A story that is told about the founding and history of a particular group to reinforce a
common sense of identity is called a:
a. creation story.
b. folk tale.
c. history.
d. “just so” story.
e. origin myth.
The ability or potential to bring about change through action or influence is referred to
as:
a. agency.
b. framing.
c. politics.
d. power.
e. process.
Which of the following types of marriage consists of one individual married to one
other individual only (most commonly one man married to one woman)?
a. polyandry
b. monogamy
c. polymandry
d. polygyny
e. monyandry
The trust and friendship that ethnographers establish with research subjects are known
as:
a. reflexivity.
b. power.
c. authority.
d. rapport.
e. values.
Multiband groups of indigenous people who live outside the control of a centralized
state and see themselves as one people with their own sets of leaders and loyalties are
referred to as:
a. bands.
b. chiefdoms.
c. groups.
d. states.
e. tribes.
Gaunt’s research into kinetic orality in U.S. playgrounds shows that:
a. young black girls tend to imitate the music and gestures of hip-hop performers.
b. black male musicians created a new art form.
c. kinetic orality is a unique rhyming pattern similar to that spoken in south London.
d. young women raised in black culture learn to perform a rhythmic pattern of clapping
and stomping as part of the socialization process.
e. young black women tend to play together until young men show up.
The contested social process through which a civil society organizes for the production
of military violence is known as:
a. arming.
b. biliousness.
c. fomenting.
d. imperialism.
e. militarization.
The French have a strong sense of connection to their history, ideals, and culture that
binds them together, and this is clearly missing in Iraq. This illustrates the concept of:
a. dominion.
b. ethnicity.
c. fellowship.
d. society.
e. sodality.
Arjun Appadurai calls the global cultural flows of media and visual images that enable
linkages and communication across boundaries a(n):
a. critical transformation.
b. virtual hologram.
c. lingering avatar.
d. global mediascape.
e. imagined community.
The development and organization of states such as Iraq through the colonial policies of
Britain and France rather than the “will of the people” that live in those states create
many conflicts today. This makes these states the focus of:
a. state department officials.
b. social historians.
c. political scientists.
d. political anthropologists.
e. government officials.
What does the multiregional continuity thesis propose?
a. Modern Homo sapiens evolved directly from archaic Homo sapiens.
b. Modern Homo sapiens appeared first in Europe.
c. Modern Homo sapiens displaced archaic Homo sapiens.
d. Modern Homo sapiens wiped out archaic Homo sapiens in competition for resources.
e. Modern Homo sapiens gave rise to Neandertals, but Neandertals were unsuccessful
in adapting.
Which of the following is the first stage of rites of passage that involves the physical,
psychological, or symbolic removal from the daily activities of the group, according to
Victor Turner?
a. individuation
b. separation
c. alienation
d. anomie
e. liminality
Because anthropologist Tom Boellstorff describes Second Life as populated by people
who interact, create intimate relationships, and develop a unique culture and sets of
beliefs, it can be likened to Benedict Anderson’s notion of:
a. a global mediascape.
b. the virtual environment.
c. an imagined community.
d. an ethnologue.
e. social media.
Neocolonialism is best defined as:
a. a term used to suggest that poor countries should reestablish their colonial
relationships with wealthy countries.
b. a theory that predicts that former colonies would progress along the same lines as the
industrialized nations.
c. a strategy by which wealthy nations would spur global economic growth by
alleviating poverty by investing in former colonies.
d. a critique that argued that despite the end of colonialism, the underlying economic
relations in the global economy had not changed.
e. a continued pattern of unequal economic relations despite the formal end of colonial
political and military control.
Industrial agriculture is defined as:
a. food production involving the domestication of animals.
b. cultivation involving permanent cultivation of the land.
c. practicing farming involving mechanization.
d. subsistence based on hunting, fishing, and gathering.
e. cultivation strategy with intensive use of land and labor.
Which of the following is a central task of anthropologists when studying religion
among groups of people?
a. to substantiate truths of the religion
b. to prove falsity of the religion
c. to rank order world religions
d. to understand the sense of moral order in religion
e. to push for a single religious order in the world
The work of which of the following more recent theorists has led anthropologists to
reexamine class by analyzing the deep connections between class, race, and gender?
a. Clifford Geertz
b. Karl Marx
c. Jane Goodall
d. Leith Mullings
e. Louise Lamphere
American women are far more likely than men to distinguish between colors like teal
and turquoise, or magenta and purple. This is an example of:
a. a biological difference between men and women.
b. a focal vocabulary that exists within American culture.
c. a paralanguage that differentiates female culture from the dominant male culture.
d. descriptive linguistics.
e. linguistic productivity and displacement.
Which of the following religious specialists are considered part-time religious
practitioners with special abilities to connect individuals with supernatural powers or
beings?
a. medicine men
b. rabbis
c. pastors
d. shamans
e. priests
Complex innovations that allow humans to cope with the environment are called:
a. developmental adaptations.
b. physiological adaptations.
c. genetic adaptations.
d. cultural adaptations.
e. acclimatization.
A questionable science that claims to be improving the human race by advocating in
favor of certain races and unequal treatment for others is:
a. Aryanism.
b. eugenics.
c. fascism.
d. institutional racism.
e. nativism.
________ include hometown associations, religious communities, and refugee
placement groups that help resettle newcomers in their destination communities.
a. Government immigration policies
b. Supportive organizations
c. Recruitment agencies
d. Colonial networks
e. Communication technologies
People who believe that civic policies should favor native-born people over immigrants
espouse the concept of:
a. eugenics.
b. “home first.”
c. nationalism.
d. nativism.
e. Zionism.
The idea that government policies should favor people born in the United States over
immigrants such as Mexicans or Canadians (legal or otherwise) is known as:
a. eugenics.
b. “home first.”
c. nativism.
d. Zionism.
e. nationalism.
Remittances are often associated with:
a. labor immigrants.
b. professional immigrants.
c. entrepreneurial immigrants.
d. refugees.
e. all types of immigrants.
The dramatic impact of globalization in the past and even more so today is driven by
what kind of changes?
a. internal and external migration patterns
b. perceptions of time and space
c. greenhouse gasses and weather patterns
d. transportation and communication technologies
e. rapid development and crashes
Which of the following describes an individual who would show developmental
adaptation?
a. Someone who has spent their adult life in a high-altitude environment.
b. Someone who has temporarily moved to a high-altitude environment as an adult but
returns to low alititude for a short time.
c. Someone who has grown up in a high-altitude environment.
d. Someone who was born in a low-altitude environment but whose parents grew up in
a high altitude environment.
e. Someone who was raised at and spends their adult life at low altitude.
Which of the following is defined as the act of gift giving within a ranked society that
serves as a form of sharing accumulated wealth and enhancing the chief’s prestige?
a. redistribution
b. reciprocity
c. reproduction
d. reintegration
e. restoration
Women who form intimate spiritual, emotional, and sexual relationships with other
women in Paramaribo, Suriname, are called:
a. machista.
b. mati.
c. lesbian.
d. masu harka.
e. sex tourists.
Acclimatization refers to:
a. temporary physiological changes in response to the environment.
b. genetic changes seen in a population.
c. permanent changes seen in the human body in response to the immediate
environment.
d. the synthesis of vitamin D.
e. inability to adapt to the environment.
The practice of exchanging a gift from the groom and his family to the bride’s family in
order to formalize and legalize the marriage is called:
a. endogamy
b. bridewealth
c. polygamy
d. dowry
e. exogamy
Neoliberal economic policies:
a. promote state spending on health care to ensure a higher quality of life.
b. increase tariffs and taxes on industry to provide revenue for building the
infrastructure.
c. advocate limiting the profits of international corporations.
d. have resulted in an overall improvement in living conditions across the globe.
e. seek to eliminate trade barriers across international boundaries and promote trade.
Which of the following types of marriage specifically involves the union of one man to
two or more women?
a. polyandry
b. monogamy
c. polymandry
d. polygyny
e. monyandry
In a brief essay, compare and contrast the concept of power, in general, with state
power, and give an example of each.
Explain how European colonial expansion gave rise to “race” and racism.
In his research in Niger, West Africa, anthropologist Paul Stoller apprenticed with a
local sorcerer as a means of exploring the role of religion in community life there.
During his apprenticeship, Stoller’s work came to an abrupt end and he fled back home
to the United States. What occurred that caused Stoller to abruptly leave his field site?
What did his research and experience demonstrate regarding the power of religion in
people’s everyday lives? What risks do anthropologists take by immersing themselves
in others’ religious belief systems and practices? Do you think it is possible to
comprehend another group of people’s religious beliefs and practices without accepting
that they are real for believers? Why or why not? What does it mean for a religious
belief or practice to be considered real and who should determine whether or not it is
real?
Karl Marx, Max Weber, Pierre Bourdieu, and Leith Mullings are four theorists who
have examined class as a system of stratification in societies. Which of the four
theorists’ approaches do you find most convincing? Describe the theorist’s general
approach to examining class and discuss how this particular approach differs from the
approaches used by the other theorists. What makes this approach more convincing in
your opinion? Do you think this approach is still an effective tool in examining class in
societies today? Given the increasingly global nature of societal interconnections, do
you believe this approach will continue to be useful in examining class systems in
future societies? Why or why not? Do you think additional approaches will be needed
to more fully examine class systems in the future? Why or why not?
Evolutionary psychologists generally argue that our genetic makeup determines who we
are and how we behave, while anthropologists argue otherwise. What do
anthropologists argue regarding the nature versus nurture debate surrounding who we
are and how we behave? What evidence do anthropologists have to substantiate their
argument? Which argument do you find more convincing, that of evolutionary
psychologists or anthropologists, and why?
Globalism is driving rapid change in human activities. Give an example of one of these
rapid changes and explain the positive and negative effects on the people of the world.
In a brief essay, describe three ways power is wielded outside the control of the state.
Imagine the classroom as a distinct population with unique genes. Explain how genetic
drift would occur over several generations and why it is more effective in a smaller
population.
Anthropologist E. E. Evans-Pritchard conducted ethnographic research with Nuer
people of southern Sudan in the 1930s, and argued that this group of people constituted
a patrilineal descent group. What does it mean to be a patrilineal descent group and how
does this differ from a matrilineal descent group? How were cattle used to reflect the
patrilineal nature of Nuer descent? Provide at least two examples.
Why was European colonialism such an important component of the development of
the global economic system? Why was Columbus’s voyage to the New World tied to the
trade network occurring in the Old World? Explain how discovery of gold and silver in
the New World and colonization facilitated Europe’s participation in the Old World
trade network? Specifically, why is the Opium War of 1839 an important example of
how the trade network changed with colonization?
Explain how physicians’ attitudes toward children born intersexed have changed in
recent decades in parallel with changes in attitudes toward sexuality. Specifically, what
has influenced the American Academy of Pediatrics to allow children to make their own
choices once they reach an age where they are able to do so?
The text notes that for most of the world’s people, ethnicity is not a pressing matter in
daily life; instead, it becomes active when power relationships undergo negotiation in a
community or nation. In a brief essay, give an example and explain how ethnicity has
been activated to accomplish some end. Explain the power relationship under
negotiation, who was involved, and how ethnicity was activated to accomplish the goal.
Describe the outcome of these efforts.
The notion of a culture of consumerism is distinct from the concept of culture more
generally. Do you think that the culture of consumerism affects culture more generally
in some way, and if so, how? What are some benefits and drawbacks of the culture of
consumerism in society today? Do you think it will affect the future of societies, and if
so, in what explicit ways?
Foraging bands and egalitarianism has been the standard of social interaction for most
of human history; however, many societies are highly hierarchical today. Discuss the
role egalitarianism has played in human life and, quite possibly, human evolution.
Identify three things that are used as ethnic boundary markers, and explain what
cultures they are used in and how.
Describe the factors that contribute to the state of health for the residents of colonias in
Texas. What is the infrastructure like in these communities? Analyze this situation from
the perspective of critical medical anthropology by identifying three diseases that may
be attributed to specific conditions. For example, what factors in the infrastructure
might cause the spread of dengue? Do residents have access to health care? If not, what
are the deterring factors?
Significant numbers of female migrants, both documented and undocumented, work as
domestic workers in the United States. Discuss the vulnerabilities they face in the
workplace and how they are integral to economies at home and abroad, such as the role
played by remittances. Explain how women who work in domestic labor subsidize
middle- and upper-class lifestyles in the United States.
In White Wedding: Romancing Heterosexuality in Popular Culture (2008), sociologist
Chrys Ingraham asserts that brides are not born, but rather made. Identify some
examples of the enculturation process. Discuss the implications of the romanticized
ideal of weddings. How do these ideals differ from the reality of the “white wedding” as
they intersect with gender, class, and racial inequalities?
What did Anne Fadiman’s research among Hmong refugees in California contribute to
anthropological knowledge of the conflicts that can arise between Western and
non-Western approaches to health care and treatment? Summarize Lia Lee’s health
condition, including how her parents’ understanding of qaug dab peg differed to
physicians’ understanding of her condition. What were the experiences of this child and
her family as a result of cross-cultural misunderstandings?
What is biomedicine, and how do the practitioners view and treat diseases? Discuss two
criticisms that anthropologists have about the European biases in the model relative to
ethnocentric views about non-Western populations.