Exam 1 Essay

Question 1

Provide a detailed definition of culture and its key feature. (examples)

Answer 1

• shared collected behavior
• shared society (territory, language, identity)
• cultural identity
• subcultures (warrior societies)
• socially learned
• cultural knowledge
• patterns of behavior
• roles of a person

Question 2

Provide a detailed definition of cultural knowledge and its principal components. (examples)

Answer 2

• norms
• values
• symbols
• classifications or constructions of reality
• natural vs. social reality
• world views

Question 3

Discuss ethnographic methods used in anthropology. (examples)

Answer 3

ETHNOGRPHY
- fieldwork (interviewing structured vs unstructured, limits of interviewing)
- participant observation
- recall ethnography

Question 4

Discuss PROBLEMS in ethnographic method. Also discuss the principal methods and problems of ethnohistorical method. (examples)

Answer 4

ETNOGRPAHY
- fieldwork (stereotyping, devolving a role and rapport, key consultants)
- fieldwork as a rite of passage (culture shock)
- ethnohistory (ethnohistoric research, reconstruct culture system, relies upon records)

Question 5

Discuss comparative methos used in anthropology. (examples)

Answer 5

ETHNOLOGY
- cross culture comparisons (hypothesis, sample societies, classify data)
- nature and limitations (exceptions)
- controlled comparisons (nature and limitations)