all societies different goods (objects, services, persons) are subject to conventional constraints on their exchange. For example, in Euro-American society it is quite acceptable to exchange money for subsistence food, possible but disreputable to exchange money for sex, and quite unacceptable to exchange money for permanent possession of another person. Among the Tiv of West Africa, as described by Paul Bohannon, different commodities were exchanged within what he called different spheres of exchange: subsistence goods by market transactions, prestige goods in which brass rods served as a medium of exchange, and marriageable women. In this case virtually all exchanges were confined to their appropriate sphere, although it was possible (if morally dangerous) to ‘convert’ goods from one sphere to another. See consumption, exchange, money.
state formation The economic and political process by which pre-state societies evolve into states. See evolution and evolutionism, state.
state of exception In (Agamben’s theory of sovereignty, this is the space outside the political community, to which the sovereign power consigns those it would reduce to the condition of (bare life. The post-9/11 employment of Guantanamo Bay as a detention centre outside the reach of US law by the Bush administration suggests that some members of that administration were surprisingly familiar with recent Italian political philosophy.
status The term status has two different usages in anthropology. For functionalists following (Ralph Linton, status refers to a position within a social order, e.g. king (as opposed to commoner), worker (as opposed to boss), or mother (as opposed to child). The term is often seen in reference to (role. In classic functionalist theory, statuses are seen as part of (social structure whereas the roles they imply are part of (social organization. Other anthropologists have followed (Max Weber in isolating status as one of three factors (with power and wealth) which combine in determining (social stratification. So, in (Louis Dumont’s account of (hierarchy in South Asia, power (as embodied in the figure of the king) is encompassed by status (as embodied in the Brahman or priest). See (achievement and ascription.
stem family A family consisting of a (nuclear family plus one married son (who would usually inherit). The term has been much debated in recent studies of the history of the European family.
structural adjustment In development, a term used from the 1980s onward for a range of policies, strongly favoured (some would say imposed) by international agencies such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, usually involving drastic reductions in state activity (e.g. welfare payments or subsidies on foodstuffs) and so-called ‘liberalization’ of free market activity. See neoliberalism.
structural form Radcliffe-Brown’s term for the theoretical abstraction which described a social phenomenon in a generalized way. For example, if one observes the relationship between a number of fathers and their respective sons in a given society (these making up social structure), one can come up with a general description of the typical father/ son relationship in this society (an aspect of structural form). However, later writers, including many of Radcliffe-Brown’s followers, have tended not to make this distinction, and rather, describe both simply as manifestations of the social structure. See social structure and social organization.
structural-functionalism The theoretical perspective associated with A.R. Radcliffe-Brown (though he rejected the term) and his followers. It involved the emphasis on "synchronic analysis of societies as isolated wholes. Each society was conceived as a set of systems related to each other analogously to the systems of a biological organism (cf. "organic analogy). The approach dominated British anthropology from the 1940s to the 1960s. See functionalism.
structural Marxism General term for a range of theoretical positions in Marxist anthropology in the 1960s and 1970s, influenced by the French structuralism of "Louis Althusser and, in some cases, Levi-Strauss. See Marxism and anthropology.
subaltern Translation of "Gramsci’s term for ‘subordinate’ (as in ‘subaltern classes’), subaltern has taken on a slightly different meaning, mostly from the work of the radical South Asian historians associated with the series •Subaltern .Studies. In their usage, subaltern refers to the position of any dominated group, whether this be on grounds of class, gender, age, ethnicity or religion.
subincision An extreme form of mutilation involving cutting along the length of the penis. The practice is found among Aboriginal Australians, who perform it as part of male "initiation rituals. Cf. "circumcision.
subjectivism Any approach in social theory which emphasizes that its proper subject-matter is subjects (with consciousness, "agency, etc.) rather than objects (which can be objectively observed, counted, measured, etc.). Contrast "objectivism.
subject-position Term favoured by seriously postmodern anthropologists, influenced by the theoretical critique of the subject (in French writers like "Foucault): if subjectivity is less a self-evident foundation for knowledge, but instead a product of external discourses and practices, it is more appropriate to designate different kinds of subjectivity as so many subject positions.
subsistence agriculture Agriculture directed to the maintenance of basic subsistence (the provision of food, clothing, shelter) rather than to the market. Cf. "cash-crops.
substance The opposite of "form. In linguistics, the term is employed for those things with which language is constructed, including speech (the phonic substance). In cultural approaches to kinship, indigenous notions of bodily substance are (after "David Schneider) often seen as crucial to understanding local idioms of relatedness.
succession The passing of rank or office, e.g. kingship, from a senior person to a junior person, usually upon the death of the former. Cf. "inheritance.
Sudanese terminology In "G.P. Murdock’s classification of relationship terminologies, one in which siblings are distinguished from cousins and "parallel-cousins are distinguished from "cross-cousins.
supernatural That which cannot be explained with reference to ‘nature’, as this concept is socially constructed. Important in some nineteenth-century definitions of religion, the term is now usually avoided by anthropologists, except in the context of indigenous ideas about the natural.
superorganic Above the level of the physical (human) organism. Now usually used in reference to culture, the term means definable in terms of culture itself, i.e. not reducible to psychological or other non-cultural phenomena.
superstition Any belief or action which is thought to be irrational. Anthropologists today do not generally impute superstition on the basis of their own system of rationality, but leave it to be defined in indigenous contexts. See rationality, relativism.
swidden agriculture A system of agriculture, widely practised on tropical soils, in which fields are temporarily cleared, usually from primary or secondary forest, burnt in order to transfer nutrients from cleared growth into the soil, cultivated for a limited period, then allowed to return to forest. The subject of much abuse from colonial administrators and ill-informed environmentalists, it is often a perfectly stable and sensible regime for the soil and climatic conditions in which it is usually practised. If, however, the fallow period is reduced, either due to population pressure or the lure of "cash-cropping, long-term soil degradation may set in. Also known as "shifting cultivation or (often pejoratively) slash-and-burn agriculture.
symbol A thing which stands for something else. Cf. "icon, "index, "sign. See also main entry on symbolic anthropology.
symbolic interactionism In sociology and social psychology, the perspective based on the work of "G.H. Mead and sociologist Herbert Bulmer which stresses the emergent nature of social interaction, social knowledge and self-knowledge. It is related to "transactionalism in social anthropology, and is one source of the recent vocabulary of ‘self and ‘other’.
symmetric alliance In kinship, a system of marriage alliance in which groups exchange members as spouses, and where such exchanges may go in either direction.
sympathetic magic "J. Frazer’s term for magical practice in which like is believed to influence like,e.g. sticking pins in a doll to cause harm to the individual whom the doll depicts. Cf. "contagious magic.
synchronic Synchronic perspectives, such as structuralism and functionalism, emphasize the relation of things in the present or at some specific time. In contrast "diachronic approaches, such as evolutionism, emphasize relations through time.
syntagm, syntagmatic, syntax A syntagm is literally, a ‘sentence’. Syntax refers to the grammatical relations which hold between the elements within a sentence. "Saussure distinguished between two levels of linguistic analysis: the syntagmatic and the associative (renamed the "paradigmatic by his followers). The syntagmatic refers to the succession of linguistic items through time in an utterance, and the relations between those items. The paradigmatic refers to the relations between any one item in a particular syntagmatic position and all other items (not actually present) which may occupy that position. See "metaphor, "metonymy, "paradigm.
system In "structural-functionalist theory, a major social division, such as economics, kinship, politics, religion, and sometimes law. Each of these may be said to be made up of various "institutions which are functionally related within the system.
systems theory An approach applied in many different disciplines, related to "cybernetics and drawing on computer analogies, which emphasizes relations between elements within a dynamic system, such that if one element changes it affects others within the system. It has been particularly important in ecological anthropology.
tabula rasa Literally, in Latin, a blank slate. The term is used especially in reference to "John Locke’s theory that human behaviour and understanding are derived from learning, and are not innate. Boasian anthropologists were influenced by this notion, whereas Levi-Strauss and his followers, for example, have maintained that there are human cognitive universals.
taxonomy Classification, especially within a formal system such as the classification of plants by a Western botanist or the classification of birds in a society in which birds are culturally important. Such a classification may be referred to as a taxonomy.
technological determinism The explanation of social or cultural phenomena as the product of specific technologies or a specific level of technology. For example, the use of iron tools may be said to determine certain aspects of social organization not found among peoples who use stone tools.
teknonymy System of personal naming, common for example in Southeast Asia, in which the term of reference for a particular person incorporates that person’s relationship to another person. For example, an adult may be referred to as ‘the father of X’ or ‘the mother of Y’. See names and naming.
territoriality A slightly ambiguous term which may refer either to cultural mechanisms to define or defend territory or to observed behaviour indicating a preference for remaining within a given territory. The term is in common use in archaeology and (social anthropology (especially in reference to hunter-gatherers), but often has (ethological connotations.
theodicy The attempt to understand or explain evil in the world.
thick description The term introduced by (Clifford Geertz in The Interpretation of Cultures (1973) as a description of what good ethnography, and by implication good anthropology, is. What makes an ethnographic description ‘thick’ rather than ‘thin’ is the layering of interpretation of all sorts: ethnographer’s interpretations, informant’s interpretations, people’s own interpretations. See symbolic anthropology.
Third World Broadly, that part of the world which is neither First World (the industrialized West) or Second World (the former Soviet bloc). The term, always contentious, is current in anthropology, politics, development studies, etc., for poorer regions of the world, especially former colonies of Western states.
Torres Straits Expedition A Cambridge expedition of 1898-99, led by (Haddon, to the Torres Straits between New Guinea and Australia. The expedition was important for its extensive documentation of local custom, for its opportunity to test then current theoretical ideas, and for the invention and extensive use of the genealogical method by (W.H.R. Rivers, and has acquired semi-mythological status as one of the founding moments of the fieldwork tradition in British anthropology.
trance An altered state of consciousness. It can be induced by any number of means, including drugs, hyperventilation, music, or spirit possession. See possession, shamanism.
transactionalism An action-oriented approach which sees society as the product of interactions between individual actors. The classic example is (Fredrik Barth’s Political Leadership among .Swat Pathans (1959), which argues that relations between leaders and their clients make up the social order, and further that this order can be manipulated by the (actors themselves in the pursuit of their goals. Transactionalism was popular in the 1970s, but met with criticism from those (including Marxists) who saw the model as based too much on the assumptions of (methodological individualism, and allowing too little space for cultural difference.
transformational analysis In kinship, the formal method developed by (Floyd Lounsbury to account for the apparent (extension of relationship terms. In transformational analysis, terms for closer genealogical positions are said to be ‘extended’ to more distant genealogical positions. Therefore rules can be described in order to ‘reduce’ these distant positions to closer ones. For example, if father and father’s brother are called by the same term, this can be accounted for by a specific ‘reduction rule’, which itself is generated by a deeper ‘(same-sex) merging rule’. See relationship terminology.
transformational-generative grammar In linguistics, a theory of grammar developed by (Chomsky since the late 1950s. The idea is to account for all sentences which a native speaker would regard as grammatical, something previous descriptive grammars failed to do. Transformational-generative grammars are constructed through levels of linguistic structure, with (deep structures linked to surface structure by rules which generate elements of the surface structure. Parallels have been drawn between this approach and those of some anthropologists, e.g. Claude Levi-Strauss and (Floyd Lounsbury, though Chomsky has distanced himself from such comparisons.
tribe, tribal The terms ‘tribe’ and ‘tribal’ (from Latin tribuss) have a variety of meanings, some of which are taboo in modern anthropology. The accepted usage of ‘tribe’ is as a political unit larger than a (clan and smaller than a nation or people,especially when indigenous populations themselves use the term. This is the case especially among Native North Americans and in some parts of Africa. ‘Tribal’ is less politically correct in some quarters, but is accepted by evolutionists (e.g. in the work of "Elman Service) in discussions of a level of political development which lies between "band societies and chiefly ones. The use of ‘tribal’ to refer to aspects of culture other than politics is generally discouraged in contemporary anthropology, although current fashions for green fpri-mitivism have given the term a new lease of politically acceptable life in Euro-American youth culture. See "indigenous peoples, "primitive.
trickster In folklore and mythology, a character who plays clever tricks on other characters. Often taking the form of an animal such as a fox or coyote, the trickster can represent downtrodden elements of a community or the triumph of good over evil.
trope In rhetoric, any figure of speech. The term has been widely used in anthropology as postmodern and "poststructural theorists have drawn attention to the non-referential, or creative, aspects of language.
twins Two children from the same pregnancy. In many cultures, twins are either considered ‘unnatural’ or are associated with extraordinary phenomena such as supernatural power. In some cultures, the birth of twins is a sign of ill luck and one or both might be put to death.
two-line prescription In alliance theory, a notion developed by "Rodney Needham and others to analyse relations between intermarrying "moieties or lines. For example, in some Lowland South American societies, members of one "matrilineage must marry members of the opposite matrilineage, there being only two such "exogamous descent ‘lines’ in the society.
ultimogeniture Inheritance or succession by the youngest child. Cf. "primogeniture.
unilineal, unilinear Unilineal is a blanket term which covers both "patrilineal and "matrilineal (but not "bilateral) descent. Unilinear is a synonym, although unilineal is most common in discussions of kinship, while unilinear is more often used in other contexts (e.g. evolution).
unilinear evolutionism The theory of evolution associated with late nineteenth-century anthropologists such as L.H. Morgan and "Tylor. Its distinguishing feature is the emphasis on all societies passing through the same precise stages of evolution, each of which has characteristic features in terms of kinship, political structure, etc. Contrast "multilinear evolutionism, "universal evolutionism. See evolution and evolutionism.
universal evolutionism The theory of evolution associated with mid-twentieth-century anthropologists and archaeologists, such as "L. White and "V.G. Childe. It emphasizes broad evolutionary phases rather than the more specific evolutionary schema of the "unilinear evolutionists. Contrast "multilinear evolutionism. See evolution and evolutionism.
universal kinship A kinship system in which all members of society stand in relationships of kinship or "affinity to each other. In other words, no one is defined as non-kin in relation to anyone else. Such systems are common among hunter-gatherers, and in small scale agricultural societies practising prescriptive marriage.
Untouchables One of a number of terms for the lowest castes in Indian society, so called because of the belief in their ‘polluting’ character. Untouchables are also known as harijan (Gandhi’s preferred term, meaning children of God), dalits, and Scheduled Castes. See South Asia, pollution and purity.
use value In economic anthropology (especially in Marxist theory) the practical value of something as opposed to its "exchange value in the market place.
usufruct The right to use resources or goods belonging to another person, e.g. a waterhole open to non-owners.
uterine A synonym for "matrilineal or maternal. Cf. "agnatic.
utilitarianism The moral and philosophical doctrine that the most just action is the one which creates ‘the greatest good for the greatest number’, especially associated with Jeremy Bentham. In recent anthropology, any argument which can be seen as based on assumptions of individual calculating rationality might be (pejoratively) described as ‘utilitarian’.
uxorilocal The form of postmarital residence in which a couple move to the home of the woman. Repeated uxorilocal residence (sometimes called (matrilocal residence) has the effect of uniting women of a given (matrilineal group. See marriage. Cf. (avunculocal; (virilocal.
Verstehen German for ‘understanding’. It is used broadly in the human sciences to characterize those, including Dilthey and (Max Weber, who have argued that because of their subject matter, the human sciences must differ qualitatively from the natural sciences. As such, it forms a link between early proponents of this view, like (Vico, and modern anti-positivist anthropologists like (Evans-Pritchard and (Clifford Geertz. See symbolic anthropology.
virilocal The form of postmarital residence in which a couple move to the home of the man. Repeated virilocal residence (sometimes called (patrilocal residence) has the effect of uniting men of a given (patrilineal group. Sometimes called viriavun-culocal in order to make it clear that a couple move to the man’s (rather than the woman’s) mother’s brother’s home upon marriage. Cf. (uxorilocal.
Volkerkunde, Volkskunde Volkerkunde is German for ‘folks-study’ (as opposed to ‘folk-study’). The term is synonymous with (ethnology (German Ethnologie) or (cultural anthropology, but sharply distinguished from Volkskunde, ‘folk-study’, the field which is broadly associated with the study of the folk customs of one’s own country. The distinction between Volkerkunde and Volkskunde can be roughly equated with that between cultural anthropology and folklore studies, and the German terms are in common use in English and other languages to make this distinction, which occurs throughout much of Central Europe and Scandinavia, as well as in German-speaking countries. See German and Austrian anthropology.
W In kinship the symbol for wife or wife’s. Weltanschauung German for (worldview.
widow inheritance, widow marriage The inheritance by a man of the wife of one of his deceased kinsmen.
wizard A synonym for medicine man, (shaman, witchdoctor, etc. This term, with its European connotations, is often preferred by those European or Euro-American anthropologists who wish to avoid the terms more commonly associated with alien cultures and which, by implication, connote strangeness in ritual medical practices.
woman marriage The practice, described by (Evans-Pritchard for the Nuer, of a woman marrying another woman in order to perpetuate her own (lineage by acting as a social or genealogical (pater to the woman’s children.
worldview A loan translation of the German Weltanschauung. The term was common especially in the culture-and-personality school, but it remains in use in American anthropology where it characterizes the understanding of the world which is unique to a given culture. Cf. (ethos.
Writing Culture A book edited by (James Clifford and George E. Marcus and published in 1986, which has become the standard point of reference in discussions of postmodernism and ethnography in anthropology. See poetics.
y In kinship, the symbol for younger, e.g. FBDy means ‘father’s brother’s daughter, who is younger than (ego’.
Z In kinship, the symbol for sister or sister’s.
