Introduction to Cultural Anthropology
Midterm Exam
Course Introduction
Introduction to Cultural Anthropology explores the diverse ways in which humans understand, shape, and navigate their social worlds. This course examines cultural practices, beliefs, languages, traditions, and institutions from a comparative perspective, focusing on topics such as kinship, religion, gender, economics, and globalization. Through ethnographic case studies and critical analysis, students will learn how culture influences identity, power dynamics, and everyday life, while developing skills in cross-cultural understanding and critical thinking. The course also addresses ethical considerations involved in anthropological research and highlights the ongoing relevance of anthropology in understanding contemporary issues.
Recommended Textbook
Cultural Anthropology A Global Perspective 8th Edition by Raymond Scupin
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Chapter 1: Introduction to Anthropology
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Q1) Physical anthropologists who study variation within and among human populations would be interested in questions such as:
A) Why do most Africans have dark skin?
B) What did the civilizations of Egypt and Greece have in common with one another?
C) Why are French and Italian similar to one another?
D) Are there similarities in marriage customs between Muslims and Jews?
Answer: A
Q2) All human cultures have a form of "baby talk" that adults use when they are speaking with small children.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q3) Anthropologists have found that culturally constituted knowledge is general, universal, and genetic.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
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Chapter 2: Human Evolution
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Q1) According to the fossil evidence, the first hominids to migrate out of Africa were the Neandertals.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q2) Cro-Magnon people were the first humans to domesticate cattle and sheep.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q3) The fossil "Lucy" is most similar to modern chimpanzees with respect to:
A) the ability to walk upright
B) cranial capacity
C) amount of body hair
D) body size
Answer: B
Q4) The order Primates, to which humans belong, arose about 67 million years ago.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
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Chapter 3: Culture
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Q1) Ethnicity is based on perceived differences in ancestral origins or descent, and shared history and cultural heritage.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q2) Archaeologists are primarily concerned with interpreting and explaining past societies by examining the material culture remains left by a people.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q3) Anthropologists have determined that specific food preferences are biologically based, not culturally influenced.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q4) A society and a culture are synonymous.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
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Chapter 4: The Process of Enculturation: Psychological and Cognitive Anthropology
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Q1) According to the culture-and-personality theory, there is a correlation between personality and ethnicity.
A)True B)False
Q2) What were the principal issues in Derek Freeman's critique of Margaret Mead's research on Samoa?
Q3) According to Mead, Samoan adolescents engaged freely in premarital sex. A)True B)False
Q4) Franz Boas had a guiding influence on Margaret Mead. A)True B)False
Q5) Discuss the meaning of ade for children in Papua New Guinea. How can we interpret this pattern of behavior?
Q6) Patterns of human sexuality are strongly influenced by culture. A)True B)False
Q7) Personality is affected by enculturation. A)True B)False Page 6
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Page 7
Chapter 5: Language
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Q1) According to the work of Lieberman and others, the ability to build an infinite number of sentences within sentences is __________.
A) proxemics
B) recursion
C) dynamics
D) semantics
Q2) According to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, time is perceived the same way in all cultures.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Using glottochronology, historical linguists can work with archaeologists in order to reconstruct protolanguages and prehistoric migrations.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Chimpanzees and gorillas have been taught to speak up to 100 English sentences so they can communicate their daily needs as well as humans.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 6: Anthropological Explanations
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Q1) Can ethnocentrism be an adaptive strategy for a society to take? Or should ethnocentrism be avoided at all costs?
Q2) How would a cultural materialist explain why Muslims don't eat pork?
Q3) According to Malinowski, magic __________.
A) has a basis in the existence of supernatural powers in all cultures
B) functions to relieve the anxieties of individuals
C) only works when it has the full participation of a given society
D) has no useful purpose for thinking people
Q4) Discuss the principal effects that the writings of Karl Marx have had on anthropological theory. Do you think that Marxist anthropology is the same as Communist anthropology? Why or why not?
Q5) The body of anthropological theory concerned with the spread of technology, religion, economic systems, art forms, and other expressions of culture is known as:
A) idealism
B) particularism
C) functionalism
D) diffusionism
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Chapter 7: Analyzing Sociocultural Systems
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Q1) Ethnologist Leopold Pospisil has suggested that there are four criteria that must be present in order for a norm to be considered a law. Which of the following is not one of these criteria?
A) authority
B) intention of universal application
C) obligation
D) sanction
E) internalization
Q2) The process in which an organism adjusts successfully to a specific environment is called:
A) chance
B) a correlation
C) adaptation
D) environmental shock
E) the carrying capacity of the area
Q3) Shamans are full-time religious practitioners who serve in an official capacity as the custodians of sacred knowledge.
A)True
B)False
Q4) What are the benefits and limitations of conducting cross-cultural research?
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Chapter 8: Band Societies
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Q1) Anthropological research has shown that biological rather than cultural factors are responsible for the rapid growth and incredibly high fertility rates of forager populations.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Sadly, foragers do not have any music or art since their days are mainly taken up in subsistence activities, politics, and religion.
A)True B)False
Q3) Social control in forager societies is maintained by a standing police force that wields so much power that most individuals simply do not even think about committing a crime.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Are gender roles strongly related to the division of labor in forager societies, or does flexibility exist?
Q5) If you were a hunter-gatherer, where would you prefer to live and why?
Q6) Would you rather be involved in warfare as a member of a forager society or as a member of an industrial nation? Why?
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Chapter 9: Tribes
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Q1) A form of tribal political organization found, for example, among the Nuer and Bedouins, based on multiple descent groups (often patriline?ages) that are interrelated and serve certain political functions is known as a:
A) segmentary lineage system
B) fragmented descent pattern
C) maximal moiety system
D) divided descent group configuration
E) clan
Q2) Anthropologists have found about the same number of matriarchal as patriarchal societies in the world.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Sociobiologists view patriarchy in tribal societies as a consequence of:
A) the scarcity of resources and the resulting dominance of males in warfare
B) a male supremacy complex found in all human societies
C) mythologies, beliefs, and ideologies that justify male domination
D) reproductive strategies in which male competition for females leads to conflict
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Chapter 10: Chiefdoms
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Q1) In Polynesia, the term mana refers to:
A) a bread-like substance that appears in times of drought
B) elaborate forms of deference and expressions of humility
C) a cosmic force that certain individuals could acquire
D) the ritual of human sacrifice practiced at harvest time
Q2) In a conical clan, all members of the clan trace their descent from:
A) the chief
B) the grandmother of the chief
C) the patron god of the chief
D) a common ancestor
Q3) Compare and contrast the theories presented by Elman Service and Timothy Earle on the evolution of chiefdoms. What are the key points on which Earle differs? Given your understanding of chiefdoms, which theory do you prefer and why?
Q4) The term "regional symbiosis" is used by anthropologists to refer to:
A) the process whereby a tribe is transformed into a chiefdom
B) interdependent exchange of products from different resource areas
C) relationships between human societies and domesticated species
D) cultural mechanisms for food storage and redistribution
Q5) What role did kinship and descent play in the social structure of a chiefdom?
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Chapter 11: Agricultural States
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Q1) Compare and contrast the nature of divorce in agricultural states, chiefdoms, tribes, and forager societies. Do you see any parallels, or is divorce simply a cultural facet that does not relate to the rest of society?
Q2) With the intensification of social stratification, differences between the ruling elite and the rest of the population decreased.
A)True
B)False
Q3) In ancient agricultural states, religion sanctified and legitimized the authority of political leaders.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Social inequality is exemplified in the __________ of India. These social units are endogamous groupings into which a person is born and dies.
A) purdah system
B) shogun scheme
C) caste system
D) slavery system
E) achieved status norms
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Chapter 12: Industrial States
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Q1) Using a specific example, describe what is meant by a multinational corporation. What are the processes by which this multinational corporation can affect the workings of both individual countries and the global economy?
Q2) Define the term "feminism." What are the goals of feminists in industrialized states? Do you agree with these goals? Why or why not?
Q3) A pattern of economic exchange based on the supply and demand of goods and services is called:
A) market economy
B) barter system
C) socialist economy
D) reciprocal economy
E) faltering economy
Q4) The legal systems in Japan, Europe, and the United States are essentially the same because they arose from the common problems faced by all industrial states.
A)True
B)False
Q5) What are some of the unique characteristics of Japanese industrial corporations?
Q6) How does industrialization affect the family, kinship, marriage, and divorce?
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Chapter 13: Globalization, Culture, and Indigenous Societies
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Q1) Based on your own knowledge, do you agree with what modernization theory has to say about traditionalism? Do you believe that traditional attitudes of reciprocity will always work against the drive for individual economic success? Why or why not?
Q2) Resettlement of Mbuti Pygmies on plantations outside the rainforest by the government of Zaire has resulted in their:
A) participation in the national political process
B) contribution to the economy through taxation
C) increased success at agricultural production
D) declining health
Q3) Globalization refers to the rise of industrial states and the social, economic, political, and cultural consequences this industrialism has had on nonindustrial societies, among other things.
A)True
B)False
Q4) The discovery of gold within Yanomamö territory has led to:
A) economic prosperity for certain rainforest tribes
B) increased government taxation of Indian communities
C) massacres of Yanomamö men, women, and children
D) better definitions of reservation boundaries
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Chapter 14: Globalization in Latin America, africa, and the Caribbean
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Q1) By the mid-1990s, Mexico was producing more petroleum than any other nation on earth.
A)True
B)False
Q2) What is meant by the term dyadic contract? Give some examples of the kinds of dyadic contracts that exist in Latin American culture. Have you ever had experience with a dyadic contract? Describe either your personal experience or an example of a dyadic contract in your own culture.
Q3) Although both Mexico and Venezuela are oil-producing nations, the standard of living in each of these countries is still well below that of the U.S. or most European countries for most of the population. What do you see as the most important factors responsible for these differences?
Q4) Ethnologist Oscar Lewis undertook a cross-cultural study of poverty by studying slum dwellers in:
A) Mexico and Puerto Rico
B) Nigeria and Pakistan
C) Peru and Thailand
D) China and Afghanistan
Page 17
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Chapter 15: Globalization in the Middle East and Asia
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Q1) The Philippines were colonized by both Spain and the United States.
A)True
B)False
Q2) One major religion of the Middle East and Asia is:
A) Christianity
B) Islam
C) Judaism
D) Animism
Q3) The term purdah refers to:
A) the idea of physical attractiveness and sensuality
B) the wearing of the veil and forced seclusion of Muslim women
C) the concept of the traditional extended family
D) bridewealth paid in traditional Islamic families
Q4) According to caste ideology, all individuals are equal with respect to ritual purity.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Polygyny is the most common form of marriage in Islamic societies.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 16: Race and Ethnicity
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Q1) African Americans had the largest demographic increase compared to other ethnic groups, according to the 2000 census.
A)True
B)False
Q2) "Scientific racism" was used to:
A) implement multicultural education
B) justify the annihilation of millions of Jews
C) identify human genetic codes
D) categorize norms, values, and mores
Q3) When minority ethnic groups want to resist cultural hegemony by the dominant ethnic group, they often try to secede and develop their own nation states. This is called a(n):
A) pluralist movement
B) multicultural movement
C) ethnonationalist movement
D) colonialist movement
Q4) Nazis originated the concept of racism.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 17: Contemporary Global Trends
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Q1) What is the Doomsday Model (neo-Malthusian approach)? Has this view been challenged by anyone? If so, on what grounds?
Q2) A British clergyman and economist named -------predicted that populations would grow at a very rapid rate (exponential rate) and the production of food and other vital resources would increase at a much slower rate. As a result, human populations would be subjected to a variety of checks on population growth such as warfare, famine, and disease.
A) Charles Darwin
B) E.O. Wilson
C) Julian Simon
D) Thomas Malthus
E) Mikhail Gorbachev
Q3) Perestroika and glasnost are terms that refer to:
A) the power of the masses and religious ideology
B) military readiness and nationalistic sentiment
C) increasing capitalism and freedom of expression
D) totalitarianism and intolerance for ideas critical of the government
Q4) What are perestroika and glasnost?
Q5) Why is there concern over the loss of biodiversity?
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Chapter 18: Applied Anthropology
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Q1) A social-impact study conducted by Thayer Scudder and Elizabeth Colson in Zambia found that:
A) Nuer tribesmen could not give up herding and switch to plow agriculture without totally abandoning their religion, values, norms, mores, and political structure.
B) The medical innovations proposed by the health clinic would probably fail unless the shamans were involved in administering to the patients at the same time.
C) The forced relocation of the rural community would create extreme stress and result in people clinging to familiar traditions and institutions during the change.
D) The new highway would benefit only the elite and rich of the community, leaving the peasants in worse condition than before.
Q2) Forensic anthropology is the discipline that trains anthropologists to be good academic debaters.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Is there such a thing as universal human rights?
Q4) What is cultural resource management?
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