Ch.

13: Anthropologys Role in a Globalizing World

Globalization
A set of processes, including diffusion, migration, and acculturation, that promote change in todays interlinked
world.
Has cultural, social, economic, and environmental effects.
Global Climate Change
Earths surface temperatures have risen about 1.48 degrees Fahrenheit since the early 20 th century
o About 2/3 of this has been since 1978
How much of this is due to human activity?
Major concerns:
o Changes in sea levels, precipitation, storms, and ecosystem effects
Greatest obstacle to slowing climate change: meeting energy needs.
Environmental Anthropology
Ecological anthropology: study of cultural adaptations to environments.
o Many indigenous groups had traditional ways of preserving their ecosystem and managing resources
o Ethnoecology: a society's set of environmental practices and perceptions.
Development can threaten indigenous peoples and their environments.
Local peoples concerns and environmental/conservation agendas may come into conflict.
Deforestation
Caused by increased population, cutting down trees for logging and fuel, agricultural needs, and road building
o All activities associated with development and population increase
Contributes to global warming, loss of biodiversity, and land erosion
Interethnic Contact
Acculturation: changes that result when groups come into continuous firsthand contact
o May be voluntary or forced.
Cultural imperialism: spread or advance of one culture at the expanse of others, or its imposition on other
cultures
Making and Remarking Culture
Modern technologies such as mass media can act as agents of cultural imperialism, but they can also allow local
groups and cultures to express themselves to wider audiences.
Indigenized: (forces from world centers are) modified to fit the local culture
Media can link diasporic populations
Postmodernity
Postmodern: describes the blurring and breaking down of established rules, standards, categories, distinctions, and
boundaries
Postmodernism: a style in architecture (and, later, music, literature, and visual art) that blends elements from
diverse times and places
Indigenous Peoples in the Global World
Indigenous people: people native to a particular region.
Essentialism: viewing an identity as established, real, and frozen, so as to hide the historical processes and
politics within which that identity developed.
o Identities are not fixed and are potentially plural; indigenous identities coexist in contexts of other
identities