ANT 252 Exam Study Guide
How many biological sexes did Anne Fausto-Sterling's analysis identify?
5
In Sonja Patten's article "Malawi vs. The World Bank" what does Patten argue led to widespread famine and food insecurity in Malawi
A structural adjustment program (SAP) of economic policies and proscriptions forced on Malawi by the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.
In spite of a new health center program that made free condoms available to students anonymously, the rates of sexually transmitted infections did not go down at Hampshire University. A confidential study revealed that students were informed about safe sex and that they reported using condoms for sex. Assuming the students are telling the truth, what is a possible explanation for the continued rate of infection?
Students' conception of what "having sex" means is different from that of the health center employees.
In Landers and Fine's study, how did the game of coed T-ball reinforce gender ideals among children?
a. Boys typically received more playing time than girls.
Which of the following is not one of the four features of language ideologies;
a. Language ideologies almost always focus on questions of race and racism.
What does Benjamin Whorf's research with the Hopi, a Native American group in the southwestern United States, suggest about language?
a. Language shapes different ways of thinking.
Why are cross-cultural studies important for our understanding of sex and gender?
a. They demonstrate that biology alone cannot predict the roles men and women play in a given culture.
What do biological anthropologists call the continuum of human variation that occurs in a particular geographic space?
a. a cline
Many early anthropologists like Bronislaw Malinowski (1884-1942) drew from biology to support their work. They believed that society, like the human body, was composed of interconnected parts, with each part havinga.
a. a particular function
In South Africa, the Bafokeng were able to eventually get much of their land back from the white settlers who had taken it through the formation of the Royal Bafokeng Nation, Inc. This effort has subsequently flourished. This a good example of
a. an ethno-corporation
Wallerstein's world systems theory divides the nations of the world into
a. core, periphery, and semiperiphery.
When the French government banned the use of religious symbols in schools in 2004, it focused not merely on people's individual beliefs, but also sought to shape national society by creating new rules within an established
a. cultural institution.
Although culture takes many forms worldwide, we can recognize shared characteristics of culture as a concept. Which of the following statements is true of culture?
a. culture is a system
What do anthropologists call the belief that one's own culture or way of life is normal and natural and the practices of other people are abnormal and unnatural?
a. ethnocentrism
Which of these provides archaeological evidence for the origins of human language?
a. fossilized brain casts of Neandertals that show the anatomical features for speech
Your parents have never charged you for groceries and labor for all the meals you consumed at home at their expense. This is an example of
a. generalized reciprocity
Franz Boas (1858-1942) rejected unilineal cultural evolution, instead suggesting that different cultures arise as the result of very different causes, and will vary widely. What do we call his approach?
a. historical particularism
The fact that human males may weigh only slightly more than human females underscores how sexual dimorphism is a
a. minor consideration in assessing differences between human males and females.
In an age of intensifying globalization, ethnographic research continues to provide a deep understanding of informants' everyday lives and cultures, due in large part to the continued use of what specific part of the anthropologist's tool kit?
a. participant observation
In human history, culture has played an important role in the physical evolution of the human body. Which example BEST illustrates this?
a. the development of stone tools
Nineteenth-century references to "heterosexuality"
a. treated it as a perversion because of its association with sex for pleasure.
What concept, inspired by the work of Charles Darwin, proposes that the diversity of human cultures represent different stages of development, from simple to complex?
a. unilineal cultural evolution
Although some kinship relationships are established through biology or common descent, others are established through marriage. What do anthropologists call relationships established through marriage and/or alliance?
affinal
During the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011, regular citizens across Middle Eastern countries took to the streets to protest policies and treatment by government officials. These public protests were an example of the exercise of which type of power?
agency
What is the necessary starting point for all anthropologists conducting fieldwork?
answer is not Nancy Scheper-Hughes's notion of volunteerism and activism
A common stereotype in the United States suggests that women never seem to stop talking. What research finding about men seems to contradict this stereotype?
answer is not a. Men adopt linguistic strategies that focus on letting women participate in conversation.
According to the film Race: the Power of an Illusion, what factor did not contribute to the whitening of Eastern and Southern European immigrants after WWII:
answer is not b. The GI Bill
Horace Minor wrote "Body Ritual among the Nacirema" (1956) in order to
answer is not c. describe the exotic rituals of distant tribes.
Self-help books, such as Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, that suggest that men and women are essentially different are examples of the
answer is not d. the dominance model
Fieldwork is considered a scientific approach to understanding human societies. However, because it involves adaptation, intuition, and interpretation, it is also considered
answer is not qualitative
The idea that difference in how men and women communicate is due to gender-based inequalities in the larger society is called
answer is not the difference model.
What do decisions about who does household chores, works outside the home, and raises children indicate about working-class men in Mexico?
b. Conceptions of machismo and masculinity in Mexico are not rigid.
Identify the statement that best describes anthropology.
b. Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century colonialism gave rise to the discipline.
What argument did Keynes advance about how capitalism works best?
b. Government must rein in the excesses of capitalism and ensure the basic welfare of all citizens.
Which of the following statements about the mati of Suriname is correct?
b. Mati regard sexuality as a flexible behavior rather than a fixed identity.
Pierre Bourdieu investigated the relationship between class, culture, and power by studying schools in France with the expectation of finding that social mobility was the result of meritocracy. What did he discover instead?
b. Social relations were reproduced across generations.
What is the preferred term for individuals of an alternate gender in some Native American cultures?
b. Two-Spirit
What is the best definition of economy?
b. a cultural adaptation that enables a group of humans to use land, resources, and labor to satisfy their needs
Clifford Geertz urged anthropologists to explore culture primarily as
b. a symbolic system
Scholars have studied nonhuman primates to draw conclusions about the origins of human language because they seem capable of learning how to
b. communicate through sign language.
Contemporary anthropologists study sexuality in order to
b. gain a better understanding of the diverse expressions of sexuality worldwide.
Anthropology developed during an intense period of globalization in the nineteenth century. What was one of the major characteristics of that period that drove this development?
b. innovations in transportation technology
Despite the initial racist attitudes directed toward Irish, Jewish, and Italian immigrants, these groups eventually "became white" through
b. intermarriage and upward mobility.
What are the two types of descent groups distinguished by anthropologists?
b. lineages and clans
According to Chrys Ingraham, the images of "white weddings" perpetuated in the media and children's toys
b. make the patterns of heterosexuality seem natural and unchanging rather than cultural.
Elite Japanese corporations often organize evenings at hostess clubs for their employees where female hostesses serve drinks, and flirt with and entertain these professionals. Anthropologist Anne Allison analyzed the cultural meaning of these practices. Which of the following are social practices that occur within Japanese hostess clubs?
b. male bonding
According to Jared Diamond, why do humans in the United States seem to engage in sexual activity?
b. mostly for fun
Cultural anthropologists often spend a great deal of time in the communities in which they conduct research, asking questions as people work, celebrate, dance, or play games. What is the term used for this process?
b. participant observation
Henry Ford is known for the Model T as well as "Fordism." A central tenet of Fordism was that workers
b. should earn higher wages and work shorter hours, creating a new pool of consumers with the income and leisure to purchase a car.
A man from Cuba and a man from Peru both move to the United States. Although they did not identify with one another while living in their countries of origin, they both come to identify themselves as members of the same group ("Hispanic") within the United States. This example illustrates
b. situational negotiation of identity
The idea that different languages shape different ways of thinking and acting is called
b. the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis.
Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937) described two aspects of power. One was material power. How did Gramsci describe the other aspect of power?
b. the ability to create consent and agreement
The development of today's consumer culture requires that people continually desire and purchase new goods and services. This contrasts with the frugality and modesty of the so-called "Protestant ethic" of the past and represents a shift in cultural values. What bears the MOST responsibility for this shift?
b. the advertising and financial services industries
In New York, the annual India Day Parade excluded the South Asian Lesbian and Gay Alliance (SALGA) for 15 years before allowing the group to participate. This exclusion happened despite the existence of the hijra, a third gender that is legally recognized in India. In considering the process of assimilation, the exclusion of SALGA might be understood as a
b. type of boundary marker
In the late 1400s, China led the world in the production of goods such as silk, porcelain, tea, fruit, drugs, cotton, and weapons, all of which Europeans desired. However, Europe produced few products that the Chinese wanted. Why did this encourage the European conquest and plunder of the Americas?
c. Due to the resulting trade deficit, European nations needed precious metals to pay for Chinese goods.
Who extended their concept of "cultural relativism" to language?
c. Franz Boas
The parents of a young American couple expect them to have a traditional wedding, but the bride wants a rainbow-colored dress and the groom wants a close female friend to be his "best man." What does this reveal about culture?
c. It can be contested by people living within a particular cultural setting.
Franz Boas is credited with developing the concept of cultural relativism. What made cultural relativism radical at that time?
c. It seeks to understand each culture on its own unique merits.
How did Annette Weiner, a feminist anthropologist, challenge preexisting theories in anthropology?
c. She conducted a restudy of the Trobriand Islands and drew new conclusions about gender roles.
What model of kinship does the idea that a family consists of a mother, a father, and their children reflect?
c. a Euro-American ideal
In 2008, a little more than 50 percent of live births in the United States were male, and the rest were designated as female. Recent medical studies suggest that of all live births, many individuals do not fit neatly into either biological category. What is the current estimate of the percentage of such births?
c. almost 2%
Archaeology, the study of cultures in the human past, focuses on
c. any human material remains.
What is the primary difference between assimilation and multiculturalism?
c. assimilation involves a loss of ethnicity identity.
In the United States, people drive on the right side of the road, whereas in Great Britain people drive on the left. This is an example of a difference in
c. cultural norms.
Maria is a cultural anthropologist who wants to better understand the lives of women in coffee farming communities in Brazil. What primary research strategy will she likely use to gain a holistic perspective in order to accurately answer her research questions?
c. firsthand ethnographic fieldwork
What groups could anthropologists study to learn more about what it means to be transgender in different geographical regions?
c. hijras and Two-Spirits
What might an anthropologist who is interested in kinesics study?
c. how body language varies across cultures
Despite their often obvious ethnic, socioeconomic, occupational, and religious differences, and the fact that most will never meet each other, the majority of people in the United States see themselves as members of a large community called "America." What concept does this demonstrate?
c. imagined community
In the United States it is illegal as well as socially frowned upon to marry certain relatives. This is an example of a society that practices
c. kindred exogamy
"I just love it when that happens," said Bob sadly, shaking his head slowly; however, this morning, he said the exact same words in a happy tone, while clapping his hands excitedly. What terms would a linguist use to describe these nonverbal elements of communication that affect the meaning of the words he said?
c. kinesics and paralanguage
The beliefs that someone with a southern accent is unsophisticated and a British accent is refined are examples of
c. language ideology
What idea introduced by Bronislaw Malinowski is fundamental to all research conducted by contemporary cultural anthropologists?
c. participant observation
Since the 1960s, Western medicine has attempted to "manage" children born with ambiguous genitalia. This has primarily consisted of what treatment regimen?
c. performing genital reconstruction surgery and providing hormone therapy
Neoliberalism is associated with
c. selling public services like water and public transportation to for-profit companies.
Imagine that you decide to study your workplace as an anthropologist. In your final analysis, you describe the owner and founder as "the brain" of the organization, the manager as the "heart and lungs," and the employees as "the muscular system." You note that each of these "parts of the body" has to do its job and if not, it must be repaired or replaced for the business to keep working smoothly. Your anthropological perspective is BEST described as
c. structural functionalism.
What do scientists call the independent microorganisms (comprising about 90 percent of our 100 trillion cells) in the human body?
c. the human microbiome
Both horticulture and agriculture use plants as a source of food. What is the key difference between them?
c. the level of intensity of the process
The nineteenth-century theory of unilineal cultural evolution held that, of all the world's cultures, Western cultures were the most
civilized
What do anthropologists call descent groups based on a claim to a founding ancestor but lacking genealogical documentation?
clans
Among Malay villagers on the island of Langkawi, kinship is not only given at birth, but also acquire through:
co-residence and co-feeding.
Contemporary worldwide racism, and the notion of race itself, are historically rooted in which practice?
colonialism
The practice by which states extend political, economic, and military power beyond their own borders over an extended period of time to secure access to raw materials, cheap labor, and markets in other countries or regions is called
colonialism
Ethnology is the process of ________ and can be used to examine activities, trends, and patterns of power across cultures.
comparison
Karl Marx examined social inequality by distinguishing between which two distinct classes of people?
d. bourgeoisie and proletariat
Carmen's parents enroll her in AP Honors French, where the content of the class is more academically demanding than the general French class. They also spend their summer vacation in France and hire a tutor to help Carmen study for the AP Honors French test. Carmen receives high marks and praise from her teachers. What aspect of Pierre Bourdieu's work is exemplified here?
d. cultural capital
In 2017 the U.S. Censuses Bureau reported that full-time female workers earned 80 percent of what their male counterparts earned. The gender pay gap is an example of
d. gender stratification
Bedouin women living on the margins of society in Egypt are often illiterate but maintain rich traditions of oral poetry and song. Anthropologists point out that political and socioeconomic conditions, not a lack of interest in modern life, have shaped Bedouin women's current realities. This explanation is based on a perspective of
d. historical particularism.
The failure of the New York State school system to create an annual school budget that would ensure all students received the same level of funding reflects what aspect of racism?
d. institutional racism
Advances in seafaring technology allowed Europeans in the fifteenth century to travel farther and faster than before, thus seeing more of the diversity of the 'world's people. In response, they created the concept of "race," which divided the world's population into distinct categories and created a lasting and influential
d. mental map of reality.
In Spain, morning lasts from the time people get up until about 2:00 p.m., when they eat the main meal of the day. In the United States, morning lasts from the time people get up until about noon, when they eat lunch. This means that the concept of morning adapts to different
d. mental maps of reality.
What are two key strategies of flexible accumulation?
d. offshoring and outsourcing
Seven million Côte d'Ivoirians earn their living in the cocoa and coffee farming industry. How much of the profits reaped from this industry go to the farmers themselves?
d. only a tiny fraction of the profits
According to legend, the Aztecs wandered across what is today Mexico until they came to an island where an eagle was standing on a cactus with a snake in its mouth. The Aztecs then established their capital city on the island. What concept about ethnicity does this demonstrate?
d. origin myth
Differences in male and female genitals, breast size, hair distribution, height, and pitch of voice are examples of
d. sexual dimorphism
According to Clifford Geertz, when one person winks at another, the symbolic meaning of the wink depends on the situation, the relationship between the people, and their ability to understand what is being communicated. This involves deep cultural knowledge, and to fully understand it, the anthropologist should use a perspective of
d. the interpretivist approach.
Noam Chomsky's theory that language is essentially "hardwired" into the brain, therefore making language an innate capacity of human beings is described by his concept of
d. universal grammar
What do anthropologists call a nonstandard variation of a language?
dialect
Globalization, political instability, and economic changes have led Eritreans to leave Eritrea. Many of them are now spread among many countries (and even continents), but maintain emotional and material ties to their ancestral homeland. What is this an example of?
diaspora
Anthropologists have shown that chimpanzees and other nonhuman primates are able to communicate about things that are not immediately present and events in the past or future. What aspect of human language does this describe?
displacement
Sitting in your anthropology class helps you learn about culture through formal instruction. You can also learn about culture informally through interactions with family, friends, and the media. What is this process called?
enculturation
A group of people who share a sense of historical, cultural, and sometimes ancestral connection and who see themselves as distinct from people in other groups is described as a(n)
ethnicity
Bertram marries someone from outside his cultural group. Which anthropological term BEST describes this situation?
exogamy
Carol Stacks found that poor African American families who lived in the Flats responded to structural poverty and long- term unemployment through:
forming dynamic extended kinship networks with biological and fictive kin.
The expectations of thought and behavior that each culture assigns to people of different sexes is
gender
What comprises all of the inherited genetic factors that provide the framework for an organism's physical form?
genotype
Hayk purchases the most expensive tier membership to the Museum of Modern Art. He developed an appreciation for art when his parents took him to museums as a child. He moves with ease, confidence, and a sense of entitlement through the collections with other well-heeled art enthusiasts during the special members' viewings. How would Pierre Bourdieu describe this young man's attitudes and behaviors with respect to art?
habitus
The Nazi regime used forms of material power such as political coercion and military brute force, but it also created generalized agreement among the German population about the "dangers" of Jews, Roma, and other groups. This type of societal agreement allowed the horrors of the Holocaust to take place and can BEST be described as
hegemony
Which concept refers to anthropology's commitment to looking at the full scope of human diversity and experience, including the cultural, biological, historical, and linguistic?
holism
The cultivation of plants for subsistence through nonintensive use of land and labor is
horticulture
President Barack Obama's mother was a white woman from Kansas and his father was a black man from Kenya. What deeply embedded concept of racial division is revealed by the way people regard his race and even debate his birthplace?
hypodescent
Human beings have long been migrants, moving themselves, their material goods, and even ideas from one part of the world to another. What makes this process, which is now called globalization, seem so different today than in the past?
intensification
Which of the following terms is defined as the system of meaning and power that cultures create to determine who is related to whom and to define their mutual expectations, rights, and responsibilities?
kinship
What is considered the most distinctive feature of being human?
language
Prefixes such as "pre-," "post-," or "non-" are examples of
morphemes
Ten-year-old Davi is getting dressed to go to a wedding at a synagogue. When his parents see that he's wearing jeans and a T-shirt, they tell him that he needs to wear a suit instead. What are Davi's parents teaching him?
norms
In the 1930s, Evans-Pritchard found that the Nuer were
patrilineal and exogamous
Jade is an anthropologist who studies the differences in behavior and language use of male and female political candidates. She observes their physical demeanor and the kinds of language they implement in speeches and debates. What aspect of gender is Jade studying?
performance
We can understand the observable differences in body ratios—height versus width—that anthropologists have documented as a matter of ________, or the way genes are expressed in an organism's physical form.
phenotype
The words "day" and "pay" might sound like the same word to a nonnative speaker of English, but they have very different meanings. A linguist would identify the d and p sounds as different
phonemes
Which of the following types of marriage specifically involves the marital union of one man to two or more women?
polygyny
Which of the following is defined as the ability or potential to bring about change through action or influence?
power
The reputation, influence, and deference bestowed on certain people because of their membership in certain groups is
prestige
What is the name for the flawed system of classification, with no biological basis, that uses certain physical characteristics to divide the human population into supposedly discrete groups?
race
In the United States, interracial marriage is no longer illegal; however, data on marriage patterns suggests that Americans continue to practice
racial endogamy
People from the Middle East have been considered "white" in the United States for some time, but since the terrorist attacks on September 11, anyone with brown skin who seems foreign is now considered "different" and possibly an enemy. What is this the result of?
racialization
The process of categorizing, differentiating, and attributing a particular racial character to a person or group of people, is referred to as what?
racialization
The complex range of desires, beliefs, and behaviors that are related to erotic physical contact and the cultural arena within which people debate about what kinds are right, appropriate, and natural is termed
sexuality
The use of the gender-neutral third-person singular pronoun "they," instead of "he" or "she," in specific social contexts would be most likely studied by a(n)
sociolinguist
What type of anthropologist would study the miscommunications between men and women in a North American corporation that resulted from the different ways in which they used language?
sociolinguist
There is evidence that minority residents of Anytown have less access to resources such as strong schools, libraries, and recreational centers than their majority counterparts. This is an example of
stratification
What do anthropologists call the uneven distribution of resources and privileges, often along lines of gender, racial or ethnic group, class, age, family, religion, sexuality, or legal status?
stratification
Imagine that you are driving in Taiwan. You arrive at a red, eight-sided sign. Even though you may not understand what is written on the sign, you know that it is telling you to stop. The sign itself is an example of a cultural
symbol
Which of the following is one of the four elements of culture that an anthropologist considers when attempting to understand its complex workings?
symbols
What is a primary component of the so-called "fag discourse" in C. J. Pascoe's study of a north-central California high school?
the enforcement of masculinity
What kind of descent do both matrilineal and patrilineal descent groups reflect?
unilineal