Deck 12: Religion and Aesthetics

Question 1

Katchina dolls are specially crafted playthings that teach Zuni children about their future contribution to subsistence.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

A major goal of most anthropological studies of religion is to determine the "truth" or "falsity" of particular religious beliefs so that the truth about the supernatural can be discovered.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

In all industrial states, the increase in secularization has caused religion to disappear and be replaced by humanism.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

In Polynesian societies, an individual's moral actions affect how much mana they have.

Question 5

Religion appears to be a cultural universal, although specific practices and beliefs vary significantly from culture to culture.

Question 6

In ancient agricultural states, religion sanctified and legitimized the authority of political leaders.

Question 7

Most religious beliefs, whether they are derived from inductive or deductive logic, are based on scientific criteria.

Question 8

The ancient chiefs of Hawaii often sought to legitimize their authority through ritual human sacrifice.

Question 9

Totem poles indicated high social status and connections with ancestral deities. They were typically erected in front of the houses of Northwest Coast chiefs.

Question 10

Since individualistic religious practices and beliefs were deemed as threatening to the state, one of the major functions of priests was to standardize religious beliefs and practices for the society.

Question 11

Ecclesiastical religions are limited to specific territories and are tied to a particular state organization, while universalistic religions espouse spiritual messages that apply to all of humanity.

Question 12

Dreamtime for the Australian Aborigines is a fundamental, complex concept that includes the past, present, and future where spirits come to the earth and act as intermediaries between the world and the everyday lives of the people.

Question 13

Indian classical dance originated as a way to perform acts of devotion to Hindu deities.

Question 14

Tribal groups lack art and music because of the mobile nature of their society.

Question 15

On the Northwest Coast, respected shamans with great spiritual power often surpassed high-ranking chiefs in the accumulation of material wealth.

Question 16

Foragers do not have any music or art since their days are mainly taken up in subsistence activities, politics, and religion.

Question 17

Cognitive anthropologists have found that there is a specialized area of the brain involved in the evolution of religion.

Question 18

Chiefs often maintained political legitimacy through rituals and religious beliefs.

Question 19

Franz Boas emphasized that art produced outside of the European tradition should be considered primitive.

Question 20

In Polynesia, a powerful chief would have been considered by other members of his culture to have more mana than a commoner.

Question 21

Which of the following would explain why certain aspects of religion appear to be universal?

A) Common experiences of suffering have prompted people to develop similar explanatory beliefs.
B) They are aspects that have offered the most rational explanations for natural phenomena.
C) Religious beliefs are hardwired into our genetic system.
D) The religious aspects that converge with human cognitive capacities have persisted over time.

Question 22

Totems are animals, spirits, or deities that have specific links to __________.

A) a supreme deity
B) an individual shaman or healer
C) a particular social group
D) witchcraft and sorcery

Question 23

The political and legal authority of Hawaiian, Tongan, and Tahitian chiefs was reinforced by a religious and ideological system based on social inequalities. This system was called __________.

A) mana
B) tabu
C) potlatch
D) kula

Question 24

Which of the following would anthropologists consider to be a function of art and music in a society?

A) adaptation to the natural environment
B) the creation of social bonds and group identity
C) reaching new aesthetic heights
D) using up free time

Question 25

Which of the following is associated with the way art forms found among foragers reflect the spiritual aspects of their culture?

A) The most common subjects of artistic expression are plants and animals.
B) Most of their art is abstract in nature.
C) Their artwork never involves living creatures, only ghosts and spirit beings.
D) Their only artists are shamans.

Question 26

What was a major function of music, dance, and poetry in chiefdom societies?

A) to provide entertainment and comic relief for the chief and his family
B) to pay homage to the legitimacy of the chiefs and their ancestral deities
C) to enable the lower classes to have an outlet for their hostilities that did not threaten the chiefs
D) to enhance the status of the chiefdom in relation to other chiefdoms in the area

Question 27

Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism are considered __________ religions because their spiritual messages apply to all of humanity rather than to just their own cultural history and legacy.

A) ecclesiastical
B) animistic
C) universalistic
D) volatile

Question 28

Cognitive anthropologist Stewart Guthrie argues that many universal features of religion are based on __________.

A) intuitive knowledge
B) natural phenomena
C) anthropomorphism
D) ethnocentrism

Question 29

Among the Azande of East Africa, to what were crop failures typically attributed?

A) menstruating women
B) poor leadership
C) celestial events
D) witchcraft

Question 30

According to Pierre Bourdieu, cultural capital is based on __________.

A) the amount of money governments invest in public art and performance
B) the amount of time an artist invests in producing a piece of art
C) universal aesthetic principles
D) aesthetic preferences associated with different socioeconomic sectors

Question 31

What is the term shaman used to designate?

A) an individual who had the ability to sicken and to cure, and who often served as a spiritual guide to chiefs
B) a cosmic power that can be increased through brave deeds, diminished through illness, and passed from a chief to his sons
C) the New Year's festival in ancient Hawaii, at which human sacrifices were practiced
D) the principal ancestor in a conical clan

Question 32

What is the belief that spirits reside within all inorganic and organic materials called?

A) superstition
B) animism
C) dream-wishing
D) dualism

Question 33

The decline in the influence of religion in society is called __________.

A) de-evolution
B) secularization
C) atheism
D) evangelism

Question 34

Which aspect of religion is especially interesting to cognitive anthropologists?

A) the humanistic-interpretive aspects of particular religions
B) the scientific-causal aspects of religion as a human universal
C) the growing trends of secularism and fundamentalism
D) the relationship between sacred myths and the symbolic and ritual aspects of religion

Question 35

Full-time religious specialists who serve in an official capacity as the custodians of sacred knowledge are __________.

A) shamans
B) myth-holders
C) priests and priestesses
D) ritual retainers

Question 36

In Polynesia, the term mana refers to which of the following?

A) a bread-like substance that appears in times of drought
B) elaborate forms of deference and expressions of humility
C) a cosmic force that certain individuals could acquire
D) the ritual of human sacrifice practiced at harvest time

Question 37

State-organized rituals that reinforced divine authority of the ruler are known as __________.

A) rites of authority
B) rites of legitimation
C) rites of power
D) rituals of sanctification

Question 38

Repetitive religious behaviors that communicate sacred symbols to members of society are __________.

A) rituals
B) myths
C) shamans
D) norms

Question 39

Among many tribal societies, what does sorcery provide a way of explaining?

A) severe illnesses and the spread of disease
B) movements of the sun, moon, and planets
C) the process of pregnancy and childbirth
D) relationships between patrilineal descent groups

Question 40

David Parkin has reconstructed Clifford Geertz's definition of religion to bring attention to which of the following?

A) the emotional processes involved in religious learning
B) the symbolic elements upon which religions are based
C) the ritual actions central to religious practice
D) the way religions help people make sense of suffering

Question 41

The Lugbara build shrines and offer sacrifices to their ancestors based on the belief that __________.

A) the ghosts of their ancestors continue to interact with living lineage elders
B) such actions will prevent soul loss
C) they will one day be reincarnated
D) their ancestors will intercede with the sky deity in order to bring rain

Question 42

What is the role of art, architecture, and music in chiefdom societies? Support your answer with specific examples.

Question 43

What religious trends have anthropologists noticed in industrial and postindustrial societies? What accounts for these trends? What other aspects of culture are reflected in these trends?

Question 44

Which of the following correctly characterizes the Elima ritual among the Mbuti?

A) It is a time of rejoicing as young women enter puberty and become ready for marriage and motherhood.
B) Young men experience mixed emotions as they become adults and warriors.
C) Elders instill fear of the supernatural among young boys and girls through sacred rituals.
D) Men and women celebrate through song, dance, and feasting as a new child is born into the community.

Question 45

The schism between Sunni and Shia Ali Muslims originates from a disagreement over __________.

A) which of Muhammad's sons would make the best Islamic leader
B) the choice of Caliph following Muhammad's death
C) the status of women in Islam
D) whether Islam is a better fit for sedentary agriculturalists or nomadic pastoralists

Question 46

Compare and contrast your religious beliefs and those of foragers outlined in the text. Are there any similarities, or are the beliefs too disparate?

Question 47

How have anthropologists influenced understandings of art and music? How have these understandings then influenced the work that artists do in today's postindustrial societies? Illustrate your answer with specific examples.

Question 48

Discuss how cognitive anthropologists have changed our understanding of religion. How is their focus different from the interpretive anthropologists who came before them?

Question 49

The Yanomamö induce hallucinations in order to have direct contact with the spirit world through which of the following means?

A) refraining from food and drink for at least three days
B) drinking a tea brewed from sacred leaves
C) snuff derived from certain plants
D) rhythmic drumming and dancing

Question 50

How are spiritual beliefs incorporated into the everyday lives of horticulturalists and pastoralists? Support your answer with specific details from one of the sociocultural groups discussed in your text.

Question 51

Pick one rite of passage that you have experienced and describe it in terms of Arnold Van Gennep's stages of separation, marginality, and incorporation (aggregation).

Question 52

Which of the following describes the postmodern artistic movement that emerged in the 1960s and 70s?

A) It focused on abstract interpretations of primitive artwork.
B) It created new ways of conveying modernism in the digital age.
C) It emphasized popular culture and consumerism.
D) Influenced by cultural relativism, it combined new forms of expression with classical art forms.

Question 53

Explain the difference between ecclesiastical and universalistic religions. Give an example of each and describe how it is connected to agricultural subsistence strategies and statedom.

Question 54

What reason do the Yanomamö give for their practice of ingesting the bones and ashes of deceased family members?

A) It brings strength and long life to the leaders of the community.
B) It frees the soul of the deceased individual.
C) It allows the deceased to be reincarnated through the next child born into the family.
D) It cures serious illnesses.

Question 55

Which of the following is part of the Inuit belief system?

A) totemism
B) an omnipotent supreme being
C) reincarnation
D) an afterworld where spirits reside after a person has died

Question 56

Clifford Geertz provides the following as a definition of religion: "A religion is a system of symbols which acts to establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods and motivations in men by formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic." Examine this quote closely while thinking about your religion or belief system. What do you think of Geertz's definition? Does it apply to your particular religion or belief system and perceptions? Why or why not?

Question 57

How do the Inuit incorporate art and/or music into their religious practice?

A) Priestesses recite poetry during puberty initiations.
B) Elders create elaborate paintings of mythical ancestors.
C) Shamans play rhythmic songs to contact the spirits.
D) Sacred chants are offered to an all-powerful deity.

Question 58

Among the chiefdoms of the Northwest Coast, people believed which of the following with respect to man-eating spirits?

A) If a person's soul was lost, man-eating spirits could take possession of his or her body and inflict harm on the community.
B) Cannibalism helped prevent man-eating spirits from attacking the relatives of a recently deceased individual.
C) Witches could take animal form and consume people's spirits.
D) Shamans could ward off the power of man-eating spirits through ceremonies during which they used masks to enact the transformation from human to animal.

Question 59

What did Aztec sacrifice and Hopi Katchina cult activities have in common?

A) They were both aimed at promoting better weather conditions.
B) They were led by shamans.
C) They engendered support for each society's divine rulers.
D) They were prohibited to women.

Question 60

What was the role of supernatural forces in legitimizing the power of the chief? Illustrate your answer with specific concepts from ethnographic case studies.