According to contemporary cultural anthropologists, humans in most cultures engage in
sexual activity:
a. both for procreation and fun.
b. for procreation only.
c. for fun only.
d. as a form of economic exchange.
e. very seldom.
Pierre Bourdieu worked to understand the relationship between class, culture, and
power by examining which of the following phenomenon in schools?
a. social replication
b. social mobility
c. social reciprocity
d. social reproduction
e. social management
The behaviors encouraged in sportswhere boys are rewarded for competitiveness and
girls are encouraged to play quietlyreflect:
a. societal adult gender roles.
b. gender roles that reverse during adolescence, when boys begin to play quietly and
girls become more competitive.
c. the natural result of sexual dimorphism.
d. primary sex characteristics.
e. nothing meaningful; it is just sports.
According to the text, while conducting research in Second Life, Tom Boellstorff used
all of the following research methods and strategies, EXCEPT:
a. participant observation.
b. surveys.
c. interviews.
d. focus groups.
e. none of the above
Egalitarian societies depend on sharing which of the following in order to ensure group
success?
a. children
b. money
c. weaponry
d. sexual partners
e. resources
As discussed in the text, biomedical physicians diagnosed Lia Lee of Merced,
California, as suffering from:
a. typhoid.
b. German measles.
c. appendicitis.
d. epilepsy.
e. soul loss.
Code switching is defined as:
a. a nonstandard variation of a language that is particular to a specific region.
b. the study of the development of language over time, including its changes and
variations.
c. alternating back and forth between more than one linguistic variant depending on the
context.
d. the idea that variation in languages appears gradually over distance between places.
e. the study of the intersection between language and systems of power such as race,
class, and age.
An important change in the way that ethnography is written in the twenty-first century
is that there is less emphasis on presenting native voices.
a. true
b. false
The dominant group in a state reinforces its ability to create consent and agreement
about what is normal and appropriate through the promotion of intense feelings of:
a. social anxiety.
b. religious fervor.
c. patriotism.
d. nationalism.
e. animosity.
The ability of a dominant group to create consent and agreement within a population
without the use or threat of force is referred to as:
a. agency.
b. coercion.
c. domination.
d. framing.
e. hegemony.
An independent territory under the control of a centralized government that makes laws
and exercises military, economic, and political power to maintain order and defend this
territory is a political structure known as a:
a. band.
b. chiefdom.
c. group.
d. state.
e. tribe.
In the view of “technocratic birth”:
a. women are viewed as strong and capable actors in the birth process.
b. expectant mothers are attended by midwives and family members.
c. fathers are expected to hold the mothers while encouraging them.
d. mothers can receive epidural injections to manage their pain.
e. medical professionals believe that nature will take its own course.
People are biological creatures as well as rational human beings. In order to gain a
complete understanding of any aspect of human behavior, the field of anthropology
adopts what strategy?
a. four-field approach
b. cultural evolution
c. sociobiology
d. ethnobiology
e. syncretism
Nancy Scheper-Hughes’ research among mothers in Alto do Cruzeiro, Brazil, allowed
her to identify ________ of culture.
a. absence
b. ethnocentrism
c. patterns
d. disarray
e. censure
In order to engage in cultural relativism as a research strategy, anthropologists must:
a. ignore their own sense of right and wrong, and disregard international standards of
human rights.
b. attempt to understand a group’s beliefs and practices within their own cultural
context.
c. reject their own culture entirely.
d. evaluate the norms, values, beliefs, and practices of other cultures against their own
culture.
e. memorize the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights.
One reason that refugees are forced to leave their communities is from:
a. high taxes.
b. lack of economic opportunities.
c. ethnic conflict.
d. lack of marriage opportunities.
e. low wages.
Franz Boas (1858″1942) is credited with developing which of the following
anthropological perspectives?
a. unilineal evolution
b. ethnocentrism
c. cultural relativism
d. comparative ethnology
e. participant observation
The ________ is composed of strategies for production, distribution, and consumption
of goods.
a. economy
b. capital
c. commodity
d. core
e. outsource
Which of the following is a type of status that is established and changeable during a
person’s lifetime?
a. ascribed
b. closed
c. achieved
d. inherent
e. restricted
Which of the following does not factor into biological differences between men and
women?
a. genitalia
b. gonads
c. hair length
d. hormones
e. chromosomes
The kuru epidemic essentially came to an end:
a. when Christian missionaries helped to eliminate cannibalism.
b. when the government began requiring neonatal care.
c. when the population developed a natural immunity.
d. with the introduction of penicillin and antibiotics.
e. once cremation became the norm in the region.
Sex tourists in the Dominican Republic are typically:
a. white American men.
b. black American men.
c. white European women.
d. Asian men.
e. white European men.
Discuss Horace Miner’s ethnography “Body Rituals among the Nacirema.” What is the
content of the ethnography? What was Miner’s purpose in writing it, and how did he
approach that purpose?
Modernization of agricultural production in Malaysia led to increasing inequality
between the rich and the poor, but the poor laborers were able to find ways to resist the
domination of the wealthy without risking confrontation through foot-dragging,
slowdowns, false compliance with regulations, theft, sabotage, trickery, and arson.
These are all examples of:
a. action.
b. agency.
c. clout.
d. drive.
e. initiative.
What type of anthropologist studies people from a biological perspective as well as how
humans have evolved over time?
a. physical anthropologist
b. prehistoric archaeologist
c. cultural evolutionist
d. historic linguistic
e. evolutionary archaeologist
According to the author, what conditions led to the emergence of dependency theory?
a. African scholars argued that industrialized countries were using the land and rain in
East Africa to grow crops for export.
b. Anthropologists observed that inadequate natural resources made former colonies
across the globe dependent on help from industrialized nations.
c. Latin American scholars observed that the global economy was structured to extract
resources from less developed nations and transfer them to industrialized nations.
d. European scholars argued that flows of migrants from the global North to the global
South made Europe dependent on immigrants as a labor source.
e. Former colonies became self-sufficient and did not experience underdevelopment.
The tendency of many ethnic groups that join American culture to assimilate has been
described as a(n):
a. tossed salad.
b. melting pot.
c. integration.
d. hash.
e. amalgamation.
Cross-cultural research leads anthropologists to argue that appreciation of art is
acquired through:
a. social media.
b. genetics.
c. the enculturation process.
d. fieldwork.
e. authenticity.
Which of the following absorbs ultraviolet radiation as a natural sunscreen?
a. melanocyctes
b. melanin
c. folic acid
d. vitamin D
e. vitamin C
State domination is never complete, and people still contest established power
relationships and structures through political, economic, and military means. They can
and do change cultural norms, values, symbols, and institutions, and the ability to
contest these is known as:
a. leverage.
b. influence.
c. clout.
d. authority.
e. agency.
What is a demeaning historical term for interracial marriage?
a. alienation
b. miscegenation
c. mixing
d. maligning
e. degradation
According to Max Weber (1864″1920), thrift, modesty, moderation, frugality, and
self-denial constitute which of the following?
a. Western globalization
b. Protestant ethic
c. industrial materialism
d. cultural consumerism
e. hegemonic ideology
Describe militarization and its effects on a society. How does it relate to the
construction of war and soldiers?
Explain why England is called the “ninety-minute nation” and why it is so important to
people who identify as English.
How were the Old World long-distance trade routes a precursor to the global economy?
First, provide two examples of the commodities exchanged by Arab and Chinese
traders, discussing how these products circulated from Asia to Europe. How and when
did the movement of slaves occur in the eighth and ninth centuries?
Why are anthropologists interested in the anticolonial and independence movements?
When did the majority occur, and summarize reasons for this. Identify three strategies
commonly used to gain independence and how external forces often contributed to the
quest for independence.
Despite overall increased levels of income and wealth in the United States during the
past four decades, poverty continues to be a societal issue. According to your textbook,
what are two key theories that developed in the social sciences to identify the roots of
poverty in the United States? How do these two theories differ and what elements might
they share in common? What is meant by poverty as pathology versus poverty as a
structural economic problem? Which theory do you find most convincing for
identifying the root causes of poverty in the United States, and why? Do you think
additional theories are needed to more fully address the underlying causes of poverty in
the country and globally? What do you think is the appropriate role of the government
in addressing the roots of poverty? What do you think is the appropriate role of the
individual in overcoming poverty? Do you think poverty can be eradicated in the
future? Why or why not?
What is human agency and how does it relate to culture and power? Define human
agency and provide examples of how individuals engage in it. Next, discuss how human
agency may be used to challenge various aspects of culture and power, providing a
minimum of two examples for each. What do you believe are some of the implications
of human agency on culture and society in general?
Explain what is meant by the concept of”white privilege.”
The author argues that unlike a number of other academic disciplines, ethnography is
both a social science and an art. Provide at least two concrete examples of how
ethnography is scientific, and two concrete examples of why Guest considers it a
science.
Victor Turner was an influential anthropologist who studied various aspects of religion.
Turner considered religious pilgrimage to be a unique form of religious ritual. What is a
religious pilgrimage? What are three specific examples of religious pilgrimage and
what do they entail? What stages of process do the pilgrimage examples you provided
entail? What purposes do your examples serve a particular religion in general? What
purposes does religious pilgrimage serve for the individual and his or her community?
How has Paul Farmer’s research shown that medical anthropologists can improve the
lives of individuals who are suffering from illnesses? What specifically did he learn
about the infrastructure, daily routines, and beliefs about illness that helped him treat
illness and combat
critical issues such as infant mortality? What did he find was the best way to treat
tuberculosis?
Compare Nancy Scheper-Hughes’ early ethnographic fieldwork in Alto do Cruzeiro
with her current research and work with Organs Watch. How has globalization affected
her fieldwork?
Describe the relationship between solar radiation, vitamin D, and skin color as
examples of adaptation and natural selection.
According to your textbook, preserving endangered languages is an important goal of
linguistic anthropologists. Discuss the potentially ambiguous role that information
technology and the digital divide may play in language preservation. Using examples
from the text, assess the potential benefits that may accrue as members of
less-prominent languages gain access to community technology and cross over the
“digital divide.” Consider how the tendency of prominent languages to crowd out
speakers of lesser-spoken languages may be accelerated with increased cultural contact
and exposure to global languages. How is the digital divide related to issues of language
extinction?
Pick an example of American art (either pop or fine art) or media and subject it to an
anthropological analysis. In what context does it occur? Who is the intended audience?
How does it intersect with race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, politics, or economics?
Consider what specific questions you would want to answer if you were to conduct an
ethnographic study of this art or media form. How would you structure your research?
French sociologist Emile Durkheim argued that religion, particularly religious ritual,
serves a crucial role in combating one’s sense of anomie and in addressing larger social
dynamics of alienation and dislocation. How did Durkheim define anomie and what is a
specific example of it in the world today? How does religious ritual help combat
anomie? How does religious ritual address larger social dynamics of alienation and
dislocation? How did these notions argued by Durkheim influence the anthropological
approach to the study of religion?