Test 1 Short Answer

Question 1

What is the ‘fifth field’ of anthropology and where does its focus lie? What is the connection of this ‘fifth field’ to the traditional four fields of anthropology?

Answer 1

a. Applied Anthropology (the 5th sub-discipline)
b. Application of anthropological data, perspectives, theory, and methods to identify, assess, and solve contemporary social problems.

Question 2

Describe how anthropology is a “comparative” discipline?

Answer 2

Anthropology draws and builds upon knowledge from both the social and biological sciences as well as the humanities and physical science.

Question 3

What is the connection between culture and biology? Discuss how biological needs are ‘channeled’ by culture, providing at least two examples of the implications of such cultural differences.

Answer 3

1. ) culture shapes how we mark events in the biological life cycle- birth, puberty, marriage/mating, death
2. ) Food/ waste management

Question 4

What is cultural relativism? Why is it important in the study of culture? In your answer, compare cultural relativism to ethnocentrism.

Answer 4

Cultural relativism is the principle that all behavior should be evaluated in the context of the culture in which it occurs.an internal prospective It is important in the study of culture because every culture is different and some behaviors are viewed as good in one culture but bad in a different culture. Ethnocentrism is judging other cultures using one’s own cultural standards; the error of viewing one’s own culture as superior. The two words are opposites in anthropology.

Question 5

List and describe the three major ways in which cultural change occurs.

Answer 5

1. ) Diffusion: borrowing of cultural traits between cultures
2. ) Accumulation: exchange of cultural features through continuous contact
3. ) Independent innovation: process by which humans innovate, or find creative solutions to problems

Question 6

What is “popular culture” and how does it relate to other types or levels of culture?

Answer 6

Ideas, perspectives, and phenomenon of the 20th century mainstream culture
Ethnocentrism- judging others cultures using one’s own cultural standards; the error of viewing one’s own culture as superior
non exclusive and cultures can overlap.

Question 7

Why is it that the artwork of Western civilizations as well as that of dynastic China, Japan, and Egypt is often found in fine art museums while artwork from tribal-level societies is found in natural history museums? What is the connection between this divide and the origins of early anthropology?

Answer 7

a. ) During the age of exploration western Europeans compared their culture to other cultures and aligned the study with natural history. People were studied and treated as if they were barbaric and specimens. This age was the origin of anthropology.
b. ) early conceptions of what civilization was.
c. ) prime example of ethnocentrism

Question 8

When and why did anthropology become an academic discipline?

Answer 8

When: early 19th century
Why: particularly with the history and cultures of the native peoples of North America. and because colonization of european colonies were going on at this time. They wanted to understand them in a different way so the good benefit economically. it was a cabinet of curiosities.

Question 9

Name two major contributions of Franz Boas, the “Father of Modern Anthropology,” to the development of the field as a scientific and academic discipline?

Answer 9

> Advocated for the “four field approach” reconceiving anthropology through the integration of different fields of study into one
Advocated using the Scientific method to develop and test theories about human behavior based on empirical observations

Question 10

What is anthropological archaeology and what are some of the materials that archaeologists analyze to interpret the past?

Answer 10

> The study of material remains and cultural features in order to describe and explain past human behavior
Explain past human behavior
Recovery and analysis of materials left behind by humans
Goal is to establish a broad picture of human cultures and societies

Question 11

How do ethnography and ethnology differ? How are they similar?

Answer 11

ethnography is an in depth understanding of a single culture. ethnology is the study of multiple cultures. They are both a study of culture and both directly interact with the culture being studied.

Question 12

Explain the differences between development anthropology and business anthropology.

Answer 12

business anthropology focuses on what’s going on now with business. ???

Question 13

List the four fields of anthropology and describe the major focuses of each as well as what links them.
they all study humanity as a variation through space and time.

Answer 13

• Cultural Anthropology
  i. Describes, analyzes, interprets, and explains social and cultural similarities and differences

• Biological Anthropology
The study of human biological variation, past and present

• Linguistic Anthropology

i. Explores how language shapes…
1. • communication
2. • social identity and group membership
3. • cultural beliefs and ideologies
4. • cultural representations of natural and social worlds

• Anthropological Archaeology
i. The study of human culture through
ii. •Reconstructing past human societies using the “stuff” they left behind
> Artifacts (potsherds, tools, ornaments) – Refuse (garbage) – Burials – Remains of structures – Entire settlements and their distribution on the landscape

Question 14

Explain how a bone and a fossil are different.

Answer 14

??

Question 15

List and briefly describe the two major methods shared by paleoanthropology and anthropological archaeology.

Answer 15

Systematic Survey and excavation

Question 16

How is the Garbage Project an example of applied archaeology?

Answer 16

> Gathered data from household consumption and waste. Advised cities and waste management firms. Led to modern recycling movement.
lead to better ways of waste management.

Question 17

Name and describe three cultures you are a part of and give an example of a symbol or practice particular to each.

Answer 17

??

Question 18

Name and describe work (NOT academic) that could be done by a development anthropologist, a forensic anthropologist, a cultural resource management specialist, and a business anthropologist.

Answer 18

1. ) to help people who are in development be more effective with being careful without affecting other cultures.
2. ) work on contract with development. federal group going through and making sure they land can be excavated without destroying anything important.
3. ) improve relations with clients in the business to help the efficiency of a company..

Forensic anthro- how the bodies looked like during life. height, sex, heritage.

Question 19

In the Wade Davis film, what does he mean by the “ethnosphere” and what is the defining element of the ethnosphere that is dying out?

Answer 19

languages
a. The ethnosphere is the sum total of the world’s cultures. It incorporates, among other cultural facets, “. . . all thoughts, dreams, ideas, beliefs, myths, intuitions, and inspirations brought into being by the human imagination since the dawn of consciousness”. Ethnosphere refers to both the accumulation of living cultures and the ancient lineages from which they evolved. Languages are dying.

Question 20

List and briefly describe three areas of study in biological anthropology.

Answer 20

primatology- study of primates and human ancestors, paleoanthropology, biological plastically. ???

Question 21

Name and describe the process by which children learn their culture. In your answer, give an example of a practice that you learned was appropriate as a child that would be inappropriate in another culture.

Answer 21

Enculturation…???

Question 22

What are the defining characteristics of culture and describe how culture is transmitted and learned indirectly and directly.

Answer 22

Learned, shared, and integrated, and dynamic. ??

Question 23

Why is the context important when anthropological archaeologists seek to interpret an artifact?

Answer 23

interpreting artifacts is a major key and when it is moved it is harder to interpret it. its the things it’s with, where, and when it is that gives us the context about the artifact.

Question 24

In your own words, what does it mean that anthropology is the scientific study of humanity?

Answer 24

we study all aspects of humanity and see how the relate to each other.

Question 25

What does it mean for culture to be integrated? What does this mean for cultural change?

Answer 25

what you wear, how you speak, what you eat, music you listen too. you don’t practice you just do culture. culture change = diffusion (coming in contact with another culture), culturation, independent

Question 26

Explain the difference between disease and illness as understood by a medical anthropologist.

Answer 26

a disease is a scientifically identified threat (such as bacterium, virus, parasite, other pathogen), whereas an illness is a condition of poor health as felt by an individual and which is culturally constructed

Question 27

Why is the fossil record inherently fragmentary?

Answer 27

Fossil localities are only present where geological contexts were suitable for fossilization

Question 28

Name an example of relative dating and an example of absolute dating and explain the difference between the two kinds of dating methods.

Answer 28

radiocarbon dating…. carbon 14 decays(scarce) an animal alive eats things that will show a ratio of carbon 12, carbon 13, and carbon 14. carbon 14 has a know decaying rate so we can date things back to 50,000 years and that’s when we can’t trace the carbon 14.

Question 29

List and describe three ways in which an anthropological archaeologist might find an archaeological site?

Answer 29

Standing architecture, accidental discovery, pedestrian survey