ANTH Cultural Anthropology 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A researcher lives among a community for two years, learning the language and joining daily activities to understand their worldview. This method is called:
- Participant observation (Correct answer)
- Random sampling
- Content analysis
- Controlled experiment
Correct answer: Participant observation
Participant observation involves long-term immersion in a community to gather firsthand ethnographic data.
Question 2: The idea that a culture should be understood on its own terms, without judging it by the standards of another culture, is known as:
- Ethnocentrism
- Cultural relativism (Correct answer)
- Social Darwinism
- Diffusionism
Correct answer: Cultural relativism
Cultural relativism holds that beliefs and practices should be evaluated within their own cultural context.
Question 3: Franz Boas is best known in anthropology for promoting:
- Unilineal evolution
- Historical particularism (Correct answer)
- Genetic determinism
- Structural functionalism
Correct answer: Historical particularism
Boas argued each culture is the product of its own unique history, opposing broad evolutionary schemes.
Question 4: A kinship system in which descent is traced through the mother's line is called:
- Patrilineal
- Matrilineal (Correct answer)
- Bilateral
- Ambilineal
Correct answer: Matrilineal
In matrilineal descent, group membership and inheritance pass through female ancestors.
Question 5: The distinction between an 'emic' and an 'etic' perspective concerns:
- Insider versus outsider viewpoints (Correct answer)
- Written versus oral cultures
- Rural versus urban settings
- Past versus present societies
Correct answer: Insider versus outsider viewpoints
Emic reflects the insider's cultural perspective while etic reflects the outside analyst's framework.
Question 6: A ritual marking a person's transition from one social status to another, such as a wedding or initiation, is a:
- Rite of passage (Correct answer)
- Taboo
- Totem
- Fetish
Correct answer: Rite of passage
Rites of passage ceremonially mark changes in social identity or status.
Question 7: The exchange of gifts among Trobriand Islanders described by Malinowski, involving shell necklaces and armbands, is called the:
- Potlatch
- Kula ring (Correct answer)
- Moka
- Corvée
Correct answer: Kula ring
The Kula ring is a ceremonial exchange network circulating valuables among island communities.
ANTH Cultural Anthropology 2
A researcher lives among a community for two years, learning the language and joining daily activities to understand their worldview.
This method is called: