Kerala Plus Two Anthropology (DHSE) cheat sheet

Anthropology is the holistic, comparative study of humans as biological and cultural beings across time and space; its Greek roots are anthropos (human) and logos (study).

The four-field model (North American tradition) comprises biological/physical anthropology, archaeology, linguistic anthropology, and socio-cultural anthropology.

Biological anthropology studies human evolution, genetics, growth, osteology, primatology, and human variation; it is a natural-science branch.

Archaeology reconstructs past human behaviour from material remains; prehistoric archaeology deals with periods before written records.

Socio-cultural anthropology studies living societies through ethnography (holistic description) and ethnology (cross-cultural comparison).

Linguistic anthropology examines language as culture: historical linguistics, sociolinguistics, and the language-thought relationship.

Applied anthropology uses anthropological methods to solve practical problems (health, development, tribal welfare, forensic identification).

Key concepts: holism (whole-society view), comparativism, cultural relativism, fieldwork-based empiricism, and the emic (insider) versus etic (outsider) perspective.

Order Primates, suborder Anthropoidea; hominoids include apes and humans. Humans: Homo sapiens sapiens, family Hominidae, bipedal with large brain and reduced canines.

Bipedalism is the earliest defining hominin trait: foramen magnum positioned centrally under the skull, S-shaped spine, bowl-shaped pelvis, valgus knee, non-opposable big toe.

Sahelanthropus tchadensis (~7 mya) and Orrorin (~6 mya) show possible early bipedalism; Ardipithecus ramidus (~4.4 mya) had a mosaic pelvis and grasping foot.

Australopithecus afarensis (~3.9-3.0 mya, 'Lucy') had a small brain (~400-500 cc) with bipedal postcrania; A. africanus (~3-2 mya) is associated with South African caves.

Homo habilis (~2.4-1.6 mya) is linked to Oldowan stone tools and brain size ~600-700 cc; Homo erectus (~1.9 mya-300 kya) had ~900-1100 cc, Acheulian handaxes, and spread out of Africa.

Homo neanderthalensis: robust build, occipital bun, midfacial prognathism, Mousterian tools, burial evidence; Homo sapiens (~300 kya, Jebel Irhoud; ~200 kya Omo) shows chin, high forehead, and parietal expansion.

Dating methods: radiocarbon (organic material, up to ~50,000 years), potassium-argon (volcanic rock, millions of years), thermoluminescence (pottery/burnt flint), dendrochronology, and stratigraphy.

Comparative primate anatomy: stereoscopic vision, opposable thumbs, nails instead of claws, reduced olfaction, and encephalisation distinguish primates from other mammals.

Human biological variation is continuous (clinal), not discrete; most genetic variation (~85-90%) occurs within populations, and only a small fraction separates them.

The race concept is a social construct with no valid biological basis; typological racial classification (e.g., Linnaean, Blumenbach) is scientifically rejected.

Skin colour variation correlates with UV radiation: melanin protects against UV damage near the equator; lighter skin aids vitamin D synthesis at high latitudes.

Bergmann's rule: body mass increases in colder climates (larger body, lower surface-to-volume ratio); Allen's rule: extremities are shorter in cold climates.

Sickle-cell trait is a balanced polymorphism conferring malaria resistance in heterozygotes; thalassaemia and G6PD deficiency show similar distributions.

High-altitude adaptation (Andes, Tibet, Ethiopia) involves increased lung capacity, higher haemoglobin or altered oxygen-affinity patterns, and larger chests.

Lactase persistence and adult milk digestion show gene-culture coevolution in dairying populations; dental and cranial variation reflect diet and environment.

Human adaptation includes genetic adaptation (natural selection), physiological acclimatisation, and cultural/technological adaptation to environmental stress.

Primates are divided into strepsirrhines (lemurs, lorises; wet nose, grooming claw) and haplorhines (tarsiers, monkeys, apes; dry nose, enclosed eye sockets).

Prosimians (lemurs, lorises, tarsiers) are small-bodied, often nocturnal, with a dental comb and grooming claw; anthropoids include New World (platyrrhine) and Old World (catarrhine) monkeys and apes.

Primate social organisation varies: solitary (orangutans, some nocturnal prosimians), monogamous pairs (gibbons, tarsiers), one-male/multi-female harems (gorillas, hamadryas baboons), and multi-male/multi-female groups (chimpanzees, macaques).

Chimpanzees use tools (termite fishing, nut cracking), hunt cooperatively, and show male dominance hierarchies and grooming-based alliances.

Bonobos use sexual behaviour and female coalitions to reduce conflict; they are less aggressive than chimpanzees, showing flexible social strategies.

Primate communication includes vocalisations, facial expressions, gestures, and olfactory signals; referential calls (e.g., vervet alarm calls for eagle, snake, leopard) carry semantic information.

Kinship and social learning matter: female philopatry (macaques, chimpanzees) versus male philopatry (gorillas, gibbons) shapes group structure and grooming networks.

Comparative primatology informs hominin behaviour models (hunting, tool use, social cognition) but must be applied cautiously, as living primates are not direct human ancestors.

The Three-Age system (Thomsen): Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age; the Stone Age is subdivided into Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic based on tool technology and economy.

Lower Palaeolithic: pebble tools and handaxes (Oldowan, Acheulian); Middle Palaeolithic: flake tools, Levallois technique, prepared cores; Upper Palaeolithic: blade tools, burins, bone/antler tools, cave art.

Mesolithic is a transitional hunter-gatherer phase with microliths, backed blades, geometric tools, and early domestication of dogs.

Neolithic Revolution: domestication of plants and animals, pottery, polished stone tools, grinding stones, settled villages, and agriculture (e.g., Mehrgarh, Catalhoyuk).

Megalithic cultures (as in Kerala) are associated with dolmens, cists, menhirs, and urn burials; iron implements appear in the Iron Age.

Excavation methods: horizontal (plan) and vertical (stratigraphic) excavation, grid system, sieving, and recording of context, provenience, and associations.

Typology and seriation order artefacts by form and style; stratigraphy (superposition) and absolute dating (radiocarbon, TL, K-Ar) establish chronology.

Material culture includes tools, pottery, ornaments, architecture, and art; artefact assemblages reveal subsistence, technology, and symbolic behaviour.

Descent systems: unilineal (patrilineal, matrilineal), bilineal/double, and cognatic/bilateral; unilineal descent groups include lineages and clans.

Matrilineal societies trace descent through the mother (e.g., Nayar, Khasi, Trobriand) but do not necessarily give political power to women.

Marriage is a socially sanctioned union regulating sexual access, legitimacy of children, and property transfer; forms include monogamy, polygyny, and polyandry.

Bride price (bridewealth) transfers goods from groom's kin to bride's kin; dowry transfers from bride's family; both are economic and status mechanisms.

Residence rules: patrilocal (virilocal), matrilocal (uxorilocal), avunculocal, neolocal, and ambilocal; residence shapes kinship networks and household structure.

Family types: nuclear versus extended/joint; family of orientation (into which one is born) versus family of procreation (formed by marriage).

Kinship terminology systems (Morgan): classificatory versus descriptive; Eskimo, Hawaiian, Iroquois, Crow, Omaha, and Sudanese types reflect social structure.

Incest taboo (exogamy) and endogamy regulate marriage; cross-cousin marriage (MBD/FZS) and parallel-cousin marriage have distinct structural implications.

Subsistence strategies: foraging (hunting-gathering), horticulture (shifting cultivation), pastoralism, agriculture (intensive), and industrialism; each shapes social organisation.

Economic systems include production, distribution, and consumption; reciprocity (generalised, balanced, negative), redistribution, and market exchange are key distribution modes.

Marcel Mauss's gift theory: gifts create obligations of give, receive, and repay, binding people socially; the potlatch is a competitive gift-giving institution.

Substantivist versus formalist debate: Polanyi argues pre-industrial economies are embedded in social relations, not governed by market maximisation.

Political organisation (Service): band (small, egalitarian foragers), tribe (segmentary, horticultural), chiefdom (ranked, centralised), and state (stratified, bureaucratic).

Power, authority, and legitimacy: Weber's types are traditional, charismatic, and legal-rational authority; legitimacy distinguishes power from authority.

Social control mechanisms: sanctions (positive/negative, formal/informal), law, taboo, witchcraft accusations, and dispute settlement (mediation, adjudication, negotiation).

Colonial and post-colonial political anthropology critiques the 'stateless society' label; concepts like segmentary lineage (Evans-Pritchard, Nuer) explain acephalous political order.

Animism (Tylor): belief in spiritual beings; animatism (Marett): belief in impersonal supernatural power; mana is a Melanesian concept of supernatural force.

Magic (Frazer): imitative (homeopathic) magic follows similarity; contagious magic follows contact; both are forms of sympathetic magic.

Magic versus religion (Malinowski): magic is practical, instrumental, and used in uncertain situations (e.g., fishing magic); religion addresses ultimate meanings and social solidarity.

Rituals include rites of passage (van Gennep): separation, liminality, and incorporation; Turner's liminality and communitas describe the transitional phase.

Durkheim: sacred versus profane; totemism expresses collective identity; religion functions to integrate society (collective effervescence).

Symbolic anthropology (Geertz): religion is a cultural system of symbols; thick description interprets meanings rather than explains causes.

Shamanism: a ritual specialist who mediates between human and spirit worlds, often through altered states of consciousness (trance, possession).

Witchcraft and sorcery (Evans-Pritchard, Azande): witchcraft is an innate power; sorcery uses learned techniques; beliefs provide explanations of misfortune and social control.

Indian anthropology began with colonial ethnography (e.g., Census ethnographic surveys); the Anthropological Survey of India (1945) and university departments institutionalised the discipline.

The Constitution of India recognises Scheduled Tribes (Article 342); criteria include distinctive culture, geographical isolation, shyness of contact, and backwardness.

Tribal communities of Kerala include the Cholanaickan (Kattunaickan), Kurumba, Kadar, Paniya, Kurichiya, Kattunaickan, Muthuvan, Irula, and Mannan.

The Cholanaickan (Nilambur, Malappuram) are among the most isolated hunter-gatherer groups; the Kadar (Palakkad/Thrissur forests) are traditional foragers.

The Paniya and Kurichiya of Wayanad are agricultural labourers and shifting cultivators respectively; the Kurichiya are known for their role in the 1812 Wayanad revolt.

The Kattunaickan and Muthuvan practise shifting cultivation and forest-based livelihoods; the Mannan are associated with forest and agricultural labour.

Tribal welfare measures: Tribal Sub-Plan, Integrated Tribal Development Projects (ITDP), Kerala Scheduled Tribes Development Department, and the 1956 Fifth Schedule provisions.

Anthropological study of Kerala tribes addresses land alienation, displacement, education, health, and the interaction of tribal and caste/peasant societies.

Ethnography is the primary method: long-term participant observation in a community, producing holistic, contextual, and emic accounts.

Participant observation requires rapport building, key informants, field notes, and awareness of observer effects (reactivity).

Interview types: structured (fixed schedule), semi-structured, unstructured/in-depth, and focus groups; genealogical method maps kinship networks.

Ethnographic tools: life histories, case studies, mapping, photography, audio recording, and the study of material culture and documents.

Ethical principles: informed consent, confidentiality, anonymity, no harm, and reciprocal obligations to the studied community.

Sampling in ethnographic research is often purposive, snowball, or quota-based rather than random; validity is strengthened by triangulation.

Data analysis: coding, thematic analysis, emic/etic distinction, and reflexivity about the researcher's position.

Major fieldwork traditions: Malinowski (Trobriand, participant observation), Boas (historical particularism), Evans-Pritchard (Azande, Nuer), and Verrier Elwin (Indian tribes).