Deck 10: How Do We Make Meaning

Question 1

An orienting context that is consciously adopted by the actors, somehow pleasurable, and systemically related to what is considered to be the normal or everyday context is called

A) art.
B) myth.
C) play.
D) ritual.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

A cognitive boundary that marks certain behaviors as "play" or as "ordinary life" is called

A) framing.
B) metacommunication.
C) openness.
D) reflexivity.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Critical thinking about the way one thinks is called

A) framing.
B) metacommunication.
C) openness.
D) reflexivity.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

The term anthropologists use for stories that recount how various aspects of the world came to be the way they are is

A) folktales.
B) metaphors.
C) myths.
D) narrative.

Question 5

A repetitive social practice composed of a sequence of culturally-recognizable symbolic activities in the form of dance, song, speech, gestures, or the manipulation of objects, set off from the routines of everyday life, and closely connected with a specific set of ideas is known as a

A) ritual.
B) myth.
C) play.
D) art.

Question 6

A ritual that serves to mark the movement and transformation of an individual from one social position to another is called

A) a transformative ritual.
B) orthopraxy.
C) a rite of passage.
D) orthodox.

Question 7

The ambiguous transitional state in a rite of passage in which the person or persons undergoing the ritual are outside their ordinary social positions is called

A) transformativity.
B) orthopraxy.
C) reaggregation.
D) liminality.

Question 8

What term describes symbols that sum up, express, or represent for people in an emotionally powerful way what the system means to them?

A) Static symbol
B) Summarizing symbol
C) Representative symbol
D) Emotional symbol

Question 9

The ideas and practices that postulate reality beyond that which is immediately available to the senses are known in anthropology as

A) metaphors.
B) worldviews.
C) religion.
D) orthodoxy.

Question 10

When nearly every act of everyday life is ritualized and other forms of behavior are strongly discouraged, anthropologists and religious scholars sometimes speak of

A) worldview.
B) orthodoxy.
C) orthopraxy.
D) secularism.

Question 11

A set of beliefs and practices designed to control the visible or invisible world for specific purposes is called

A) magic.
B) oracles.
C) witchcraft.
D) channeling.

Question 12

The synthesis of old religious practices with new religious practices introduced from outside is called

A) syncretism
B) revitalization
C) communitas
D) nativism

Question 13

A movement whose members expect a messiah or prophet who will bring back a lost golden age of peace, prosperity, and harmony is called

A) syncretism
B) revitalization
C) communitas
D) nativism

Question 14

Ian Condry's study of hip-hop in Japan showed that

A) it was an example of the expansion of a popular culture form into another part of the world that Japanese were forced to adopt without changing it.
B) Japanese artists and fans have rejected hip-hop.
C) Japanese hip-hop lyrics emphasize the theme that youth need to speak out for themselves.
D) music is not translatable across cultures.

Question 15

According to T. M. Luhrmann, how did members of the Vineyard Christian Fellowship evangelical churches understand prayer?

A) God was to be addressed and listened to in groups of congregants.
B) Congregants have to be trained in order to learn how to pray properly.
C) Prayer is intended to help congregants find answers to suffering.
D) People stay with the church because the theology makes rational sense to them.

Question 16

Which of the following is not an example of how worldviews can be mobilized as instruments of power and control?

A) Invoke a religious symbol
B) Use a symbol as a means of exercising direct control
C) Reject the foundational terms of a symbol
D) Use official interpreters of religious ideology

Question 17

Condry's ethnographic case study shows how Japanese artists and fans have adapted hip-hop so that it is Japanese.

Question 18

Human beings use cultural creativity to make sense of the wider world on a more comprehensive scale as they construct encompassing pictures of reality called worldviews.

Question 19

As they develop complex understandings of themselves and the wider world, people regularly devise symbols to organize this knowledge.

Question 20

Witchcraft beliefs, especially witchcraft accusations can defend the wider values of a community.

Question 21

Symbols can be used as instruments of power when they are used for reference or in support of certain conduct.

Question 22

To the Dinka, cattle are _____________ symbols.

A) static
B) summarizing
C) elaborating
D) emotional

Question 23

According to T. M. Luhrmann, members of the Vineyard Christian Fellowship stay with the congregation because

A) prayer helps them find answers to suffering.
B) God's friendship is withheld.
C) they care about transforming their own suffering, not about explaining why suffering exists.
D) they are forced to do so.

Question 24

In the Japanese context, where the dominant ideology is that the harmony of the group should come before individual expression, the idea that people should speak for themselves is powerful.

Question 25

Language, play, art, myth, and ritual are all ways human beings use culture to construct rich understandings of everyday experiences.

Question 26

Symbols cannot be used as instruments of power when they are under the direct control of a person wishing to affect the behavior of others.

Question 27

Discuss how metacommunication places cognitive boundaries, or frames, around certain behaviors and says that they are "play" or that they are "ordinary life." Identify examples and connect them in your response.

Question 28

Discuss the two ways of understanding myth considered in the text. What are the strengths and weaknesses of each position? Are they mutually contradictory?

Question 29

What does T. M. Luhrmann mean when she says that members of the Vineyard Christian Fellowship cultivated religious faith that was practical, not philosophical?

Question 30

Discuss the significance of taking play seriously. What effect does this have on our understanding of human culture? In your answer, be sure to define play and discuss its connections with other aspects of the human experience.

Question 31

Identify and describe the stages of rites of passage? Define each one and provide concrete examples. How do these stages interact with each other?

Question 32

Compare and contrast the concepts of play, art, myth, and ritual using examples identified in the text. Analyze the connections between these different concepts.