Anthropological Theory
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Course Introduction
Anthropological Theory explores the development and evolution of key theoretical perspectives that have shaped the discipline of anthropology from its origins to the present day. The course examines foundational schools of thought including functionalism, structuralism, cultural materialism, symbolic and interpretive anthropology, postmodernism, and contemporary approaches while considering how these theories address issues such as culture, society, power dynamics, identity, and globalization. Through critical engagement with classic and contemporary texts, students gain an understanding of how anthropological theories inform research methods and knowledge production about human diversity and social organization.
Recommended Textbook
Cultural Anthropology 14th Edition by
Carol R. Ember
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Page 2
Chapter 1: What Is Anthropology
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Q1) Which of the following areas of study is a part of anthropology?
A) why contemporary peoples have different cultures
B) how race is linked to behavior and intelligence
C) how insect colonies are organized
D) when and how dinosaurs became extinct
Answer: A
Q2) Which type of anthropological knowledge is often applied to forensic investigations?
A) biological
B) linguistic
C) cultural
D) archaeological
Answer: A
Q3) Which type of anthropologist would be best suited to investigating the daily life of an Asian civilization dating to 15,000 years ago?
A) an archaeologist
B) an ethnologist
C) an ethnohistorian
D) a primatologist
Answer: A
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Page 3
Chapter 2: Culture and Culture Change
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Q1) Variations in individual behavior are confined within __________ acceptable limits.
A) socially
B) historically
C) legally
D) ethically
Answer: A
Q2) Outline the major patterns through which cultures change, providing a definition and example for each.
Answer: The ideal answer should include: 1. Distinction between discovery and invention
2. Various methods of diffusion
3. Forced and passive acculturation
Q3) A __________ is a group of people who occupy a particular territory and speak a common language.
A) society
B) culture
C) family
D) subculture
Answer: A
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Page 4
Chapter 3: Culture and the Individual
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Q1) In his research on psychological development in the Tiv, Douglass Price-Williams found that __________.
A) there was no difference between Tiv and European children in understanding of conservation of earth, nuts, and numbers
B) even with natively familiar test materials, Tiv children never reached an understanding of conservation to match the European children
C) the Tiv children had a stronger understanding of conservation than European children when tested with earth, nuts, and numbers
D) the Tiv children reached an understanding of conservation at an earlier age than European children, regardless of the testing method
Answer: A
Q2) The Japanese concept of self is often described as __________.
A) relational
B) individualistic
C) neighborly
D) egocentric
Answer: A
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Page 5
Chapter 4: Understanding and Explaining Culture
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Q1) An anthropologist comparing kinship terms between the Turkana and the Maasai-both pastoral peoples from East Africa-is doing __________.
A) regional controlled comparison
B) within-culture comparison
C) cross-cultural research
D) historical research
Q2) An explanation is an answer to a __________ question.
A) "why"
B) "what"
C) "who"
D) "where"
Q3) Choose either ecological anthropology or Boasian anthropology. Describe what sorts of questions an anthropologist following this theoretical perspective would be interested in if he or she were to study the social life of American university students.
Q4) Discuss the pros and cons of anthropologists using pseudonyms and fake community names in their publications.
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Chapter 5: Communication and Language
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Q1) What is the major cause of the disappearance of native languages?
A) The languages are no longer being taught to children.
B) They are not able to create new terms to keep up with technological advances.
C) Most nations have outlawed the use of indigenous languages.
D) It is nearly impossible to learn a language without an associated writing system.
Q2) Which statement is true of syntax?
A) Speakers of a language are usually not consciously aware of the rules of syntax.
B) The rules of syntax are only learned through formal education.
C) A language's syntax changes more quickly than its vocabulary.
D) All languages follow the same basic rules of syntax.
Q3) What is a protolanguage?
A) spoken reconstructed language from which modern languages derived
B) the simplest form of language known, with no tenses or number terms
C) the language that early Homo sapiens is believed to have spoken
D) the rudimentary language used by the apes and monkeys
Q4) How does language reflect social status? Give three specific examples in which members of different social positions use different forms of language.
Q5) Compare and contrast human and nonhuman communication.
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Chapter 6: Getting Food
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Q1) Distinguish between the three major types of food production: horticulture, intensive agriculture, and pastoralism. Provide examples of modern cultures practicing each type of subsistence.
Q2) How might we best describe the subsistence strategies of contemporary cultures?
A) Most people today are food producers.
B) Most people today are foragers, supplemented with small-scale animal husbandry.
C) There is a roughly equal balance between foraging and food-producing cultures.
D) Most people today are foragers.
Q3) What insights can we gain about humanity's past by studying the lives of contemporary foragers? What are the limitations associated with using modern foragers to help understand ancient humans?
Q4) Using the anthropological definition, which of the following is an example of horticulture?
A) shifting cultivation
B) decorative flower gardening
C) large fields of cash crops
D) greenhouses for growing plants
Q5) What social characteristics are associated with foragers and complex foragers?
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Chapter 7: Economic Systems
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Q1) What do anthropologists call the transformation of resources into food, tools, and other goods?
A) production
B) manufacturing
C) industry
D) economics
Q2) What factor, in addition to calorie yield, is likely to contribute to a forager's choice of what foods to collect?
A) predictability
B) fat content
C) ease of processing
D) rarity
Q3) What do anthropologists mean when they refer to peasant economies?
A) communities that are somewhat more commercialized than traditional subsistence economies
B) people who are actively trying to break into the market economy
C) groups that have a money-based, market economy but do not hold much wealth
D) societies that maintain their traditional subsistence economy
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Chapter 8: Social Stratification: Class, Ethnicity, and Racism
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Q1) What relatively recent change has undermined the economic basis of the Indian caste system?
A) cash payments for services
B) democratic elections
C) public education
D) marriage between castes
Q2) Why is "race" not a scientifically useful category?
A) There is no distinct set of physical features that clearly define races.
B) The term is too sensitive to be used in scientific studies.
C) There would only be three or four races, which is not a useful level of categorization.
D) Scientists are not interested in biological differences.
Q3) Before the caste system in Rwanda was overthrown, which was seen as the undesirable caste?
A) Twa
B) Hutu
C) Tutsi
D) Baganda
Q4) What is the difference between race and ethnicity? How are each of these classifications related to social inequality?
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Chapter 9: Sex and Gender
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Q1) Cross-cultural research shows that, universally, __________.
A) married women and married men both consider extramarital sex inappropriate
B) married women, but not married men, consider extramarital sex inappropriate
C) married men, but not married women, consider extramarital sex inappropriate
D) neither married men nor married women consider extramarital sex inappropriate
Q2) Which statement best explains why men generally have higher status than women in most societies?
A) Men's status is higher because they usually contribute more to primary subsistence.
B) The low status of women is linked to their physical weakness compared to men.
C) The low status of women is linked to their emotional weakness compared to men.
D) Men's status is higher because they contribute more to secondary subsistence activities.
Q3) Because the Navajo recognize four distinct genders, they consider homosexual sex to be __________.
A) between two people of the same gender
B) between two people of the same sex
C) generally acceptable
D) unheard of
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11
Chapter 10: Marriage and the Family
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Q1) Which condition predicts a discouragement of romantic love as a basis for marriage?
A) the husband and wife live in an extended-family household
B) there is relatively little sexual freedom for either spouse
C) both partners are needed to make significant contributions to primary subsistence
D) one of the primary goals of marriage is to produce children
Q2) Why are young people's attitudes toward marriage now changing among the Na of China?
A) Young people face social pressure in schools.
B) Government initiatives are effectively changing the practice of sese.
C) There is a lack of marriageable women.
D) Economic hardship is forcing young people into Western-style marriages.
Q3) Caste societies typically have __________ marriages.
A) endogamous
B) exogamous
C) cross-cousin
D) incestuous
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Page 12
Chapter 11: Marital Residence and Kinship
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Q1) How does the Samoan ambilineal system differ from unilineal systems?
A) Individuals may belong to a number of ambilineal groups.
B) Marriage is often regulated by group membership.
C) Groups are identified by an emblem or totem.
D) The descent group may own shared land.
Q2) Which of the following rights may be afforded to the headman or the elders of a clan?
A) to assign land for use by a clan member
B) to charge someone a fine for breaking a law
C) to force a settlement between two arguing parties
D) to restrict access to wealth and prestige to certain groups
Q3) Because of its ego-centered nature, which of the following is least likely to serve as a permanent or persistent group?
A) kindred
B) patrilineage
C) matrilineage
D) ambilineal descent group
Q4) How is a culture's kinship terminology related to other aspects of social life? Connect kinship terminology to residence and descent patterns.
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Chapter 12: Associations and Interest Groups
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Q1) In relatively non-stratified societies, associations tend to be based on __________.
A) age or sex
B) voluntary interest groups
C) ethnic group
D) achieved qualities
Q2) Associations are different types of groups based on __________.
A) neither kinship nor territory
B) kinship, but not territory
C) both kinship and common territory
D) a common territory, but not kinship
Q3) A Karimojong age-set comprises all of the men who __________.
A) were initiated into manhood within the same five- to six-year span
B) were born in the same month
C) fought together in the most recent territorial dispute
D) progressed through their adolescent training together
Q4) What are the purposes of unisex associations, and how are their purposes related to the ascribed characteristic of sex?
Q5) Compare and contrast ethnic associations with multiethnic associations.
Q6) Discuss the reasons that may explain why voluntary associations exist.
Page 14
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Chapter 13: Political Life: Social Order and Disorder
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Q1) What do anthropologists mean when they speak of the universality of law?
A) All societies have some means of social control, whether formal or informal.
B) In all societies, there is a leader or group that has the right to enforce the rules.
C) All societies have formal, codified laws.
D) In all societies, there are some people who break the law.
Q2) Level of political integration refers to the __________.
A) largest territorial group on whose behalf political activities are organized
B) degree of political knowledge possessed by the average individual
C) balance of political representation between men and women
D) proportion of the population who are actively involved in politics
Q3) Large-scale warfare is usually practiced by societies with __________.
A) intensive agriculture or industrialization
B) foraging or horticulture
C) small-scale or intensive agriculture
D) horticulture or pastoralism
Q4) Compare and contrast the political life of bands and tribal organizations.
Q5) What factors are associated with a culture's degree of individual political participation?
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Chapter 14: Religion and Magic
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Q1) Analyze the different explanations put forth to explain the universality of religion.
Q2) In which kinds of society are gods most likely to be viewed as aggressive and malevolent?
A) societies with punitive or hurtful childrearing practices
B) societies with hunting and gathering technologies
C) societies with external war
D) societies with nuclear-family households
Q3) Which concept in our own society is most similar to the idea of mana?
A) luck
B) purity
C) charity
D) wealth
Q4) Beliefs about what is, or is not, a supernatural occurrence __________.
A) vary within a society over time
B) are shared by all individuals within a society
C) are fixed in a society and rarely, if ever, change
D) are relatively consistent across cultures
Q5) Outline the ways in which people interact with the supernatural.
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Chapter 15: The Arts
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Q1) Which of the following is a shared artistic value in American culture?
A) coordinating colors in one's home
B) dancing at the office
C) decorating one's car
D) wearing a mask to protect one's identity
Q2) Singing is most likely to involve soloists in which type of society?
A) an elaborately stratified society
B) a ranked society
C) a society with a leader who gained his position through demonstration of his abilities
D) a society where captives in war are treated differently from others in the village
Q3) Just as art from less complex cultures is treated as nameless, it also tends to be seen as __________.
A) timeless
B) faceless
C) emotionless
D) worthless
Q4) What information about a society is reflected in its folklore? Give specific examples.
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Chapter 16: Practicing and Applying Anthropology
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Q1) Which Native American community has initiated a program to train and employ tribal members in cultural resource management?
A) Zuni
B) Hopi
C) Pima
D) Comanche
Q2) If an employer expects an anthropologist to conduct work that violates the professional code of ethics, and the anthropologist cannot convince the employer to change the practices, what does the National Association for the Practice of Anthropology recommend?
A) withdraw from the work
B) complete the current contract
C) write a letter of complaint
D) file a lawsuit against the employer
Q3) How does the field of museum anthropology exemplify applied anthropology's role in public education?
Q4) Forensic anthropology is relatively well-known to the general public. Why does solving crimes and identifying human remains require a background in anthropology? What does anthropology bring to law enforcement?
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Chapter 17: Health and Illness
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Q1) In a cross-cultural study of 139 societies, George P. Murdock found __________ societies that did not have the belief that gods or spirits could cause illness.
A) two
B) seven
C) 10
D) 20
Q2) Some researchers argue that, while the immediate cause of HIV infection is related to sexual intercourse, larger issues such as __________ increase the likelihood of such infection.
A) poverty
B) ethnicity
C) age
D) sex
Q3) In defending their ethnomedicine, the people of Chuuk point out that __________.
A) they have never seen germs, but they have seen ghosts that cause illness
B) Western medicine only cures Western diseases, not local illness
C) people treated with traditional medicine are cured faster than those who go to hospital
D) a combination of Chuuk medicine and Western medicine is the best approach
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Page 19
Chapter 18: Global Problems
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Q1) Which of these nations has a lower homicide rate than the United States?
A) Hong Kong
B) Jamaica
C) El Salvador
D) Venezuela
Q2) Most researchers agree that terrorism involves the threat or use of violence against
A) civilians
B) police
C) soldiers
D) politicians
Q3) Who are most likely to be the victims of a terrorist attack?
A) civilians
B) police
C) soldiers
D) politicians
Q4) What social factors increase the likelihood of family violence?
Q5) How is terrorism distinct from other forms of crime or acts of war?
Q6) How does homelessness in the United States compare to homelessness in other parts of the world?
Page 20
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