Affines: people related by marriage, in-laws.
Band: a small foraging group with flexible compostion that migrates seasonally.
Behavioral Ecology: the study of the ecological and evolutionary basis for behavior (of animals and humans).
Bilateral Kinship: a kinship system in which relationships are traced through both parents. Blood relatives to both mother and father are named in the same way and play similar roles in an individual's life. This system is the most common found in Western societies, where maternal and paternal aunts, uncles, and grandparents are named and treated the same way.
Brideservice Societies: a society in which a groom gives gifts of labor to the bride’s family in order to legitimize his marriage. This is important for the groom to do because in these societies all adults control the distribution of food, and approval of elder members of the society is crucial for the groom to be a successful member of the group in the future.
Bridewealth Societies: a society in which goods are given from the groom to the bride’s family as payment for the rights to a woman’s labor, sexuality, and offspring. The goods usually are not a product of the groom’s own labor.
CHAGS: conference on Hunter and Gatherer Societies, held during the 1970’s-2000’s that focus on distinctiveness of foragers, indigenous rights, and activist anthropology.
Consanguines: blood relatives, people related by birth.
Culture Core: the constellation of features which are most closely related to subsistence activities and economic arrangements.
Cultural Ecology: study of cultural adaptations because of environmental factors and the extent to which the environment has selected for or against certain technologies, ideologies, and social frameworks. (see Julian Steward)
Delayed-return societies: societies were people hold rights over assets which return a yield over time. Control and management of assets is socially organized.
Effective Temperature (ET): quotient derived from mean temperatures of coldest and warmest months of the year.
Egalitarianism: from the French word 'egal' meaning equal. Egalitarian cultures have no real power structures other than ones based on gender or age (see Egalitariansim)
Encapsulation: whole or partial enclosure or enclavement by neighboring groups
Enculturation: process where an established culture teaches an individual the customs and/or rituals of the culture in the hopes that the individual will join the society and partake in the framework of the society
Endogamy: marriage within the a family (cousin marriage).
Ethnology: the study of human cultures from a comparative perspective.
Exogamy: marriage outside of the family.
Hypothesis: a predictive statement (generally derived from theory) that can be tested through research.
Immediate-return societies: societies where there is a short time between the acquisition and consumption of food, individuals have equal access to resources and methods of resource extraction, and people use mobility as a method of dispute resolution.
Infanticide: the act of killing an infant. Infanticide is practiced by a number of societies as well as many non-human primates. It has sometimes (controversially) been understood as an adaptation to adverse environmental conditions.
Kinship: the way in which a society defines and traces blood relationships between individuals. Kinship is often matrilineal, patrilineal, or bilateral.
Maladaptation: poor or inadequate adaptation.
Material Culture: the artifacts and other objects made and used by people in accord with their cultural schema.
Matrilineal Kinship: a kinship system in which blood relations are traced through the mother. Maternal aunts are usually called "mothers" in this system, emphasizing their prominent roles in a child's life.
Matrilocal Residence: when a married couple lives with the near the new wife's family as opposed to the husband's family.
Operationalization: the process of specifying exactly how theoretical concepts (variables) will be measured so that the theoretical proposition (hypothesis) can be tested.
Optimal Foraging Theory: states that an organisms method of foraging is to maximize energy intake over an unit of time.
Pastorialism: adaptation to tending livestock; the presence of water and pasture is important. Also know has herding.
Patrilineal Kinship: a kinship system in which blood relations are traced through the father. Paternal uncles are usually called "fathers" in this system, emphasizing their prominent roles in a child's life.
Patrilocal Residence: when a married couple lives with the new husband's family as opposed to the bride's family.
Peyote: (also known as mescaline) a spineless, globe-shaped cactus (Lophophora williamsii) native to Mexico and the southwest United States, having button-like tubercles that are chewed fresh or dry as a narcotic drug by certain Native American peoples.
Population: group from which a sample is drawn.
Potlatch: Ritual feasts where valuables are given away and destroyed for prestige between high-status leaders of societies in the Pacific Northwest. see Potlatch Film Clip
Primary production (PP): product of effective precipitation and solar radiation.
Reciprocity: a continuing sequence of giving, receiving, and repaying gifts; often described in three types: generalized, balanced, and negative. (see Sharing, Marshall Sahlins)
Research Question: general (theoretical) question that guides the research design.
Sample: sub-section of the group that will be studied and is assumed to be a good representation of the population. Examples of sampling could include a stratified sample (grouping into fairly homogeneous sub-groups that reflect the larger population) or random sample.
Sexual Division of Labor: the various types of work that are expected of women versus men in a culture.
Shaman: religious specialist or medicine man/woman who uses his or her special relation to supernatural powers to cure members of his or her group and/or harm other groups.
Slavery: The ultimate power differential, where one person exercises virtually total control. or ownership over another. see Northwest Coast Indians: Slavery
Social Organization: The ways in which a social unit is subdivided into smaller groups whose membership is determined by kinship, age, location, gender and other criteria.
Sociocentric: Oriented toward or focused on one's own social group.
Theory: a conceptual model (explanation) of how the world works.