This lesson introduces the anthropological study of sexuality and considers how sexuality is connected to everyday life, social institutions, power, and cultural expectations.
Anthropologists study the diversity of meanings, practices, relationships, and experiences associated with erotic interactions. Sexuality is not limited to private behavior: it can be connected to marriage, kinship, gender relations, art, religion, medicine, economics, and politics. Since the 1980s, queer anthropology has expanded the study of activity and identities that fall outside presumed norms of heterosexuality and binary gender.
All flashcards
How does queer anthropology broaden the study of sexuality?
It examines activities, identities, and relationships outside presumed norms of heterosexuality and binary gender.
Why do anthropologists distinguish same-sex behavior from sexual identity?
Practices can have local meanings without expressing a fixed identity such as gay or lesbian.
How can kinship networks challenge conventional definitions of family?
They can be built through care, commitment, and shared values as well as marriage or biological descent.
What is heteronormativity?
The assumption that heterosexuality and a binary division between men and women are standard social arrangements.
What role could an Igbo male daughter occupy?
She could inherit property, carry on her father's patrilineage, and take on a socially recognized male role.
Quiz questions
In Malinowski's functionalist account, what did sexual norms do?Answer: They regulated sexual impulses and helped sustain institutions such as marriage and kinship.
What contrast did Margaret Mead draw between Samoan and United States sexual socialization?Answer: She portrayed Samoan adolescence as comparatively open and exploratory rather than strictly disciplined.
According to Evans-Pritchard, how could an older warrior establish a relationship with a younger man in precolonial Zande society?Answer: He could provide bride wealth and services to the younger man's family, and the partners took husband-and-wife roles.
In Roger Lancaster's research in Nicaragua, what could shape how men interpreted same-sex encounters?Answer: Taking the active, penetrative role could allow a man to maintain a conventionally masculine, heterosexual identity.
How did participants in the Sambia initiation system described by Gilbert Herdt understand the ritual practice?Answer: They understood it as a way for boys to absorb male essence and become socialized as men.
Based on Introduction to Anthropology by Jennifer Hasty, David G. Lewis, Marjorie M. Snipes (OpenStax), licensed CC BY 4.0. Adapted into a summary, flashcards and quizzes.