Q&A Hero

Q: Development projects that use traditional social organizations and that respond to locally perceived needs are more likely to be successful.

Q: The original marketing strategy of McDonald's in Brazil A. promoted a beer with lunch. B. completely changed the menu to include Brazilian favorites. C. tried to Americanize Brazilian eating habits. D. took into consideration the Brazilian habit of eating hot foods, like hamburgers, on the beach. E. focused on the Sunday evening dinner market.

Q: The statement, __________, is not true. A. "one of the most valuable tools in applying anthropology is the ethnographic method" B. "many applied anthropologists have worked with development agencies such as the World Bank and USAID" C. "the application of anthropology to social problems has been a central concern in the discipline since its origin" D. "applied anthropology is a recently developed subfield within anthropology and reflects an entirely new concern with the application of anthropology to social problems" E. "applied anthropologists work with development projects, in education, medicine, and business, as well as many other fields"

Q: Describe what it means to say that an economic development project is culturally compatible. List the advantages of ensuring that projects are culturally compatible.

Q: Analyze the fallacy of underdifferentiation, and provide some possible alternatives to it.

Q: Define overinnovation, and explain why it can undermine development projects.

Q: Discuss the reasons why many anthropologists have turned from academic to applied work.

Q: Discuss the major advantages and disadvantages of scientific medicine and other health care systems. Remember to distinguish between scientific medicine and Western medicine.

Q: There is considerable debate today over whether governments should or should not require schools to provide bilingual education for students, and if so, how this could best be accomplished. Pretend that a school board in a bilingual community has asked to provide some guidance on this issue. Explain to the school board about the relationships between students' social, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds and their potential for success in school.

Q: Anthropologists researching the effects of development at the local level are able to identify inadequacies that may not be evident to economists working at national and global levels.

Q: Development projects that assume all "less-developed countries" are alike A. have only limited chances of succeeding. B. are the most successful kind of development scheme. C. have never taken place. D. are known as utopian intervention. E. are known as research and development.

Q: A common goal of development projects is to A. increase socioeconomic stratification. B. promote ethnocide. C. facilitate cultural assimilation. D. decrease local autonomy. E. increase equity.

Q: The Malagasy development program illustrates the importance of A. the local government's commitment to improving the lives of its citizens. B. replacing subsistence farming with a viable cash crop. C. replacing outdated traditional techniques of irrigation. D. breaking down corporate descent groups, which are too independent and interfere with development. E. the top-down strategies developed by the United Nations.

Q: __________ refers to the tendency to view less-developed countries as more alike than they are. A. Cultural relativism B. Ethnobias C. Overinnovation D. Underdifferentiation E. Intervention philosophy

Q: All development projects should aim to accomplish all of the following except A. to promote change, but not overinnovation. B. to preserve local systems, while working to make them better. C. to respect local traditions. D. to base models of development on indigenous practices and social forms. E. to develop strategies with little input from local communities.

Q: The postwar baby boom of the late 1940s and 1950s A. fueled the general expansion of the American educational system, including academic anthropology. B. promoted renewed interest in applied anthropology during the 1950s and 1960s. C. brought anthropology into most high school curricula. D. produced a new interest in ethnic diversity. E. brought an end to the world system.

Q: __________ should not be one of the goals of an applied anthropological approach to urban programs. A. Working with the community to ensure that the change is implemented correctly B. Identifying key social groups in the urban context C. Translating the needs and desires of the community to funding agencies D. Creating a single universal policy to be applied to all urban communities E. Eliciting wishes from the target community

Q: Cultural resource management is an example of applied A. ethnology that seeks to preserve indigenous cultures. B. biological anthropology. C. anthropology that could pose an ethical dilemma to the anthropologist. D. linguistic anthropology that seeks to preserve linguistic diversity. E. ethnography.

Q: A reason that the Madagascar project to increase rice production was successful is that A. Malagasy leaders were of the peasantry, or had strong ties to it, and therefore were prepared to follow the descent-group ethic of pooling resources for the good of the group as a whole. B. the elites and the lower class were of different origins and therefore had no strong connections through kinship, descent, or marriage. C. there is a clear fit between capitalist development schemes and corporate descent-group social organization. D. it took into account that native forms of social organization inevitably break down into nuclear family organization, impersonality, and alienation. E. the educated members of Malagasy society are those who have struggled to fend for themselves and therefore brought an innovative kind of independence to the project.

Q: The statement, __________, is not true. A. "Malinowski proposed that "practical anthropology" should focus on the diffusion of European culture into tribal societies" B. "Malinowski was not opposed to aiding colonial regimes by studying land tenure and land use in order to recommend how much land local people should keep and what Europeans should get" C. "the British Empire saw no use for anthropologists, and British colonials purposefully distanced themselves from anthropologists in the field" D. "a historical association existed between early anthropology, especially in Europe, and colonialism" E. "during World War II, American anthropologists studied Japanese and German culture to predict the behavior of the wartime enemies of the United States"

Q: Applied anthropology's systemic perspective recognizes that A. diseases affect many different systems of the human body. B. changes do not occur in a vacuum, and a program or project has multiple effects. C. the world-system theory of Wallerstein provides the best basis for applied work. D. it is necessary for applied work to focus entirely on educational systems. E. the most effective viewpoint for applied work is always that of a state administrator.

Q: A common problem for international development projects is that they A. lack an intervention philosophy. B. often assume the best way to increase production and income is through industrialization. C. tend to use local cultural models and processes rather than the more advanced Western models. D. frequently make unnecessary attempts to extend indigenous lifestyles that are already obsolete. E. overemphasize the needs of local communities.

Q: In a comparative study of 68 rural development projects, it was found that A. overinnovation was the most productive development model. B. culturally compatible projects were twice as successful as incompatible ones. C. the socialist bloc model was the most successful. D. the capitalist bloc model was the most financially successful. E. the underdifferentiated model led to the most equity.

Q: Anthropology may help the progress of education by enabling educators to avoid all of the following except A. indiscriminate assignment of nonnative speakers of English to the same classrooms as children with "behavior problems." B. tolerance of ethnic diversity. C. incorrect application of labels (e.g., "learning impaired"). D. sociolinguistic discrimination. E. ethnic stereotyping.

Q: __________ is not a proper role for an applied anthropologist. A. Working with local people in addition to "experts" and officials B. Identifying locally perceived needs for change C. Helping to design and implement culturally appropriate development programs D. Helping to impose development programs designed solely by international authorities E. Protecting local people from projects and policies not in their best interest

Q: __________ disease theory underlies traditional understandings of susto. A. Personalistic B. Naturalistic C. Biomedical D. Emotionalistic E. Tribal

Q: Higher amounts of melanin in the skin inhibit the body's ability to manufacture vitamin D.

Q: Most anthropologists are employed in A. the business sector. B. international organizations. C. colleges and museums. D. nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). E. government.

Q: Robert Redfield explained the relations between urban and rural communities by arguing that A. peasants were culturally isolated from cities. B. cities were centers from which cultural innovations were spread to rural and tribal areas. C. kin-based ethnic associations only exist in rural areas. D. there are so many connections between rural and urban areas that it is not useful to distinguish between them. E. urban centers have more in common with each other, even across national boundaries, than they do with rural areas in the same country.

Q: __________ refers to the beliefs, customs, specialists, and techniques aimed at ensuring health and curing illness. A. Disease theory B. Medical anthropology C. Health care system D. Shaman E. Psychosemantics

Q: A disease is defined as a(n) A. health problem as it is experienced by the affected individual. B. artificial product of biomedicine. C. consequence of foraging. D. unnatural state of health. E. scientifically identified health threat.

Q: Illness is defined as a(n) A. nonexistent ailment (only "diseases" are real). B. artificial product of biomedicine. C. scientifically identified health threat. D. purely linguistic problem. E. socially defined.

Q: The __________ disease theory would attribute a person's illness to the consumption of hot or cold substances under the wrong conditions. A. personalistic B. naturalistic C. biomedical D. emotionalistic E. tribal

Q: The burakumin constitute an isolated breeding population that is genetically distinct from the majority Japanese population.

Q: Lack of interaction between coexisting ethnic groups helps to ensure stability in a plural society.

Q: Cultural colonialism is a process of external assimilation that occurs when a developing nation-state requests financial support from a first-world nation-state.

Q: Racial classifications do not accurately represent the wide diversity of biological traits present among human populations.

Q: The assimilationist approach to cultural diversity encourages minority ethnic groups to retain their unique identities.

Q: In Brazil, a person's phenotype and racial label may change due to environmental factors.

Q: Interracial, biracial, and multiracial identities are becoming increasingly common in the United States.

Q: Describe the difference between assimilationism and multiculturalism. Identify how these concepts affect minority ethnic groups.

Q: Define a "plural society." List the conditions that contribute to the stability and endurance of ethnic boundaries according to Barth.

Q: Discuss the differences between identities that may be situationally negotiated and those that cannot. Give specific examples of both.

Q: In many societies, minority groups have inferior power and less secure access to resources than do majority groups.

Q: No hypodescent rule developed in Brazil to ensure that whites and blacks remained separate.

Q: "Hispanic" is a racial category referring to people who are biologically descended from indigenous Central or South American populations.

Q: In cultural terms, a race is an ethnic group that is assumed to have a biological basis.

Q: Identify the major differences between Brazilian and American systems of racial classification.

Q: Instead of asking about race, the Canadian census asks about A. ethnicity. B. visible minorities. C. multiculturalism. D. cultural diffusion. E. genotype.

Q: The Polynesians, the San, and the people of northern India have phenotypes that do not fit neatly into "standard" racial categories, which suggest that A. it is best to classify humans into a large number of racial categories. B. phenotypical variation between human populations involves gradual shifts across different geographic zones, rather than sharp breaks indicative of discrete races. C. these populations must have originated sometime before the major racial groups originated. D. traditional concepts of race need to be reworked so that they are more exclusive. E. there has been a lot of gene flow in the time since the origin of the three major human races.

Q: __________ plays a role in determining skin color. A. The HbS allele B. Ultraviolet radiation C. Sickle-cell anemia D. Lactose intolerance E. Lactose tolerance

Q: Human populations living in temperate, northern climates generally have light skin color because it A. helps to prevent rickets. B. exists in a balanced polymorphism. C. helps to prevent sickle-cell anemia. D. helps to protect against skin cancer. E. protects against hypervitaminosis.

Q: __________ causes neural tube defects. A. An overproduction of vitamin D B. An underproduction of vitamin D C. A diet rich in fatty fishes D. The HbS allele E. The destruction of folate

Q: Rather than attempting to classify humans into racial categories, biologists and anthropologists are A. denying the existence of any biological variation among humankind. B. attempting to create new categories based only on blood type. C. confident that earlier racial classifications are still valid. D. trying to verify anthropometric data from the turn of the century. E. seeking to explain why specific biological variations occur.

Q: Define racial classification. Describe how the modern anthropological approach to the study of human biological diversity differs from racial classification.

Q: Explain why differences in skin pigmentation exist among human populations around the world.

Q: List the effects colonialism and colonial nation-building have on "imagined communities" (e.g., ethnic groups, nationalities). Illustrate the answer with specific examples.

Q: Define the term social race. Describe how this concept differs from "race" as perceived by the average American.

Q: Define discrimination. Explain the differences between de facto and de jure discrimination, and give examples of each.

Q: Segregation in the southern United States and apartheid in South Africa provide two examples of A. situational discrimination. B. genocide. C. assimilation. D. de jure discrimination. E. de facto discrimination.

Q: __________ refers to the destruction of an ethnic group's culture. A. Genocide B. Prejudice C. Ethnocide D. Discrimination E. Diaspora

Q: The anti-Basque campaign waged during the Franco dictatorship in Spain is an example of A. forced assimilation. B. cultural relativism. C. status ascription. D. multiculturalism. E. an imagined community.

Q: The fact that __________ is a major difference between Brazilian and American racial classifications. A. Brazilians do not recognize racial differences. B. American categories are purer than Brazilian ones. C. Brazilian racial categories are based on genotype. D. social race is determined in the U.S. at birth and does not change. E. None of the above is correct.

Q: __________ automatically places the children of a union between members of different groups in the minority group. A. Hypervitaminosis B. Polygyny C. Polyandry D. Hypodescent E. Hypogamy

Q: In Japan, burakumin A. are perceived as "pure" Japanese even though they are the offspring of interracial marriages. B. suffer from discrimination as members of a stigmatized minority group. C. enjoy the highest status of all racial groups. D. no longer face any discrimination. E. constitute a numerical majority.

Q: The dominance of Russian culture, language, and people in the former Soviet empire is an example of A. multiculturalism. B. cultural colonialism. C. hypodescent. D. enculturation. E. plural society.

Q: The United States census bureau has found that. A. the choice of "some other race" has increased since 1980. B. its racial categories are strictly biological. C. people do not have any trouble selecting one racial category. D. its racial categories are based on hyperdescent. E. its racial categories are the same as ones used in the Canadian census.

Q: An examination of racial classifications from around the world indicates that A. all cultures classify races similarly. B. the classification of racial types is an arbitrary, culturally specific process. C. the best racial classifications are based solely on phenotypical traits. D. the best racial classifications are based solely on genotype. E. the best racial classifications are based on both genotype and phenotype.

Q: "Race" is A. based on biology, while ethnicity is based on culture. B. only important in the United States. C. an achieved status. D. a scientifically defined characteristic. E. culturally constructed.

Q: A policy of ethnic expulsion or ethnic persecution may create A. social races. B. ethnic harmony. C. refugee populations. D. a plural society. E. multiculturalism.

Q: The statement, __________, is not true. A. "ethnicity is based on actual, perceived, and assumed cultural similarities among members of the same ethnic group" B. "people may change the amount of importance they place on ethnicity due to political or individual life changes" C. "ethnic distinctions can be based on language and geography" D. "unlike race, ethnicity derives from biological differences among human groups" E. "ethnic distinctions can be based on religion, kinship, history, and race'"

Q: __________ occurs when a dominant group compels a minority group to adopt the dominant culture. A. Attitudinal discrimination. B. Genocide. C. Forced assimilation. D. Ethnocentrism. E. Environmental racism.

Q: __________ refers to a person's ability to emphasize different identities in different social contexts. A. Ethnic identity B. Racial substitution C. Situational negotiation of identity D. Discourse analysis E. Rotating core personality traits

Q: Nationalities are "imagined communities" because A. all were created by colonial governments. B. most members of a nationality will never meet. C. they are merely fictional constructs of the ruling intelligentsia. D. nationalities are comprised of many different ethnic groups and subcultures. E. the members of a nationality constantly compare their society to an idealized, quasi-historical past.

Q: Discrimination that is not legally sanctioned is A. ethnic discrimination. B. prejudicial discrimination. C. de jure discrimination. D. de facto discrimination. E. situational discrimination.

Q: __________ refers to the devaluing of a group because of its assumed behavior, values, abilities, or attributes. A. Discrimination B. Apartheid C. Assimilation D. Diaspora E. Prejudice

Q: Belief in mana, or mana-like forces, is a primitive form of religion found only among tribal societies.

Q: __________ is the term for identification with, and feeling part of, a cultural group, and exclusion from other cultural groups. A. Culture shock B. Ethnicity C. Cultural relativism D. Assimilation E. Ethnocentrism

Q: The term __________ identifies ethnic groups that once had, or wish to have or regain, autonomous political status. A. silent majorities B. captive nations C. colonies D. nationalities E. plural societies

Q: Social race A. has some biological basis, but it is mostly explained through culture. B. has declined in importance, and anthropologists no longer study the subject. C. is a cultural construction, so social race has no real world effects. D. is biologically distinct from ethnic groups. E. defines groups assumed to have a biological basis who are defined in a culturally arbitrary manner.