Exam 1 short essay

Question 1

Cultural Universals

Answer 1

• things that all cultures posses
• how you do thing
• divisions of work
• taboos against sexual relations with blood relations
• economic activity
• recreational activities
• beliefs in supernatural forces
• decorative arts
• music and singing
• customs for death and expressing grief
• myths/ legends, folklore
• rites of passage or life phases

Question 2

Unilineal Evolution

Answer 2

• savagery, barbarism, civilization
• Lewis Henry Morgan
• E.B. Tylor
• a science of culture

Question 3

Historical Particularism

Answer 3

• Franz Boas
• United States
• every culture was unique and had its own historical development
• professionalization of anthropology
• Boas fieldwork and students
• configurationalism (ruth benedict)
• limits of particularism

Question 4

Functionalism

Answer 4

• British functionalism (1920’s - 1960’s)
• didnt research into a culture’s past, only the here and now
• Bronislaw Malinowski
• A.R. Radcliffe-Brown
• strengths and weaknesses
• tradition of fieldwork