ANT 101: Introduction to Sociocultural Anthropology
Spring 2009, M,W,F 10:30 — 11:20, Chambers 1027
Prof. Eriberto P. Lozada Jr. Office Hours: M, W 9:30– 10:30 am
Office: Chambers B12 T, Th 9:00– 10:00 am or by appointment
Telephone: 704-894-2035 Email: erlozada@davidson.edu
Web: http://www.davidson.edu/personal/erlozada
Lecture Notes, 11 February 2009
Questions for discussion:
• From Wolf’s discussion of the uterine family and sim-pua marriage (and our discussion
of lineage dynamics), for both men and women in the life-cycle, where does loyalty and
affection lie? What are the key relationships in tension?
• How do people maneuver within the system? How do changes in socio-economic system
play out in kinship?
• Wolf’s argument is largely one based on social structure; the idea of the uterine family,
for example, shows how structure affects cultural ideas (such as gender relations);
• Stack also has an analysis based on structure
• But cultural ideas are also important; we often, for example, talk about the family and
ideas about “love” or “security”; can we find such concepts coming out of specific social
structures, or do these ideas give birth to social structure
• What is Love?
Helen Fisher, Anatomy of Love: A Natural History of Mating, Marriage, and Why We Stray
• Physical anthropologist who is looking at the intersection of physiological and cultural
sources of love; brain scanning, mapping out biochemical processes of people in love
• divides love into three aspects: lust, associated with testosterone in men and women;
romantic love, associated in the brain with high levels of dopamine and norpenephrin
(natural stimulants) and low levels of seratonin (obsessive thinking); and attachment,
with vasopressin and oxytocin
• Fisher, citing John Money: A love map: collection of preferences acquired over time as
a response to “family, friends, experiences, and chance associations” that serves as a
model for personal likes and dislikes. Preferred physical characteristics vary individually
and cross-culturally, but there may be some common traits that invoke sexual appeal
cross-culturally
Carol Stack’s “Domestic Networks”
• Kinship system as social network
• Social network analysis is a methodological approach that has been used extensively in
the social sciences; tends to be quantitative, although many have used social networks as
theoretical orientation to understanding social structure and social action
• It essentially is a mapping out of individual social relationships; how ties are constructed
between nodes (individuals) is the key factor being studied; people connect to each other
