Cultural Anthropology
ANTH 103
Gram
Culture 4 QUIZ

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1. The exchange of gifts at Christmas in the United States is an example of:
 market exchange.
 redistributive exchange.
 reciprocal exchange.
 direct need and the setting of value.
 money.
 

2. Among the Enga of Papua, New Guinea, described in the Original Study in chapter 7, why do individual extended families, who value their independence, nonetheless contribute to the political ambitions of their clan Big Man?
 The Big Man actually personally owns the land each family farms, so as his "tenants", they have to pay their "rent" in the form of extra food they grow.
 The Big Man's success in advertising the wealth and strength of the whole clan will enhance the security of each of the clan's individual families.
 The Big Man has a small, but effective, personal "army" of supporters, who are always willing to take by force what he demands of each family, if it is not given "voluntarily".
 The Big Man is considered to have been chosen by the clan ancestors to lead the clan, and therefore each family contributes what it can out of their sense of religious duty.
 All of the above are factors which operate in this complex system to encourage the full participation of individual family units in the political activities of their clan Big Man.
 

3. According to the article on "A World Full of Women", the earliest prehistoric women deserve credit for which of the following central contributions to the success of foraging way of life?
 the concept of using sticks to make holes to plant seeds in
 the concept of building shelters for their families
 the concept of making containers out of plant fibers to carry or store things
 The concept of sharing food to create bonds of reciprocity with neighbors
 the concept of taming fire and putting it to use to provide warmth and cook food
 

4. A Melanesian "Big Man" feast is considered by anthropologists to be a leveling mechanism, because
 participants exchange goods that are regarded as equivalent in value, so that everyone ends up with the same wealth they started with.
 the special necklaces and arm bands that are exchanged lose value every time they move from one owner to the next.
 it is an occasion to renew friendships, exchange gossip, and resolve old quarrels.
 it is one of the few community-wide celebrations in which the upper-class people mingle with the lower-class people.
 the wealth that has been accumulated by the Big Man gets distributed widely to the guests, so that no-one ends up with significantly more than anyone else.
 

5. An automobile factory, a one-person repair shop, and a group of people who remodel houses are all examples of:
 a labor division.
 technological crews.
 economic system.
 resouce allocations.
 units of production.
 

6. Among the several horticultural societies of New Guinea and Melanesia described or discussed in the text or videos,
 men acquire power and prestige by being able to give away quantities of food, such as pigs or yams.
 men acquire prestige and power by producing a surplus with which they can buy fancier houses, ornaments, or tools.
 women are removed from any part of the food-producing activities, to spend all their time maintaining their husbands' households and raising their children.
 complex specialization of labor takes at least half the adults, men and women, out of actual food-reaising activities, making them dependent upon those who still work the land.
 elaborate irrigation systems are essential to sustain the crop yields upon which these people depend.
 

7. A Navaho gives 10 of his sheep that he knows are infected with disease to a Hopi, in exchange for a jeep. This would be an example of which of the following?
 the market principle
 negative reciprocity
 balanced or generalized reciprocity
 redistribution
 silent trade
 

8. Farming carried out with simple hand tools such as the digging stick is called:
 horticulture.
 pastoralism
 agriculture.
 hunting and gathering.
 deforestation.
 

9. The passing of the collection plate in church is an example of:
 reciprocity.
 market exchange.
 redistribution.
 allocation of resources.
 primary production.
 

10. In the article on bananas, pineapples, and watermelon, why did the author and his family end up with 'no watermelon at all'?
 The only source of watermelon in this region of Papua, New Guinea, was in a village currently hostile to the village they were staying in
 Their host family had a clan taboo against eating watermelon, so, as guests, the author's family felt obliged to honor that restriction.
 They had to return the watermelon they had bought, and it was the end of watermelon season.
 The watermelons that year had been infested with a fungus disease, and could not be eaten.
 They don't grow watermelons in Papua, New Guinea!
 

11. Horticultural communities generally
 work primarily to produce enough food for their own needs, perhaps with surplus for feasts, but not to produce surplus for sale.
 have draft animals, such as oxen or horses, to help them plow their fields.
 maximize their efficiency by concentrating on a few major crops, each of which is grown in its own cleared field, so that one crop does not have to compete with another for space.
 permanently damage, even destroy their environments for any further human use after a few years of farming.
 All of the above are usual characteristics or consequences of a horticultural lifestyle.
 

12. The transfer of goods and servies based on price, supply, and demand is called:
 the allocation of resources.
 reciprocity.
 non-market exchange.
 market exchange.
 redistribution.
 

13. In America, which of the following would best illustrate the concept of "conspicuous consumption"?
 Driving the newest model of a flashy, expensive car.
 Shopping at K-Mart.
 Making your own clothes.
 Going to LCC.
 Applying for food stamps.
 

14. The Bakhtiari (text) and Basseri (video) of Iran illustrate which of the following characteristics of pastoralism?
 The women take care of the herds, freeing men to supplement the diet by hunting.
 Because they have a reliable food source, they live in permanent settled communities.
 It is difficult to accumulate wealth, because of the social obligation to periodically slaughter whole herds to be able to give meat away at important festivals.
 Their lives are shaped largely by the need to make difficult and dangerous migrations each year to find appropriate summer and winter pastures for their flocks.
 All of the above are typical of pastoralists such as these.
 

15. People are generally motivated to engage in which kind of transaction by an immediate or direct need/want for the goods to be acquired?
 reciprocity
 market exchange
 redistribution
 allocation of resources
 primary production
 

16. The activity of rendering material items useful and making them available for human use is called:
 the economic system
 the unit of production.
 market exchange
 production.
 distribution.
 

17. The division of labor is defined as:
 the provision of goods and services to meet biological and social wants.
 the activity of rendering material items useful and making them available for human use.
 the rules that govern the assignment of jobs to people.
 the person or organized group responsible for producing something.
 the cultural knowledge for making and using tools.
 

18. Money is a market device designed to facilitate exchange by acting as a medium for it. It is also used to state the value of goods.
 True
 False
 

19. Non-industrial societies often differ from modern industrialized societies in which of the following ways?
 There is often no sexual division of labor, as all adult members of these communities must be able to di all the tasks necessary fro survival.
 Profit is not necessarily the guiding motivation in economic exchange.
 Children and old people are more often active and valued participants in the economic life of households and communities.
 Land is owned, if at all, by whole kin groups or communities, not by individuals.
 All except (a) above.
 

20. According to your text, which of the following observations is/are generally true about "egalitarian" food-foraging societies?
 The men in these cultures regard themselves as equal, while the women are regarded as less important Nd subservient to men.
 "Egalitarian" means that there is no sexual division in these cultures; men and women are skilled in doing all the tasks necessary to help the group survive.
 Men and women contribute equally to the food supply, and spend equal amounts of time in food foraging activity,
 although men and women generally do different tasks, and may have separate ritual and social occasions, "cross-over" often happens, and the activities of both sexes are equally valued: women are as equal as men.
 


22. In the article on bananas and other fruits, what did the author and his family finally learn to do about the 'too many bananas'?
 They learned to let the stalks of bananas pile up, and rot, on their porch, as a sign of their high status as guests.
 They buried the bananas they couldn't eat in their garden, so the villagers would not think them ungrateful for the gifts.
 They figured out they could give the bananas they had been given to other visitors from the village.
 They offered their excess supply to the headman, to contribute to his position as local 'Big Man.'
 They learned to love, and eat, a lot of bananas! No such thing as 'too many.'
 

23. The Kula Ring
 is a marriage ring made of sea shells.
 is a form of silent trade.
 shows how important women's wealth is among the Trobriand Islanders
 is a circular trade route along which various goods flow in both directions
 is a Melanesian courtship dance in which women dance in an inner circle going one direction, while men dance in an outer circle going the other direction
 

24. In order for redistribution to take place, there must be
 a marketplace, where people can gather.
 some surplus and some kind of central agency or administration.
 some form of money as currency.
 good social or personal relationships among the participants.
 leaders with strong moral and ethical principles and a genuine concern for the well-being of their people.
 

25. Redistribution in the United States takes the form of
 taxes.
 church or club potlucks.
 fund-raising drives, such as United Way.
 All of the above are good examples of redistribution.
 None of the above count as examples of redistribution, because the United States economy is based on the market principle, which over-rides any form of redistribution
 

26. The project discussed in the Anthropology Applied page in chapter 6 ("Agricultural Development and the Anthropologist") focused on
 the introduction of newly developed drought-resistant crops to help farmers in Ethiopia.
 the re-introduction of ancient terracing techniques in mountainous areas of Peru, to lessen soil erosion and to increase productivity for local farmers.
 studying patterns of co-operation in villages in India to assure continued maintenance of newly introduced irrigation systems.
 providing family farms in South America with surplus fertilizers from North America, to increase productivity, and thus to lessen the need to cut and burn new areas of tropical rain forest.
 introducing new cash crops, suitable for export, to farmers in Brazil to enable them to participate in the world economy, and thus raise their standard of living.
 

27. Your text discusses two Plains Indian tribes, the Comanche and the Cheyennes, who, although starting from different backgrounds, both adapted to life on the Plains by becoming hunters of buffalo,and therefore developing a similar set of cultural patterns in technology, social organization and belief systems. This example could be used to illustrate which of the following concepts?
 Culture area
 Culture core
 Cultural ecology
 Convergent cultural evolution
 All of the above concepts help to explain this little bit of Native American history.
 

28. Taxes would best be classified as:
 a non-economic exchange.
 a unit of production.
 market exchange.
 reciprocal exchange.
 redistributive exchange.
 

29. A culture area is a geographical region in which
 a single society lives.
 several societies follow similar life patterns.
 several societies are bound by a single culture.
 a single society borrows practices from other cultures

 


31. Cultural ecology studies have clearly demonstrated that:
 the natural environment determines what cultural adaptations will be developed by a society.
 the natural environment sets limits within which cultures may adapt in a variety of ways.
 cultural adaptations enable humans to ignore the natural environments.
 cultural adaptations grow out of causes internal to a society and have little to do with natural environmental settings.
 

32. Which of the following is a frequent characteristic of food-foraging cultures?
 possession of large herds of animals
 moving around a lot within a known territory
 high value placed on aggressiveness and fierceness in men
 high value placed on ownership of family hunting territories and scarce resources such as water holes or honey trees
 all of the above
 

33. The transfer of goods and services between two people or groups based on role obligation is called:
 reciprocal exchange.
 redistributive exchange.
 market exchange.
 productive exchange.
 direct exchange.
 

34.  Which kind of exchange has as its main goal or intention maximizing your return on your investment of time, energy, skill, etc.?
 reciprocity
 market exchange
 redistribution
 allocation of resources
 primary production
 

35. The person or organized group responsible for producing something is called:
 private ownership association.
 the economic system.
 the division of labor.
 the unit of production.
 the unit of distribution.
 


 

37. According to the Original Study in chapter 6, the Mekranoti Kayapo Indians of Brazil's Amazon forest
 very carefully plant their gardens in neat rows, deriving social prestige and taking pride in the orderly appearance of their plots of land.
 use fertilizers and a simple irrigation system to add to the productivity of their tropical soil.
 are so efficient in their farming techniques that they are able to grow the same crops in the same plots of land for up to 15, or even 20, years at a time, before the soil is too overworked to produce.
 plant a varied mixture of crops in the same garden, which are harvested at different times and provide different foods in several consecutive years.
 all of the above
 

38. In the article on bananas, etc., how did the author and his family acquire fresh food?
 They participated in the village gift exchange system, receiving food as gifts and offering their tobacco and gum supplies in exchange.
 They were given their own garden plot, and taught how to grow the whole range of native foods--a real exercise in participant-observation
 They bought their food supplies at the weekly market, as did all the villagers, thus supporting the local economy
 They brought in their own supplies of canned food, so as not to be a drain on the scarce food supply in this region.
 They learned to go from door to door asking for food; village rules of hospitality assured that they could not be turned down.
 

39. Cultural ecology, as a subdiscipline within Anthropology, has as its primary focus of study
 the damage that human cultural patterns do to the natural environment
 the material remains of past cultures that ultimately failed because they overused or were unable to adapt to their natural environments
 the lifestyles of traditional foraging cultures, which are the only surviving remnants of how humans are naturally adapted to the world's natural environments
 the interaction of specific human cultures with the environments in which they exist
 strategies to protect and preserve the lifestyles of all traditional peoples in the face of the pressures modern civilization puts upon them
 

41. The Indians of the Great Plains, before the coming of the white settlers, did not use their environment for agriculture for which of the following reasons?
 The concept of domesticating plants was completely foreign to them.
 Their technology did not include a sturdy-enough metal-tipped plow that could break through the tough prairie grasses.
 The soil in those earlier days was not fertile enough to support a farming way of life.
 All areas near water sources were considered sacred, so their cultural beliefs forbade their use for subsistence of any kind.
 They were so involved with warfare with neighboring tribes that they could not stay in one spot long enough to safely farm it.
 

42. Which kind of exchange is most likely to occur between strangers, whose relationship exists only during and for the purpose of the transaction?
 reciprocity
 market exchange
 redistribution
 allocation of resources
 primary production
 

43. According to the market principle, as understood in Western industrialized cultures, the value of goods is determined by
 the negotiating and bargaining skills of the buyer.
 the closeness of the relationship between buyer and seller.
 the social status of the seller.
 the social status and political power of the buyer.
 the current availability and perceived desirability of the goods - supply and demand.
 

44. In the article on bananas, etc., what lesson did the author and family have to learn in the pineapple incident?
 They finally learned where and how to 'draw the line' on the woman who 'freeloaded,' by refusing to give her anything unless she brought them something first.
 They learned that old women were to be pitied, and were not expected to participate in gift exchange.
 They learned that they were not supposed to buy anything, but had to wait until it was offered, even if it meant going hungry.
 They learned that they had been wrong both to refuse the old woman's requests and to demand a gift from her, even if she was owing.
 They learned that 'borrowing' is the same as 'stealing.'
 

45. Reciprocity, redistribution, and market exchange are all kinds of:
 production units.
 productive systems.
 ways to sell goods.
 gift giving arrangements.
 exchange systems.
 

46. When a Ju/'hoansi or !Kung hunter shares his game with all the other families in the group, he does so primarily
 to prove how altruistic and generous he is.
 to create obligations that will be repaid to him and his family at some future time.
 to please the spirit of the animal he has killed.
 to avoid punishment by the headman or chief who is in charge of distribution of food.
 to gain and hold a political following of people who will have to support him in his struggle for prestige and power within the group.
 

47. If one considers the totality of human existence, the most widespread and frequent form of subsistence has been
 agriculture
 pastoralism
 foraging
 horticulture
 urbanism
 

48. An economic system is defined most accurately as comprising:
 horticulture and agriculture.
 reciprocity and redistribution.
 a system of production and a system of distribution.
 technology and resources.
 a natural environment and a cultural environment.
 

49. The discussion about the Ju/'hoansi in your text suggests that among this group of Bushmen,
 membership in each camp is constant, so that each group can be sure of having the right number and ratio of men and women to provide the group's food.
 men and women are so tired from the strenuous work of hunting and gathering, they have little energy or interest in doing much visiting with other groups.
 when a group gets too large (too high a "social density"), an increase in short tempers may be a reason for some families to leave to go join other groups.
 food resources are so unevenly available and so subject to luck, that they have developed an elaborate system of smoking and storing surplus foods whenever they can.
 each family within a band has its own parcel of land within the hunting territory, that they have exclusive rights to.
 

50. In the chapter 6 Original Study on the Mekranoti Kayapo Indians of Brazil's Amazon forest, the main point the author is making is to demonstrate
 how destructive slash and burn horticultural practices are to the fragile tropical rain forests of Brazil.
 how quickly the farming lifestyle here has led to complex specialization of labor and a stratified society.
 that this kind of slash and burn farming makes good ecological sense in the tropical rain forest.
 that open field agriculture would be a much more productive and energy efficient use of this environment than the primitive slash and burn gardening of these people.
 that slash and burn farming is a very labor-intensive subsistence strategy that just barely provides an adequate living for these people.
 

51. Which of the following would be the clearest example of reciprocity?
 A Melanesian Big Man handing out all the meat from the pigs that have just been killed
 Paying the cashier at Safeway and walking out with your groceries
 Babysitting for a friend who took care of your plants while you were away for Christmas vacation
 Holding a garage sale
 Earning a commission for each insurance policy you sell for your employer
 

52. In most foraging societies, women
 gather foods, which make up 60% or more of the group's diet.
 are too tied doen by constant pregnancy and nursing of infants to be able to contribute more than occasional amounts of food to the diets of the group.
 space their children as closely as possible, usually one every year or two, to counteract the inevitable infant mortality.
 spend much less time in gathering than men do in hunting.
 closely co-operate with the men in hunting, since meat is the basis of their diet and survival, and acquiring game requires every adult's help.
 

53. The material on economic Anthropology suggests that the introduction of a cash economy and wage labor has had which of the following effects on many traditional non-Western societies?
 Working for wages has given laborers a greater sense of their own value, and an increased pride in their skills and accomplishments.
 Participating in the global cash economy has given traditional communities a new sense of purpose, direction, and cohesiveness.
 Working for wages allows laborers more time to be with their families, and thus contributes to family solidarity.
 Wage labor separates workers from the finished products of their labor, and thus turns people into replaceable units of production.
 The cash economy provides traditional workers with new opportunities for self-improvement, and a new sense of control and meaning in their lives.
 

54. In societies in which redistribution is at the base of the exchange system, leaders gain status, power, and prestige by
 giving their wealth away publicly and generously.
 accumulating more wealth than others in their own communities.
 displaying their wealth in the most elaborate and expensive way they can.
 making a good profit in exchanges with neighboring communities.
 hiding their wealth, pretending to be struggling along with the rest of the community.
 

55. "Carrying capacity" refers to
 the strength of the men in a culture.
 the number of children a woman will be able to bear in her lifetime.
 the number of people who can be supported by the available resources in an area, with their level of subsistence technology.
 the number of animals in a pastoral society, which will be able to survive the difficult annual migrations.
 the limits of tolerance of a culture to changes and pressures put on it from outside cultures.
 

56. The Melanesian Kula Ring functions to
 distribute scarce resources over a broad ecological zone.
 establish allies among potential enemies.
 enable men to gain power through the ability to give and receive highly valued prestige items.
 accumulate wealth in the hands of an upper class elite
 all but (d) above
 

57. How do food-producing cultures, especially intensive agriculturalists, generally differ from food foraging cultures?
 Populations tend to be bigger--both because the economy can support more people and because more people are needed to do the work
 There is increasingly diversified specialization of labor and development of many kinds of skilled crafts people.
 Markets appear where people can trade their products for goods/services they don't themselves produce.
 Land and other property is increasingly valued, invested in, and protected.
 All of the above are logical and likely characteristics of agricultural societies.
 

58. Which of the following economic patterns might you find among food foragers, such as the Ju'/hoansi of the Kalahari?
 A technology consisting of few, relatively simple tools, which are readily shared.
 A division of labor in which there is considerable overlap and/or easy exchange between "men's work" and "women's work".
 A loosely defined sense of territory, marked by easily recognized "core features", rather than permanent boundaries.
 A system of exchange of goods and services based largely on generalized reciprocity.
 All of the above are mentioned by your text as characteristic of most food-foragers
 
 

40. In virtually every society, from the !Kung of the Kalahari desert to the suburbanites of Bayonne, New Jersey, men and women perform at least some tasks exclusively.
 True
 False
 
36. When someone has a birthday and receives presents from family members, the exchange cannot be called reciprocal because that person does not give gifts back to this kin at the same time.
 True
 False

30. Because they are based on one's role obligation, tax payments are a kind of reciprocal exchange.
 True
 False
 
21. Reciprocal exchange is associated with large societies where people must be able to procure a wide variety of goods from strangers.
 True
 False
 

 
    
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