Quiz 2 Study Guide
Cultural Anthropology
Quiz is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 9
Language Section
1. In what ways is learning language biological? (Lecture, film The Mind’s Big Bang, and Culture Counts)
2. What is the most important connection between language and culture?
3. According to Stephen Pinker and others featured in the film The Mind’s Big Bang, why do we seem biologically more intelligent than Homo sapiens (modern humans) who lived 35,000 to 60,000 years ago? Are we innately smarter, according to biological anthropologists featured in the film who study genetics, fossils, skull shapes and fossilized brain impressions?
4. What relationship exists between cave art, carvings, tool making and bead making several thousand years ago and the use of language? What does evidence about symbolic life tell us about The Mind’s Big Bang?
5. What does the video about Kanzi the bonobo and his sister tell us about non-human animal abilities to imitate, learn, and share language?
6. How are language performances and cultural values intertwined? Be prepared to discuss the main points of the article To Give Up On Words as an example.
7. According to Basso, how do uses of silence in the Apache world differ from uses of silence in ‘mainstream’ U.S. culture?
8. Explain the Sapir Whorf Hypothesis and how some scientists have attempted to prove that language influences perceptions of the world. (Lecture and Culture Counts)
9. What is ‘Theory of Mind’?
10. What does Dr. Temple Grandin and psychologist Oliver Sachs say about autism, culture, and theory of mind? (Culture Counts)
11. What is the definition of intelligence according to Gerhard Roth and Ursula Dicke? (lecture)
12. Who is Franz Boas and what is his role in development of the concepts of cultural and linguistic relativism? What is Boas’s notion of the psychic unity of humanity? (lecture and Culture Counts)
13. What is the importance of categorization in language to our understanding or perception of the world? (lecture and Culture Counts)
14. How did Dr. Lera Boroditsky work to demonstrate linguistic relativity based on her NPR interview?
15. What are some of the central comparisons about language, culture, and gender in the article Male and Female (Mis)communications? What culture groups were described in the article? What did the studies show about differences in male and female communication styles? How did these differences originate?
16. In a discussion about Ebonics (AAEV), why do the authors of Culture Counts point out that judgments about people based on their speech are not about the speech itself, but about the speakers themselves?
17. What did William Labov say about language usage differences between social classes? (Culture Counts)
18. Why do anthropologists believe that efforts to enforce English-Only legislation are misguided and inaccurate? (Culture Counts)
19. What is the importance of language, storytelling, humor, and gossip to learning how to be part of culture groups; that is, how we are enculturated?
20. According to James Scott, what is the public transcript and what is the hidden transcript?
Kinship Section (see study cards for some of these concepts)
21. What is the importance of kinship to social organization?
22. Vertical function of kinship
23. Horizontal function of kinship
24. Types of kinship descent: bilateral, patrilineal, matrilineal
25. Common types of residence after marriage: patrilocal, matrilocal, neolocal
26. Types of marriages: monogamy, polygamy, polygyny, polyandry
27. Endogamy and its social purposes (see chapter 7 of Culture Counts)
28. Exogamy and its social purposes (see chapter 7 of Culture Counts)
29. Bride wealth and its function (see chapter 7 of Culture Counts)
30. Dowry and its function (see chapter 7 of Culture Counts)
31. How do the Na of China practice marriage? (see chapter 7 of Culture Counts)
32. Be able to describe some gender ideologies and marriage practices among the Awlad ‘Ali Bedouin Tribes, according to anthropologist Lila Abu-Lughod (as discussed in class)
33. In reference to the exercise you did as a class to arrange the marriages of your children: be able to explain what you learned about the economic and social functions and ideologies connected with arranged marriage in many Arab cultures
34. What is the theory of cultural materialism? (see lecture notes) What is infrastructure, social structure, and super structure and their relation to each other?
35. How might cultural materialism help explain the problems in some parts of India as described in the article Law, Custom, and Crimes Against Women.
36. What are the Hijras’ roles in India? (see chapter 8 of Culture Counts)
37. Give an example of a male rite of passage. Give an example of a female rite of passage. (chapter 8 of Culture Counts)
38. What is a patriarchy? What is a matriarchy? (chapter 8 of Culture Counts)
43. How might the theory of cultural materialism help explain the reasons for kinship systems and marriage practices for the Na of China (Culture Counts and wiki notes week 5), polyandry in Tibet (article), the Awlad ‘Ali Bedouins (lecture and class exercise), Kyrgyzstan bride kidnapping (video, handout, and wiki notes week 5), and the Maasai pastoralists (video and wiki notes week 5). Consider the basic infrastructure (economic system, technology, environment, ways of making a living etc.) for each group and be able to point to how the kinship system and marriage rules (social structure) support the infrastructure. Discuss what you know about the ideologies and beliefs (super structure) that motivate people in these groups to follow their kinship rules and marriage practices.
44. Be able to discuss some of the main points in the films The Anthropology of Youtube and Cyborg Anthropology. For example, what did Dr. Wesch say about Youtube as a medium for community in a society where there has been a loss in community over time? How would you respond? What is the difference between Youtube community and face-to-face community? What did he say about ‘context collapse’ and hyper self awareness? How would you respond? What did he say about hatred as a public performance in the context of anonymity? What did he say about aesthetic arrest – being deeply connected with people on Youtube in ways that are difficult in face-to-face encounters? How would you respond? What did he say about new forms of community building and about drama and authenticity? Lastly, what did he say about how we create our identities, edit our histories and produce ourselves on the internet, and how would you respond?
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