Which of the following is true about Zande witchcraft beliefs?
a. witches normally depend upon magic rituals to attain their evil ends
b. witchcraft is a substance found within the body of the witch
c. some witches can use their power for beneficial ends
d. all of the above
Physical alterations of the human body function to:
a. separate humans from nonhuman animals
b. identify particular affiliations with certain groups
c. mark completion of some type of ritual, including initiation rituals
d. all of the above
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
The anthropological study of medicinal plants is part of:
a. ethnobotany
b. ethnomusicology
c. anthrobotany
d. arboretumology
A technological ritual is one that is involved with:
a. controlling an aspect of nature such as bringing rain
b. moving people into new social categories or statuses
c. curing illness and death
d. causing the death of an individual
Magic refers to the:
a. belief in a generalized supernatural power
b. belief in an ancestor that has been transformed into a god
c. use of ritual to cause injury or death
d. use of ritual to control events through supernatural mechanisms
Which of the following might also be referred to as an ethnographer?
a. a physical anthropologist
b. an archaeologist
c. a cultural anthropologist
d. a linguistic anthropologist
The goddess Ishtar was found in:
a. Mesopotamia
b. Egypt
c. Greece
d. India
American mortuary customs are characterized by:
a. discomfort on the part of those attending the funeral
b. restrained expressions of grief
c. restoration of the body to lifelike appearance for purposes of display
d. all of the above
Therianthropes are:
a. images of transformed shamans
b. guardian spirits
c. diviners
d. a class of gods
A student picks up a coin from the sidewalk and puts it in her pocket. Later that day she
takes an exam on which she scores an A. She then carries her “lucky coin” to her next
exam. This is an example of magical thinking.
Much of Dani behavior, including the fear of traveling outside of the village at night, is
based upon their belief in the existence of:
a. sorcerers
b. zombies
c. ghosts
d. witches
Neoshamanism differs from traditional shamanism as seen in small-scale societies in
that neoshamanism:
a. focuses on the individual with the goal of improving one’s life
b. is based on core shamanism, the universal aspects of shamanism
c. deals with the positive aspects of shamanism
d. all of the above
To people who practice magic it appears never to fail because:
a. if you do not get the expected result it is because you did not do it right
b. if it does fail, someone else was doing countermagic
c. humans tend to remember successes and forget failures
d. all of the above
According to the Murngin of Australian, after death a person’s spirit will:
a. travel to the land of the dead across the sea
b. return to the ancestral clan water hole
c. remain for a time in the land of the living as a ghost
d. disappear forever
An example of homeopathic magic is:
a. praying for a god’s blessing
b. Hopi villagers performing a kachina dance
c. imitating the mating and reproduction of an animal
d. reciting an evil spell over an enemy’s hair clippings
Deliberate inspirational forms of divination include:
a. mediums (psychics)
b. reading palms
c. Zande poison oracle
d. prophecy
Self-inflicted pain leading to a sacrifice of blood characterizes the ritual of the:
a. Huichol
b. Maya
c. Yoruba
d. Nuer
In the Navaho Creation Story, life was given to the first humans by the:
a. Wind
b. Sun
c. Mountains
d. Animal People
Aspects of Australian totemic beliefs include:
a. a prohibition against eating one’s totem
b. a time called “The Dream Time” during which totemic creatures roamed the earth
c. a kinship between people and their totem
d. all of the above
From an etic perspective, the appearance of exhumed bodies thought to be vampires
were actually the result of the:
a. acidic nature of the soil found in some eastern European cemeteries
b. natural process of decay
c. mutilation of bodies by people wanting the village to believe in vampires
d. real work of supernatural forces
Female demons are termed:
a. incubi
b. orisha
c. succubae
d. zairan
The background of the sarcophagus cover at Palenque depicts the:
a. trials of the Otherworld
b. Cosmic Tree
c. founding of Palenque
d. life of the king
The book Malleus Maleficarum was:
a. written in the 15th century and set forth European witchcraft beliefs of the time
b. a 17th century description of witchcraft beliefs in northern Africa
c. a late 18th century anthropological study of European witchcraft
d. was written by Gerald Gardner and became the basis of much Neo-Pagan belief
Example of Dani spirits are:
a. ghosts
b. personal and clan guardian spirits
c. forest and swamp spirits
d. all of the above
In the Huichol ritual an altered state of consciousness is mainly brought about by:
a. eating the peyote cactus
b. meditation
c. fasting
d. drumming
An anthropologist visits a remote tribal community and finds that they are wearing
tennis shoes and using canned goods even though much of their original way of life
remains intact. We would say that this community has been:
a. acculturated
b. assimilated
c. enculturated
d. missionized
The importance of Mary for Roman Catholicism is evident in:
a. the celebration of her birth and death
b. the many shrines and pilgrimage sites associated with her
c. worshippers directly addressing her for protection
d. all of the above
Magic that is based upon the Law of Similarity is termed:
a. contagious magic
b. homeopathic magic
c. sympathetic magic
d. none of the above
An anthropologist travels to the Fore of New Guinea and produces an ethnography. This
ethnography is a(n):
a. comparison of Fore society with other New Guinea societies
b. a description of Fore society and culture
c. analysis of the Fore language
d. analysis of the biological and genetic characteristics of the Fore people
Liminality refers to a set of features that characterize a person in which phase of a rite
of passage:
a. transition
b. separation
c. peripheralization
d. incorporation
Gods such as “Separator of Seeds from Cotton” and “Winder into Ball” are found
among the:
a. Yoruba
b. Ifugao
c. Dani
d. Shoshoni
The Christian New Testament contains an apocalyptic myth.
The training of a priest normally involves the memorization of vast amounts of
ceremonial knowledge so as to be able to perform rituals correctly.
Euro-American witches in the 15th century obtained their evil power through contact
with the Devil.
The unit of time we call a week is an arbitrary unit. The number of days that make up a
week varies among the world’s societies.
Sand paintings are an important element in Navaho therapy rituals.
Traditioning is the idea that Biblical texts are relevant to life today.
Among the Trobriand Islanders, a “man with knowledge” is one who possesses
technological knowledge as well as knowledge of magic.
In many parts of Africa today, AIDS is being blamed on the activity of witchcraft.
The handling of poisonous snakes is a practice of the Native American Church.
Reciprocity between humans and gods is often part of the worldview that underlies
sacrifices and offerings.
Witches in small-scale societies derived their power from the knowledge and use of
spells.
Many societies have prohibitions against eating particular foods. An example would be
kashrut, the Jewish laws regarding what foods can and cannot be eaten and how they
must be prepared.
In benge or the poison oracle of the Azande poison is fed to pigs.
Examples of ideological rituals include therapy and salvation rituals.
In a Buddhist temple the swastika stands for evil.
Any mental state that is different from one’s usual mental state, including day dreaming,
is an altered state of consciousness.
A shaman is more likely to have a direct experience with a supernatural being than is a
priest.
A remote, isolated society that nevertheless uses manufactured clothing and canned
goods received from the outside is said to be assimilated.
Types of music, such as religious music, evoke the same emotions in all societies.
Altered states of consciousness are experienced in the way in which the culture
interprets it. For example, it might be interpreted as spirit possession.