Study Questions for Haviland: Cultural
Anthropology
Hint:
Whenever a specific culture or ethnic group is mentioned by your text,
it is a good idea to locate it on the maps in the front of the text, both to
help you remember the example as well as to increase your general geographic
knowledge.
Key Terms: cultural anthropology, bio (physical)
anthropology, forensic anthropology, ethnography, ethnology, participant
observation, holistic perspective, ethnohistory, linguistic anthropology,
informants
1.
What are the four subfields of anthropology
and how are they inter-related?
2. How
does Haviland define “culture”? What
other definitions are there?
3. Distinguish
between ethnography and ethnology.
4. What
other disciplines does anthropology use, and in what way?
5. What
is the purpose in excavating sites from recent times when many historical
documents exist?
6. Why
are anthropology and sociology closely allied? What sets them apart?
7. What
problems are encountered when using the questionnaire for information gathering
in ethnographic and social science research?
8. What
is the significance of the “garbage project”?
9. With
what specific aspects of language are linguists concerned?
10. What
is participant observation? What
advantages and disadvantages does it have when compared to other social science
methods?
11. Why
might it be advisable to do research outside one’s own culture prior to
studying one’s own?
12. What kinds of ethical concerns should
anthropologist have when publishing the results of their research?
13. What
does a “global community” mean?
Key terms: culture, society, social structure,
gender, sex, subcultures, pluralistic societies, enculturation, cultural
integration, ethnocentrism, cultural
relativism, Bronislaw Malinowski, cultural materialism, symbol,
1.
According to Haviland, what are the four
characteristics of culture?
2. Distinguish
between sex and gender.
3. Distinguish
between “culture” and “society”. Do they always go together?
4. How
“old” is human culture? Or is this a rather meaningless question? Why?
5. Give
an example of a pluralistic society. Do
you think the
6. Distinguish
between ethnocentrism and cultural relativism.
7. What
is E.B Tylor’s 1871 definition of culture?
8. What
did Annette Weiner find out about Trobriand women that presumably were not
available to Malinowski as a male anthropologist?
9. What is meant by the “integration” of various
aspects of culture?
10. How
can the large-scale human sacrifices of the Aztecs be explained?
11. According
to Walter Goldschmidt, what aspects of a society indicate how well the physical
and psychological needs of its people are being met?
12. According
to the text, what five functions must culture serve?
Key terms: primates or primate order, natural
selection, Jane Goodall, Australopithicus, Homo Habilis, bipedalism, Oldowan
tools, Homo erectus, Homo sapiens, Neaderthals, Paleolithic, Upper Paleolithic.
1.
What are the distinguishing features of
primates?
2. Why
was project Washoe a major step in the understanding of chimpanzee cognition.
3. In
what ways can apes (chimps, gorillas, and orangutans) adapt to their
environment through learning? Is this
culture?
4. What
are some of the recent findings about the similarities between orangs and
humans?
5. Why
is dentition important to the study of human evolution?
6. Under
what conditions might bipedalism (walking upright) have emerged?
7. When
and where did the first stone tools appear?
How did the appearance of stone tools relate to changes in brain size,
teeth, and diet?
8. What
were the major cultural developments of the upper Paleolithic?
9. What
was the impact of the use of fire on our fossil ancestors?
10. What
was the geographic and temporal distribution of homo erectus? Why were homo sapiens able to eventually reach
just about everywhere?
Key terms: Language, symbol, signal, linguistics,
phonetics, phonology, and phonemes. morphemes, bound morpheme, free morpheme,
frame substitution, syntax, grammar, form classes, kinesics, paralanguage, . .
glottochronology, linguistic divergence, voice qualities, vocal characterizers, vocal qualifiers, language family, linguistic nationalism, Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, code switching,
sociolinguistics, dialects,
1.
What is the anatomical “price we pay” for
speaking?
2. What
do we mean by the “audience effect” when studying communication among primates?
3. Distinguish
between a phoneme and a morpheme, and give examples of each.
4. Give
examples of bound and free morphemes in English.
5. What
is the function of frame substitution?
6. What
is the purpose of a form-class?
7. Give
some examples of paralanguage.
8. What
are some characteristic differences in body posture between men and women.
9. Give
an example of code switching from your experience.
10. Provide
an example that might support the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis.
11. Why
is wild speculation about the origin of language unnecessary?
12. Why is metaphor so important in the study of
culture?
13. Distinguish between speech and language. Are chimpanzees capable of speech? Are they capable of language? What are the
differences between chimp capabilities for language and human capabilities?
14. What
is the difference between a signal and a symbol?
15. What is a semantic classification system? Give an example from color terminology.
16. Why has language often been a key ingredient
in group identity and nationalism?
Key terms: enculturation, self-awareness, affect,
personality, Margaret Mead, group personality, dependence and independence
training, modal personality, national character, core values, mental illness,
ethnic psychoses,
1.
Who are the agents of enculturation
2. According
to Haviland, what are three aspects of self-awareness?
3. Why might motor behavior of American children
lag behind children of many non-Western societies?
4. Distinguish between independence training and
dependence training.
5. Provide
an example of modal personality.
6. What
did Margaret Mead’s study of adolescent Samoans tell us? What were some of her
conclusions about gender roles in her
7. What
are the Rorschach and Thematic Apperception Tests and what might they be able
to tell us in cross cultural research?
8. What
are some major personality traits of the Chinese?
9. Give
an example of core values.
10. Do you think the idea of “national character”
has any use? Why were these studies undertaken, and what are the positive
results as well as the objections?
11. How
does the structure of the family shape male and female role identities?
12. How
is abnormal behavior defined cross culturally?
13. Give an example of a culturally specific
mental illness. Can you think of any cultural specific criteria which are or
have recently been defined as “mental illness” in our culture, but would not be
so considered elsewhere?
Key terms: adaptation, horticulture, agriculture,
ecosystem, culture area, carrying capacity, foraging, pastoralist,
transhumance, slash and burn (swidden), preindustrial cities, intensive
agriculture
1.
What purpose does adaptation serves?
2. What are human ecologists concerned with?
3. Describe
Comanche adaptation to the Plains environment.
4. Distinguish
between convergence and parallel evolution.
5. How
can a culture be stable, but not static?
6. Why
did the native groups on the Plains not farm?
7. How
prevalent today is food foraging?
8. What
previously held misconceptions about food foragers have been refuted?
9. Describe
some of the main social characteristics of food foragers.
10. What are the size limiting factors in a
foraging group?
11. Why are foragers generally egalitarian?
12. Can we make any generalizations about the
status of women in foraging societies? What influence does biological sex have
on the division of work?
13. Describe the difference between intensive
agriculture and horticulture.
Key terms: technology, reciprocity, leveling
mechanism, silent trade, generalized reciprocity, balanced reciprocity,
redistribution, market exchange, conspicuous consumption, Kula ring, informal
economy, special purpose money, general purpose money.
1.
Why might it be misleading to apply
contemporary economic theories to pre-industrial societies?
2. Is
there an intrinsic “biological” division of labor or work?
3. What
is the sexual division of labor?
4. What
are the benefits of the division of labor?
5. Discuss
the non-economic functions of reciprocity in Christmas gift giving in
Euro-American culture.
6. How
is land controlled in most pre-industrial societies?
7. Distinguish
between a “marketplace” and a “market”.
8. Give
some examples of “ leveling mechanisms”.
9. What
are three systems of exchange?
10. What functions did the Kula ring serve?
11. Compare
“money” among the Aztec and the Tiv.
12. Discuss the role that culture plays in the
“wants and needs” of a people.
13. Discuss
the relevance, if any, of anthropology to international business.
Key terms: marriage, affinal kin, Claude Levi-Strauss,
Consanguine kin, incest taboo, endogamy, exogamy, nuclear family, polygyny,
polyandry, levirate, sororate, serial monogamy, cross-cousin marriage,
bridewealth, bride service, dowry.
1.
What is a distinctive feature of humans
with regard the timing of sexual activity?
2. Why
does sexual activity require considerable efforts at social control in all
societies?
3. Describe
the sex life of the Trobrianders.
4. Discuss
the marriage system of the Nayar.
5. What
is the incest taboo. What are some explanations for its universality?
6. What
are the Oedipus and Electra complexes?
7. Distinguish
between endogamy and exogamy.
8. Give
a non-ethnocentric definition of marriage?
9. What
is the function of female-female marriage among the Nandi?
10. Distinguish
between consanguine and conjugal families.
11. What are some of the characteristics often
found in societies that allow polygyny?
12. What are the dynamics of polyandry? How does it work?
13. What benefits do arranged marriages have?
14. What positive functions might preferential
first cousin marriage have?
Key terms: household, extended family, patrilocal residence, matrilocal residence,
neolocal residence, avuculocal residence, ambilocal residence
1.
How does Haviland define “family”?
2. Describe
the nurturing requirements of all young primates.
3. How
is the modern American/European family related to the rise of industrial
capitalism?
4. What
social or economic factors might contribute to the formation of extended family
households?
5. How
does ecology impact residence pattern?
6. What
residence pattern was traditionally followed by people along the
7. What
residence pattern was typically followed by the Hopi and what was its impact?
8. What
are some of the special interpersonal problems that often arise in extended
families, and how are they often culturally resolved?
9. What
is a matri-centered family? What
problems may accompany female-headed families?
10. How
does the status of women relate to various kinds of family and residence
patterns?
Key terms: descent group, matrilineal descent,
patrilineal descent, double descent, corporate lineage, fission, clan,
totemism, moiety, kindred, kinship terminology.
1.
Why do societies form descent groups?
2. How
is membership in a descent group restricted?
3. What function does double descent serve in
Yako society?
4. Explain the functions of ambilineal descent in
contemporary
5. What
are some social implications of lineage exogamy?
6. Contrast
a clan and a corporate lineage.
7. What
are the differences between matrilineal and patrilineal descent groups? Is a
matrilineage the exact opposite of a patrilineage?
8. What
did anthropologist Margery Wolf find out about the situation of women in
9. What
is a totem and what functions does it serve in a clan?
10. What
are some of the reasons that kinship termininolgies differ?
11. What are the major principles of the American
(AKA Eskimo) system of kin terms?
12. What
are some of the limits of ego-centered kindreds as contrasted with lineages?
Key terms: age grade, age set, cousins clubs,
common interest association, stratified society, egalitarian society, social
class, caste
1.
Describe the separate but equal
organization of the Iroquois.
2. In
what ways is age grouping evidenced in
3. Distinguish
between age grade and age set.
4. Describe
the Tiriki age set system.
5. Why
are women’s groups generally less common than men’s groups?
6. Briefly
describe
7. Compare
8. How
and why did the Maya develop a stratified society?
Key terms: political organization, band, tribe,
segmentary lineage system. Chiefdom, state, nation, sanctions, law,
negotiation, mediation, adjudication, worldview.
1.
According the Haviland, what are four basic
kinds of political systems?
2. How
is authority conferred in a band? In a tribe? In the State?
3. What
is the role of the leopard-skin chief among the Nuer?
4. Distinguish
between nation and state.
5. Discuss
gender differences in politics and suggested reasons for them.
6. How
is social control maintained in bands and tribes?
7. Distinguish
between positive and negative sanctions? Formal and informal sanctions?
8. What
are the limits of power in Bedouin society?
9. What
are some functions of law?
10. How
are disputes handled by the Kpelle?
11. Why
might warfare be so prominent in food-producing societies?
12. Compare the worldview of the Abenaki with that
of the Iroquois.
Key terms: religion, pantheon, animism, animatism, priest, shaman, rites of
passage, separation, transition, incorporation, imitative magic, contagious
magic, witchcraft, divination, revitalization movements.
1.
What is the relationship between science
and religion?
2. Why does Haviland suggest there might be less
religion in complex societies?
3. How does healing occur among the Ju/hoansi
(“Bushman”)?
4. What
purpose do ancestral spirits serve?
5. What
is mana?
6. What
is shamanism and how do shamans carry out their work?
7. What
are two main kinds of ritual?
8. What
are the three stages of a rite of passage?
9. What
are two principles fundamental to magic?
10. In
what way does the Tewa origin myth reflect Tewa social structure?
11. What
are some psychological functions of religion?
Some social functions?
12. How and why do revitalization movements
emerge?
Key terms: folklore, myth, legend, epic, tale, motif, ethnomusicology, tonality, iconic images
1.
What are the basic kinds of verbal arts
studied by anthropologists?
2. Give
an example how myth expresses the worldview of a people.
3. Distinguish
between legend and myth
4. What
role does poetry play in the culture of the Bedouin?
5. What
kind of society is likely to have epics, and why?
6. What
are some functions of music?
7. Distinguish
between art and craft?
8. What
is the “second stage” of trance?
9. What
are some symbolic uses of masks in
10. Are there any universal characteristics of
art? Is it possible to give a cross-cultural definition of “art”?
Key terms: primary and secondary innovation,
diffusion, acculturation, genocide, syncretism, nativistic movement,
millenarianism, tradition, and modernization, revolutionary.
1.
What have European Americans borrowed from
American Indians?
2. Distinguish
between primary and secondary innovation
3. Why
is it that the cultural context provides the means for innovation to occur?
4. What
is meant by cultural loss?
5. Describe
the nature of acculturation.
6. What
factors seem to underlie genocide? Give some recent examples of genocide.
7. What
does the field of applied anthropology seek to accomplish?
8. How
did the Trobriand Islanders adapt the game of cricket?
9. What
is a problem with the term “modernization”?
10. What
is meant by “culture of discontent?”
11. What are some precipitators of rebellion and
revolution?
12. What is the purpose of revitalization
movements?
Key Terms: cultural pluralism, structural violence,
ethnic resurgence, and global apartheid
1.
What are some problems with “futurology”
and future-oriented literature?
2. Why
are predictions of “one world” probably incorrect?
3. Give
some examples of ethnic resurgence.
4. Provide
examples of structural violence.
5. What
is probably the immediate cause of world hunger? Give examples.
6. Why
is the economic world system one of “global apartheid”?
7. Why
is the suggestion that other countries adopt American style agriculture not
necessarily sound advice?
8. In
what ways is contemporary North American culture one of “discontent?”
9. Give
an example of how misunderstandings might increase in a “one-world” culture.
10. Why might anthropologists be a little
skeptical about the buzzword “global economy”?