Exam 13: Method and Theory in Cultural Anthropology

Franz Boas's famous biological studies of European immigrants to the United States revealed and measured phenotypical plasticity, showing that the environment and cultural forces could change human biology.

Traditionally, ethnographers have tried to understand the whole of a particular culture.

Franz Boas is the undisputed father of four-field U.S. anthropology. One of his most important and enduring contributions to anthropology was

Émile Durkheim's focus on social facts illustrates what assumption shared by many anthropologists?

Much of the history of anthropology has been about the roles and relative prominence of culture and the individual.

Traditional ethnographic research focused on the single community or culture, which was treated as more or less isolated and unique in time and space. However,

The work of which of the following anthropologists illustrated a renewed interest in cultural change and even evolution (although of a very different sort than Tylor and Morgan had in mind)?

What is the term for an expert on a particular aspect of native life?

The characteristic field techniques of the ethnographer are participant observation, the genealogical method, and in-depth interviewing.

Despite the increasing popularity of team research among anthropologists, the best ethnographies are always the product of individual work.

Beyond Morgan's and Tylor's early anthropological work, no major theoretical paradigm in anthropology has embraced the role of evolution in cultural change.

The research technique that uses diagrams and symbols to record kin connections is called

Radcliffe-Brown advocated that social anthropology be a synchronic rather than a diachronic science; that is, a study

In survey research, a sample should

The overall trend in anthropological theory has been from theories that put human agency at the center of cultural dynamics to paradigms that see evolution as the main force behind cultural change.

The actions that individuals take, both alone and in groups, in forming and transforming cultural identities are referred to as

Reflecting today's world, in which people, images, and information move about as never before, fieldwork must be more flexible and on a larger scale. The result of such fieldwork is often an ethnography that

The etic perspective refers to a non-scientific perspective.

Survey research studies a small sample of a larger population.

Practice theory