cultural anthropology final
showed that "life-cycle" rituals share key features.• Sometimes believed to cause the change in a person. • Identified 3 major stages... 1. seperation 2. transition 3. reaggregation
Arnold Van GennepThe Rites of Passage (1909)
Play with form producing some aesthetically successful transformation-representation is a definition of
Art
Which of the following statements about art and individual artists in non-Western societies is not true?
Artists in these societies tend to be socially marginalized and out of the cultural mainstream.
who gather, fish, hunt
Food collectors (foragers)
who depend on domesticated plants, animals, or both.
Food producers (agriculturalists
collecting wild vegetation, hunting animals, and fishing.
Foraging
cultivation and irrigation of same plots of land year after year with the help of domesticated animals (for plowing, fertilizing soil w/manure) to produce large crop surpluses.
Intensive Agriculture
at least one party to the exchange hopes to get something for nothing.
negative reciprocity
Literally "correct doctrine" or the prohibition of deviation from approved mythic texts.
orthodoxy
"Correct practice" or the prohibition of deviation from approved forms of ritual behavior.
orthopraxy
what are the three phases of economic activity?
production, distribution, consumption
The exchange of goods and services of equal value and is our most ancient mode.
reciprocity
Collection of goods or money from a group followed by a reallocation to the group by a central authority.
redistribution
critical thinking about the way one thinks; reflecting on one's own experience.
reflexivity
A repetitive social practice composed of sequences of symbolic activities that may include activities such as spoken word, dancing, singing, and the use of certain physical objects is known as
ritual
A repetitive social practice that is set off from everyday life.
ritual
Which of the following statements about shamans and priests is not true?
Shamans enter their role as religious practitioner for personal development.
Focus on institutions as stable and enduring cultural practices that organize social life; the way people form groups to exercise power.
Social model
When biologists studying cells compare cells to a factory assembling the biochemical products needed to support the body's economy, they are using a(n)
Societal metaphor.
The anthropological study of sports may be said to have value because
Sports can reflect the basic cultural values of the setting in which they are performed.
According to the text, the division between food collectors and food producers illustrates a distinction between different kinds of
Subsistence strategies.
Anthropologist Sherry Ortner points out that the American flag focuses the attention of Americans on a complex collection of ideals and feelings ranging from patriotism and free enterprise to imperialism and racism. As such, the flag may be said to be a(n)
Summarizing symbol,.
Syncretism is _____________.
The borrowing of beliefs and rituals by one religion from another.
What is a mode of production?
The historically particular set of social relations that are organized to produce the labor required to fulfill a society's subsistence and energy needs.
The text provides a case study of Muslim headscarves worn by some women in public schools and the debate surrounding the French law meant to ban their use. Which statement best describes what this case study is meant to illustrate in the text?
The particular history of the French state and thus what secularism means in the French republic today.
Anthropologist A.F.C. Wallace proposed a set of minimal categories of religious behavior that describe practices usually associated with religious belief and practice. Which of the following statements does not describe one of these categories?
The rejection of scientific explanations of natural forces.
Which model of human nature originated during the Enlightenment and assumes that economic analysis should focus on individuals who maximize their utility under conditions of scarcity?
The self-interested model.
Which of the following statements is true of rites of passage?
The sense of oneness created among people within the ritual practices of rites of passage can be dangerous.
Although the anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski was able to provide an explanation of social practices in particular cultures by relating them to basic human needs that these practices functioned to fulfill, his approach did not explain why all societies did not share the same patterns of consumption. Which of the following best describes the approach of a later generation of anthropologists to this shortcoming?
They extended Malinowski's focus on basic human needs by adding the important dimension of gendered divisions of labor.
using up of material goods or products esp. that which is necessary for human survival.
consumption
neither the time nor the value of the return is specified; e.g., parents and children.
generalized reciprocity
Victor Turner's research on rites of passage concentrated on a period of transition within these rites. Which of the following is not a reason given for the significance of this transitional period?
he lack of ambiguity found in this stage is essential to the process of reaggregation into society.
The field of economic anthropology
includes some anthropologists who assume that individuals are first and foremost interested in their own well-being.
Nourishment, reproduction, bodily comfort, safety, movement, growth, health.
internal model
Romans 6:23 states "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life..." (KJV). In this passage, the word "free" __________.
is not in the original Greek
Stories held to be true, but unlike myths are set in the post-creation era.
legends
who believes this interpretation of myth Myth as social charter or "charter for the present" - We hold these truths that all men are created..." • Helps answer (for its members) why there are certain political, social, and economic relations 10/17/2022 2 Helps answer (for its members) why there are certain political, social, and economic relations within a given society.
malinowski
what is communicating about the process of communication itself?
metacomunication
Considered true and foundational. and often start with "In the beginning..." Stories that recount how aspects of the present world came to be.
myth
For many anthropologists, using the term supernatural in a definition of religion is
A problem because it may distort how informants perceive the forces at work in the world.
During times when groups face domination and sweeping changes, typically because of the actions of outsiders such as colonizing power, they may undergo what is known as revitalization. Which of the following correctly describes what this term means?
An intentional and organized attempt to certain members of a group during a time of crisis to create a more satisfying culture.
Summarize the interrelationship of witchcraft, oracles, and magic for the Azande. What is the logic of the system from an Azande perspective? How would a nonbelieving outsider explain its workings? Can you think of any tests whose outcome could be used to verify or falsify either interpretation?
Azande participate in witchcraft, oracle, and magic to explain and deal with misfortune. A non believing outsider would consider their practices to be irrational and unnecessary. Currently, I am unaware of any test used to directly verify or falsify either interpretation. However, if there was inconsistency in their oracles concerning someones misfortune that would be a reason to falsify their interpretation.
Which of the following statements is not given in the chapter as a way of understanding the importance of play to human groups
Because play is based on the metaphor "Let's make believe," its role in society is to maintain the status quo.
People's motivations are shaped by culturally specific belief systems and values.
Moral model
Generalized reciprocity
Characterizes the exchange found in egalitarian societies.
The ritual function of a birthday party in the United States may be described by all of the following statements except:
Children are taught that the individual is not as important as the group.
The anthropologist who argued that myths are tools for overcoming logical contradictions that cannot otherwise be overcome was
Claude Lévi-Strauss.
Syncretism involves
Combining the old and the new in an attempt to cope with changed circumstances.
An anthropological attempt to apply the insights of ecology to human beings and their societies is called
Cultural ecology
getting products to people; the allocation of goods and services. Exchange is one distributive process.
Distribution
The term shaman comes from which of the following parts of the world?
Eastern Siberia
clearing uncultivated land, burning the brush, and planting the crops in the ash-enriched soil, relying solely on human power and hand tools. Requires moving every few years as the soil becomes exhausted. (swidden or slash-and-burn)
Extensive Agriculture (Horticulture)
Which of the following statements does not reflect reasons given in the text for being concerned about how religion is defined and used as a term by anthropologists?
It is difficult to determine when beliefs are supernatural rather than natural.
For Marx, the activity linking human social groups to the material world around them was
Labor.
who believes this interpretation of myth Human life is composed of binary oppositions. • Myths resolve logical contradictions. - nature/culture - human/animal - life/death- good/bad - heaven/earth- raw/cooked, etc.
Levi-Strauss: Founder of "structuralism"
According to Mary Douglas, the Jewish prohibition against eating pork
Makes sense when placed in the context of other Jewish dietary prohibitions
Discuss the two ways of understanding myth considered in the text. What are the strengths and weaknesses of each position? Are they mutually contradictory?
Malinowski proposes the idea that myths should be understood as a social charter. Meaning that myths were created to explain economic, social, and political connections. This is beneficial because it reveals the nature of a particular society but it often leads to ignoring the actual contents of the myth. Levi-Strauss suggest that myths "resolve logical contradictions". For example, the contradiction between good and bad. This provides a basis for thought about certain topics but it often does not provide sound answers for the particular contraction. There is often much more content to a myth than just the contradiction. Social charter shapes the way we view various contradictions so these two ideas are mutually contradictory.
The principle that power may be transferred through material objects refers to which of the following minimal categories of religion?
Mana.
Which of the following features is not characteristic of band societies?
Meat forms the majority of their diet.
Large-scale farming and animal husbandry that is highly dependent on industrial methods of technology and production.
Mechanized Industrial Agriculture
Provides information about the relationship between those who are engaged in communication.
Metacommunication
Stories whose truth seems self-evident because they integrate personal experiences with a wider set of assumptions about the way the world works are called
Myths.
keeping domesticated animals and using their products as a major food source.
Nomadic Pastoralism (Herders)
Myths that are taken to be indisputable truths may be explicitly codified such that deviation from the established code or order is treated harshly. The term that best describes the established interpretation of key myths to which societal members may be required to adhere is
Orthodoxy.
When myths and related beliefs that are taken to be self-evident truths or correct doctrine, we may call this
Orthodoxy.
Which of the following is NOT a phase of economic activity?
Preparation.
transformation of raw materials of nature into products suitable to human use.
Production
In a kin-ordered mode of production,
Production, distribution, and consumption are social relations first and foremost.
The most ancient mode of exchange that is still found in all societies is
Reciprocity
Anthropologists recognize three modes of exchange that could be identified historically and cross-culturally. These are
Reciprocity, redistribution, and market exchange.
Which of the following is NOT a minimal category of religion, according to A. F. C. Wallace?
Reflexiveness.
Which of the following does NOT reflect the anthropological understanding of ritual?
Rituals are always only religious in nature.
Focus on individuals who maximize their own utility (satisfaction).
Self-interested model
In working among the Dobe Ju/'hoansi of the central Kalahari Desert of southern Africa, anthropologist Richard Lee's research helped to challenge a longstanding Western stereotype regarding foraging peoples. Lee's important contribution in this sense was in finding that such groups
Were able to collect substantial amounts of high-caloric food in relatively few hours per week.
Based on the discussion in the text, we can reasonably conclude that economic anthropologists are interested in two basic questions about society. Which of the following best describes one of those organizing questions?
What motivates people in any given society to produce, distribute, and consume as they do.
Encompassing pictures of reality created by the members of a particular society are called
Worldviews
Not only the means of production but also the relations of production must be perpetuated through the reproduction of society from generation to generation. Which of the following is not true of this social reproduction as discussed in the text?
access to resources is determined by the spirit of enterprise that drives the economy forward.
Objects or activities originally made for one purpose, but which are now collected, exhibited in museums, or sold in galleries for a new purpose:
art appropriation
return of equal value expected within a specified time period; e.g., siblings at Christmastime.
balanced reciprocity
the anthropologist Ian Condry studied the apparent expansion of a popular cultural form from the United States into another part of the world by exploring hip-hop in Japan. Condry's research suggests that
because of cultural values regarding the need for group harmony, lyrics by Japanese rappers that emphasize individual identity are considered provocative.
Cultural construction of needs; an attempt to address shortcoming of other models in lack of attention to meaning.
cultural model
According to Shelly Errington, "art by appropriation" might include Objects that museums decided were art. b. African masks. c. Ancestor figures from New Guinea. d. All of the above.
d
Play is... a. Consciously adopted. b. Pleasurable. c. Transformative. d. All of the above.
d
Which of the following is learned at a child's birthday party in the United States? That exchanging material objects is important in defining significant social relations. b. How to symbolize friendship and sociability. c. How to share with other people. d. All of the above.
d
Cultural ecology; relations of species within a given natural environment; emphasizes ecozone of a cultural group.
external mode
Considered fictional and instructive. and often start with "Once upon a time..."
folk/fairy tales
Establishing a cognitive boundary that marks certain behaviors as "play" or as "ordinarily life."
framing
Members of the same society make use of shared assumptions about the nature of the world and their place in it that they use to interpret everyday experiences and make sense of their lives. We can also say that they have a _________ in common.
worldview