Deck 3: Applying Anthropology

Question 1

Which of the following illustrates some of the dangers of the old applied anthropology?

A) anthropologists promoting the study of their field among university undergraduates
B) anthropologists practicing participant observation and taking photographs of ritualistic behavior
C) Robert Redfield's work on the contrasts between urban and rural communities
D) anthropologists collaborating with nongovernmental organizations in the 1980s
E) anthropologists aiding colonial expansion by providing ethnographic information to colonists

Answer 1

anthropologists aiding colonial expansion by providing ethnographic information to colonists

Question 2

Development anthropology is the branch of applied anthropology that focuses on social issues in,and the cultural dimension of,what type of development?

A) ethical
B) theoretical
C) political
D) economic
E) scholastic

Answer 2

economic

Question 3

Which of the following was observed in the Bahia,Brazil,development project in which sailboat owners got loans to by motors,as described in this chapter?

A) Ambitious young men increasingly sought wage labor.
B) The fishing community became more egalitarian.
C) There was an increase in commercial sailboat ownership.
D) The price of power fishing vessels decreased.
E) Individual initiative was rewarded, and the fishing industry grew.

Answer 3

Ambitious young men increasingly sought wage labor.

Question 4

In an example of applied anthropology's contribution to improving education,this chapter describes a study of Puerto Rican seventh graders in a Midwestern U.S.urban school (Hill-Burnett,1978).What did anthropologists discover in this study?

A) Puerto Rican students came from a background that placed less value on education than did that of white students.
B) The parents of Puerto Rican students did not value achievement.
C) The Puerto Rican subjects benefited from the English-as-a-foreign-language program.
D) Puerto Ricans do not benefit from bilingual education.
E) The Puerto Rican students' education was being affected by their teachers' misconceptions.

Question 5

More than 70 percent of immigrants to Canada settle in what city?

A) Vancouver
B) Montreal
C) Toronto
D) Quebec
E) Alberta

Question 6

The Malagasy development program described in this chapter illustrates the importance of

A) the local government's ability to improve the lives of its citizens, when committed to doing so.
B) replacing subsistence farming with a viable cash crop.
C) replacing outdated traditional techniques of irrigation with more modern ones.
D) breaking down corporate descent groups, which are too independent and interfere with development.
E) the top-down strategies developed by the UN.

Question 7

Anthropology may aid in the progress of education by helping educators avoid all of the following EXCEPT

A) indiscriminate assignment of nonnative English speakers to the same classrooms as children with "behavior problems."
B) tolerance of ethnic diversity.
C) incorrect application of labels such as "learning impaired."
D) sociolinguistic discrimination.
E) ethnic stereotyping.

Question 8

Development projects should aim to accomplish all of the following EXCEPT

A) promoting change, but not overinnovation.
B) preserving local systems while working to make them better.
C) respecting local traditions.
D) drawing models of development from indigenous practices.
E) developing strategies with little input from the local communities.

Question 9

Why is ethnography one of the most valuable and distinctive tools of the applied anthropologist?

A) It is valuable insider's data that can be routinely sold to multinational corporations and state agencies without the consent of the people studied.
B) It provides a firsthand account of the day-to-day issues and challenges that the members of a given community face, as well as a sense of how those people think about and react to these issues.
C) It produces a statistically unbiased summary of human responses to set stimuli.
D) It is among the most economical and time-efficient tools that exist in the social sciences.
E) It can be produced without leaving the comfort of the anthropologist's office.

Question 10

What term 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

Question 11

Who was studied at a distance during the 1940s in an attempt to predict the behavior of the political enemies of the United States?

A) the Koreans and English
B) the Yanomami and Betsileo
C) the Malagasy
D) the Germans and Japanese
E) the Brazilians and Indonesians

Question 12

All of the following are proper roles for applied anthropologists EXCEPT

A) identifying the needs for change that local people perceive.
B) working with people to design culturally appropriate and socially sensitive change.
C) placing the cultural values of local people above all others' cultural values.
D) protecting local people from harmful policies and projects that might threaten them.
E) working as participant observers, taking part in the events they study in order to understand local thought and behavior.

Question 13

According to Karen Tice,what issue has become paramount in the teaching of applied anthropology?

A) ethics
B) theory
C) application
D) economics
E) scholarship

Question 14

What is the postwar baby boom of the late 1940s and 1950s responsible for?

A) It fueled the general expansion of the U.S. educational system, including academic anthropology.
B) It promoted renewed interest in applied anthropology during the 1950s and 1960s.
C) It brought anthropology into most high school curricula.
D) It produced a new interest in ethnic diversity.
E) It worked to shrink the world system.

Question 15

Which of the following does NOT illustrate the kinds of work that applied anthropologists do?

A) working for or with international development agencies, such as the World Bank and the U.S. Agency for International Development
B) helping the Environmental Protection Agency address environmental problems
C) borrowing from fields such as history and sociology to broaden the scope of theoretical anthropology
D) using the tools of medical anthropology to work as cultural interpreters in public health programs
E) applying the tools of forensic anthropology to work with police, medical examiners, the courts, and international organizations to identify victims of crimes, accidents, wars, and terrorism

Question 16

Which of the following is a reason that the Madagascar project to increase rice production was successful?

A) Malagasy leaders were of "the people" and were therefore 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 thus 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) The project took into account the inevitability of native forms of social organization breaking 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.

Question 17

Applied anthropology is

A) the purely academic dimension of anthropology.
B) the term used for all anthropological research programs.
C) the use of anthropological data, perspectives, theory, and methods to identify, assess, and solve contemporary problems.
D) rarely possible, as anthropological studies are not practical in the "real world."
E) not guided by anthropological theory.

Question 18

People are usually willing to change just enough to maintain,or slightly improve on,what they already have.For this reason,development projects are most likely to succeed when they avoid the fallacy of

A) cultural relativism.
B) ethno-bias.
C) overinnovation.
D) underdifferentiation.
E) intervention philosophy.

Question 19

What is the commonly stated goal for most development projects?

A) greater socioeconomic stratification
B) ethnocide
C) cultural assimilation
D) decreased local autonomy
E) increased equity

Question 20

Which of the following is a distinguishing characteristic of the work that applied anthropologists do?

A) They enter the affected communities and talk with people.
B) They gather government statistics.
C) They consult project managers.
D) They consult government officials and other experts.
E) They promote development.

Question 21

Which of the following is NOT a feature of urban life?

A) dispersed settlements
B) high population density
C) social heterogeneity
D) economic differentiation
E) geographic mobility

Question 22

What is an illness?

A) a nonexistent ailment (only diseases are real)
B) an artificial product of biomedicine
C) a scientifically described health threat
D) a purely linguistic problem
E) a condition of poor health perceived by an individual

Question 23

Shamans and other magico-religious specialists are effective curers with regard to what kind of disease theory?

A) exotic
B) ritualistic
C) naturalistic
D) personalistic
E) scientific

Question 24

Which of the following best illustrates urban applied anthropologists' ability to help social groups deal with urban institutions?

A) "culture at a distance" studies among Japanese and Germans in an attempt to predict the behavior of the enemies of the United States
B) Kottak's comparative study of development projects from around the world
C) Vigil's study of gang violence in the context of large-scale immigrant adaptation to U.S. cities
D) anthropological analysis of the relation between Malagasy descent groups and the state
E) analysis of differences between personalistic and naturalistic disease theories among rural poor of the U.S.

Question 25

Fortunately for applied anthropologists eager to do effective international work,all governments are by their nature genuinely and realistically committed to improving the lives of their citizens.

Question 26

Anthropology has three dimensions: academic,applied,and a mix of the two.

Question 27

Which of the following is true about medical anthropology?

A) It is the field that proved that people from rural areas suffer only from illnesses and not diseases.
B) It applies non-Western health knowledge to a troubled industrialized medical system.
C) Typically in cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, this field does market research on the use of health products around the world.
D) This field applies Western medicine to solving health problems around the world.
E) This growing field considers the biocultural context and implications of disease and illness.

Question 28

It is safe to assume that there is less cultural diversity among the poorest,less developed countries in the world.

Question 29

Ethnographic study of the workplace

A) provides evidence that economic factors are fundamental to understanding differential productivity.
B) is routinely performed by employees of the U.S. federal government.
C) is not very useful, because all workplaces are becoming increasingly homogeneous, compared to 20 years ago.
D) provides close observation of workers and managers in their natural setting.
E) is required of all organizations that want to become not-for-profit, according to the American Anthropological Association.

Question 30

What is a disease?

A) a health problem as it is experienced by the one affected
B) an artificial product of biomedicine
C) a consequence of a foraging lifestyle
D) an unnatural state of health
E) a scientifically identified health threat

Question 31

Academic and applied anthropology have a symbiotic relationship,as theory aids practice and application fuels theory.

Question 32

Although its roots extend further back in time,the real boom for applied anthropology in the United States began in the 1970s.

Question 33

A commonly stated goal of recent development policy is to promote equity; that is,to reduce poverty and promote a more even distribution of wealth.

Question 34

One of the stated goals of public anthropology is to

A) oppose policies that promote injustice.
B) refrain from discussion of social issues in the media.
C) promote anthropology as a career, especially to minorities.
D) encourage academic anthropologists to become applied anthropologists.
E) restrict the publication of research papers to professional journals.

Question 35

This chapter's "Appreciating Diversity" account describes how McDonald's was able to succeed in the Brazilian market once it adapted to preexisting Brazilian cultural patterns.This example illustrates

A) how the axiom of applied anthropology that innovation succeeds best when it is culturally appropriate applies only in Western cultures.
B) the danger of applied anthropology turning itself into a tool of capitalist interests, which always disregard the culture and well-being of the consumer.
C) how the axiom of applied anthropology that innovation succeeds best when it is culturally appropriate applies not just to development projects but also to businesses, such as fast food.
D) applied anthropology's capacity to help foreign markets adapt to a marketing strategy that must, above all costs, maintain the integrity of its brand.
E) Brazilians' intolerance of foreign goods, because the companies that produce them disregard Brazilian tastes.

Question 36

Development anthropology is the branch of applied anthropology that focuses on social issues in,and the cultural dimension of,moral development.

Question 37

During World War II,the U.S.government recruited anthropologists to study Japanese and German cultures.This chapter uses this example to illustrate the dangers of the old anthropology.

Question 38

What is microenculturation?

A) a condition that exists in large, industrialized states, wherein most of the population has only a small amount of real culture
B) the process whereby particular roles are learned within a limited social system (for example, a business)
C) the process whereby enculturation is accomplished through advanced media technology
D) the result of the meeting between foraging and tribal communities in less developed countries
E) enculturation based on a focused interest; for example, reruns of a TV show like Star Trek

Question 39

Ethnography is one of applied anthropology's most valuable research tools,because it provides a firsthand account of the lives of ordinary people.

Question 40

The Bahia,Brazil,development project in which loans were given to fishing-boat owners is an example of how some development projects can actually widen wealth disparities instead of increasing equity.

Question 41

When nations become more tied to the world economy,indigenous forms of social organization inevitably break down into nuclear family organization,impersonality,and alienation.

Question 42

There is considerable debate today over whether or not governments should require schools to provide bilingual education for students,and if so,to what extent this should be carried out.Pretend that you are an anthropologist who has been asked to provide guidance on this issue to a school board in a bilingual community.What can you suggest about the nature of ethnicity,language,and enculturation that will help educators address their challenges?

Question 43

Less than half of Toronto's citizens were born outside of Canada.

Question 44

How might a premedical student apply some of the knowledge learned through anthropology as a physician? What is the value of studying the curing and belief systems of patients' ethnic groups?

Question 45

Strictly speaking,medical anthropology is an applied field within anthropology.

Question 46

An illness is a scientifically identified health threat caused by a bacterium,virus,fungus,parasite,or other pathogen.

Question 47

Health care systems refers only to the nationalized health care services that exist in core industrial nations.

Question 48

What is the relationship between theory and practice in anthropology? Do you agree that applied anthropology should be recognized as a separate subsection of anthropology?

Question 49

A bachelor's degree in anthropology is of little value in the corporate world.

Question 50

Non-Western medicine does not maintain a sharp distinction between biological and psychological illnesses.

Question 51

Discuss the major advantages and disadvantages of scientific and traditional medicine,being careful to distinguish between scientific medicine and Western medicine.

Question 52

Discuss the relevance of the ethnographic method for modern society,contemporary problems,and applied anthropology.

Question 53

Define applied anthropology.What distinguishes the old from the new applied anthropology? Can you think of any examples in current events that raise the question of whether or not new applied anthropology has completely moved on from the dangers of the old?

Question 54

Sociolinguists and cultural anthropologists studying Puerto Rican communities in the Midwestern United States found that Puerto Rican parents valued education more than non-Hispanics did.

Question 55

Scientific medicine is not the same thing as Western medicine.Despite advances in technology,genomics,molecular biology,pathology,surgery,diagnostics,and applications,many Western medical procedures have little justification in logic or fact.

Question 56

What,if anything,is the difference between an anthropologist currently consulting on a development project in Indonesia and another one conducting research in support of the British colonial government's efforts to subdue African natives in the 1930s?

Question 57

The Samoan community living in Los Angeles has successfully used the matai system to deal with modern urban problems.

Question 58

Biomedicine,which aims to link an illness to scientifically-demonstrated agents that bear no personal malice toward their victims,is an example of naturalistic medicine.

Question 59

Identify government,international,and private organizations that concern themselves with socioeconomic change abroad and hire anthropologists to help meet their goals.Review their mission statements.Do they make reference to the dangers of underdifferentiation or overinnovation?

Question 60

Non-Western medicine recognizes that poor health has intertwined physical,emotional,and social causes.

Question 61

HIV/AIDS is a global pandemic.How does culture play a role in HIV transmission? How might applied anthropology help in finding a solution to this problem?

Question 62

Discuss ethical dilemmas and possible solutions with respect to the kinds of applied anthropology discussed in this chapter.