The survival of culture traits often occurs when they are fused together with new,
introduced traits. Thus a contemporary Australian aborigine band will preserve their
traditional songs and instruments by creating music that incorporates elements from the
dominant culture, such as drums and guitars. This is an example of:
a. diffusion
b. assimilation
c. syncretism
d. revitalization
From the etic perspective, Western medicine sees kuru as an infectious disease. From
the emic perspective, the Fore believe that kuru is caused by the:
a. breaking of a tabu
b. displeasure of an ancestral spirit
c. transmission of a microorganism
d. activities of a sorcerer doing evil magic
The Navaho “Blessing Way” is performed, in part, to reestablish harmony with the
universe so that an ill person might be cured of the illness. This is an example of a(n):
a. technological ritual
b. ideological ritual
c. therapy ritual
d. revitalization ritual
In the Navaho Creation Story, First Man and First Woman were created from:
a. dust
b. ears of corn
c. insects
d. nothingness
The doctrine of signatures tells us that:
a. plants have signs that proclaim their use
b. the future can be read in a person’s signature
c. cures occur when a person touches the correct sign painted on a cave wall
d. certain hand gestures must be avoided or else the individual will fall ill
Differences in numbers of primary color terms in English and in Yoruba suggest that:
a. color terminology is determined by culture
b. the Yoruba language is more primitive than English
c. the Yoruba have a high frequency of color blindness
d. people in tropical areas see fewer colors
Revitalization movements may be brought about by:
a. political and economic marginalization
b. malnutrition and high level of epidemic disease
c. perception that values of the community are being threatened
d. all of the above
When an Inuit hunter kills a seal, fresh water is placed in the mouth of the seal. This is
an example of a:
a. hunting & gathering rite of intensification
b. rite of passage
c. therapeutic ritual
d. revitalization ritual
Ritual texts:
a. are social charters that sets forth the organization of human relationships
b. explain the origins of humans and the world
c. often contain multiple versions of the same story
d. all of the above
The spread of AIDS in small-scale societies is often attributed to witchcraft and sorcery
because:
a. AIDS is a poorly understood disease of which there is no clear cause in the minds of
the people
b. modern medicine is relatively ineffective in treating AIDS
c. AIDS appears to strike random, especially among the poor
d. all of the above
Totalism, scripturalism, and traditioning are features of:
a. fundamentalism
b. high demand religious groups
c. agnosticism
d. revitalization movements
The doctrine in Christianity that Jesus had been God in human form:
a. is spelled out in the New Testament
b. is not in the Bible, but is found in other writings of the apostles
c. was established in the fourth century C.E.
d. was established during the Protestant Reformation
On the sarcophagus cover in which Lord Pakal was entombed we see the image of Lord
Pakal:
a. riding into battle on an elephant
b. at the moment of death falling into the jaws of the Otherworld
c. sitting upon his throne
d. killing an enemy king in battle
Core shamanism is a concept that was developed by Carlos Castaneda.
The appearance of the swastika in a Navaho weaving tells us that:
a. the swastika is a universal symbol found in all human societies
b. early Germanic and Norse peoples settled the American Southwest in prehistoric
times
c. the swastika is a symbol that is found in many cultures and has many meanings
d. the Navaho were engaged in trade with Germany prior to World War II
A regular Sunday morning Christian service would be classified primarily as a:
a. rites of passage
b. social rites of intensification
c. revitalization rituals
d. salvation rituals
Mana can be thought of as:
a. impersonal supernatural power
b. food provide by the gods
c. a technique for divination
d. an hallucinogenic cactus
The Day of the Dead in Mexico is a time for:
a. driving evil spirits out of the village
b. a family reunion for all family members, living and dead
c. fasting and repentance
d. all of the above
The term cognition refers to:
a. unconsciousness
b. the totality of all perceptions
c. conscious intellectual activities including perception, reasoning, and feeling
d. a form of psychotherapy
Divination refers to method for:
a. controlling the behavior of spirits and deities
b. controlling events of nature
c. obtaining information about the normally unknowable
d. curing illness
The egungun are spirits that travel from the land of the lead to visit the living among
the:
a. Hmong
b. Yoruba
c. Tana Toraja
d. Jivaro
Which of the following statements about Wiccan magic is false?:
a. It is based on the worldview that there is a power that exists in all things.
b. Objects such as crystals, oils, candles and images are often used.
c. Working of magic requires a consideration of nature (e.g., season, weather).
d. Magic can be done to cause harm only if the person truly deserves it.
The origins of Halloween can be found in a(n):
a. ancient Celtic festival called Samhain
b. Satanic celebration of the horned deity
c. new tradition for burials that began during the Civil War
d. U.S. department store attempt to sell more items in the Fall
The Navaho Creation Story takes place:
a. in a special garden similar to the Judeo-Christian Garden of Eden
b. in the realm of the gods in the sky
c. in a series of layers that exist underneath the present world
d. in another reality
The embodiment of a god in human form is known as a(n):
a. incarnation
b. manifestation
c. avatar
d. materialization
Which of the following statements about Eastern Orthodox Priests is true?
a. Monks are priests who live in isolated communities.
b. Priests primarily perform social rites of intensification.
c. Priests perform rites of passage, such as birth, baptism, marriage and death.
d. All of the above are true.
Displacement is a characteristic of symbols. This term refers to the fact that a symbol:
a. can be used to discuss things remote from the speaker in space and time
b. does not have any direct relationship to the thing it symbolizes
c. can be created at will
d. none of the above
Which of the following is correct about oral texts?
a. The recitation of oral texts is often a performance.
b. The story may change with each telling.
c. Different versions of the same story may exist in different places.
d. all of the above
Among the !Kung San of southern Africa the marriage ceremony involves the mock
forcible carrying off of the bride from her parent’s hut to a specially built marriage hut
and the anointing of the bride with special oils and aromatic powders. This ritual can be
classified as a:
a. therapeutic ritual
b. rite of intensification
c. rite of passage
d. technological ritual
Which of the following statements about religious use of pain is false:
a. Religious pain is often shared pain.
b. The pain may cause the person to enter an altered state of consciousness.
c. Pain may induce an euphoric state.
d. Religious pain often isolates the individual from the social group.
The ability to create new symbols is termed:
a. arbitrariness
b. openness
c. displacement
d. none of the above
In small-scale societies witches differ from sorcerers in that witches kill by:
a. using contagious magic
b. using poisons and other lethal devices
c. willing death to occur
d. creating dolls in the image of the victim
Differences in the concept of the soul among human societies include:
a. the size of the soul
b. the number of souls a human possesses
c. the location of the soul in the human body
d. all of the above
When a Yanomam girl begins to menstruate for the first time, she is isolated in a small
room built alone one side of the house. During the time of isolation, she must speak in
whispers, not scratch herself, and is taught who to behave as a mature woman. The
phase of a rite of passage is known as:
a. transition
b. separation
c. peripheralization
d. incorporation
Many religious groups develop by branching off of established mainstream religions.
The groups that remain mainstream and differ the least from the origin religion are
called:
a. cults
b. sects
c. denominations
d. movements
Bar mitzvahs and quinceaeras are examples of social rites of intensification.
Gods are anthropomorphic, that is, they resemble people in their appearance and
personality.
In Islam, God spoke to Mohammad in Arabic, and Arabic is used in ritual today.
In a unitary state one feels a disequilibrium and disconnection with the world.
Among the Australian Aborigines, increase rituals are rituals designed to increase one’s
personal wealth.
Northwest Coast, East African Cattle, and Melanesia are names of culture areas.
Fasting leads to an alteration of the body chemistry which, in turn, leads to an altered
state of consciousness.
In many parts of Africa today, AIDS is being blamed on the activity of witchcraft.
A study by Guy Swanson found that social characteristics of a group was predictive of
the number and nature of supernatural beings
A granary has collapsed seriously injuring a man who was working underneath it. An
Azande would be most like to blame the injury upon sorcery.
Euro-American witches in the 15th century obtained their evil power through contact
with the Devil.
Proponents of the psychoanalytic approach to the analysis of myth see such stories as
the Oedipus story as manifestations of the collective unconscious.
Contagious magic is based on the premise that things that were once in contact always
maintain a connection.
An outsider who applies his or her own cultural orientation to the analysis of another
culture is performing an emic analysis.
The handling of poisonous snakes is a practice of the Native American Church.
The essential difference between a sacrifice and an offering is that a sacrifice is of a
human and an offering is of an animal.