Question 1

When an ethnographer uses an interview schedule to gather information from the field, the researcher's capacity to ask and answer truly relevant questions is inevitably limited.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False  False

Question 2

This chapter mentions the work of Wolf and Mintz, both students of Julian Steward, as illustrations of approaches that

Accepted Answer

A)  put human agency at the center of cultural analysis.
B)  focus on the study of cultures as closed systems, untouched by regional and even global dynamics.
C)  ignore the role of history in shaping culture as we know it.
D)  consider the relevance of world-system theory and political economy to anthropology.
E)  are just as deterministic as the old evolutionary models, but for different reasons. D

Question 3

Anthropologist Clyde Kluckhohn (1944) saw a key public service role for anthropology.In his words, it could provide a "scientific basis for dealing with the crucial dilemma of the world today: how can peoples of different appearance, mutually unintelligible languages, and dissimilar ways of life get along peaceably together." Anthropologists also have made and continue to make a dramatic impact on people's welfare as they cope with crises such as the January 2010 Haiti earthquake.What are some examples of this?

Accepted Answer

Some examples of anthropologists making a dramatic impact on people's welfare during crises such as the January 2010 Haiti earthquake include:

1. Providing cultural understanding: Anthropologists were able to provide valuable insights into the cultural practices and beliefs of the Haitian people, which helped aid organizations and relief workers better understand and respect the local customs and traditions. This cultural understanding was crucial in ensuring that aid efforts were effective and culturally sensitive.

2. Collaborating with local communities: Anthropologists worked closely with local communities to assess their needs and priorities, and to develop culturally appropriate and sustainable solutions. This collaborative approach helped to empower the affected communities and ensure that their voices were heard in the recovery and rebuilding process.

3. Addressing social and economic impacts: Anthropologists conducted research on the social and economic impacts of the earthquake, including its effects on livelihoods, social networks, and community resilience. This research helped to inform policy and programming decisions, and to advocate for the needs of vulnerable populations.

4. Advocating for human rights and social justice: Anthropologists played a key role in advocating for the protection of human rights and social justice in the aftermath of the earthquake. They documented human rights abuses, advocated for the rights of marginalized groups, and worked to ensure that aid efforts were equitable and inclusive.

Overall, anthropologists have made a significant impact on people's welfare during crises such as the Haiti earthquake by providing cultural understanding, collaborating with local communities, addressing social and economic impacts, and advocating for human rights and social justice. Their work has helped to ensure that aid efforts are effective, culturally sensitive, and inclusive, and has contributed to the long-term recovery and resilience of affected populations.

Question 4

The Human Terrain System has sought to embed anthropologists and other social scientists within military teams in Iraq and Afghanistan.Which of the following is NOT a reason anthropologists and the AAA Executive Board object to the use of anthropologists in the military?

Accepted Answer

A)  Anthropologists in war zones have an ethical dilemma where their responsibilities to their military units may conflict with their obligations to the local people they study.
B)  It is difficult to give informed consent in an active war zone without feeling coerced, thereby compromising "voluntary informed consent" in the AAA Code of Ethics.
C)  Anthropologists may not be able to identify themselves as anthropologists, distinct from military personnel.
D)  Anthropologists, by the nature of their discipline, are not permitted to interact with any military personnel.
E)  The Human Terrain System conflicts with the ethical responsibility of anthropologists to disclose who they are.

Question 5

All of the following are characteristic field techniques of the ethnographer EXCEPT

Accepted Answer

A)  detailed work with key consultants.
B)  direct, firsthand observation of behavior, including participant observation.
C)  in-depth interviewing, often leading to the collection of life histories.
D)  problem-oriented research.
E)  longitudinal analysis of data sets gathered from state-sponsored statistical agencies.

Question 6

Ethnography is increasingly multitimed and multisited, the result of a shift toward a recognition of the ongoing and inescapable flows of people, technology, images, and information that characterizes much of the world today.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 7

The relatively recent creation of virtual worlds has attracted contemporary ethnographers to venture into online communities.Of the various techniques used to study these virtual worlds, which has been most important?

Accepted Answer

A)  participant observation
B)  interviews
C)  genealogical method
D)  key consultants
E)  life histories

Question 8

What is Project Minerva? What about the Human Terrain System? What concerns have these Pentagon programs raised among anthropologists? In your view, what role (if any) should academics play in national security?

Accepted Answer

The answer of What is Project Minerva? What about the...

Question 9

Morgan and Tylor, both considered among the fathers of anthropology, worked within the paradigm of unilinear evolution.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 10

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

Accepted Answer

A)  representative sample
B)  etic informant
C)  key cultural consultant
D)  biased informant
E)  life-history approach specialist

Question 11

More recent approaches in historical anthropology, while sharing an interest in power with world-system theorists, have focused more on

Accepted Answer

A)  the structural causes of colonialism.
B)  how anthropological theory can aid NGOs in writing an alternate history of oppressed peoples.
C)  the role of colonial bureaucracies in shaping international culture.
D)  local agency, the transformative actions of individuals and groups within colonized societies.
E)  the state's role in denying some of its citizens a place in history.

Question 12

"What right do ethnographers have to represent a people or culture to which they don't belong?" This question illustrates

Accepted Answer

A)  anthropology's crisis in representation-questions about the role of the ethnographer and the nature of ethnographic authority.
B)  the threat that the World Wide Web poses to anthropologists who are less and less needed to write about and publish accounts of cultural diversity.
C)  the fact that anthropologists are, after all, colonial agents of the industrialized West.
D)  a lack of leadership in the American Anthropological Association.
E)  the problem inherent in anthropology's overspecialization.

Question 13

Because there are so many anthropologists in the United States, the distinction between emic and etic does not apply to American culture.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 14

Practice theory

Accepted Answer

A)  focuses on how individuals, through their actions and practices, influence and transform the world they live in.
B)  was popularized by Margaret Mead in the 1940s.
C)  is the only theoretical paradigm to effectively solve the "culture-individual" problem.
D)  actually shares the same deterministic assumptions of earlier theoretical paradigms.
E)  explains social phenomena only in nonindustrial societies.

Question 15

What did Bronislaw Malinowski mean when he referred to everyday cultural patterns as "the imponderabilia of native life and of typical behavior?"

Accepted Answer

A)  Features of culture such as distinctive smells, noises people make, how they cover their mouths when they eat, and how they gaze at each other are so fundamental that natives take them for granted but are there for the ethnographer to describe and make sense of.
B)  Everyday cultural patterns are full of senseless cultural "noise," and it is the anthropologist's job to get at the truly valuable behaviors that distinguish one culture from another.
C)  Everyday cultural patterns of native life can best be studied by asking key informants to explain them.
D)  Features of everyday culture are, at first, imponderable, but as the ethnographer builds rapport, their logic and functional value in society become clear.
E)  Everyday cultural patterns are important but so numerous that their detailed description should not be included in the main body of an ethnographic study.

Question 16

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

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 17

Survey research studies a small sample of a larger population.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 18

Lewis Henry Morgan is well known for his work The League of the Iroquois, considered anthropology's earliest ethnography.This and others of his works illustrate his view of unilinear evolutionism, which is that

Accepted Answer

A)  cultural diversity was actually a sign of the slowing down of cultural evolution.
B)  only the better and more civilized societies could survive.
C)  all societies are on some path toward civilization, but the exact paths vary.
D)  natural selection acts simultaneously on the biological and cultural aspects of human life.
E)  there is one line or path through which all societies have to evolve, and this path involves specific stages that cannot be skipped, ending at the final stage of civilization.

Question 19

This chapter's overview of the history of anthropological theory suggests that the discipline has made no important contributions to social theory in general.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 20

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

Accepted Answer

A)  of culture in motion (synchronic)  rather than as a static entity (diachronic) .
B)  that compares cultural traits within the same society and not across societies.
C)  of societies across time (synchronic)  rather than across space (diachronic) .
D)  of societies as they exist today (synchronic, one at a time)  rather than across time (diachronic) .
E)  of societies as made up of individuals, not as a sum greater than its parts.

Exam 3: Method and Theory in Cultural Anthropology

When an ethnographer uses an interview schedule to gather information from the field, the researcher's capacity to ask and answer truly relevant questions is inevitably limited.

This chapter mentions the work of Wolf and Mintz, both students of Julian Steward, as illustrations of approaches that

The Human Terrain System has sought to embed anthropologists and other social scientists within military teams in Iraq and Afghanistan.Which of the following is NOT a reason anthropologists and the AAA Executive Board object to the use of anthropologists in the military?

All of the following are characteristic field techniques of the ethnographer EXCEPT

Ethnography is increasingly multitimed and multisited, the result of a shift toward a recognition of the ongoing and inescapable flows of people, technology, images, and information that characterizes much of the world today.

The relatively recent creation of virtual worlds has attracted contemporary ethnographers to venture into online communities.Of the various techniques used to study these virtual worlds, which has been most important?

What is Project Minerva? What about the Human Terrain System? What concerns have these Pentagon programs raised among anthropologists? In your view, what role (if any) should academics play in national security?

Morgan and Tylor, both considered among the fathers of anthropology, worked within the paradigm of unilinear evolution.

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

More recent approaches in historical anthropology, while sharing an interest in power with world-system theorists, have focused more on

"What right do ethnographers have to represent a people or culture to which they don't belong?" This question illustrates

Because there are so many anthropologists in the United States, the distinction between emic and etic does not apply to American culture.

Practice theory

What did Bronislaw Malinowski mean when he referred to everyday cultural patterns as "the imponderabilia of native life and of typical behavior?"

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

Survey research studies a small sample of a larger population.

Lewis Henry Morgan is well known for his work The League of the Iroquois, considered anthropology's earliest ethnography.This and others of his works illustrate his view of unilinear evolutionism, which is that

This chapter's overview of the history of anthropological theory suggests that the discipline has made no important contributions to social theory in general.

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