Exam 1: The Anthropological Study of Religion

The Fore of New Guinea practice mortuary cannibalism,that is,they eat the body of their deceased relatives.

An agnostic:

The essentialist definition of religion emphasizes that region is the domain of the extraordinary.

From the etic perspective,Western medicine sees kuru as an infectious disease.From the emic perspective,the Fore believe that kuru is caused by the:

Societies characterized by low population density,no full-time specialists or social stratification,whose food is obtained primarily from gathering,hunting,and fishing are:

Which of the definitions of religion discussed in the book do you like the best? Why? How would you personally define the term religion?

Anthropologists study societies as systematic sums of their parts,a concept known as:

Anthropologists frequently apply the term primitive to small-scale societies.

After cremating their dead,the Yanomamö grind the ashes and later add the ashes to a banana stew to be consumed.Most Americans might feel that drinking the ashes of the dead to be disgusting.On the other hand,anthropology tells us that we should not judge the customs of others by our own standards.This latter attitude towards other cultures is called:

When reading an ethnography about the Fore what is the difference between Fore society and Fore culture?

Culture is based upon the use of symbols or shared understanding about the meaning of things.

Two main ways that anthropologists organize societies are by:

Karen McCarthy Brown's study of vodou in New York City is an example of an ethnography.

Émile Durkheim and Alfred Radcliff-Brown are associated with the evolutionary approach to the study of religion.

Culture consists of:

We can approach the study and understanding of other peoples through both etic and emic analysis.What is the essential difference between these two views? How does each contribute to our understanding of human societies?

Foragers practice simple farming with hand tools,are seminomadic,and lack full-time specialists.

A belief in spirit beings is termed:

Give some examples of how brain function can produce what are prescribed as religious experiences.

An anthropologist travels to the Fore of New Guinea and produces an ethnography.This ethnography is a(n):