Deck 17: Art and Media

Question 1

The anthropological approach to understanding art includes all of the following, EXCEPT:

A) reconsidering Western art within its own indigenous, local cultural context.
B) investigating the "social life" of art as it moves beyond local borders.
C) displaying art without reference to its original context.
D) suggesting alternate ways for museums to display art.
E) transforming the ways that art museums depict non-Western cultures.

Answer 1

displaying art without reference to its original context.

Question 2

Archaeologists discovered evidence of ________ in South Africa's Blombos Cave.

A) paintbrushes
B) carved bison bones
C) cave paintings of giraffes
D) red and yellow ochre
E) woven baskets

Answer 2

red and yellow ochre

Question 3

As defined in the textbook, the aesthetic experience refers to:

A) universal perceptions of what is art.
B) perceptions of art based on logic.
C) scientific studies of how art is perceived.
D) the perception of art through one's senses.
E) a perception that art is produced only for the general public.

Answer 3

the perception of art through one's senses.

Question 4

One result of the attention focused on Morrinho has been:

A) that art students received scholarships to study at a university in Madrid.
B) that the number of Internet users in Paris increased dramatically.
C) opportunities for the creators to re-create it at an arts festival in London.
D) new guidelines in regulations about television broadcasts for children.
E) the revision of immigration policies to the United States.

Question 5

The archaeological record shows evidence of human artistic expression dating back ________ years.

A) 10,000
B) 100,000
C) 50,000
D) 1 million
E) 500,000

Question 6

According to the text, anthropologists who study art pay attention to all of the following, EXCEPT:

A) paintings.
B) movement.
C) cuisine.
D) statistics.
E) globalization.

Question 7

Cross-cultural research leads anthropologists to argue that appreciation of art is acquired through:

A) social media.
B) genetics.
C) the enculturation process.
D) fieldwork.
E) authenticity.

Question 8

Morrinho is important to anthropologists as a:

A) miniature Brazilian city where individuals act out everyday life.
B) board game played in Spain by North Africans who reenact life at home.
C) video game created by Parisian college students who modeled it on French culture.
D) painting that depicts Mexican immigrants' view of the border crossing.
E) cartoon that allows children to play out cultural practices using avatars.

Question 9

Analysis of European Paleolithic cave art indicates that:

A) the designs were painted by the same group of individuals.
B) there were no burials associated with the paintings.
C) the paintings depicted an equal number of humans and animals.
D) there is no indication of ritual or symbolic meaning.
E) the paintings were modified over a 20,000-year period.

Question 10

The assertion that human beings have an intrinsic way of determining what is beautiful is known as:

A) the universal gaze.
B) authenticity.
C) cultural relativity.
D) visual anthropology.

Question 11

Decisions about what is displayed as fine art typically reflect:

A) wealth and power stratification.
B) egalitarianism.
C) collective decision making.
D) gender equality.
E) cultural relativity.

Question 12

Art in Western traditions is often associated with notions of ________ art.

A) popular
B) tourist
C) universal
D) authentic
E) high

Question 13

The anthropological approach to art:

A) advocates displaying art from different cultures without specifying its original context.
B) attempts to understand the development and meaning of local art forms within their
Unique and complex cultural contexts.
C) emphasizes evolutionary framing and evaluation.
D) has not focused on the movement of art beyond local or national borders.
E) has tended to reproduce stereotypes and hierarchies within the art world.

Question 14

Anthropologists' definitions emphasize that art is:

A) solely the domain of elites.
B) created only by professional artists.
C) exclusively seen in museums or heard in opera houses.
D) shaped by the viewers' perspective and culture.
E) a product of individual rather than community production.

Question 15

Cooking and building, fashion and oratory, decorating and dressing, and sewing and play all represent ________ through which artists and audience communicate.

A) sculpture
B) media
C) songs
D) games
E) programs

Question 16

Steiner's research among the wood carvers of Abidjan indicates that the ________ is pivotal in determining the monetary value of art.

A) artists' formal training
B) buyers' perception of an object's authenticity
C) length of time required to produce it
D) combination of colors (e.g., black and yellow are preferred)
E) exchange rate on the euro at the time of purchase

Question 17

The complexity of cave art suggests that:

A) the paintings may have been used in storytelling or for record keeping.
B) humans did not yet have advanced cognitive skills.
C) cavemen had limited knowledge of the technology required to show movement.
D) the type of paint used for painting was simple watercolors.
E) cavemen began to paint before they were able to carve bones.

Question 18

Christopher Steiner's ethnography of art in Abidjan, Côte D'Ivoire, focuses on a market where the primary consumers of locally produced art are:

A) Arab businessmen.
B) African farmers.
C) Western businessmen.
D) Western tourists.
E) Muslim art collectors.

Question 19

Immanuel Kant and Georg Hegel argued that humans' determination of beauty is determined by:

A) culture.
B) nature.
C) minimalism.
D) priests.
E) their age and sex.

Question 20

Early anthropologists played an important role in the acquisition of so-called ________ art that came from Oceania, Africa, and Latin America.

A) high
B) Western
C) primitive
D) ethnographic
E) aesthetic

Question 21

In the late twentieth century, ________ emerged as a dominant form of global communication.

A) telephones
B) the Internet
C) books
D) letters
E) newspapers

Question 22

The author writes that the marketing of art created by the Pintupi of Western Australia:

A) involves stressing that the art shows native ingenuity in the twenty-first century.
B) stresses the authenticity of these designs through their link to the Dreaming.
C) informs tourists that this culture will disappear if foreigners don't purchase the art.
D) appeals to eco-friendly consumers by stressing the use of trees from sustainable forests.
E) has created considerable differences of wealth within the Pintupi community.

Question 23

________ is the perception of an object's antiquity, uniqueness, and originality within a local culture.

A) Aesthetics
B) Popularity
C) Kinetics
D) Value
E) Authenticity

Question 24

As discussed in the text, ________ are a critical form of media that allows Chinese immigrants and those at home to remain in contact.

A) letters
B) telephones
C) books
D) newspapers
E) videos

Question 25

Ethnomusicologists would be most likely to study:

A) portraits in National Geographic.
B) communication through social media.
C) the use of playground rhymes by U.S. rap artists.
D) the marketing of oceanic arts.
E) identity formation among Latin American wood carvers.

Question 26

Arjun Appadurai calls the global cultural flows of media and visual images that enable linkages and communication across boundaries a(n):

A) critical transformation.
B) virtual hologram.
C) lingering avatar.
D) global mediascape.
E) imagined community.

Question 27

Anthropologists find that in addition to its aesthetic value, art also serves often as a:

A) form of political protest.
B) critique of economic inequality.
C) means of establishing identity.
D) way of performing gender.
E) all of the above

Question 28

Gaunt's research into kinetic orality in U.S. playgrounds shows that:

A) young black girls tend to imitate the music and gestures of hip-hop performers.
B) black male musicians created a new art form.
C) kinetic orality is a unique rhyming pattern similar to that spoken in south London.
D) young women raised in black culture learn to perform a rhythmic pattern of clapping and stomping as part of the socialization process.
E) young black women tend to play together until young men show up.

Question 29

The important aspects of any art market that ethnographers strive to understand are:

A) production, consumption, and distribution.
B) the effects of immigration and globalization.
C) gender and racial hierarchies.
D) Internet marketing campaigns.
E) advertisements on television.

Question 30

According to the text, rara festivals are closely founded in:

A) a dynamic economy, where locals make money by selling tourist art.
B) locals' desire to become involved in the global art market through dance and song.
C) protests about historic social inequality and political repression.
D) an evangelical movement, which has inspired new forms of praise.
E) attempts by transgendered individuals' public performance of their identities.

Question 31

The acrylic dot paintings produced by Western Australian aborigines:

A) are based on designs in fine art that gallery owners bring them.
B) were first invented in the 1970s.
C) are sold exclusively as tourist art to visitors to the region.
D) have no connection to traditional religious beliefs.
E) have done little to improve the local economy.

Question 32

The author states that immigrants to ________ recognized him because of media he has participated in while visiting their village in rural China.

A) Shanghai
B) New York City
C) London
D) Rio de Janeiro
E) Toronto

Question 33

________ compose the fourth-largest population of Asian Americans in the United States.

A) Chinese Americans
B) Korean Americans
C) Japanese Americans
D) Vietnamese Americans
E) Indian Americans

Question 34

Ethnographic studies indicate that art produced by local peoples presented on the global scale:

A) can help the local producers establish a visible ethnic identity.
B) never attains the same economic value as high art.
C) has little impact on social dynamics within the producers' communities.
D) appeals only to hippies and members of the so-called counterculture.
E) has become so popular that most artists now cut out the middlemen.

Question 35

According to the text, desi men's performance of an "authentic" Indian marriageable identity:

A) does not conflict with their performance at dance clubs because they consult with their elders about expectations.
B) includes adopting the look, dress, and language of U.S.-based "gangstas."
C) includes consulting a marriage broker because all of these marriages are arranged.
D) includes working toward a career that will support a wife and family.
E) includes trying to blend into mainstream U.S. culture.

Question 36

In addition to intensifying the worldwide movement of people, money, data, goods, and services, ________ has transformed the flow of images and sounds through new media technologies.

A) visualization
B) socialization
C) globalization
D) migration
E) mediation

Question 37

The research of visual anthropologists focuses on:

A) the production, circulation, and consumption of visual images.
B) understanding social relationships in the photographic community.
C) ways that musical lyrics reflect social hierarchies.
D) distinguishing between popular and high art.
E) identifying ways that literacy rates increase if textbooks are illustrated.

Question 38

West African art is sold predominantly:

A) to art museums.
B) to galleries.
C) from a New York warehouse.
D) on the Internet.
E) by women traders.

Question 39

According to the text, desis attempt to define their identity through:

A) music, dance, and fashion that blends U.S. and Indian cultural heritage.
B) acrylic painting that draws on a perceived connection to Paleolithic New Guinea art.
C) taking cooking courses based on recipes of earlier generations who emigrated from Africa.
D) elaborate stage shows that blend hip-hop music and Jamaican Rasta costumes.
E) reconstruction of gender role ideals in which women dance dressed as men.

Question 40

As discussed in the text, the art known as "wood" and "mud" is produced primarily in:

A) Oceania.
B) West Africa.
C) Southern Europe.
D) Central America.
E) Eastern Australia.

Question 41

Anthropologist Aimee Cox's personal story focuses on her experiences as a(n):

A) opera singer.
B) sculptor.
C) painter.
D) dancer.
E) actress.

Question 42

According to the text, while conducting research in Second Life, Tom Boellstorff used all of the following research methods and strategies, EXCEPT:

A) participant observation.
B) surveys.
C) interviews.
D) focus groups.
E) none of the above

Question 43

Aimee Cox argues that based on her own experience as an artist and anthropologist, in many ways, ________ is the foundation for culture.

A) the Internet
B) social media
C) religion
D) performance
E) cuisine

Question 44

The majority of the 40 million people who read National Geographic at its peak were:

A) anthropologists and their students.
B) black or Latino professionals.
C) subscribers to the journal.
D) white and middle class.
E) over the age of forty-five.

Question 45

Because anthropologist Tom Boellstorff describes Second Life as populated by people who interact, create intimate relationships, and develop a unique culture and sets of beliefs, it can be likened to Benedict Anderson's notion of:

A) a global mediascape.
B) the virtual environment.
C) an imagined community.
D) an ethnologue.
E) social media.

Question 46

The importance of "provenance"-or the origins of a piece of "fine art" or an antique-has long been a critical component of its value for buyers. The text discusses a similar type of evaluation that occurs depending on the perceived "authenticity" of so-called primitive art. Using the specific example of the art produced by the Pintupi, explain how what is essentially an "invented" way of producing art is marketed as a reflection of the Pintupi's "traditional" culture. Having done that, explain how this "invented tradition" has helped to establish the Pintupi's identity on national and global levels.

Question 47

Different cultures have different visions of the meaning and value of art. Provide the author's definition of "art," and use this as a starting point for explaining why Western art became the standard for galleries and museums. Distinguish between Western and so-called primitive art, and explain the role anthropologists played in raising awareness of the latter. Highlight both the positive contributions attributed to and criticisms of anthropologists relative to notions of "ethnocentrism" and the "universal gaze." Provide two examples to discuss how and why "primitive" or "ethnic" art has become a collector's item.

Question 48

As discussed in this text, Globalization has meant greater economic overlap and communications between different nations. Anthropological studies of art traced the production and sale of art created in once-remote locations to galleries and shops on the other side of the world. When did so-called ethnic art become more popular? Using two specific examples discussed for Africa, explain how art produced in one part of the world is distributed and consumed in the United States or Europe. Who are the two primary types of buyers-and discuss three categories of individuals most directly involved in selling the works of art abroad?

Question 49

The participants in the Black Light Project with whom Aimee Cox worked were:

A) homeless.
B) handicapped.
C) avatars.
D) socialites.
E) poets.

Question 50

Lutz and Collins concluded after their investigation of National Geographic photos that the magazine provides readers a view of all the following messages, EXCEPT:

A) in essential ways, the world that seems so diverse is actually quite familiar.
B) many regions are suffering conflict along gender, race, and economic lines.
C) fundamentally, all is well with the world.
D) the United States plays a benevolent role in world events.
E) despite differences in appearance, peoples of the world are more alike than different.

Question 51

________ are computer- and Internet-based technologies that serve as sources of pleasure and social engagement.

A) Universal aesthetics
B) Photographic gazes
C) Avatars
D) Paleolites
E) Social media

Question 52

Catherine Lutz and Jane Collins applied the photographic gaze to National Geographic magazines because:

A) on average, more than 100 million people worldwide read it monthly.
B) it was the only source of information available about cultures of the world prior to cable
Television becoming widely available.
C) they were paid more than $25,000 by the publishers to help increase subscription rates.
D) they wanted to explore the power of visual images to shape cultural perspectives and behavior.
E) they learned that their students were more willing to read National Geographic articles than the ethnographies they assigned them.

Question 53

Tom Boellstorff described Second Life as a community because:

A) participants have developed a unique culture and set of beliefs.
B) the community has clearly stated ultimate goals.
C) participants were able to tell him how the community began and would end.
D) most participants spent considerable amounts of time together when they were not online.
E) all of the participants speak English as their first language.

Question 54

Anthropological studies of art rely most on which of the human senses?

A) sight
B) sound
C) taste
D) touch
E) none of the above

Question 55

Define the term "kinetic orality" and describe the circular relationship Kyra Gaunt documented between the games black girls play and commercial hip-hop culture, especially as it pertains to the construction of gender.

Question 56

The author discusses that in addition to its aesthetic content, people also use artistic expression to express a wide range of emotions and sentiments, including frustration with the status quo. Define the term popular art, and explain why the rara festivals in Haiti are an example of this form of expression. Describe who participates in a rara performance and provide two specific examples of how these performances allow the participants to express their religious beliefs and frustration with social and political inequality in Haiti.

Question 57

Through the Black Light Project:

A) young men in New York City wrote poetry about what they had learned from their fathers.
B) young women performed street theater to engage in dialogue with members of the public in Detroit.
C) residents of a nursing home began entertaining at children's hospitals in Chicago.
D) teenagers created a workshop for migrant children in Los Angeles to narrate their journey to the United States.
E) teachers in a Scottish preschool taught children a dance that had not been performed for decades.

Question 58

The author discusses the importance of art found in caves inhabited by humans in the Paleolithic era for understanding the lifestyles of early humans. Summarize the important finds in Africa and Europe to explain how archaeological excavations of the painters' studio found in the cave have shone new light on our knowledge and understanding of the technologies developed by early humans, including when humans created art. Use two additional examples from southern Europe to discuss ways that evidence from the Paleolithic era has expanded our understanding of the social life and religious beliefs of "cavemen" and the way that human cultures have developed, including when we see evidence of widespread production of art.

Question 59

Which of the following is NOT a type of representation that visual anthropologists study?

A) theatrical performances
B) museum displays
C) mass media
D) television
E) rock music

Question 60

________ are virtual characters created to inhabit alternate worlds.

A) Mediascapes
B) Avatars
C) Oralities
D) Surrogates
E) Socialites

Question 61

Analyze Sunaina Maira's ethnography Desis in the House. Who are desis? What conflicts of ethnicity, gender, and authenticity do they navigate? What if anything can we learn about the experiences of second-generation immigrants from the case study of desi culture?

Question 62

Evaluate this statement: "As people become frustrated with the lack of intimacy provided by electronic technologies, this form of communication will become less important in coming decades." Is it true or false? Use examples from the text to support your conclusion.

Question 63

Summarize Catherine Lutz and Jane Collins' study of National Geographic's photographic gaze. What is the effect of National Geographic's cultural lens? Then make a short list of visual media you encounter throughout the day-social media, news, television shows, websites, and advertising, for example-and list some clues that you think intentionally or unintentionally express the worldviews of the media owners, editors, designers, videographers, or others who made that media.

Question 64

Pick an example of American art (either pop or fine art) or media and subject it to an anthropological analysis. In what context does it occur? Who is the intended audience? How does it intersect with race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, politics, or economics? Consider what specific questions you would want to answer if you were to conduct an ethnographic study of this art or media form. How would you structure your research?

Question 65

Consider the global trade of West African "wood" and "mud" artwork. Are these objects "authentic"?