Anthropology Study Guide: Sex and Gender: Assumptions about sex and gender include: Sex determines gender

er Biology determines social roles associated with each gender Everybody has a real sex that can be determined via medical examination Genetic factors that contribute to sex determination: Karyotype Physiognomy (facial structure) Sex chromosomes All three of these genetic factors however are variant, and may not necessarily t into the two distinct sexes of male/female ex. Turners syndrome = females lacking an x chromosome The same applies to differences in hormonal levels People with a whole spectrum of genetic/hormonal characteristics are present. So what is their real sex? Relationship between biology and sex is not as clear as we think. Sexual categories are thereby quite arbitrary in themselves and may not have always been the same: Example: Berdache (French for male prostitute) is a Native American dened gender that involves a man who becomes socially accepted as a woman. Often held in high regard. The Berdache gender is situational. Early Anthropological Accounts on Sex and Gender: Second Wave Feminism: separated sex and gender into two different categories. Sex = biological Gender = socially constructed Major inuence = Margaret Meads Coming of Age in Somoa Mead found that adolescence in America was coupled with unavoidable periods of adjustment. Decided to nd out whether this was biological or cultural. studied adolescent women in Samoa on the Island of Tau and found adolescence to be a smooth transition. Women having casual sex until marriage was also socially accepted Mead theorized this was because girls grew up in monocultural, stable, and open society. Major inuence 2 = Margaret Meads Sex and Temperament in Three primitive societies: Observed sex and temperament in three societies found in Papua New Guinea Arapesh: people had peaceful (feminine) temperaments and did not make war Mundugumor: people were warlike in temperament Tchamuli: reversal of gender roles. Men primped and decorated themselves while women worked. Greatly inuential in feminism.

 Recent anthropological Accounts on Sex/Gender: Third wave feminism: found dichotomies present in second wave feminism to be too restrictive. Found sex to also be a social concept as sexual categories are also arbitrary created. Found gender and sex to be co-constructions of one another, not necessarily separate. Inuence on third wave feminism: Performance theory: Performance theory denes gender as the effect of discourse, and sex as the effect of gender. In other words, things we say produce what we announce. Some said things are not about being but rather about causing effects. ex. When you say Fuck you, you do not literally want to fuck anybody, rather you are aiming to cause controversy. Theory holds that linguistics have a major inuence on sex and gender. Emily Martin: feminist anthropologist who analyzes science from a feminist perspective, believes that modern state of science is gender-biased. Ex. The egg and the sperm: Modern perception of menstruation is negative and associated with many wounds. Thereby seen as a failure. Martin believes it should be seen as a form of success, that the body can rid itself of potentially harmful toxins. Believes sperm is seen as successful in penetrating the egg and is thereby over-praised. Sees sperm as a failure as it is biologically easier to produce/suffers high mortality rate, though it is produced in massive quantities. Egg barrier can only be broken down by collective effort of sperm. Believes such gender bias reinforces gender inequality. On a side note, this bitch is bipolar. Race: Assumptions on race include: Race is biologically determined Race is legible, ie it can be read easily Race is about a deeper, internal truth, that should be respected and never betrayed. Anthropometry and the mismeasure of man: emergence of race as a concept, formation of race science Anthropometry: measurement of the human individual for the purposes of understanding physical variation. Was used in study of eugenics: science dedicated to proving race inferiority/ superiority Boasian anti-racism (Franz Boas) Tied physical characteristics to both environment and heredity Separated behavioral traits from race, but still held race to be biologically real. Cultural determinism: culture determined behavior, thereby divorcing behavioral traits from biology. Accepted scientic idea of race.

Separates anthropology from study of race. Social Construction of race (modern): Race doesnt really exists as a biological reality, physical distinctions such as skin color are all quite arbitrary. Race and legible physiognomy are all socially produced/learned Example: Hutu/Tutsi/Twa in Rwanda. Three separate ethnic groups: Tutsi were people rich in cattle --> considered elite Hutu were cultivators --> considered subordinate Tutsi and Hutu bred exclusively within their own racial groups: Tutsi = taller, thinner, narrow-featured Hutu = shorter, stronger, broader Social classes were created out of these races and thereby based on arbitrary physical traits. Twa: even smaller ethnic group, shunned by both Hutu and Tutsi Over time, intermarriage became more common and Tutsi/Hutu became less easy to distinguish. Tutsi were killed during genocide but mistakes were still made. Racism is structural: Culturally created, product of racial categories on arbitrary physical traits. contributes to reproduction of social order. Collective response of race can often result in the inversion of hierarchies or ethnogenesis: Ethnogenesis: process by which a group of people come to understand themselves as ethnically distinct from the wider social landscape from which their grouping emerges. In summary: race is not determined by genes or environment Certain physical differences become markers of important social differences in some contexts These are often naturalized as race as part of larger system of political and social inequality.

Ethnicity and class: Assumptions on ethnicity: set of denable, common cultural traits (expressive behaviors) tied to collective history exists within a larger cultural system linked to kinship in a general sense ethnicity is real as a cultural commonality The problem with thinking of ethnicity simply as a set of expressive behaviors is that too many factors, such as food, mode of interacting, history, politics, endogamy, etc. have to be taken into account. there is too much variation within all of these categories. There isnt really a common language, history, or territory within any ethnic group. Ethnicity is thereby a relational concept, focused on boundary maintenance.

Ascription and Self-ascription: applying a quality or character to a person or thing and oneself. Conscious on-going process. Particular way of understanding of belonging. Can spark ethnogenesis Ethnicity is an ongoing process and thereby always new, though it feels old Not about conscious manipulation Marker for ethnic distinction is arbitrary Marking ethnic differences: unmarked groups usually stand for the social whole. Class can be used a mode of ethnic difference. Class is an alternative mode of thinking about relevant similarities and differences based on material conditions. ie. how you earn a living, how much you ear, etc. Commonality within a class = consciousness of shared material interests Class/status hierarchies include: Occupation (status): ex. teacher = higher status, lower wage while drug dealers = higher wage, lower status inverted relationship, hierarchy is based on different criteria Consumption (class): differences in material possession, which can be associated with different ethnic groups. ie. ghetto bling with black people Overconsumption = lower class/status (ex. ghetto bling) Underconsumption can indicate wealth, ie buying something small but really old/expensive. Habitus: naturalized instinctive littles things that differentiate oneself from others It is a set of socially learnt dispositions, skills, and ways of acting. Higher habitus (ex. wine expert) = higher social status sometimes unconscious and intuitive Class = a way of understanding --> not cultural naturalized as shared culture.