Anthropology Exam 1

How many chapters does this book have?

14

consent forms

A consent form is something that researchers use to explain their research to participants, and to get their signed, legal agreement (consent) to be a part of the study.

Ethnography

A description of a culture.

field courses

A field course is a structured class that involves spending time away from one's college or university, usually to conduct research. Cultural anthropology (or ethnographic) field courses typically involve travel to another culture, although some are done closer to home. They give students the opportunity to learn about another culture or community while also learning and practicing basic research methods.

proposal

A formal proposal involves a detailed description of your proposed research, along with budgets, methods, and expected outcomes. Every funding organization has its own guidelines for proposals, as well as deadlines and procedures for submission. Researchers in academic settings, like faculty and students, typically work with someone at their university of college to prepare and submit research proposals.

heterogeneous

A heterogeneous society is one in which there is considerable variation in terms of occupation, attitudes, and behaviors, as well as social status and other things. By contrast, a homogeneous society is one in which there is little room for individual differences.

Diffusionism

A model to explain how cultural features "diffuse" across boundaries from one to another, through interaction with or assimilation of other cultures. A good way to explain how certain things, like agricultural crops, technologies, or artistic styles, spread from their origins to cover huge regions. Can also be used to explain how alien visitors gave humans their technologies.

fieldwork site

A place where anthropologists do research; not a laboratory but an actual community or other location where people live and interact naturally.

Proto-Indo-European

A reconstructed language (meaning it had died out or evolved before historical times) thought to have been spoken some 5,000-7,000 years ago by a group based in Eastern Europe. It is considered by many to be the progenitor (ancestor) language for many historical and modern languages, from Latin and Greek to Hindi, Sanskrit, Urdu, Welsh, Russian, German, French, and many other languages across Europe and Asia.

Historical Particularism

A school of thought advocated by Franz Boas and his disciples, it says that every culture is unique and developed according to its own history and experiences. Good for explaining differences; not great for explaining how different cultures developed similar solutions.

symbols

A symbol is basically anything that can hold a meaning that is not immediately obvious, and which must be learned

Prescient

Able to predict the future with accuracy.

Subfield

Academic "subfields" are basically branches of a discipline that allow for more specialization while respecting the traditional connections or roots of that discipline. Anthropology is often said to have four subfields, which trace back to the discipline's origins in the 19th century.

Agriculture

Agriculture is the general term for food production based on the growing of plants. Within this broad category, anthropologists distinguish different activities, such as horticulture (which tends to use fewer inputs) and specific systems, such as swidden (aka "slash and burn") cultivation.

culture shock

All of this can lead to profound feelings of loneliness, alienation, confusion, and longing for home

esoteric

An esoteric subject is one that is understood or appreciated by a small number of people with highly specialized knowledge and interests.

An anthropologist's description of a culture is called

An ethnography.

innovation

An innovation is a new idea, especially one that changes a culture. The wheel, electricity, and written language were all important innovations for humans. Among many others.

The sum total of knowledge that is held in such sites, whether excavated or not, is known as the...

Archaeological record

Which of the following archaeological terms refers to the actual, physical objects found while doing an excavation?

Artifacts

assimilation

Assimilation is when one culture basically dominates and overpowers another, bringing their ideas and technology even if unwanted. Think The Borg on Star Trek: "You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile."

Which of the following statements is true?

Attending a professional conference can be very affordable, especially if it is nearby.

lifeways

Basically a synonym for culture, this is a somewhat dated term for the traditions and practices that define how a particular group of people live their lives. We might also say "ways of life" or "folkways," although the latter suggests an emphasis on traditions. The term "worldviews" is also used, although this refers more specifically to how people see or understand the world, not necessarily to their practices and traditions.

Evolutionism

Basically an application of Darwin's theory of evolution applied to culture, this theory suggests that human society has evolved over time to adapt to certain environments and meet human needs. Has not really been rejected, although we no longer believe that all human societies are evolving in the same way (i.e., from savagery to barbarism to civilization). Reemerged in the decades after WWII in modernization and development theory, albeit with caveats

This is the local name for the thin, hand-rolled cigarettes smoked in northern India

Bidis

Which of the following anthropologists did extensive fieldwork while living in the Trobriand Islands during World War I?

Bronislaw Malinowski

collaborative

Collaborative research involves working in partnership with a community or other entity to conduct research. Often this involves considerable communication, planning, and coordination, as well as the sharing of benefits and responsibilities.

colonialism

Colonialism refers to the policies, actions, and underlying beliefs and assumptions that allowed "developed" nations from Europe and elsewhere to invade and occupy large parts of the world, especially Africa, Asia and the Americas.

What is Anthropology?

Comes from two Greek words. Is the study of humans.

This theory helps explain how people manage shared (as opposed to privately held) resources successfully.

Common Property Theory

Components model of culture

used by Franz Boas, Margaret Mead and other early anthropologists as they set about their work to explore and describe cultures around the world

ideal culture

what most people in a society think that their culture is—or should be

real culture

while real culture is what it actually is, or might look like to an outsider

generalists

who knew a little about a lot of different topics within the field

Which of the following terms refers to how anthropology tries to paint a complete picture of humans?

Cultural relativism

Who is the father of anthropology?

Franz Boas

symbols

Symbols can be anything from representative art (like an upraised hand to indicate "Stop") to funny emojis to the letters and words on this page. Flags, colors, traffic lights, clothing, hand signals, musical notes, a buzzing phone, and just about anything else can serve as a symbol, if it conveys a meaning to those who see, hear, smell or feel it

Boas was interested in collecting material artifacts for this popular New York City museum.

The American Museum of Natural History

According to my chapter, this non-governmental organization has plenty of advice to offer its Volunteers on dealing with culture shock and reverse culture shock.

The Peace Corps

Cognitive dissonance

The ability to hold two apparently contradictory views at the same time

Functionalism

The basic idea here is that cultural features all "function" in some way to help humans survive and thrive in different environments. There have been many variations of this theory, and they extend beyond technology to religion, kinship and virtually all aspects of culture.

hegemony

The imposition of one's cultural ideas and values upon another society, either intentionally or as a result of the huge influence that a dominant culture (like the US) has on others.

omniscient

The omniscient point of view in literature is when the author appears to have complete knowledge of what is happening in a story, including what the characters are thinking and feeling. In ethnographic terms, it suggests a writer who assumes that they have complete knowledge and understanding about a particular culture.

The "Elgin Marbles" are named after:

The person who "collected" them.

Ethnolinguistics

The relation between language and culture.

Sociolinguistics

The relation between language and society

Paleoanthropology

The study of ancient fossilized human remains.

Zooarchaeology

The study of animal remains ans their processing.

Bioarchaeology

The study of human remains

Primatology

The study of our closest primate relatives, such as chimpanzees and apes

Paleoethnobotany

The study of plant remains found at human sites.

Lithics

The study of stone tools and their manufacture.

Appropriation

The term "appropriation" refers to the taking of something from its culture of origin to be used in another culture. While it can refer to material artifacts, including those found in archaeological sites, it can also refer to a piece of knowledge or other aspect of "intangible cultural heritage."

Collaboration

The term "collaboration" refers to the idea of working with others to achieve one's objectives. In terms of anthropological research, there has been a general shift away from researchers "going it alone" and toward working with others, especially community members. It is a controversial and complex subject that bears further exploration.

Liquid Culture

The term "liquid culture" actually refers to a technique for propagating mushrooms!

Hominid

The term hominid refers to species that are related to modern humans, including ancient human ancestors and offshoots from our family tree, as well as some modern primates.

Which of the following was NOT listed as one of the three "Components of Culture" above? The things that humans make. The things that humans think. The things that humans do. The things that humans watch on TV.

The things humans watch on tv

Radiometric

The use of various radioactive elements in ancient materials, including fossils, to estimate their age.

Rorschach Tests

These are the well-known ink blots on paper that psychologists have been using since the 1920s to gauge someone's personality and emotions. In the test, the subject looks at an abstract figure created randomly, and tells the psychologist what they "see" in it. Some anthropologists, including Margaret Mead, used such tests in the mid-1900s when there was an interest in "culture and personality."

Anthropologists practice cultural relativism:

They view other cultures according to their own norms and values, and try to understand why other people do things the way they do.

Participant-observation

This is the approach that perhaps best distinguishes cultural anthropology from other fields. It involves living among a group of people outside of your own culture, and studying their lifeways while also participating in their society to the extent possible.

Eurocentric

This term refers to a way of thinking that places European culture and history at the center of world politics and human development. It has been the predominant worldview in Europe and the Americas for centuries, and helped justify the colonization of much of the world's territories and peoples from the 15th through the 20th centuries.

Decolonization

This term refers to the process of dismantling the "colonial" and "post-colonial" structures that have affected relations between the powerful and less-powerful over many centuries. With regard to anthropology, it means reducing (and sometimes reversing) the power imbalance that has often existed between researchers and their "subjects," both as individuals and communities.

Orientalism

This term was coined by the scholar Edward Said (pronounced "sigh-EED") to describe his belief that western culture has long portrayed eastern cultures, or "the Orient," as exotic, backwards, and uncivilized. The concept has since been used to describe our views toward non-western cultures in general, and more recently, our views about Islamic culture in the wake of extremist jihadist terrorism.

Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

This theory, created by two linguistic anthropologists, suggests that peoples' perception of the world is largely influenced by the language they speak, and specifically the words they have to describe it. If you believe that "time flies like an arrow," for example, then you tend to see it as linear, whereas if you believe that time is "like water for fish" (James Baldwin), then you see it as something without form or limits. If your language doesn't have words for arrow or fish, I guess you are out of luck!

Middens

Trash heaps

unilineal evolution

Unilineal evolution is the idea that all human societies change or evolve along a pretty standard path, from simple or "savage" societies to complex or "civilized" ones. This was a popular idea of early (19th century) anthropologists, whose ideas were heavily influenced by Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, as well as by their own culture's ideas of superiority.

Anthropology uses the comparative method:

We do not rely on just one human society, but look at many to draw general conclusions.

Experimental archaeologists

Work with stone and other materials to see how tools were actually made.

A story told and retold by a culture to explain where they originally came from, I mean a long time ago, is called this:

a creation myth

sociobiology

a theory that says that nature, rather than culture, is the primary basis for human behavior

moral relativism

a way to describe what happens when you take tolerance too far, and allow people to do anything they want as long as it is considered a part of their culture or one of their traditions

while learning another culture (and becoming adapted to it) as an adult is called

acculturation

ethnographies

descriptions of culture

The process of learning one's culture while growing up in it is called

enculturation

The concept of racial superiority that included the notion of selective breeding to "weed out" inferior genetic stock is called:

eugenics

Which of the following is NOT a type of interview an anthropologist would typically conduct in the field?

exit interview

internal

including innovation and invention

This term refers to things like song, dance and stories that cannot be collected in physical form.

intangible cultural heritage

cultural appropriation

involves taking someone else's culture to use for your own purposes

ethnocide

justification for the attempted destruction of a particular culture

all culture is shared

meaning that a single person cannot have their own culture.

Culture can be commoditized

meaning that it can have an economic value in a market economy.

maladaptive

meaning that it can sometimes be destructive and unsustainable.

Artifacts

objects created by and used by humans (pottery, stone tools, etc.)

This term was used by Thomas Kuhn in his book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, and refers to overarching theoretical constructs that are difficult to change.

paradigms

Which of the following terms refers to the process of explaining a research project to participants, and getting their formal agreement to take part?

peer review

What are the four sub fields of anthropology?

physical (or biological) anthropology; archaeology; anthropological linguistics; and cultural anthropology

The term used to describe the act of recording cultures that are seen as "dying out" is:

salvage anthropology

key informant

someone whose extensive knowledge of local culture, and willingness to share that with an outsider, makes them an ideal person to interview, sometimes repeatedly and on multiple topics

Creation myths

stories that are told by cultures to explain how their ancestors came to arrive on this planet. They cannot be disputed, because they are not based on scientific evidence, but rather on theological beliefs.

external

such as diffusion and assimilation

genocide

the attempt to destroy and eradicate an entire people

cultural relativism

the idea that all behavior is a product of culture, and should be judged only with respect to the value system in which it resides

Ecofacts

Plant remains, charcoal, etc.

Polygamous

Polygamy is the practice of having more than one wife (polygyny) or husband (polyandry). While illegal in the United States, it is found in many societies around the world.

Which of the following was Edward Curtis NOT really interested in photographing?

Examples of how modern life had already influenced Native Americans.

fatalism

Fatalism is the idea that one's fate or destiny is predetermined, a belief that can lead to inaction (in some cases) but that can also empower one to live without fear of negative consequences. Some say this concept is found in Hindu teachings; others dispute this.

Ethnology

In American anthropology, the term "ethnology" generally refers to the comparative study of cultures, such as looking at marriage across many societies. In European anthropology, especially the French tradition, it is often used as a synonym for cultural anthropology.

Stratification

In geology, stratification is the process by which layers of sediment are laid down over time, eventually becoming layers of rocks through great heat and pressure.

invention

Inventions are things that humans create to solve a particular problem, but usually by combining ideas that are already in place. For example, the smart phone combined various innovations into a handheld device that included a telephone, internet access, a camera and other technologies.

Bio Anthropology (physical anthropology)

Involves the study of Homo sapiens and related primate species as biological organisms.

Anthropology is holistic:

It looks at both biological and cultural aspects of human beings, and various features of their societies.

Anthropologists do fieldwork:

It relies on data collected from human populations, past or present, and their primate relations.

What is the anthropological term for the systems that define what we call different members of our extended family?

Kinship Terminology System

According to Derek Freeman, this anthropologist's research on teenage sexuality in American Samoa was flawed in part by the willingness of her teenaged informants to make up stories.

Margaret Mead

Carbon Dating

Measured the levels of radioactive carbon-14 in organic matter. Can tell scientists when a living thing stopped living.

According to a major Pew survey of religion, which of the following statements is true?

Most Americans either reject evolution, or believe that it was directed by God's hand.

The piece of federal legislation that has probably most affected the way American archaeologists work goes by this acronym.

NAGPRA

Many American anthropologists of the early 20th century believed that this group was destined for cultural assimilation, hence their interest in documenting their traditional culture.

Native Americans, especially in the West.

Which of these subspecialties within physical anthropology is concerned with ancient human ancestors?

Paleoanthropology

participatory research

Participatory research is a form of collaboration where community members are actively involved in the research process. There are many levels of participation, from hiring local residents as assistants, to having local co-authors and data analysts, to having the community or organization act as the project coordinator.

Which of the following is NOT one of the things you must do if you receive funding for anthropological research?

Provide a kickback of 10-20% to the funding organization.

Cultural Resource Management (CRM)

Refers to archaeology done at sites affected by state or federal construction projects.

Many universities require that professors and other researchers prepare these before going into the field, as a way of showing that they know how to make their experience safer.

Risk Management Plan

Features

Roads, hearths, etc.

Margaret Mead used these psychological tests on some informants to help her better understand the "personality" of different cultural types, including the Arapesh of New Guinea.

Rorschach Test

Salvage Anthropology

Salvage anthropology, and the related term salvage ethnography, are used to describe the practice of recording or collecting cultural information and material objects from societies that are seen as disappearing or dying out. The terms are often used pejoratively by those who criticize early anthropologists who were more focused on collecting objects than actually protecting cultures from extinction.

Anthropologists of change

Scholars prepared to document cultural change from an anthropological perspective, and also to act as agents of change in an ethical and deliberate manner.

Sediments

Sediments are silt, sand, rocks and other geologic materials that are laid down by wind, water or other processes (like landslides) and cover some part of the earth's surface (including lake, river or ocean bottoms). Over time these deposits tend to build up in layers, with younger layers over older ones; over millions of years these can turn to rock formations like sandstone.

Structuralism

Seeks to explain culture by revealing the underlying structural relationships of everything from kinship (families) to myths to the way the human mind works.

Contract archaeologists

Self employed archeologists.

The places that they excavate are called...

Sites

Some people believe that the work of Napoleon Chagnon might have been biased by his firm belief in this theory, which says that human behavior is largely guided by the laws of evolution.

Sociobiology

Protégés

Someone who is mentored and influenced by an older and more experienced individual, such as a professor, parent, coach or work supervisor. In the case of Boas, he not only supervised many anthropology graduate students at Columbia; he also served as a mentor to younger colleagues and others in the field.

Flintknappers

Stone tool makers.

Paleoclimatologists

Study ancient climates.

Prehistoric archaeologists

Study the remains of past cultures that generally do not have written records.

Historical archaeologists

Study the remains of places that have historical records.

Pastoralism

Pastoralism is the keeping of animals for food production and other purposes. This includes herding livestock, keeping small animals like chickens, and rarer activities like reindeer herding. It is found across the globe, although many traditional systems are in decline due to loss of land, closing of borders, and other forces.

diffusion

Diffusion is the process by which one culture is influenced by another, often voluntarily such as through trade and exchange. Ideas "diffuse" across the boundaries of cultures.

Excavation

Digging up, but carefully and with detailed documentation

epistemological

Epistemology refers to "the theory of knowledge, especially with regard to its methods, validity, and scope," according to the Oxford English Dictionary.

Sir James George Frazer's multi-volume work "The Golden Bough" is an example of the comparative study of cultural features, often called this:

Ethnology

Eugenics

Eugenics was a pseudoscientific field of study that espoused using methods such as selective breeding and forced sterilization to "improve the stock" of the human race. It was popular among some politicians in the early 1900s, and influenced the policies of Nazi Germany that led to the Holocaust.

Ethnocentric

Evaluating other peoples and cultures according to the standards of one's own culture.

Fieldwork

Fieldwork is the general term used by anthropologists to describe their research, which is done "in the field" or at "fieldwork sites" around the world.

Foraging

Foraging is a subsistence strategy that involves harvesting plants and animals from the natural environment, with little external inputs. Commonly known as "hunting and gathering," it can also include fishing and other activities. It was the way all humans fed themselves at one time, although now there are few strictly foraging groups on earth, mostly in ecologically marginal areas.

peer review process

Peer review is a process used by academic journals, as well as by some book publishers and conferences, to make sure that submitted work lives up to professional and ethical standards in the field. It is typically "blind," meaning that the reviewers do not know who the author(s) of the work is, so they are not biased in rendering their opinion.

The group of Inuit that Franz Boas had living in New York City were from this island...

Greenland

Forensic anthropology

Help identify human remains. Law enforcement