Contemporary World Cultures
Exam Questions
Course Introduction
Contemporary World Cultures explores the diverse societies and traditions that shape todays global landscape. The course examines the ways in which geography, history, religion, economics, and politics influence cultural identities and interactions among nations. Through comparative case studies and engagement with current global issues, students will analyze cultural practices, social norms, belief systems, and the impact of globalization. Emphasis is placed on developing cultural awareness, empathy, and critical thinking skills to better understand and appreciate the complexities of the modern multicultural world.
Recommended Textbook
Cultural Anthropology A Toolkit for a Global Age 2nd Edition by Kenneth J. Guest
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Page 2
Chapter 1: Anthropology in a Global Age
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Sample Questions
Q1) Explain the difference between a descriptive linguist and a sociolinguist. If you knew the last living speaker of a language and wanted to preserve that language, who would you call and why?
Answer: Descriptive linguists describe and record spoken languages and save them as written languages, while sociolinguists study language in its social and cultural context. Trying to save the language would be the domain of the descriptive linguist, who records and describes languages in order to construct a written language. Once you have a written language, you can preserve dictionaries, poetry, and stories of all sorts by simply writing them down. This makes it possible to save them for posterity. Languages have been brought back from the dead to millions of speakers. An example would be the Hebrew language of Israel.
Q2) What do garbage dumps offer to both anthropologists and archaeologists?
A) understanding burial practices
B) analysis of nutritional intake
C) a deeper understanding of climate change
D) understanding cultural practices
Answer: D
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Page 3
Chapter 2: Culture
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Sample Questions
Q1) Rather than studying changes in organisms caused by alterations of the genetic code itself, epigenetics examines changes caused by:
A) environmental factors that switch genes on and off.
B) gendered predispositions toward certain behavior.
C) hormonal imbalances.
D) shifts in white blood cell counts.
Answer: A
Q2) What does anthropologist Eric Wolf believe to be inherent in all relationships?
A) belief system
B) power dynamics
C) stratification
D) human agency
Answer: B
Q3) In 2015, what was the average level of credit card debt per household?
A) $10,083
B) $15,355
C) $20,225
D) $31,342
Answer: B
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Page 4
Chapter 3: Fieldwork and Ethnography
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Sample Questions
Q1) Define zeros and explain their significance for ethnographers.
Answer: Zeros are the elements of a story or picture that are not told or seen; they are key details omitted from the conversation. This omission offers insight into which topics are too sensitive to discuss publicly.
Q2) Anthropologists conducting fieldwork may experience a particular kind of disorientation from the "strangeness" they discover. What is this often attributable to?
A) ethnographic dissonance
B) culture shock
C) critical self-examination
D) fieldwork block
Answer: B
Q3) What changed and expanded in the late twentieth century that has allowed anthropologists to continue research even after leaving the field?
A) transportation
B) social media
C) economics
D) communications
Answer: D
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Chapter 4: Language
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Sample Questions
Q1) What does the term language continuum refer to?
A) It is a nonstandard variation of a language that is particular to a specific region.
B) This is the study of the development of language over time, including its changes and variations.
C) It is the alternating back-and-forth between more than one linguistic variant, depending on the context.
D) This is the idea that variation in languages appears gradually over distance between places.
Q2) Linguistic anthropologists have shown that languages are disappearing at an unprecedented rate. Many argue that efforts should be made to preserve these endangered languages by documenting their lexicon and grammar. Why are anthropologists interested in preserving languages? Do you agree with these efforts? Why or why not? Which types of knowledge are embedded in language that might make them worthwhile to preserve? What are some of the techniques or strategies that have been used to either preserve or revitalize less-prominent languages? Discuss two examples where anthropologists have been involved in preserving endangered languages, and reflect on how information technology may be used in language revitalization.
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6
Chapter 5: Human Origins
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Q1) According to the "out of Africa" theory, what led to the disappearance of Neandertals?
A) Modern Homo sapiens evolved first in Africa and then migrated to other areas, eventually replacing and assimilating with Neandertals.
B) Neandertals were unable to interbreed with Homo erectus after migrating out of Africa.
C) Modern Homo sapiens directly evolved from Neandertals once the Neandertals left Africa.
D) Modern Homo sapiens displaced Homo erectus in Africa, who in turn displaced Neandertals in Europe.
Q2) Gene flow is the:
A) production of new genes.
B) random loss of genes in a population.
C) process that signals differential reproduction success.
D) movement of genes between populations.
Q3) Without gene mutations there would be no evolution. Explain why this is the case.
Q4) How does marriage interact with human evolution and gene flow?
Q5) Discuss the current thinking regarding the fate of the Neandertals.
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Chapter 6: Race and Racism
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Q1) Gregor Mendel, a monk in the mid-nineteenth century, discovered that crossing white- and purple-flowered pea plants yielded purple flowers and not a blend of the two colors. What important discovery did Mendel's work reveal?
A) ethnicity
B) genotype
C) race
D) phenotype
Q2) A person may inherit a genetic pattern for above-average height, but may only reach average height due to poor nutrition. What is this an expression of?
A) genotype
B) phenotype
C) cline
D) poverty
Q3) To what extent is Brazil a racial democracy?
Q4) Explain why geneticists state that dividing people into races by skin color is as logical as dividing them by earwax.
Q5) Explain what is meant by the concept of "white privilege."
Q6) Identify the main factors that determine race in the Dominican Republic.
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Chapter 7: Ethnicity and Nationalism
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Sample Questions
Q1) In the opening discussion of Chapter 7, the author discusses how Jerome and Kevin-Prince Boateng have become soccer stars. Their father was Ghanian and their mothers were German; one played soccer for the German national team and the other played for the Ghanian national team. In a brief essay, explain how they can have different nationalities that allow them to play on different national teams. Do they have different ethnicities as well? Why?
Q2) Swedish people share a common language, culture, and ideals; therefore, Sweden-the country they live in-illustrates which concept?
A) dominion
B) state
C) nation-state
D) society
Q3) In a brief essay, compare and contrast how the Bafokeng and Native American tribes have formed corporations to achieve specific goals. Use specific examples from the class to illustrate your answer.
Q4) Explain why England is called the "90-minute nation," and why it has become a point of contention for people who identify as English.
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Chapter 8: Gender
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Q1) Members of CO-MADRES were detained, tortured, and raped by state-sponsored groups in El Salvador. In what way did the victims from CO-MADRES differ from most victims of sexual violence?
A) Victims from CO-MADRES were criminals who had broken the law.
B) Most victims of sexual violence know their assailants.
C) Most victims of sexual violence are being punished for political reasons.
D) Victims from CO-MADRES were older than most victims of sexual violence.
Q2) Evaluate which of the five sexes in biologist Anne Fausto-Sterling's continuum represents the hijras of India. How do they perform their gender identity in daily life? What economic and social roles do they play in society? Why are they often victims of violence?
Q3) What does anthropologist Matthew Gutmann's research in Mexico indicate?
A) All men strive to be "macho."
B) Women only want to be with men who embrace machismo.
C) The traits of machismo are found only in the upper classes.
D) Masculine identity is in flux and negotiable.
Q4) Define the concept of intersex, and explain how physicians' attitudes toward children born intersex have changed in recent decades in parallel with changes in attitudes toward sexuality.
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Chapter 9: Sexuality
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Q1) What strategies did European colonizers use to control the sexual practices of people under their rule? Discuss the role of colonialism in how ideas about sexuality were altered in colonial domains such as Nigeria and Suriname. How does attention to intersectionality in this case help to illuminate the connection between power and sexuality?
Q2) How did Margaret Mead's work contribute to a greater understanding of human sexuality?
A) Her work provided evidence that men and women are naturally sexually promiscuous.
B) Her work challenged the assumption that sexual practices should be private rather than public.
C) Her work challenged the assumption that U.S. attitudes toward sexuality were universal traits fixed in human nature.
D) Her work explored the commonalities between human sexual practices and the sexual practices of other primates.
Q3) Define sexuality and, using a minimum of three examples from the text, describe the ways in which culture influences sexual beliefs and behaviors.
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Chapter 10: Kinship, Family, and Marriage
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Sample Questions
Q1) In a matrilineal descent group, continued membership in the same family group is passed down through which member?
A) father
B) mother
C) uncle
D) aunt
Q2) The origins of the incest taboo are unclear, even after decades of careful study. One theory holds that the taboo is due to a fear of creating genetic defects in offspring. What is one argument against this theory?
A) If a harmful trait runs in a family, systematic inbreeding will increase the possibility of the defective gene being passed along.
B) Surveys show that most people do not believe that incest leads to genetic defects.
C) Incest taboos predate any scientific understanding of human genetics, so this could not be the cause.
D) The human genome project has shown that incest does not result in genetic damage.
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12
Chapter 11: Class and Inequality
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Q1) Contemporary economic relations in many societies today tend to be organized around the exchange of money for services rather than around patterns of reciprocity. However, patterns of reciprocity still exist today even within highly stratified societies. What are three examples of patterns of reciprocity that are likely to occur in highly stratified societies today, and what purpose do they serve within or between social groups? How does gift giving relate to patterns of reciprocity, and what may be some underlying motivations in gift giving that are related to group survival or benefit? Given the longevity of reciprocity as a social pattern within human evolutionary experience, do you think it will continue to be present within and among social groups in the future? Why or why not?
Q2) Theorist Karl Marx argued that societies in the emerging capitalist economy of nineteenth-century Europe consisted of two distinct classes of people: those who own the means of production and those who must sell their labor in return for wages. What were these two distinct classes called? What other resources or factors distinguished these two classes, according to Marx? What is one example of a way in which Marx's theory could be applied to understanding societies living in a global economy today? Do you find Marx's theory helpful in understanding class and social inequality today? Why or why not?
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Chapter 12: The Global Economy
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Sample Questions
Q1) What is the commodity most closely associated with early Chinese trade routes?
A) slavery
B) sugar
C) gold
D) silk
Q2) Discuss where and when agricultural production is first seen in the historical record. What technologies does this subsistence strategy entail? Identify and explain changes that occur with the transition to the agricultural subsistence strategy. Provide three examples of social, political, and demographic changes in societies practicing agriculture with food production that are not seen in horticultural, pastoral, or foraging lifestyles.
Q3) In 2016, reports appeared in the media detailing the struggles of nail salon workers, who are often immigrants. Many work long hours under difficult conditions in order to meet the demand in the United States for the perfect pedicure. This example closely resembles accounts in your text by showing us what side of the complex global economy?
A) modern-day slavery
B) friction
C) commodity chains
D) migration
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Chapter 13: Migration
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following statements about human migration is true?
A) The United Nations estimates that three in four people migrate to a new country each year.
B) Saudi Arabia sends more than two million people abroad to work each year.
C) Only 3 percent of the world's population moves beyond national borders.
D) The last thirty years has had one of the lowest rates of migration in human history.
Q2) What is the term used to describe people who have been forced to migrate because of violence, religious persecution, or disasters but stay within their own countries?
A) labor migrants
B) internally displaced persons
C) transnational refugees
D) guest workers
Q3) What is one of the primary motivations for labor immigrants?
A) better living conditions despite lower wages for the same job
B) better wages than they find in other countries
C) better educational opportunities
D) improvements in basic human rights
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Chapter 14: Politics and Power
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Sample Questions
Q1) Earlier anthropological analysis considered small-scale human groups in comparative isolation. We now understand that in the modern world, all bands, tribes, and chiefdoms must function how?
A) as autonomous groups
B) solely with the permission of the state government
C) as distinctly homogenous societies
D) within the influence of the state
Q2) What was one consequence of warriors emerging to defend surpluses of food from marauders?
A) time-space compression
B) indentured servitude
C) the onset of slavery
D) the rise of the state
Q3) What do we call the potential of a person or a group to contest and change norms, values, institutions, and structures of power?
A) agency
B) authority
C) power
D) politics
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Page 16
Chapter 15: Religion
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Q1) Which of the following theories contends that religious practices have likely developed in response to very practical problems as people sought to adapt to the natural environment?
A) Marxism
B) cultural materialism
C) ritual theory
D) secularization theory
Q2) In 1931, anthropologist Audrey Richards documented the chisungu ritual, performed in Zambia. What is this women-only ritual that centers on menstruation and marriage an example of in anthropology?
A) a rite of passage
B) liminal engagement
C) sacredness
D) religious fervor
Q3) What has the Catholic Church in the Chiapas region of southern Mexico been accused of promoting?
A) the Latin language
B) birth control
C) revolution
D) poverty
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Chapter 16: Health, Illness, and the Body
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Q1) 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 was one of Farmer's conclusions about the role of the anthropologist and anthropology after his work was completed?
Q2) Anne Fadiman, author of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, studied the Hmong immigrant population in the United States. What does her work suggest is one of the biggest challenges faced by this population?
A) a lack of English language knowledge
B) a shortage of Hmong physicians available to them in U.S. hospitals
C) the absence of housing that permits extended families to live together under one roof
D) a lack of monetary resources to pay for medical care
Q3) Anthropologists have recognized that Western biomedicine draws heavily on:
A) universally held values.
B) the experience of the doctor in a foreign country.
C) enlightenment values.
D) the willingness of the doctor to practice alternative medicine.
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Chapter 17: Art and Media
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Q1) What is one of the things that helps make the film Leviathan a unique experience?
A) It is a multi-species ethnography.
B) It is a highly respected film not made by professional filmmakers.
C) It closely documents the impact of the fishing industry on the local community.
D) It uses scent to mimic the odors found on a fishing boat.
Q2) Jessica Winegar studied post-9/11 attempts by institutions to bridge cultural differences with media. What category was rarely featured at the exhibits designed to improve relations?
A) historical art
B) female artists
C) male artists
D) music and rituals of Sufism
Q3) What did anthropologist Faye Ginsberg mean by her use of the phrase "media worlds"?
A) tensions that result from the collision of visual worlds
B) the erasure of local cultures as a result of globalized media
C) global cultural flows of media
D) tensions that result from participation in online virtual communities
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