Cultural Anthropology Review Guide, Exam One
- What is anthropology? How does it differ from other fields of inquiry into human existence? Be able to distinguish between the aims of the four subfields of anthropology. What are the holistic, biocultural, comparative, and relativistic perspectives? What does it mean to be ethnocentric? How and why is anthropology multidisciplinary? What is Ethnocentrism? Cultural relativity?
- What is culture (we used several different definitions – think about any differences)? What are its characteristics? Is culture purely a human trait? Why does culture exist? Examples. Be able to explain the four basic characteristics of it (learned, shared, integrated, based in symbols)? How do we express culture through values, norms, world views, and classifications of reality? How does culture differ from personality? What is biological determinism? Is there any truth behind it? What is a cultural universal?
- What is human language? How does it differ from other animals’ systems of communication? Why is language especially important to human cultures? What are displacement, arbitrariness, discreteness, multimedia potential, and productivity and why are they important? How do anthropologists study languages (hint: think about phonetics, phonemics grammar and syntax, kinesics and proxemics, and paralanguage)? What can language tell you about culture (think Sapir-Whorf and sociolinguistics)? Are there problems with the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis?
- Why have there been so many theories in the past 150 years of anthropology? Why are they so different from one another – strengths and weaknesses of each? Know the names associated with each of the theories as well as what each theory has to say about how culture should be studied. Why is there controversy over whether anthropology should be viewed as a science or humanity?
- What are the general methods of anthropological research? Are there problems or difficulties with this method? What is Ethnology? Ethnography? Ethnohistory? How about the concept of “natural experiment”? What are the problems with that idea? What other methods of research do anthropologists employ? Explain the fine line between informant and consultant.
Cultural Anthropology Review Guide, Exam One
- What is anthropology? How does it differ from other fields of inquiry into human existence? Be able to distinguish between the aims of the four subfields of anthropology. What are the holistic, biocultural, comparative, and relativistic perspectives? What does it mean to be ethnocentric? How and why is anthropology multidisciplinary? What is Ethnocentrism? Cultural relativity?
- What is culture (we used several different definitions – think about any differences)? What are its characteristics? Is culture purely a human trait? Why does culture exist? Examples. Be able to explain the four basic characteristics of it (learned, shared, integrated, based in symbols)? How do we express culture through values, norms, worldviews, and classifications of reality? How does culture differ from personality? What is biological determinism? Is there any truth behind it? What is a cultural universal?
- What is human language? How does it differ from other animals’ systems of communication? Why is language especially important to human cultures? What are displacement, arbitrariness, discreteness, multimedia potential, and productivity and why are they important? How do anthropologists study languages (hint: think about phonetics, phonemics grammar and syntax, kinesics and proxemics, and paralanguage)? What can language tell you about culture (think Sapir-Whorf and sociolinguistics)? Are there problems with the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis?
- Why have there been so many theories in the past 150 years of anthropology? Why are they so different from one another – strengths and weaknesses of each? Know the names associated with each of the theories as well as what each theory has to say about how culture should be studied. Why is there controversy over whether anthropology should be viewed as a science or humanity?
- What are the general methods of anthropological research? Are there problems or difficulties with this method? What is Ethnology? Ethnography? Ethnohistory? How about the concept of “natural experiment”? What are the problems with that idea? What other methods of research do anthropologists employ? Explain the fine line between informant and consultant