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According to McCurdy in "Using Anthropology," an anthropologist was hired to find
out why customers of a utility company failed to reduce energy consumption, despite
their claims that they were trying to conserve. He discovered that
a. customers were lying.
b. thermostats were faulty.
c. meters were faulty.
d. fathers turned down thermostats, other family members turned them up.
Illegal Economies and the Untold Story of the Amputees
CAROLYN NORDSTROM
Summary Supporters of the use of land mines argue that they deter soldiers and protect
sensitive areas during combat. Statistics show, however, that those most commonly
injured by land mines are not soldiers, but instead children, women, and men engaged
in nonmilitary activities. These mines leave their victims without limbs, often unable to
walk, work, or eke out an existence in a part of the world where wheelchairs are
nonexistent and life is incredibly hard, even for a healthy individual.
The women of Muleque, Angola, who were injured by these land mines, at first
developed informal economies in order to simply survive. But as Nordstrom points out,
they wanted more than to merely exist. They formed their own informal banking
systems, popular in Southern Africa, and with just a few pennies, managed to raise
money to invest in farmland. Joining an informal bank group, according to Nordstrom,
is the first step on the path that women follow out of poverty and into development.
There are many steps, and the process is difficult. Women start with nothing; hard labor
is the only way to raise the small amount needed to even join an informal bank group.
According to Nordstrom's research, women are "the invisible center of gravity of
society" in Southern Africa. A man's presence is fluid; a woman is always there. She
makes the connections that create family, society, and community networks. Without
the women, according to the author, families and societies collapse. With the women at
the center, families succeed, and health, education, and trade result. The author notes
that is interesting that the women's efforts and their contributions to development go
unnoticed. According to figures from the United Nations, these informal economies
contribute $250 billion annually in imports, and this money goes directly into the
development of the country. Yet these women continue to be depicted by
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as stereotypical victims barely surviving by
selling bananas and charcoal.
In Nordstrom's article "Illegal Economies and the Untold Story of Amputees," the
local coordinator for an NGO working with the amputees felt that taking the goods
made by the Muleque women on an official NGO flight was an improper use of the
NGO's equipment.
In "Medical Anthropology: Improving Nutrition in Malawi," Patten notes that by 2004,
a. one third of the women still had their original project animal.
b. half of the women had lost their original animals to theft.
c. only one woman had sold her animal before it had produced a viable kid.
d. village elders had taken control of all of the buck stations and had begun charging
for its services.
According to McCurdy in "Family and Kinship in Village India," in India work in the
market economy can weaken kinship systems by
a. costing families too much money.
b. increasing the economic dependence of people on their families and kin
groups.
c. reducing the time people have to devote to family and kin.
d. connecting one's reputation more to family than to work.
Shakespeare in the Bush
LAURA BOHANNAN
Summary This article illustrates the concept of naive realism, the idea that members of
one group believe that everyone else sees the world they way they do, and shows how
this belief leads to cross-cultural misunderstanding. Convinced that people everywhere
can understand the basic theme of Shakespeare's Hamlet, Bohannan tries to tell the
story to Tiv elders during fieldwork in West Africa. From the beginning, she finds that
the Tiv translate the story into their own cultural categories. Because the Tiv have no
category for spirits of the dead who can talk, they believe Hamlet's father's ghost must
really be an omen sent by a witch, or a zombie. And for the Tiv, instead of committing
an impropriety, Hamlet's mother did well to marry her dead husband's brother within a
month of her spouse's death. The Tiv employ the custom of levirate on such occasions,
so it is expected for a woman to marry her dead husband's brother. The Tiv think
Polonius should be pleased that Hamlet is attracted to his daughter Ophelia. If they
cannot marry, she can at least become his mistress, and sons of chiefs give large gifts to
the fathers of their mistresses among the Tiv. At each turn in the story, the Tiv view
events as they would in their own society, identifying facts according to their own
cultural map and reinterpreting motives. The result is a very different Hamlet than
Shakespeare wrote, and an excellent example of how culture defines a people's social
world.
The Tiv lack a concept for what Europeans call a ghost.
Which of the following authors is an extreme diffusionist?
a. Erich von Dniken
b. W. Lloyd Warner
c. Emile Durkheim
d. Sigmund Freud
According to Fish in "Mixed Blood," the American conception of race
a. is based on what body shapes people have.
b. is based on the racial identity of one's parents.
c. ignores the principle of hypo-descent.
d. is based on biological reality.
According to McCurdy in "Family and Kinship in Village India," the term patrilineage
refers to
a. women belonging to one's own patriclan (arak).
b. women belonging to one's mother's patriclan (arak).
c. closely related men who are all descended from a known ancestor.
d. closely related women who are all descended from a known ancestor.
In "Malawi Versus the World Bank," Patten notes that the World Bank and International
Monetary Fund, along with approval of the U.S. Treasury, adopted a "Washington
Consensus" designed to __________ in poor countries.
a. underwrite better health programs
b. institute capitalism
c. help subsistence farmers increase their crop yields
d. strengthen democratic governments
Negotiating Work and Family in America DIANNA SHANDY AND KARINE MOE
Summary In this article, Dianna Shandy and Karine Moe explore the complexities of
the latest research on how generations of women have handled the challenges of
negotiating work and family in America. By combining labor statistics, interviews with
more than 100 women, focus groups, and surveys of nearly 1000 college graduates, the
authors explore the advances of women in the workforce, their experiences juggling
families and careers outside of the home, and the subsequent choices new generations
of women are making in this area.
Anthropologists used to view the gender relationship between men and women as one
of inherent male domination. Ernestine Friedl, however, argued that control of publicly
distributed resources was key to women's power. Among the Hadza of Tanzania for
example, men and women gather food equally, and subsequently relate to one another
with relative gender equality. In contrast, when men supply virtually all of the food,
such as among the Inuit of the Arctic, there is significant gender inequality.
Similar cultural ranking exists in the United States. In the United States one's
occupation determines relative rank. Today, women hold positions previously reserved
for men onlypositions that include leadership, management, and business ownership.
Women make up half of the workforce on all U.S. payrolls, and own one third of the
businesses in the United States. Additionally, women now account for more than 50
percent of all college students and are the majority of those enrolled in graduate or
professional schools. Women have made great strides toward gender equality in the
workplace over the last few decades, but many are still opting out when they have
children.
Many gender-related factors both push women out of the workforce and pull them
toward family and home, such as a woman's "second shift" or experiencing a "glass
ceiling" (the proverbial barrier preventing advancement to a higher position). Unlike
other industrialized nations, women in the United States of at least three generations
have experienced and continue to experience significant structural barriers to flexible
and affordable childcare.
Given the low cultural ranking given of the occupation of "full-time motherhood,"
women often struggle to maintain a sense of gender equality, prestige, and power while
at home. Some do so by forming strong social groups. Still others describe themselves
as career women taking time off to stay home with kids.
In "Negotiating Work and Family in America," Shandy and Moe illustrate how the
primary source of one's public social identity is his or her occupation.
Cuartoneros cut the planchones, relay them to the nearest river, and then tie them into
a. cayapos and float them down the river to San Borja.
b. oxcarts for transport out of the forest.
c. lomeros in preparation for transport down river.
d. bundles that are then carried out on logging roads.
According to Sutherland in "The Case of an American Gypsy," officials in the American
justice system often
a. view Gypsies as a criminal society.
b. trump up evidence against Gypsies.
c. deny Gypsy defendants their rights while they are in jail.
d. get extensive training in Gypsy culture.
According to Part 3 of Conformity and Conflict, the relationship of an organism to other
elements within its environmental sphere is called
a. ecology.
b. cultural ecology.
c. the cultural environment.
d. biointeraction.
According to research cited by Shandy and Moe in "Negotiating Work and Family in
America," the Washoe Indians of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in southern California
exhibit relative gender equality due to the fact that
a. the women are solely responsible for providing the food for the family groups.
b. men and women are responsible for their own individual needs for food.
c. the men provide virtually all of the food by hunting for animal proteins.
d. both men and women forage for edible plants and both catch small animals as a
source of protein.
According to Shandy and Moe in "Negotiating Work and Family in America," factors
that pull women to resign from work and return to home full time include three of the
following. Which one do they not mention?
a. being with their children
b. lower stress
c. sense of responsibility
d. a biological imperative
In "Fieldwork on Prostitution in the Era of AIDS," when Sterk first tried to make
contact with prostitutes on the street, they
a. became angry and tried to drive her away with threats.
b. largely ignored her.
c. called their pimps on cell phones causing their pimps to threaten her.
d. welcomed her warmly because she was interested in their lives.
According to McCurdy in "Family and Kinship in Village India,"
a. extended kinship systems are especially well suited to the organization of holding
land in agrarian societies.
b. industrialization and the market economy have essentially eliminated extended
kinship ties in the Bhil village of Ratakote.
c. the Bhil tribals of Ratakote must marry spouses from their own clan, their mother's
clan, or their father's mother's clan.
d. extended family kinship systems have completely broken down in the face of a
cash-for-labor economy.
Motorcycles, Membership, and Belonging
DAVID W. McCURDY
Summary In his article entitled "Motorcycles, Membership, and Belonging," David
McCurdy discusses the ways humans form groups, identifying the more common ways
for Americans and drawing a comparison between the traditional kinship group in rural
India and the more American method of social aggregation based on shared interests.
Indian families would be surprised, McCurdy suggests, to see how American families
live in comparison to their own existence in large, close-knit groups of extended
families. Americans grow up in small nuclear families, often with parents out working.
Neighbors are often strangers, and people can appear lonely. American society values
individualism, independence, and competition.
However, McCurdy believes that Americans find satisfying social connections not from
families and neighbors, but instead from other groups: networks of friends from local
taverns, work organizations, and civic groups. He contends that these groups, as well as
those formed around shared interests, provide members with a sense of self-worth and a
safe place to express their social needs.
To illustrate his argument, McCurdy describes the Gold Wing Recreational Rider
Association (GWRRA), a group formed in 1976 by seven couples in Phoenix, Arizona,
who owned Honda Gold Wing motorcycles and wanted to connect with others for the
purposes of touring. Since then, this group has grown to include more than 70,000
members in the United States, Canada, and 10 other countries. It boasts a paid staff, an
army of volunteers, 10 deputy directors, nine American and three Canadian regional
directors, 49 district directors, and 586 chapter directors. It has an annual rally called
the "Wing Ding" that draws over 10,000 participants. Local chapters gather for a variety
of events, including monthly meetings, weekly rides, and fund-raisers.
McCurdy argues that the core values of this organization reflect the values and
symbolism of kinship groups and offer participants a framework of belonging and
opportunities to express themselves. Participation in the GWRRA brings with it a
certain expectation of behavior. Members show off their motorcycles, and are expected
to have pride in their machines, cleaning and adorning them with chrome and other
accents. Participation is encouraged and rewarded by pins and patches. Safety is of
utmost importance, and members are discouraged from showing off, driving after
drinking, and riding aggressively. Additionally, couples are a valued part of the group,
and members are strongly encouraged to participate and tour with the group, despite the
physical challenges of motorcycle riding.
McCurdy concludes that belonging to a group of individuals who share an interest
provides Americans with a feeling of belonging that many do not find at home or work.
It offers the opportunity for personal recognition, a sense of self-worth, and a way to
express themselves. For many, McCurdy argues, this organized group provides what he
calls a "non-family home."
According to McCurdy in "Motorcycles, Membership, and Belonging," it is not
uncommon for individuals in the United States to live in close proximity to neighbors
they do not know and to guard their privacy, thus appearing lonely and preoccupied.
Law and Order
JAMES P. SPRADLEY AND DAVID W. McCURDY
Summary In this article, Spradley and McCurdy present law in the context of dispute
resolution, using cases drawn from anthropologist Laura Nader's work in Ralu"a, a
Zapotec Indian village located in southern Mexico.
The article deals with several concepts: the structure of legal culture, including
substantive law and procedural law, legal levels, legal principles, and cultural values.
Substantive law consists of the legal statutes that define right and wrong. This is
illustrated by the flirtation of a married man with an unmarried woman, which the
Zapotec treat as a crime. Similarly, the case of a son who harvested coffee from his
father's land without permission is also defined as a crime to be dealt with by the
community's legal system.
Legal levels refer to the ways in which disputes are settled by different kinds of
authority agents. Among the Zapotec, several levels for settling disputes exist. Disputes
can be settled by family elders, witches, local officials, the priest, supernatural beings,
or officials in the municipio. If all else fails, the dispute can be taken to the district court
in Villa Alta.
Procedural law refers to the agreed-upon ways to settle disputes, which are often
unwritten, and therefore implicit in nature. In Ralu"a, for example, it is generally
agreed that one should not take family disputes to court, and disputes between villagers
(such as an argument over the washing stone) should be taken to court only if they
cannot be settled between the disputing individuals beforehand. In this case, the dispute
was settled when the presidente (village chairman who also presides over the village
court) and other elected village officials formed a work force, improved the washing
facilities at the well, and declared that washing stones would no longer be owned by
individuals.
Legal systems reflect legal principles and cultural values. Legal principles are based
on the fundamental values of a culture; a legal principle is a broad conception of some
desirable state of affairs that gives rise to many substantive and procedural rules.
Americans put great emphasis on establishing truth, while for the Zapotec, a major legal
principle is to "make the balance." This means to encourage compromise and settlement
so that disputes disappear and disputants get along with each other in the future. This in
turn is based on the Zapotec cultural value of maintaining social equilibrium. A direct
confrontation between individuals where one loses and another wins is unsettling to
community members.
According to Spradley and McCurdy in "Law and Order," a legal principle for the
people who live in Ralu"a is "hacer el balance"to make the balance.
According to Bourgois in "Poverty at Work: Office Work and the Crack Alternative,"
second generation Puerto Rican men failed at entry-level service sector jobs because
a. they were discriminated against by Anglo supervisors.
b. they tried to unionize their places of employment.
c. most dealt drugs at their workplace.
d. the way they looked and walked often frightened middle-class Anglos on the job.
Three of the following statements made by Sterk in "Fieldwork on Prostitution in the
Era of AIDS" are true. Which one is not?
a. It is wise to watch out for self-appointed "gatekeepers."
b. The best way to gain rapport is to show interest in informants and do things for them.
c. Talking with informants in groups often inhibits ethnographic discovery.
d. It is best to give informants some control over the interview.
Eames' attempt to become a registered "occasional postgraduate student" while in
Nigeria was symbolic of the patrimonial bureaucracy there, because
a. the author was able to visit the required offices and complete the process in under
an hour.
b. nothing about registering was routine; everything was personalized and no one
could tell her how to go about registering.
c. registering was an impersonal, clearly defined process that was simple to complete.
d. it required the intervention of the American government.
Motorcycles, Membership, and Belonging
DAVID W. McCURDY
Summary In his article entitled "Motorcycles, Membership, and Belonging," David
McCurdy discusses the ways humans form groups, identifying the more common ways
for Americans and drawing a comparison between the traditional kinship group in rural
India and the more American method of social aggregation based on shared interests.
Indian families would be surprised, McCurdy suggests, to see how American families
live in comparison to their own existence in large, close-knit groups of extended
families. Americans grow up in small nuclear families, often with parents out working.
Neighbors are often strangers, and people can appear lonely. American society values
individualism, independence, and competition.
However, McCurdy believes that Americans find satisfying social connections not from
families and neighbors, but instead from other groups: networks of friends from local
taverns, work organizations, and civic groups. He contends that these groups, as well as
those formed around shared interests, provide members with a sense of self-worth and a
safe place to express their social needs.
To illustrate his argument, McCurdy describes the Gold Wing Recreational Rider
Association (GWRRA), a group formed in 1976 by seven couples in Phoenix, Arizona,
who owned Honda Gold Wing motorcycles and wanted to connect with others for the
purposes of touring. Since then, this group has grown to include more than 70,000
members in the United States, Canada, and 10 other countries. It boasts a paid staff, an
army of volunteers, 10 deputy directors, nine American and three Canadian regional
directors, 49 district directors, and 586 chapter directors. It has an annual rally called
the "Wing Ding" that draws over 10,000 participants. Local chapters gather for a variety
of events, including monthly meetings, weekly rides, and fund-raisers.
McCurdy argues that the core values of this organization reflect the values and
symbolism of kinship groups and offer participants a framework of belonging and
opportunities to express themselves. Participation in the GWRRA brings with it a
certain expectation of behavior. Members show off their motorcycles, and are expected
to have pride in their machines, cleaning and adorning them with chrome and other
accents. Participation is encouraged and rewarded by pins and patches. Safety is of
utmost importance, and members are discouraged from showing off, driving after
drinking, and riding aggressively. Additionally, couples are a valued part of the group,
and members are strongly encouraged to participate and tour with the group, despite the
physical challenges of motorcycle riding.
McCurdy concludes that belonging to a group of individuals who share an interest
provides Americans with a feeling of belonging that many do not find at home or work.
It offers the opportunity for personal recognition, a sense of self-worth, and a way to
express themselves. For many, McCurdy argues, this organized group provides what he
calls a "non-family home."
According to McCurdy in "Motorcycles, Membership, and Belonging," children in the
United States are more likely to grow up in extended families and close-knit
communities, where loyalty to family is the most important value instilled in them from
a young age.
Negotiating Work and Family in America DIANNA SHANDY AND KARINE MOE
Summary In this article, Dianna Shandy and Karine Moe explore the complexities of
the latest research on how generations of women have handled the challenges of
negotiating work and family in America. By combining labor statistics, interviews with
more than 100 women, focus groups, and surveys of nearly 1000 college graduates, the
authors explore the advances of women in the workforce, their experiences juggling
families and careers outside of the home, and the subsequent choices new generations
of women are making in this area.
Anthropologists used to view the gender relationship between men and women as one
of inherent male domination. Ernestine Friedl, however, argued that control of publicly
distributed resources was key to women's power. Among the Hadza of Tanzania for
example, men and women gather food equally, and subsequently relate to one another
with relative gender equality. In contrast, when men supply virtually all of the food,
such as among the Inuit of the Arctic, there is significant gender inequality.
Similar cultural ranking exists in the United States. In the United States one's
occupation determines relative rank. Today, women hold positions previously reserved
for men onlypositions that include leadership, management, and business ownership.
Women make up half of the workforce on all U.S. payrolls, and own one third of the
businesses in the United States. Additionally, women now account for more than 50
percent of all college students and are the majority of those enrolled in graduate or
professional schools. Women have made great strides toward gender equality in the
workplace over the last few decades, but many are still opting out when they have
children.
Many gender-related factors both push women out of the workforce and pull them
toward family and home, such as a woman's "second shift" or experiencing a "glass
ceiling" (the proverbial barrier preventing advancement to a higher position). Unlike
other industrialized nations, women in the United States of at least three generations
have experienced and continue to experience significant structural barriers to flexible
and affordable childcare.
Given the low cultural ranking given of the occupation of "full-time motherhood,"
women often struggle to maintain a sense of gender equality, prestige, and power while
at home. Some do so by forming strong social groups. Still others describe themselves
as career women taking time off to stay home with kids.
In "Negotiating Work and Family in America," Shandy and Moe report that when a
parent leaves the workforce, 97 out of 100 times it is the woman who drops out.
According to Patten in "Medical Anthropology: Improving Nutrition in Malawi," the
"hungry season," the time between the consumption of the last of the stored harvest and
the first harvest of the new season, now often begins in _________ and ends in
__________.
a. June; November
b. December; March
c. September; March
d. March; September
According to Shandy in "Nuer Refugees in America," the UN classifies refugees as
people who have
a. left their home country but are willing to return.
b. left their home country to seek economic prosperity elsewhere.
c. left their home country because they fear persecution based on race, religion,
nationality, political opinion, or membership in a social group.
d. left their homes but are still in their home country.
Village Walks: Tourism and Globalization among the Tharu of Nepal
ARJUN GUNERATNE AND KATE BJORK
Summary Arjun Guneratne and Kate Bjork focus on what it was like for an ethnic
group, the Tharu, to become the objects of tourists' curiosity (the "tourist gaze"). The
article describes tourists arriving in Pipariya, a Tharu village located near the Chitwan
National Forest in Nepal's tarai region in 1989. They report on what the tour guide says
and how the tourists and villagers respond. The so-called "village walk" is a good
example of cultural tourism (there is also recreational, medical, religious, eco-, and sex
tourism). It is usually one stop on a more broadly structured tour of Nepal's mountains,
cities, and the Chitwan forest itself. The authors stress the importance of the
anthropological study of tourism as a significant part of globalization research. They
point out that nearly 100 million people go on tour every year and spend billions of
dollars. Their impact on local economies as well as on people's ways of life represents a
significant globalizing force.
From the Tharu's point of view, the way they are characterized by Nepal's tourist
industry is both significant and humiliating. Originally the tarai was a heavily forested
area bordering the foothills and valleys of the Himalayan Mountains. Despite the land
made inhospitable by malaria, the Tharu still managed to settle there, tilling small forest
plots and hunting for their subsistence. All this changed in the 1950s when the
insecticide DDT largely eradicated the mosquitoes that carried malaria. As a result,
settlers from Nepal's hills and India's plains soon infiltrated the area and cleared most of
the land for cultivation. Settlers soon outnumbered the Tharu, who adapted to the
newcomers. Tharu now worked in tourist hotels and farmed in the same way as other
rural Nepalese, and their children attended school. For the tourist industry, however, the
Tharu past seemed like a natural tourist attraction. Tourist brochures claimed that the
Tharu were "a primitive native people" who were "untouched by civilization." Tour
guides echoed this view as they walked tourists through Pipariya. In addition, most
guides belonged to Nepal's two highest-ranked ethnic groups, the Brahmin and Chhetri,
and treated the Tharu as inferiors. They brought tourists into Tharu houses without
permission and treated those inside with disrespect. Tourists themselves were largely
ignorant of the Tharu and occasionally treated villagers like zoo exhibits. From the
Tharu perspective, tourists could usually be tolerated as guests. (There is no word for
"tourist" in their language; they call them "guests.") Their greatest concern was the
negative way they were portrayed by the tourist industry.
In 2009, one of the authors revisited Pipariya and encountered a different picture. The
Tharu had constructed a small museum. Museum exhibits represented how they used to
live, successfully divorcing their past from the present. (The "tourist gaze" often makes
people more aware of their culture and its past.) The museum was the first place that
tourists visited and deflected most of them away from the village's residential
compounds. Globalization had also impacted the Tharu in other ways. Many young men
have gone to work in foreign countries and send money home regularly. A few have
even managed to acquire green cards for work and residence in the United States.
In "Village Walks," Guneratne and Bjork report that, although some tourists intruded
into Tharu houses in Pipariya, guides were careful to warn them against doing so.
Time, place, and objects are significant markers of
a. social groups.
b. social networks.
c. roles.
d. social situations.
In "The Case of an American Gypsy," Sutherland reports that for Gypsies, going to jail
a. often provides needed time to recover from alcoholism.
b. helps them learn English and skills that facilitate getting real jobs in American
society.
c. is welcomed because they finally get enough to eat there.
d. is an especially cruel punishment because it separates them from their kin.
The custom of polyandry may end among Tibetans living in Nepal because
a. women do not like the custom.
b. men do not like the custom.
c. of government opposition and new economic opportunities.
d. of new techniques for reclaiming land to farm.
In action anthropology, planned change is initiated, controlled, and implemented by
a. administrators
b. the people affected by change
c. the anthropologist
d. outside observers
Stories about how the world came to be are called cosmology.
Run for the Wall: An American Pilgrimage
JILL DUBISCH
Summary Starting in 1996, sociologist Raymond Michalowski and anthropologist Jill
Dubisch joined a group of motorcyclists riding on a trip called the Run for the Wall, a
pilgrimage (ritual passage) from California to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in
Washington, DC.
The Run for the Wall was started by a group of Vietnam veterans in 1989 and has
occurred every year since. It requires its participants to ride motorcycles from
California to Washington, DC, although many join or drop out along the way. The run
takes 10 days and includes stops for rest and ceremonies. Communities along the run's
route welcome run members and often feed and house them for free. Riders see the run
as a pilgrimage that helps heal wounds caused by the war, and serves to honor the dead
and "those left behind" (POWs and the missing in action).
Dubisch introduces the concept of pilgrimage as a journey that has a purpose, with a
destination that has special meaning. The destination may get its emotional power from
its location or symbolic meaning. Pilgrimages are rituals, defined (in Davis-Floyd's
words) as "patterned, repetitive, and symbolic enactments of a cultural belief or value."
Personal transformation is a key result. Rituals often reenact social myths. They,
according to anthropologist Victor Turner, have two poles the ideological and the
sensory that can be changed and modified regularly. Pilgrimages are a kind of ritual.
They create what Victor and Edith Turner call a liminal state, which is a special period
of time between normal routines. Travel is one way to mark such a liminal period.
The Run for the Wall began as a way for veterans to deal with the physical and mental
wounds caused by their participation in the Vietnam War, and the indifference and
hostility that greeted them when they arrived home. Motorcycles have been associated
with veterans' groups since World War II. They symbolize freedom, self-reliance,
patriotism, and individualism. Patriotism is especially important to those who make the
run and is symbolized by the U.S. flags and eagles that adorn their motorcycles. Riding
motorcycles gives a feeling of political power to participants. The machines are not an
ordinary way to travel. Riding them also involves danger and hardship; suffering for the
cause increases openness to personal change and an eventual feeling of
accomplishment.
Dubisch describes several ceremonial events along the run that evoke strong emotions.
The wall itself has special power, meaning, and emotional impact. It causes outbursts of
grief and recognizes both the individual dead and the departed as a whole. Some riders
say they hear the spirits of the dead talking at the wall when they are there at night. This
pilgrimage has a lasting, transformational effect on its participants, and illustrates the
importance of feelings and emotion associated with religion and ritual.
In "Run for the Wall: An American Pilgrimage," Dubisch defines pilgrimages as
religious rituals that involve journeys to sacred places.
Division of labor refers to the person or organized group responsible for producing
something.
Cross-Cultural Law: The Case of an American Gypsy
ANNE SUTHERLAND
Summary This article by Anne Sutherland looks at what happens when members of
one culture live under the legal jurisdiction of another. The article describes the case of
a young Gypsy man accused of using someone else's Social Security number, and the
role played by an anthropologist in his court defense.
The young Gypsy male used the Social Security number of a five-year-old nephew to
apply for a car loan. Gypsies believe that their vitsa (clan) has rights over property such
as names and Social Security numbers, and that vitsa members can share in these
things. Although he had no intention of stealing the car or defrauding anyone, the man
was charged under a law that makes it a felony to use someone else's Social Security
number. The police also concluded that he was part of a car theft ring.
Sutherland became involved in the case as an expert witness for the defense. Her first
act was to discover whether the young man was a Gypsy and what his name was.
Gypsies take on many "American" names, which they change often. Their identities are
more typically associated with their vitsa, or clan, and a larger grouping of clans called
a natsia. During the trial she testified that the young man had no intention of defrauding
or stealing from anyone. She noted that it was usual for members of vitsas to share
American names, Social Security numbers, and other marks of identity. Despite her
testimony, however, the defendant was convicted.
Sutherland concludes her article with three points. First, Gypsies, who are a nomadic
group, do not stress individual identities, which are so important to settled Americans.
For hundreds of years the people and governments of the countries in which they live
have persecuted Gypsies. She cites ample evidence that American police also consider
them a criminal society. Hiding their identities has been their response to this
persecution. Second, Gypsies suffer in jail to an unusual extent because they believe
they are polluted there. Gypsies avoid long contact with non-Gypsies and their food
because the latter pollute (marime) them. Their own relatives shun them if this happens,
and they must go through a period of purification before reintegration into their own
society. Third, there is a clash between the Gypsy view of membership in a corporate
kin group and the usual American view of individual rights.
In "The Case of an American Gypsy," Sutherland argues that Gypsies hide their
personal identities as a way to combat persecution by members of the societies in which
they live.
Using Anthropology
DAVID W. McCURDY
Summary In this article, McCurdy discusses some of the professional applications of
anthropology, such as in advertising, engineering, teaching, and business, to name a
few. He also argues that an anthropological perspectivecharacterized by ethnographic
research, embracing the concept of microculture, and cross-cultural sensitivitycan help
professionals perform better in a wide array of situations.
McCurdy illustrates his argument using the case of a newly appointed warehouse
manager who is called upon to improve service to customer outlets operated by UTC, a
large corporation. Instead of bringing in new rules and regulations, as most new
managers do, she chose to undertake an ethnographic approach during her six-week
"grace period." By using ethnographic research she was able to discover the detailed
nature of the problem, while building goodwill with the warehouse employees.
The educational materials handled by the warehouse had been reaching customer
outlets in poor condition and in inaccurate amounts. Warehouse employees, who had
been under great pressure to work rapidly, had felt forced to estimate, rather than count,
the materials they shipped to outlets.
By having the books shrink-wrapped and reducing the size of the shipping boxes, the
manager was able to speed up work at the warehouse, ensure that the right number of
books and other materials was being shipped, and improved the condition of the goods
at their destination.
By using an ethnographic approach, the new manager had revealed the problems at
hand. Only this made it possible to find realistic solutions.
According to McCurdy in "Using Anthropology," ethnographers work largely by
administering and analyzing questionnaires.
Technology refers only to the machines people use to make things.
Baseball Magic
GEORGE GMELCH
Summary This updated selection by George Gmelch shows how Americans use
magical ritual to reduce the anxiety associated with uncertainty. Gmelch focuses on
baseball players but cites the work of Bronislaw Malinowski on magic in the Trobriand
Islands, where islanders use magic when braving dangerous marine trips. In both cases,
so different at first glance, magic is used to reduce anxiety and increase a sense of
control.
Ritual in baseball involves those prescribed behaviors in which there is no connection
between the behavior (e.g., tapping home plate three times) and the desired end (e.g.,
getting a base hit). Gmelch describes how ritual surrounds two of the three main
activities associated with the gamehitting and pitching. This is because both involve
great uncertainty. Fielding, the other main activity, is relatively error-free and therefore
receives little magical attention.
Baseball players display most varieties of magic. They use personal magic, such as a
regular cap adjustment before each pitch. Fetishes are also used; these are
charmsusually small objects believed to embody supernatural power (luck) that can aid
or protect the owner. Baseball fetishes are sometimes lucky pennies. Magic practices
also include special diets, special clothing, and a host of other devices they feel are
associated with successful play. They also observe taboos (things that should not be
done, and that can bring bad luck), including one against crossing bats.
At the root of such behavior is this notion: people associate things with each other that
have no functional relationship. If a pitcher eats pancakes for breakfast and wins a game
that day, he may continue to eat them each time he plays because the act is now
associated with success on the field. Citing research on rats and pigeons, Gmelch notes
that once an association is established, it only takes sporadic success to perpetuate the
relationship. Gmelch concludes that although baseball players do not attribute their acts
to any special, supernatural power, they nonetheless follow ritual practices carefully to
influence luck and guard against failure.
According to Gmelch in "Baseball Magic," baseball players often include personal
rituals, taboos, and fetishes in their practice of magic.
Women in the Mine
JESSICA SMITH ROLSTON
Summary This article details the unique and complex gender roles that have developed
in the coal mines in Wyoming's Powder River Basin. Typically thought of as full of
stereotypically ultra macho men, the coal mines in Wyoming disprove this assumption.
In addition to being comprised mostly of family men, women work alongside men as
equalsin numbers greater than in the industry as a wholein nearly every capacity.
Women miners have developed ways to build rapport with male coworkers that ensure
that they are treated with respect. This article details this complex system.
The Powder River Basin is home to a dozen coal mines that were opened in response to
the energy crisis of the mid-1970s and early 1980s. Many women in the area had grown
up riding horses, fishing, hunting, or working on farms and ranches, and were quite
comfortable getting dirty and doing manual labor. Mining seemed a natural fit, and
offered high pay for those without a college education. Females employed by the mines
can make between $65,000 and $100,000, depending on experience and overtime.
In addition to having to learn the ins and outs of a new industry, women had to learn
how to succeed in a traditionally male environment. They have done so by adjusting
their identities and taking on personas at work in order to gain respect and craft
camaraderie with male coworkers. Common labels like tomboy, lady, girly girl, and
bitch have developed very specific connotations; these personas represent specific
gender identities that bring a range of emotionsfrom respect to disdain to
disapprovalfrom coworkers. Smith Rolston details how the persona a woman chooses at
the mine can have far reaching implications and how adopting a single persona is not
enough; women in the mines must constantly and strategically adjust their personas to
fit the situation, potentially changing identity mid-conversation, mid-shift, or at any
time to respond appropriately to their male coworkers' notions of femininity.
Men and women are judged equally for their sexual aggressiveness on the job. There
is no double standard in Wyoming's Powder River Basin.
A "rank society" is one in which members have unequal access to prestige and valued
economic resources.
Reciprocity and the Power of Giving
LEE CRONK
Summary Cronk argues that everywhere in the world, gifts are used positively to
establish and maintain social relationships, but also negatively to intimidate and fight
others. These characteristics apply just as fully to gift exchange in industrial societies as
they do for other peoples.
Anthropologists learned about the complexities of gift giving through first-hand
experience during fieldwork. Richard Lee's !Kung informants criticized his gift of an
ox, saying the ox was thin and inadequate when clearly it was not. (See article 2 in
Conformity and Conflict). Rada Dyson-Hudson met with a similar reaction when she
attempted to give pots to her Turkana informants. Cronk also experienced the same
reaction when he gave clothing to the Mukogodo, who elaborate the act of gift
exchange more than do most people. In every case, informants attached different
meanings to gift giving than did the anthropologists..
Gift giving has several dimensions, including how the gift is received and how it is
reciprocated. Often "to reciprocate at once indicates a desire to end the relationship,"
Cronk points out. He also notes that some gift giving arrangements, such as hxaro
among the !Kung, are designed solely to maintain a friendly relationship. In addition,
the worth of gifts may not be taken into account. The Trobriand kula ring, involving
shell necklaces and armbands, represents one of the most elaborate gift exchanges ever
described by anthropologists.
Gift giving may not always be benevolent. The Kwakiutl potlatch, where rivals tried to
"flatten" each other with gifts, is a good example. Potlatching actually became a
substitute for war after the Canadian government suppressed real fighting.
Reciprocal gift giving is also important in U.S. society. Examples include a form of
benevolent gift giving, called swapping among African Americans living in an area of
Illinois called the flats. Scientific papers, usually referred to as contributions, are really
gifts and have higher value than those papers written for money. Even the citations of
other people's work so liberally scattered throughout academic papers may be viewed as
a form of gift exchange.
Gifts may also be used to manipulate people, as Grace Goodell documents for a World
Bank-funded project in Iran. The gift of an irrigation project crushed local level
political organizations and shifted control to the central government. International
relations often involve gift giving. The "concessions" made between the U.S. and Soviet
governments during disarmament negotiations several years ago are a good example.
Cronk concludes by pointing out that American Indians understood the gift's power to
unify, antagonize, or subjugate and that all of us would do well to learn the same lesson.
In "Reciprocity and the Power of Giving," Cronk argues that in most instances of gift
giving, donors expect those who have received the gift to reciprocate promptly.
According to Fish in "Mixed Blood," the terms moreno, loura, branca, and preta all
refer to
a. areas of Brazil after which groups of people are named.
b. Brazilian names for different tipos (types).
c. areas of Brazil from which particular tipos are thought to have originated.
d. a folk taxonomy of skin colors starting with black and ending with white.
The world system is the movement of a cultural category, culturally defined
behavior,nor culturally produced artifact from one society to another through
borrowing.
Global Women in the New Economy
BARBARA EHRENREICH AND ARLIE RUSSELL HOCHSCHILD
Summary In this selection, Barbara Ehrenreich and Arlie Hochschild look at an
important aspect of globalization: the movement of poor women from Third World
societies to wealthier nations. Published as the introduction to Global Women: Nannies,
Maids, and Sex Workers in the New Economy, the piece begins with the story of a Sri
Lankan woman serving as a nanny to a two-year-old child in Greece. The subject of a
documentary film, When Mother Comes Home for Christmas, Josephene Perera has
been a migrant worker for 10 years. She earns enough to support her three children at
home, but only gets to see them once a year. Over time two of her children show signs
of distress. Despite this, she returns once again to her job in Greece, trading a life of
poverty at home for money in a distant land. Put another way, she gives up her family
life to make one for parents who work full time in a wealthy nation.
The authors stress several points about the flow of immigrant workers over the last few
years. Movement has occurred between poor and rich countries. The international
workforce, once largely consisting of men, now includes a substantial number of
women, laboring as domestics, nannies, and sex-for-hire workers. The change marks a
different relationship between rich and poor nations. Once rich nations mined poor ones
for their natural resources; now they mine them for people. Four migration patterns
stand out: one is the flow of workers from Southeast Asia to the Middle and Far East; a
second from Eastern to Western Europe; a third from South and Central America to
North America; and a fourth from Africa to Europe. In many of these places, foreign
workers have taken domestic jobs once held by local people. For example, in America
maids and nannies were once largely the domain of black women. These jobs are now
largely filled by Latinas. Poor countries have come to value the money sent home by
their citizens working abroad, and some have programs to prepare female citizens for
foreign service and to find jobs abroad.
There are a number of factors that attract poor women to do overseas work. There are
plenty of jobs for domestics in wealthier countries because so many women there have
gone to work in what was once a largely male economy. Job opportunities are even
greater in First World countries, because governments have not instituted programs to
help their working women with child care and other domestic needs; men have not
stepped in to fill the gap at home; and men have created a demand for sex-for-hire
workers. In addition, as the wealth gap between rich and poor countries grows, women
from poor countries can make many times the amount of money they could earn at
home by taking jobs abroad.
Women may also be "pushed" to leave their countries in order to work abroad. Some
leave to escape abuse at home. Many women who leave are well educated but had
found no reasonably paid opportunities.
According to Ehrenreich and Hochschild in "Global Women in the New Economy,"
Third World governments have attempted to prevent their female citizens from
migrating because the latter are causing massive social breakdown by leaving their
children and families.
Run for the Wall: An American Pilgrimage
JILL DUBISCH
Summary Starting in 1996, sociologist Raymond Michalowski and anthropologist Jill
Dubisch joined a group of motorcyclists riding on a trip called the Run for the Wall, a
pilgrimage (ritual passage) from California to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in
Washington, DC.
The Run for the Wall was started by a group of Vietnam veterans in 1989 and has
occurred every year since. It requires its participants to ride motorcycles from
California to Washington, DC, although many join or drop out along the way. The run
takes 10 days and includes stops for rest and ceremonies. Communities along the run's
route welcome run members and often feed and house them for free. Riders see the run
as a pilgrimage that helps heal wounds caused by the war, and serves to honor the dead
and "those left behind" (POWs and the missing in action).
Dubisch introduces the concept of pilgrimage as a journey that has a purpose, with a
destination that has special meaning. The destination may get its emotional power from
its location or symbolic meaning. Pilgrimages are rituals, defined (in Davis-Floyd's
words) as "patterned, repetitive, and symbolic enactments of a cultural belief or value."
Personal transformation is a key result. Rituals often reenact social myths. They,
according to anthropologist Victor Turner, have two poles the ideological and the
sensory that can be changed and modified regularly. Pilgrimages are a kind of ritual.
They create what Victor and Edith Turner call a liminal state, which is a special period
of time between normal routines. Travel is one way to mark such a liminal period.
The Run for the Wall began as a way for veterans to deal with the physical and mental
wounds caused by their participation in the Vietnam War, and the indifference and
hostility that greeted them when they arrived home. Motorcycles have been associated
with veterans' groups since World War II. They symbolize freedom, self-reliance,
patriotism, and individualism. Patriotism is especially important to those who make the
run and is symbolized by the U.S. flags and eagles that adorn their motorcycles. Riding
motorcycles gives a feeling of political power to participants. The machines are not an
ordinary way to travel. Riding them also involves danger and hardship; suffering for the
cause increases openness to personal change and an eventual feeling of
accomplishment.
Dubisch describes several ceremonial events along the run that evoke strong emotions.
The wall itself has special power, meaning, and emotional impact. It causes outbursts of
grief and recognizes both the individual dead and the departed as a whole. Some riders
say they hear the spirits of the dead talking at the wall when they are there at night. This
pilgrimage has a lasting, transformational effect on its participants, and illustrates the
importance of feelings and emotion associated with religion and ritual.
In "Run for the Wall: An American Pilgrimage," Dubisch cites a definition of ritual that
says rituals are patterned, repetitive, symbolic enactments of cultural beliefs or values.
Action anthropology requires that the group that is to change has some legitimate
process for making decisions.
Illegal Logging and Frontier Conservation
NATHAN WILLIAMSON
The Bolivian government has worked for years with NGOs (nongovernmental
organizations) to create plans for sustainable levels of managed logging in the Bolivian
lowlands to protect the Amazon rainforestin particular the Chimanes Indian
Reservefrom clear cutting by illegal loggers, ranchers, and farmers. Unfortunately, the
policies put in place have largely failed, as Williamson details in his article. His
research, beginning nearly a decade after the conservation policy was established,
shows that illegal logging continues in the lowlands in a variety of ways, fueled by
poverty, weak government enforcement, and a worldwide demand for tropical
hardwoods. As his research indicates, conservation policy must take into account how
those who live in and around the forest are using it, in addition to the goals of those
forming policy.
For the Chimanes Indians living in the Bolivian lowlands surrounding the Maniqui
River, preserving the most valuable tropical hardwoods means eliminating one of the
few ways the men in the tribe can earn money to feed their families.
For economic reasons, local tribes earning a subsistence living, bands of chainsaw
gangs called cuartoneros and even small, illegal logging companies continue to
selectively and illegally harvest mahogany and other tropical hardwood trees, leaving
behind the less valuable species.
Each group involved in illegal harvesting has a slightly different impact on the forest
than does the legal, approved logger who is restricted by the conservation policies in
place. The Chimanes Indians stay close to the river and only clear paths wide enough
for oxcarts to get the timbers to the river. Cuartoneros (chain saw gangs) use machetes,
chainsaws, and a backbreaking relay system to get the cuartones (timbers) to the river,
where they float them to small sawmills that sell the wood to larger lumber companies.
Both the Chimanes Indians and cuartoneros go into the rainforest and reemerge more
than a month later with timbers that will earn them three to five times more than the one
dollar a day that most can earn working as manual laborers. Though less destructive
than the legal methods that have more impact on the forest, they will still eventually
strip the forest of its most valuable treesthe one thing that the Bolivian government and
NGOs hope to prevent.
Perhaps a viable solution, Williamson suggests, is an international trade agreement that
controls the export of tropical hardwood and vilifies the use of illegally harvested
woods, similar to the campaigns of the fur industry. Otherwise, the Chimanes and
cuartoneros will continue to find ways to support their families, and eventually even
approved logging companies may be tempted toward more damaging ways of logging.
According to Williamson, the opportunity for higher than average pay and a patronage
system keeps Bolivian men returning to the forest to undertake the risky job of illegally
harvesting mahogany hardwood.
Run for the Wall: An American Pilgrimage
JILL DUBISCH
Summary Starting in 1996, sociologist Raymond Michalowski and anthropologist Jill
Dubisch joined a group of motorcyclists riding on a trip called the Run for the Wall, a
pilgrimage (ritual passage) from California to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in
Washington, DC.
The Run for the Wall was started by a group of Vietnam veterans in 1989 and has
occurred every year since. It requires its participants to ride motorcycles from
California to Washington, DC, although many join or drop out along the way. The run
takes 10 days and includes stops for rest and ceremonies. Communities along the run's
route welcome run members and often feed and house them for free. Riders see the run
as a pilgrimage that helps heal wounds caused by the war, and serves to honor the dead
and "those left behind" (POWs and the missing in action).
Dubisch introduces the concept of pilgrimage as a journey that has a purpose, with a
destination that has special meaning. The destination may get its emotional power from
its location or symbolic meaning. Pilgrimages are rituals, defined (in Davis-Floyd's
words) as "patterned, repetitive, and symbolic enactments of a cultural belief or value."
Personal transformation is a key result. Rituals often reenact social myths. They,
according to anthropologist Victor Turner, have two poles the ideological and the
sensory that can be changed and modified regularly. Pilgrimages are a kind of ritual.
They create what Victor and Edith Turner call a liminal state, which is a special period
of time between normal routines. Travel is one way to mark such a liminal period.
The Run for the Wall began as a way for veterans to deal with the physical and mental
wounds caused by their participation in the Vietnam War, and the indifference and
hostility that greeted them when they arrived home. Motorcycles have been associated
with veterans' groups since World War II. They symbolize freedom, self-reliance,
patriotism, and individualism. Patriotism is especially important to those who make the
run and is symbolized by the U.S. flags and eagles that adorn their motorcycles. Riding
motorcycles gives a feeling of political power to participants. The machines are not an
ordinary way to travel. Riding them also involves danger and hardship; suffering for the
cause increases openness to personal change and an eventual feeling of
accomplishment.
Dubisch describes several ceremonial events along the run that evoke strong emotions.
The wall itself has special power, meaning, and emotional impact. It causes outbursts of
grief and recognizes both the individual dead and the departed as a whole. Some riders
say they hear the spirits of the dead talking at the wall when they are there at night. This
pilgrimage has a lasting, transformational effect on its participants, and illustrates the
importance of feelings and emotion associated with religion and ritual.
In "Run for the Wall: An American Pilgrimage," Dubisch notes that the term liminality
defines an emotional state that is sparked by ritual ceremony.
Because they are based on role obligations, taxes are an example of reciprocal
exchange.
Nice Girls Don"t Talk to Rastas
GEORGE GMELCH
Summary This article uses the experience of an American student studying abroad to
illustrate the concept of naive realism, especially the American insensitivity to the
existence of social class and the nature of small communities. Gmelch noted that one of
his students, Hanna, whose research he was supervising in Barbados, suddenly
encountered a serious fieldwork problem. Her fieldwork involved living in a rural
Barbadian community, where she worked in the village school and lived with a host
family. For several weeks her work went well. Rapport with her host mother and other
villagers was excellent and she was enthusiastic about her experience. Then suddenly
her homestay mother demanded that she move out because of what villagers were
saying about her. It turned out that she had been seen talking to a Rastafarian named
Joseph, and based on their view of Rastas, villagers had concluded that she was
smoking marijuana and bathing naked with him and other Rastas. Some even thought
she was a drug addict.
Gmelch learned that indeed she had met a Rastafarian named Joseph, spoken to him
publicly several times in the village, and visited his cave in the hills on a couple of
occasions. Hanna was puzzled why villagers would be upset by her behavior. Her
fieldwork was based around the concept that anthropologists are supposed to be
interested in different kinds of people
Her problem related to the existence of class in the Barbadian community; Rastafarians
were looked down on. People felt that Rastas often stole vegetables and fruit from
villagers and lacked good morals because they often went naked and looked bizarre.
The situation was compounded by the size and face-to-face nature of village life.
Unlike suburban and urban communities in the U.S., everyone knew each other in the
village. Peoples' behavior was a constant topic of gossip.
Gmelch dealt with the situation by talking to village elders and Hanna's homestay
mother. He explained that she did not understand their concern about Rastas, that she
had not slept with Rastas, and that she meant no harm. In the end, Hanna was allowed
to remain in the village. She learned that her U.S. suburban culture denied the existence
of class and lacked a sense of how close people in a small community can be, combined
with an American sense of personal autonomy. In short, she naively assumed that
people in rural Barbados would view her behavior by her own standards.
In a "postscript" follow up years later, Hanna explained the profound impact that
meeting Joseph had had on her sense of openmindedness, and her growing awareness of
discrimination and prejudice.
In "Nice Girls Don"t Talk to Rastas," Gmelch notes that female students from the U.S.
find it nearly impossible to conduct fieldwork in Barbados because they are unwittingly
disrespectful to Barbadians.
