Deck 17: World Problems and the Practice of Anthropology

Question 1

Which of these is the BEST definition of applied anthropology?

A) Using anthropological perspectives, theory, knowledge, and methods to assess and solve human problems
B) The application of anthropological theory, knowledge, and methods within the corporate and academic worlds
C) Using anthropological perspectives, theory, knowledge, and methods in order to find a job in the private and governmental sectors
D) The application of anthropological theory, knowledge, and methods in the study of human behavior

Answer 1

Using anthropological perspectives, theory, knowledge, and methods to assess and solve human problems

Question 2

Applied anthropologists are uniquely skilled in problem-solving because they

A) are holistic in perspective.
B) have one, shared world view.
C) have medical expertise.
D) are ethnocentric.

Answer 2

are holistic in perspective.

Question 3

The largest and fastest growing specialty within applied anthropology is

A) medical anthropology.
B) forensic anthropology.
C) corporate anthropology.
D) anthropology of leisure.

Answer 3

medical anthropology.

Question 4

Which of these is an example of natural causation?

A) Sorcery
B) Infection
C) Soul loss
D) Spirit aggression

Question 5

Explanations for illness that include fate, contagious magic, and soul loss are termed

A) natural causation.
B) irrational causation.
C) supernatural causation.
D) dispirited causation.

Question 6

Which of these statements about Navajo healing practices is FALSE?

A) Traditional healing rituals are of varying length and must be conducted by a "singer."
B) Traditional Navajo healing rituals are limited in where they may be performed and by whom.
C) Healings done within the Native American church are less costly and time-consuming than traditional Navajo healings.
D) Individual Navajos are not welcome in the Pentecostal church if they also practice traditional healing practices.

Question 7

When deciding whether or not to have children, the primary consideration for a majority of North Americans is the

A) impact on the environment.
B) costs and benefits to themselves.
C) financial outlook for any children they have.
D) social consequences of a larger population.

Question 8

When deciding whether to have children, people in North America and in LDCs share a desire to

A) limit the size of their families.
B) carefully consider the consequences of their decisions for the broader society.
C) consider the costs and benefits to themselves.
D) practice contraception.

Question 9

In a study of a family planning clinic in rural India, Mahmood Mamdani found that

A) Indian couples used contraception when it was provided for them.
B) Indian women accepted birth control devices and used them without their husbands' permission.
C) children are considered an economic burden in the rural areas of India.
D) Indian couples thought it desirable to have lots of children.

Question 10

Why did contraceptive use eventually increase in the Indian rural village of Manupur?

A) Economic conditions made children less valuable.
B) Birth control was made available free of charge.
C) New programs employed women to speak to other women about contraception.
D) The government mandated one child per family.

Question 11

Which of these is NOT a reason for high fertility rates in LDCs?

A) Children are valued for their labor.
B) High infant mortality rates encourage having more children.
C) Children offer parents economic security in their old age.
D) Government-sponsored benefits increase with family size.

Question 12

According to the scarcity explanation of hunger, the major cause of widespread hunger in the LDCs is

A) overpopulation.
B) mismanagement of resources.
C) unequal distribution of resources.
D) allotment of food-producing land for cash crops.

Question 13

According to the inequality explanation, people throughout the world are hungry because

A) natural disasters turn situations of chronic malnutrition into hunger and starvation.
B) land is allocated to non-essentials for sale instead of basic food crops.
C) populations are larger than it is possible to feed using the available land.
D) global warming has made many formerly productive areas agriculturally marginal.

Question 14

In their books Food First and World Hunger, Lappe and Collins argue that

A) another Green Revolution could end world hunger.
B) population growth has created a situation of chronic hunger.
C) an adequate diet is possible for all if resources are more equitably distributed.
D) a dependence on cash crops increases hunger in the short term but will eliminate hunger in the long term as LDCs become better integrated into the global economy.

Question 15

During the Irish potato famine,

A) poor agricultural practices prevented the Irish from producing enough food.
B) hunger was largely due to an unwillingness to eat foods that were newly introduced.
C) Ireland was exporting to England enough food to feed 18 million people.
D) Ireland lost about 50 percent of its population.

Question 16

The technology-transfer solution may not be the best solution to the problem of hunger in less developed countries for each of the following reasons EXCEPT

A) many of the methods that work in industrialized countries with temperate climates do not work in the tropics.
B) the capital for high-tech agricultural practices is not widely available in LDC.
C) the poorest farmers, who need it the most, do not have the resources to use high-tech agricultural practices.
D) in LDCs, labor is much less available than capital.

Question 17

Why are many peasant farmers in less developed countries resistant to adopting practices and crops even when they are genuine improvements?

A) Peasant farmers have supernatural beliefs about farming and fear offending the spirit world.
B) The peasant farmers do not understand that there are crops and practices that might be more efficient than the ones they use.
C) Subsistence farmers know that, while not ideal, the plants and practices they have been using are well adapted to the local environment.
D) Due to the backfire effect, objectively false beliefs often become stronger rather than weaker when presented with contradicting evidence.

Question 18

Why is traditional agriculture more energy efficient than high-tech agriculture?

A) Traditional agriculture uses high yield strains of crops.
B) Traditional agriculture relies on the muscle energy of humans and animals.
C) With traditional agricultural practices, more energy is used to produce fewer calories of food.
D) It is not; indigenous peoples merely think it is.

Question 19

Each of the following traditional farming methods might be a viable alternative to high-tech agriculture in LDCs EXCEPT

A) intercropping or multiple cropping.
B) growing legumes with corn.
C) managing fallowed fields.
D) allocating more farmland to cash crops.

Question 20

Which of these is an example of traditional resource management?

A) Intercropping of corn and squash in parts of Mexico
B) The planting of an export crop such as coffee for extra cash in El Salvador
C) The planting of fruit trees in fallowed fields in parts of Mexico
D) Using birth control among peoples of LDCs

Question 21

What is the position of anthropologists in general regarding the rights of indigenous peoples?

A) The American Anthropological Association Code of Ethics forbids advocacy for indigenous peoples.
B) Anthropologists practice absolute relativism and so do not comment on the current affairs of any peoples.
C) Most anthropologists are extremely concerned about the rights of indigenous peoples.
D) Anthropologists avoid any discussion of indigenous peoples except with other anthropologists.

Question 22

Which of these is the best definition of the term indigenous as it is used in the text?

A) Groups of stateless ethnic minorities
B) Culture groups that have occupied a region longer than immigrants or colonists
C) Anything that could also be called "natural"
D) People who have not incorporated any Western industrialized practices or goods into their way of life

Question 23

Within the contemporary world, indigenous peoples do each of the following EXCEPT

A) live as ethnic enclaves within larger nation states.
B) number about 370 million.
C) still make their living herding, foraging, and farming to some degree.
D) avoid engaging in politics, even to protect their own interests.

Question 24

How does local knowledge differ from global knowledge?

A) Local knowledge is not written or widely disseminated.
B) Local knowledge is based on superstition and magic.
C) Local knowledge is less useful than global knowledge.
D) Local knowledge is better protected than global knowledge.

Question 25

The Dongria Kondh are facing imposition that will affect

A) very little, as the Dongria Kondh are very adaptable.
B) their entire way of life, as strip-mining will destroy their land and impose on their sacred places.
C) only their agriculture due to the effects of mining on the water supply.
D) their wealth, as the Dongria Kondh, like many indigenous tribes, will benefit from the wealth of multi-national corporations.

Question 26

Indigenous knowledge

A) has provided little for modern civilizations.
B) has been adapted from muscle relaxants in plants to pain relievers in tree bark to form aspirin.
C) has virtually destroyed the endeavors of modern medicine.
D) is only useful for indigenous peoples.

Question 27

Related to his study of famines, economist Amartya Sen found that

A) famines are frequently the result of market forces that raise food costs and depress incomes.
B) famines are largely the consequence of food shortages.
C) GNP may be the best indicator of relative well-being in a country.
D) relative income is the best measure of standard of living.

Question 28

The loss of local knowledge would

A) only disappoint anthropologists who value knowledge for its own sake.
B) likely rob the world of at least some significant benefits.
C) not affect the world much, since the most important knowledge is saved in the cloud.
D) not affect the world much, since local knowledge only benefits the cultures who possess it.

Question 29

The relocation of the San from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve began as a result of pressure from

A) European environmentalists.
B) multinational corporations.
C) luxury resorts.
D) safari camps for well-to-do tourists.

Question 30

The scarcity and inequality explanations of hunger

A) together explain hunger completely and satisfactorily.
B) are mutually exclusive.
C) are both correct to certain degrees.
D) have both been dismissed by modern anthropologists.

Question 31

Applied anthropologists work exclusively in complex industrialized societies.

Question 32

Holistic perspectives and remaining culturally relative are important in applied anthropology since anthropologists work with a diverse range of societies.

Question 33

Corporate anthropology is the largest of the specialties within applied anthropology.

Question 34

All forms of medicine combine natural and supernatural causes to explain illnesses.

Question 35

There are limitations to the practice of traditional Navajo healing, including a shortage of practitioners.

Question 36

The standard of living has been steadily improving for people all over the world during the past several decades.

Question 37

All cultures place the same value on children.

Question 38

Urbanization and the need for formal education generally lead people to have fewer children.

Question 39

The vast majority of those suffering from malnutrition are women and children.

Question 40

Traditional agricultural systems are surprisingly much more efficient in terms of energy than modern mechanized agriculture.

Question 41

Some crops grow better when they are planted beside other crops.

Question 42

Adopting Western agricultural practices and crops is the best way for lesser-developed countries to fight hunger.

Question 43

The San of Botswana are an indigenous hunter-gather population who have longed for industrialization to take over their community.

Question 44

Without indigenous cultural knowledge we would not have certain painkillers such as aspirin.

Question 45

Discuss the two explanations for hunger in less developed countries. Give examples from the text as evidence to support each of the explanations.

Question 46

List and discuss at least three potential problems with technology transfer as a solution to the problem of world hunger.

Question 47

Describe the agricultural alternatives of intercropping and traditional resource management. Give an example of each.

Question 48

Explain the difference between global and local knowledge. Give examples for each.

Question 49

Discuss the major differences between traditional and Western medicine. How would you suggest the two forms of diagnosis and treatment can be used for patient care?