Anthropology 203 Chapter Questions

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Chapter 1: Anthropology in a Global World 1. Compare the concepts of ethnocentrism and cultural relativism. Is there any value in looking at other cultures from an ethnocentric perspective? Are there any drawbacks from taking a culturally relative viewpoint? 2. Why is ethnocentrism the major obstacle to the understanding of other cultures? How might it be overcome? 3. One of the new subspecialties of cultural anthropology is the anthropology of tourism. What type of research do you think an anthropologist who studies tourism typically conducts, and how can the findings from this research be applied to help societies cope with the cultural changes resulting from tourism? 4. How does Anthropology differ from Sociology and the other Social Sciences? How is it similar? 5. The discipline of anthropology studies the human condition from a cultural and a biological perspective. Can you think of some examples of the interrelatedness of culture and biology from your own life? 6. How might migration from a First Nation reserve to a large city affect family relationships? Generate at least three hypotheses. 7. In what ways might a group’s religious beliefs impact their ideas about the causes, diagnosis, and treatment of disease? 8. Global warming is occurring in the Arctic at almost twice the global average rate, reducing the hunting season and altering migration patterns of many species. It presents many new social, economic, and political challenges. How can anthropologists work with Indigenous peoples living in the Arctic to adapt to these changes? 9. Since June 2014 the Islamist group ISIS has destroyed many pre-Islamic archaeological sites, most notably the 13th century BCE Assyrian capital of Nimrud, a UNESCO World Heritage site, the ancient city of Hatra, also a UNESCO World Heritage site, both in Iraq; and Palmyra in Syria. Should the destruction of these sites be considered a “war crime” or “cultural cleansing” as some have suggested? Why does ISIS destroy these sites? 10. How might an understanding of social and cultural anthropology be of value to you in your career choice?

Chapter 2: The Concept of Culture 1. Working with fellow students, come up with 20 ways in which the words culture and cultural are used (e.g., multicultural, pop culture). What do these terms imply about the concept of culture? 2. Select a team or a group, or some activity you engage in with others, and list the norms of the group. 3. While we all must eat to survive, what we eat, when we eat, how we eat, how often we eat, where we eat, how much we eat, and so on are all heavily influenced by our culture. Discuss with a fellow student from a culture different from your own the differences in your consumption patterns. 4. How do the values, attitudes, and beliefs of your generation differ from those of your parents’ and grandparents’ generations? 5. The smartphone is now a ubiquitous part of our material culture. How has it affected our behaviours and the non-material aspects of our culture? 6. Some of the enculturating forces in Western society are media, such as television, movies, news stories, advertisements, and so on. How have they influenced the things you have, how you behave, and your attitudes, beliefs, and values? How has access to Western media influenced other non-Western cultures? 7. What are the cultural symbols that are important to you in terms of your identity as a person of a given gender, age, and ethnicity or nationality? 8. Poaching—the illegal hunting of wild animals—is a worldwide problem that can result in the extinction of endangered species, environmental changes, and the outbreak of diseases, such as Ebola, SARS, and HIV. Motives for poaching vary from providing subsistence and making a livelihood to financial gain and pleasure. How could an anthropologist work with a culture in sub-Saharan Africa to end the practice of killing and consuming chimpanzees, gorillas, and other primates? 9. What elements of mainstream Canadian culture have been borrowed from China, India, and the Middle East? 10. First Nations peoples have lost much of their traditional culture through colonization by Euro-Canadians. How could anthropologists work with them to revive and reconnect with their traditional cultures?

Chapter 3: Applied Anthropology 1. Canada has recently accepted thousands of refugees from Syria. How might an applied anthropologist work with them to adjust to their new lives in Canada? 2. Lack of adequate housing has been an issue for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis people for decades. Many of the homes, particularly in the North, have been built with little consideration of cultural requirements. How might an anthropologist work with an Inuit community, architects, and government agencies to develop housing that meets their needs? 3. Ethnotourism (people travelling to visit and experience Indigenous cultures and societies) is becoming more popular. While it offers economic opportunities, it is also changing these cultures. How might a small-scale culture be affected, and how might an anthropologist work with them to adjust to changes brought about by tourism? 4. How might the introduction of computers in a small-scale society change people’s ideas, attitudes, and behaviours? 5. If you were working with an Indigenous people in rural India to improve irrigation, what questions would you ask? 6. Poliomyelitis is a highly infectious disease that can result in permanent disability and death. Once prevalent throughout the world, it has nearly been eradicated thanks to a polio vaccine. Today it is found only in Afghanistan and Pakistan. How could an anthropologist work with local people in these countries to accept vaccination when they are distrustful of Western doctors? 7. Why is it important in any development project to take a holistic approach? 8. Compare the differences between the concepts of disease and illness. 9. Dishwashers are not a common appliance in Japanese homes. If you were tasked with marketing dishwashers in Japan, how would you conduct the research? 10. How might you apply anthropological knowledge and methods in your career? Chapter 4: The Growth of Anthropological Theory

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1. Why is theory important to both ethnographic and applied anthropologists, and indeed all anthropologists? 2. Can you identify a particular social problem that an applied anthropologist might want to get involved in and think about what theoretical perspectives would be useful to develop a research proposal? 3. If you were to conduct fieldwork to understand how tourism affects gender relationships, what theoretical perspective or perspectives (if any) do you think would be most useful to you? 4. Why is it important, when studying the history and growth of anthropological theory, to read original works rather than commentaries on them? 5. Is a knowledge of evolutionism and diffusionism of any practical value to anthropologists today? 6. How would a functionalist understanding of marriage differ from an interpretive one? 7. Compare idealist versus materialist approaches to anthropological theory. 8. Is social or cultural anthropology a science? 9. How would a political economist approach an understanding of terrorism? 10. If you were to conduct fieldwork with an Indigenous group, what personal circumstances would influence the information you obtained and the way you presented it? Chapter 5: Research Methods in Cultural Anthropology 1. Why is it necessary for applied anthropologists to have experience in ethnographic methods for their fieldwork? 2. What similarities and differences can you discern in the field methods used by applied and ethnographic anthropologists? 3. If you were to evaluate the success of a project, what criteria would you use for your evaluation? 4. What are the pitfalls and biases associated with participant observation? 5. How might a collaborator’s identity be revealed in an ethnography, and what steps would you take to ensure they remain anonymous?

6. What is the difference between anonymity and confidentiality? 7. While the anthropologist’s personal circumstances result in situated knowledge, in what ways does a collaborator’s personal circumstances result in situated knowledge? 8. Generation Z, that is, those born between 1995 and 2012, tend to skip breakfasts of cereal and toast because it takes too much time to clean up. If you were hired by General Foods to come up with a new breakfast food that would appeal to this generation, how would you go about researching it? 9. Indigenous people’s traditional knowledge of the medicinal properties of plants in their environment has been exploited by pharmaceutical companies to develop new drugs. Should Indigenous people be compensated for use of their knowledge and, if so, how? 10. What steps can be taken to overcome culture shock? Chapter 6: Communication and Culture 1. How can linguistic anthropologists work with First Nations people to revitalize their languages? Can you think of any ways some of the new technologies may be used to help in this process? 2. What role have different power relationships played in the loss of Indigenous languages? 3. What cultural motives could there be for inventing a language? 4. How do you communicate with classmates whose first language is not the same as yours? How does this differ from the way you communicate with classmates whose first language is the same as yours? 5. How does language influence, or how is it influenced by, issues of class, gender, and ethnicity? 6. How has language changed in your lifetime, and what factors have contributed to these changes? 7. Bill 101 declares French the official language of Quebec, and l’Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF) has gone to great lengths to ensure that is used in everyday situations. How important is French in maintaining Québécois identity, and what impact does Bill 101 and the OQLF have on English-speaking Canadians in Quebec and elsewhere in Canada? 8. How is technology changing the way you communicate with family, friends, and others?

9. How are texting, instant messaging, and social media applications influencing the way you learn? How can instructors use these new technologies to improve their teaching? 10. Second Life (secondlife.com) is a 3-D virtual world where users create avatars (online representations of themselves) that allow them to interact with other players from all over the world. How would you conduct ethnographic research in this virtual world? What questions would you ask, and what insights might such a study provide about the real world? Chapter 7: Economics, Adaptation, and Subsistence Patterns 1. As the world’s population continues to increase and extreme climatic events are experienced, are traditional subsistence strategies sustainable? 2. How does foraging compare with grocery shopping? 3. Foraging and pastoralist societies are being forced, especially through environmental change and government regulations, to give up their nomadic lifestyle and become sedentary. How can an anthropologist work with such groups to help them make the transition? 4. Although economists tend not to consider it, the gift economy in Canada constitutes a major part of the economy. What are the social norms and customs governing gift exchange in mainstream Canadian society? 5. Raising chickens in inner cities in Canada is catching on; many cities outlaw it, but some, such as Victoria, B.C., permit it, while others are considering it. If you were contracted by your local community to help city officials make their decision, how would you go about researching urban chicken farmers? What data would you need to collect? 6. How do the processes of production, distribution, and consumption of resources differ between cultures where land is privately owned compared to those where land is owned communally? 7. In terms of production, how do gender roles between men and women differ in Canadian society compared to a horticultural society? 8. In many countries, poverty necessitates that children work in order for the family to survive. This is at the expense of their education, which makes it difficult for them to escape their poverty. How could an anthropologist work with these children, their parents, and employers to resolve this dilemma?

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9. Insects are an inexpensive source of protein, and cultivating them offers an excellent small-business opportunity for people in the developing world and can thus potentially alleviate both poverty and hunger—provided that people can be persuaded to eat them. How would you work with a local community to change people’s negative attitudes toward eating insects? 10. Immigrants to Canada from many poorer nations send money to their relatives back home. What impact might this have on these home communities? Chapter 8: Marriage, Family, and Kinship 1. Is marriage becoming outdated? 2. Most Westerners marry for love and, traditionally, non-Westerners marry for economic or kinship reasons. Yet this is changing with more people in non-Western cultures marrying for romantic reasons. Why is this happening? 3. How is the nuclear family well-suited to a highly mobile culture? 4. In Canada people are increasingly marrying and cohabiting with people from different religious, social, racial, and ethnic backgrounds. What might be some of the reasons for this? 5. Currently, polygamy is illegal in Canada, but in the near future it may be challenged on Constitutional grounds and may become legal. If this happens, how will it affect the legal definition of marriage, and how might it affect marriage patterns in Canada? 6. Design a research project to examine the economic aspects of marriage in a small horticultural village in India or China. 7. If you wanted to know how enculturation practices between same-sex and heterosexual marriages differ in your community, how would you go about the research? What questions would you want your collaborators to answer? 8. Interview a classmate and draw their kinship diagram to the level of grandparents and first cousins. How would you draw situations such as twins, multiple spouses, and half-brothers and -sisters? 9. In what ways is biotechnology reshaping marriage practices and family structure? 10. What are the complex legal and ethical issues that surrogate motherhood raises? Chapter 9: Sex and Gender 1. If gender is culturally constructed, is it possible to have a genderless or gender-neutral society? If so, what would it look like and is it desirable?

2. What are the symbolic markers of gender in your culture? 3. How do you think things such as toys, movies, magazines, books, advertisements, and so on, have shaped your understanding of your own gender identity? 4. To what extent does biology play a role in the ways the genders are perceived, evaluated, and expected to behave? 5. If you were hired to work on a local development project, what cultural understandings about sex and gender would you want to know before you started? 6. If you were employed at large accounting firm with upper management responsibilities, how might you ensure sexual harassment among your colleagues is avoided? 7. How have gender roles changed in Canada in recent years? Why are men overrepresented in the STEM fields? 8. How is the relative status of the genders measured? 9. Should physicians and ultrasound technicians disclose the sex of a fetus before 30 weeks gestation? 10. At the end of 2015, the Canadian government launched an inquiry that looks exclusively into murdered and missing Indigenous women. How would people respond if it announced it would focus only on missing and murdered Indigenous men? Chapter 10: Social Inequality: The Meaning of Difference 1. John Griffin’s story was a unique experiment that is unlikely to ever be repeated. What ethical issues does it raise for anthropologists? 2. What barriers to equality of access to wealth, power, and prestige can you identify for certain segments of the Canadian population such as women, immigrants, and First Nations people? What would it take to eliminate some of these barriers? 3. What impact is globalization having on India’s caste system? 4. To what extent is the concept of “race” a useful anthropological concept? 5. How can anthropologists work with law enforcement agencies, Canada’s Indigenous peoples, and other marginal groups in Canada to eliminate racial profiling? 6. Economic inequality is generally seen as unjust, and national and international policies and programs are designed to eliminate it. In a capitalist society, such as Canada’s, where for the

most part there is equality of opportunity, and where people who get a good education and work hard can move up the economic ladder, economic inequality inevitably results. Hunger, homelessness, ill health, and severe deprivation of any kind are problems, but why is inequality per se a problem or unjust? 7. The causes of poverty and homelessness are complex and varied and consequently there can be no one solution to the problems. How can anthropologists contribute to an understanding of the causes of poverty and their solution? 8. Race is generally considered a cultural construct. How have “Indigenous people,” “Canadians,” and “whites” been culturally constructed? 9. How do First Nations people experience racism? What impact does it have on their lives? And how can anthropologists work with First Nations to deal with the experience of racism? 10. Should the Indian Act, and Indian status, be eliminated? What impact would it have? Chapter 11: Political Organization and Social Control: 1. In sentencing First Nations offenders, judges are required to pay “particular attention to the circumstances of aboriginal offenders.” Gladue reports detailing these circumstances are often prepared. A major intent of this provision is to take into consideration the impact of colonization and especially the impact of Residential Schools on First Nations people. It has, however, led to accusations of a two-tier justice system. Is it right to take the historical and specific background of First Nations offenders into consideration when sentencing? 2. Do you think there is more social deviation in small-scale societies or in larger, more complex societies? Why or why not? 3. During the colonial period many societies, including many First Nations, with no former tradition of chiefs have had chiefships imposed on them by European colonial powers. What has been the impact on these societies, and how can anthropologists work with them to overcome this particular legacy? 4. What advantages and disadvantages do you see to First Nation bands following custom election rules? 5. What benefits are there to First Nations, and to Canada as a whole, when self-governing agreements are signed? What role is there for anthropologists in this process? 6. A major challenge for states containing numerous ethnic groups is to create a unified national identity while the ethnic populations themselves are seeking independence or

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expanded autonomy. Using a specific example, discuss how anthropologists can work with either an ethnic group to gain more autonomy, or with the state government to forge a common identity. 7. Can you think of an example of public shaming not mentioned in the text? How does it compare with shaming in small-scale societies? 8. How do the rights of Indigenous people in Canada compare with the rights of Indigenous people in Australia, New Zealand, and the United States? 9. The Canadian justice system is primarily one of retribution, whereas the justice system of most Indigenous groups is restorative, and is a major reason why First Nations people are over-represented in the criminal justice system. How can anthropologists work with the Canadian government and First Nations to reconcile these differences? 10. What advantages are there for First Nations communities to be policed by members of their own communities? Chapter 12: Religion 1. In what ways do people in your culture try to control events through supernatural means? 2. What role does religion play in Canada with regard to issues such as assisted suicide, abortion, family, appropriate dress, birth control, gay marriage, and so on? 3. Arnold van Gennep suggested that all rites of passage have three distinct phases. Can you identify these phases in certain rites of passage that people in your culture typically go through? 4. What religious or magical icons do you or your friends wear, have in their cars or homes (if any), and what do they mean to you, your family, and your friends? 5. Is it rational to believe in witchcraft? Are there different types of logic that may be called upon to explain circumstances? 6. How do religious texts or myths explain or reinforce existing social hierarchies? Can you think of any examples? 7. All religions are concerned with sex and gender: where men and women came from, what men and women are like, how they are supposed to behave, and how they are supposed to relate to one another. Compare the way two religions approach sex and gender. 8. What are the differences and similarities between Christian fundamentalism and Islamic fundamentalism?

9. If scientific explanation replaces religious beliefs, how can we explain the growing popularity of new religions, such as neo-paganism, and the rise of fundamentalism in many parts of the world, including North America? 10. Religion provides important functions such as group cohesion solidarity, social control, and conflict resolution as well as cognitive and intellectual functions. Can these functions be achieved online? What other functions may religion online serve? Chapter 14: The Modern World Order 1. What examples of globalization can you cite that affect the way all people live their lives today that did not exist 25 years ago? Be specific. 2. Does the core need the periphery to remain underdeveloped? 3. One of the effects of globalization is global warming. How has this affected Indigenous populations living in the Arctic? 4. What socio-cultural information can anthropologists provide to assist economic development efforts? 5. Many migrants come to Canada from Central America and elsewhere to help farmers with their crops because they can earn more than at home. Much of the money they make is sent back to family they have left behind. How would you research the impact of economic migration on the migrants themselves, their families, and societies left behind? 6. How can anthropologists work with Syrian refugees and other agencies to help them adapt to life in Canada? 7. When is cultural borrowing appropriate, and when is it inappropriate? 8. What strategies are Indigenous peoples using to decolonize? 9. Why might it be important to an Indigenous group to have their cultural objects returned to them? 10. In 2006 the Grameen Bank and its founder Muhammad Yunus received the Nobel Peace prize for helping poor people in developing countries escape poverty through microloans. Since then there have been several suggestions that Walmart also receive the Nobel Peace prize for helping poor people in developing countries escape poverty. Should it?

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Anthropology 203 Chapter Questions

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