ANT 201 Exam 2 

What is a ethnicity?

 Common Gender roles & trends

o Women vs. Men

 Women are expected to be soft, nurturing, gentle  

 Housewives, “gatherers”, caretakers  

 Men expected to be strong, unemotional  

 Workers, hunters, providers  

 Universal Gender Role Theories:

 Strength theory, compatibility with child-care theory,  fertility maintenance, economy-of-effort theory,  

expendability theory (reproductive roles)  

o Sex vs Gender

 Sex 

 Biologically determined by genetics  

 XX chromosome set- female, XY- male (dichotomous  

categories)

 Rarely: Trisomy X (XXX), XYY, or Klinefelter’s  

syndrome (XXY male)

 Gender 

 CULTURALLY DETERMINED

 Cultural construction of gender includes genetic diffs  to varying degrees

 Ideas define masculinity/manhood vs  

femininity/womanhood

What is a australian aboriginals in history?

 Not always dichotomous M & F categories (dep on  

culture)

 Gender Crossing- adoption of social roles & behaviors normatively appropriate for the opp. biological sex of  We also discuss several other topics like asu final exam schedule

one’s own

 Multiple gender identities- recognition of more than 2 sexes

o Present in some cultures  

o 3rd & 4th identities often called names like  

“man-woman” or “woman-man”

 Unique Gender Practice (where, what, importance) o Hijra - India

 Gender role neither masculine nor feminine  

 Born male, live female

 Followers of Hindu goddess Bahuchara Mata

 Emasculation as ritual devotion

 Procreative powers of the goddess transferred to  

them

 Religious cult centered on her worship

 Earn living performing at life-cycle ceremonies (births,  weddings) We also discuss several other topics like biopsychology study guide
Don't forget about the age old question of unl illiad

o Fa’afafine – Samoa  

What is a biological determinism?

 Tradition of raising some boys as girls

 Not necessarily homosexual or effeminate  

 Later born boys in families w many sons but few daughters   Parents choose 1 or more son to help mother

 Do work of women & dress as girls  

 Fakaleiti of Tonga  

o Heemaneh

 ‘Two Spirit’ gender identity of the Cheyenne Native  Don't forget about the age old question of mzhdt

American tribe

 4 Main Characteristics:

 Cross-gender occupation/work activities  

 Transvestism

 Associations with spiritual power  

 Same-sex relationships (not w another third gender)

o Nu – Papua New Guinea  

 Nu- Life-giving substance contained in bodies  

 Trends and process  

 Symbolically associated with growth and maturity  

 Females have an excess, males contain less

 Exchanged in liquid & gaseous form (can be harmful  

or helpful)

 Figapa vs kakora

 Females transfer nu during food prep, intercourse, &  birth; becomes depleted over time - less nu = less  

dangerous to men  

o Become Kakora ‘like men’ (around  

menopause)

 Males become invulnerable to contamination over  

time (through eating, sex, etc.) – bodies become full  

of no

o Become Figapa ‘like women’

 Marital Exchanges  

o Bridewealth

 Man and his relatives transfer wealth to relatives of his  bride

o Dowry

 Woman’s family transfers wealth to their daughter and her  husband/husband’s family  Don't forget about the age old question of kenneth chaiprasert

o Bride service

 Husband spends a period of time working for the family of  his bride

 Marriage Patterns

o Exogamy vs. Endogamy (exs)

 Exogamy- marriage rules prohibiting individuals from  marrying a member of their own social group or category   Ex: Masai women

 Endogamy- marriage rules requiring individuals to marry  some member of their own social group or category  

 Ex: Hindu caste

o Polyandry

 One woman, multiple husbands  

 Found in some isolated rural regions of India, Sri  

Lanka, & esp. Nepal and Tibet

o Polygyny

 One man, multiple wives

o Polygamy

 Practice or custom of having more than one spouse at a  time

o Monogamy

 One spouse

 Race and Ethnicity

o History of the concept of race

 Since 1600s, race used to refer to culturally defined groups  Race used as biological term. (w/enormous social  

significance)

 In any racial group, individuals will fall into a normal range  of variation for another group for 1 or more characteristics   Characteristics: influenced by several genes & exhibit a  continuous range of variation (not defined categories)

o Eugenics  

 Def- “race improvement” through forced sterilization of  members of some groups and encouraged reproduction  among others

o Biological Determinism

 Def- cultural and biological variations are inherited in the  same way

o The legacy of colonialism

o Racism  

 Def- false belief that intellectual and cultural factors are  inherited w/physical characteristics  We also discuss several other topics like wendy pell uottawa

 culturally defined variables typify all members of a  

group

 assumes one’s own group is superior  

 cultural phenomenon found worldwide

 Types: Individual, Institutional, & Racial ideology

o Ethnicity

 Def: “A sense of historical, cultural, and sometimes  

ancestral connection to a group of ppl who are imagined to be distinct from those outside the group” -Kenneth J. Guest o Intersectionality

 The interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender as they apply to a given individual  or group, regarded as creating overlapping and  

interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage  o Assimilation vs Multiculturalism

 Assimilation better protects a host country’s historical  culture  

 Everyone adopts dominant culture  

 Multiculturalism better protects new-entrant cultures   All cultures coexist  

 Minorities thought of as distinct communities

 Australian Aboriginals (& history)

o One of two distinct groups of indigenous peoples of Australia o Still practice hunting and gathering, nomadic

o Originally from Asia (Southeast) and have inhabited Australia for  ~50,000 years (or sooner, up to 80,000 years)

o Inhabit Tasmania, New Guinea, and other surrounding islands as  well

o Have spoken more than 200 different languages

o World-view centered on “dreamtime” (spiritual practice)  Rabbit Proof Fence and Masai Women (general plot &  significance)

o Rabbit Proof Fence (2002)

 Based on true stories of 3 young Native Australia  

Aboriginal girls: Molly-14 & Daisy-8 (sisters), and their  

cousin Gracie-10

 PLOT: The girls are taken away from their Aboriginal mother by order of. Dr. Neville, the official Protector of Western  

Australian Aborigines, due to being “half-castes” (having a  white father). They are sent to the Moore River Native  

Settlement to learn how to be white, where they run to get  back to their mother in Jigalong 1,500 miles away. Neville  (nicknamed “Devil”) sends Aboriginal tracker Moodoo and  local Jigalong constable Riggs to locate the girls. After a  long journey, Gracie gets caught trying to get to her  

mother, while Molly and Daisy make it back to their mother after 9 weeks. Neville ends the search because he can no  longer afford it.

 Portrayed the “Stolen Generations” of Australian  

aboriginals

 Many mixed-race “half-caste” children removed from  

homes by Australian federal and state government  

agencies and placed in institutions from 1905 to  

1970

 Believed that aboriginals were inferior and should be  

allowed to die out or be bred out in natural  

elimination process (eugenics)

o Masai Women (1980 documentary)

PLOT: The Maasai, a prosperous society of animal herders whose sustenance and wealth is their  cattle, live primarily in the Rift Valley between Kenya and Tanzania. Women tend the cattle, bring up  the children, clean mud from the village when it rains, and belong to a man's estate. This film  highlights the Maasai female's rights of passage from childhood to old age, and her lot in life as she  is tied to the fortunes of not only husbands but sons as well. Since they alone can give birth, the  women see themselves as important contributors to their husband's wealth and develop close  supportive relationships with the co­wives. In this society, if a man is rich, "it's his wives who made  him so." Description from Science, Technology, & Human Values Vol. 5, No. 32 

 Source: https://store.der.org/maasai-women-p598.aspx  Masai are strongly patriarchal society  

 Men are warriors and women are responsible for all of the  chores (including building houses) and raising children

 Girls transition into womanhood through rite of passage  involving female circumcision and shaving ones head