Anthropology 101 2002 CSN Essentials of Cultural Anthropology Chapter 3
Why did anthropologist Horace Miner write "Body Ritual among the Nacirema" (1956)?
To make readers see their own culture as strange and exotic
Identify whether or not these are actions anthropologists must take in order to ensure the ethical treatment of study participants.
Action Taken by Anthropologists change names and other identifying details to ensure anonymity receive informed consent from participants adhere to federal and institutional regulations pertaining to the study of human subjects Not an Action Taken by Anthropologists keep secret certain parts of the study so participants aren't alarmed
Identify whether or not these actions are taken by cultural anthropologists during and after ethnographic fieldwork.
Action Taken by Cultural Anthropologists live with a community for an extended period of time take careful notes, recordings, and photographs look beyond the everyday to uncover power systems Not an Action Taken by Cultural Anthropologists return home with a similar perspective as when they left
Identify whether or not the following are systems of power and meaning that anthropologists study through intensive fieldwork and the observation of people's everyday lives.
Anthropologists Study gender and sexuality religious racial and ethnic socioeconomic and political Anthropologists Do Not Study financial markets
In his classic ethnography titled -, Bronislaw Malinowski analyzed - as a system of exchange in islands in the Pacific Ocean. In the book, Malinowski also provided guidelines for anthropologists conducting fieldwork, an approach that today is still called -.
Argonauts of the Western Pacific Kula Ring Participant observation
Identify whether or not these activities define engaged anthropology.
Defines Engaged Anthropology advocacy and activism with local communities revealing and critiquing systems of power and inequality Does Not Define Engaged Anthropology using participant observation to understand people's daily lives producing unbiased, objective studies
Place the definitions of the two data-gathering approaches on the correct area in the diagram. Then place the term "anthropologist" where it fits. Does the anthropologist practice emic or etic forms of data collection?
EMIC-understanding a community on its own terms Both- anthropologist ETIC- viewing a community as an outsider
Identify whether or not these are examples of the use of polyvocality in ethnographic research and writing.
Example of Polyvocality giving a key informant a draft of the manuscript to review key informants designing research surveys and interview questions Not an Example of Polyvocality an anthropologist's observations on the minutiae of daily life an anthropologist's sketched map of the built environment
For an anthropologist, a zero is a statistically unimportant number.
False
What is the difference between kinship analysis and social network analysis?
Kinship analysis looks at marriage and family ties, while social network analysis examines relationships throughout the community.
In the book -, anthropologist - analyzes a community of elderly Jewish immigrants in southern California and reflects on her own position as a Jewish woman. This shift from studying - to studying the self was coined as -by Victor Turner.
Number Our Days\ Barbara Myerhoff the "other" "being thrice-born" by
In the 1980s, anthropologist Annette Weiner retraced Bronislaw Malinowski's footsteps to conduct a new study of the Trobriand Islanders sixty years later. Which of the following represents her central critique of Malinowski's fieldwork?
Malinowski's work was limited by his lack of critical awareness of his own position in relation to those he studied.
This image depicts the involvement of an anthropologist in the U.S. military's Human Terrain Systems program. Why were some anthropologists angered by the participation of their colleagues in this program?
Many believe this is an unethical weaponizing of anthropological research strategies and knowledge.
Identify whether or not later anthropologists found the following statements problematic about E. E. Evans-Pritchard's study of Sudanese communities during the 1930s, detailed in his ethnography The Nuer (1940).
Problematic of Study He was a British citizen. He adopted a synchronic approach and did not take into account historical context. Not Problematic of Study The Nuer were an isolated society in Africa. He documented the group's social structure and captured intimate details of the community's daily life. The fieldwork took place over eleven months between 1930 and 1936.
Identify whether or not these are reasons why it is important for anthropologists to map the components of a built environment.
Reason it Is Important Human life and culture shape the built environment. The built environment shapes human life and culture. The built environment can illuminate power structures. Not a Reason it Is Important The built environment does not change.
Identify whether or not these are reasons urban ethnographers study the built environment.
Reason to understand the intentional development of human settlements to understand how political and economic choices shape access to schools, parks, sewers, and other public goods Not a Reason to describe industries such as architecture and construction to analyze the 50 percent of humans today who live in a built environment
During the 1960s and 1970s, how was anthropology's role in colonialism viewed, and why?
negatively—for providing information to the military and depicting colonial subjects as unable to govern themselves
Identify whether or not these are fieldwork methods and practices that anthropologists have adopted as a result of globalization.
adopted globalization: -maintaining ongoing relationships between the anthropologist and community -undertaking fieldwork in multiple locations -broadening the scopes of their studies not adopted: -viewing field sites in isolation
Ethnographic writing relies on a variety of techniques and practices. Match each fictional phrase to the technique or practice that it exhibits.
anonymity "I studied a town in Maine that I call Frakerville." polyvocality A father in Frakerville stated, "Where is my town going? Where is my life going?" establishing ethnographic authority "My fieldwork in Frakerville lasted 24 months, and I developed fluency in Spanish in order to include the Spanish-speaking population of the town."
Identify whether or not these are examples of engaged anthropology.
engaged: -Beatrice Medicine's advocacy for the rights of women, children, Native Americans, and LGBT people -Nancy Scheper-Hughes's founding of Organs Watch, which facilitates collaboration between anthropologists, surgeons, journalists, and more on the issue of human organ trafficking not engaged: -E. E. Evans-Pritchard's ethnography of the life of the Sudanese tribe, the Nuer -Christopher Columbus's voyages to the New World, and his accounts of the peoples and cultures he found there
Establishing ethnographic authority is an essential part of the anthropologist's job. Identify whether or not these are examples of a credible way to establish ethnographic authority.
ex: -explain that they spent a long time conducting fieldwork -describe the language skills they acquired not an ex: -claim to have become a full member of the group they studied -describe themselves as the expert who will solve the community's problems
This image depicts two men who have sold their kidneys on the illegal global market, the subject of Nancy Scheper-Hughes's fieldwork about the dynamics of globalization. Identify whether or not these statements explain how globalization has influenced fieldwork and engaged anthropology.
explanation: -Engaged anthropologists often participate in global networks of activists, scholars, and policy makers to address issues. -Time-space compression results in greater flows of people, information, and criminal activity across regions and nations non-explanation: -Ethnographies can no longer focus on groups of people; they focus on issues and dynamics of global humanity. -Traffickers use ethnographies to find new victims
This image depicts two men who have sold their kidneys on the illegal global market, the subject of Nancy Scheper-Hughes's fieldwork about the dynamics of globalization. Identify whether or not these statements explain how globalization has influenced fieldwork and engaged anthropology.
explanation: -Engaged anthropologists often participate in global networks of activists, scholars, and policy makers to address issues. -Time-space compression results in greater flows of people, information, and criminal activity across regions and nations non-explanation: -Ethnographies can no longer focus on groups of people; they focus on issues and dynamics of global humanity. -Traffickers use ethnographies to find new victims.
Identify whether or not the following are factors that advanced the development of anthropology and the practice of fieldwork.
globalization of the late nineteenth century rapid dwindling of native cultures professionalization of data gathering Not a Factor recognition of the absence of any descriptive accounts of other cultures
Place an anthropologist's preparations and strategies when undertaking fieldwork in a foreign area in order, starting with pre-fieldwork preparations.
learn the language, do a literature review, garner local and financial support establish a rapport with key informants and others in the community map human relationships analyze the data
The ethnographic film Mardi Gras: Made in China focuses on how globalization establishes new connections that have profound human effects. Which global connections are described in this film?
mardi gras beads and the chinese sweatshop workers who make them
Match the definitions and examples to the correct type of data that anthropologists collect and use.
qualitative a key informant's life story descriptive data that cannot be measured quantitative the median income of households in study area statistical information that can be measured
Fieldwork is simultaneously a social science and an art form. Match the following anthropological techniques and skills to the category under which they best fall.
social science adherence to defined techniques (participant observation, field notes, interviews, mapping, etc.) art convey their subjects' stories to an audience in meaningful ways intuition
To reach his goal of collecting data and interpreting it well, Franz Boas introduced and practiced the concepts of -, which is the rapid gathering of all available material, and -, or seeing the merits of each culture from that culture's perspective.
salvage ethnography cultural relativism
Ethnographic writing techniques have changed dramatically since Malinowski, Mead, and Evans-Pritchard published their books in the early twentieth century. Identify whether or not these are techniques that contemporary anthropologists use to make their ethnographic writing more participatory and transparent.
technique of ethnographic writing: -showing awareness of reflexivity -including polyvocality -establishing ethnographic authoirty not a technique of enthographic: -conducting mapping exercises -writing salvage ethnography
Match each term to the correct definition.
the analysis and comparison of ethnographic data across cultures ethnology the study and description of a community ethnography the anthropologist's written observations and reflections on a community field notes
Match each author to his or her distinctive contribution to anthropology.
using fieldwork to address critical public debates in the anthropologist's home culture Margaret Mead studying the anthropologist's own culture Barbara Myerhoff developing professional standards for fieldwork Bronislaw Malinowski practicing a synchronic approach to anthropological fieldwork and writing E. E. Evans-Pritchard
Which of the following describes how ethnography has changed along with anthropology since the early twentieth century?
with better communication systems, people often read what is written about them
Identify whether or not these are examples of a zero.
zero: -a mother's avoidance of discussing her children's deaths -the absence of a local politician from an important community meeting non-zero: -the inability of an anthropologist to collect statistical data -an interviewee describing in detail how she felt at a particular event