Anthropology 101 2002 CSN Essentials of Cultural Anthropology Chapter 9

Many cultures distinguish between parallel cousins and cross cousins. This diagram depicts the Iroquois kinship system. Identify all the parallel cousins in the diagram.

5 triangle and 6 circle

The nuclear family was the foundation of kinship in colonial America, which is why it is idealized today in the United States.

False (As a social form, the nuclear family emerged as a result of industrialization in the nineteenth century, long after the colonial period. It became prominent during a unique period of economic expansion after World War II.)

One of the ways to establish kinship is through affinal relationships. Identify the correct definition of affinal relationships.

a kinship relationship established through marriage and/or alliance

Triangle = Circle Father and Mother

Triangle SQUARE Circle Brother and Sister

Depicted in Diagram

descent group

nuclear family

Not Depicted in Diagram

arranged marriage

clan

Identify the American Anthropological Association's stance on same-sex marriage and families of same-sex partners.

Same-sex marriages and children of these partnerships should be allowed.

When anthropologist E. E. Evans-Pritchard studied the Nuer of South Sudan in the 1930s, he expected to find a strict patrilineal descent system. Instead, he found that they placed just as much significance on kinship relations through marriage as kinship relations through descent. Forty years later, anthropologist Kathleen Gough revisited the study and suggested possible explanations for why the Nuer had departed from their normal patrilineal kinship model. Identify whether or not these situations in the 1930s likely influenced Nuer kinship in this way.

May Have Affected Nuer Kinship Relations

The Nuer were conquering a neighboring group.

The Nuer were resisting colonial occupation.

The Nuer were fighting among themselves.

Did Not Affect Nuer Kinship Relations

The Nuer were consciously changing kinship patterns.

Identify whether or not the following represent statements made by the American Anthropological Association in 2004 regarding marriage.

American Anthropological Association Statement

A vast array of marriage types can contribute to stable societies.

Anthropological research does not indicate that heterosexual marriage is best or ideal.

Not an American Anthropological Association Statement

Governments should not regulate marriage forms in society.

There are three or four stable marriage forms, and same-sex marriage is one of these forms.

Identify whether or not these are ways in which globalization has generally affected kinship relations.

Way Globalization Has Affected Kinship Relations

Kinship relations are shifting due to globalization.

Globalization creates negative stress on kinship relations.

Not a Way Globalization Has Affected Kinship Relations

Kinship bonds are strengthened due to globalization.

Kinship relations are terminating due to globalization.

Anthropologists have found that the incest taboo is a cultural universal, though the relations classified as incest vary across cultures. The origins of the incest taboo remain unclear, but anthropologists have offered numerous theories. Identify whether or not these theories attempt to explain the origin of the incest taboo.

Theory for Development of Incest Taboo

to re-create our evolutionary instinctive horror for sex with immediate family

to protect the family unit from jealousy and sexual competition

to prevent inbreeding and genetically abnormal offspring

Not a Theory for Development of Incest Taboo

to promote mobility and human settlement, as humans have to search outside their families for mates

Marriage patterns around the world are changing rapidly, with a strong increase in the belief that companionate marriage is the ideal to be achieved. Along with this change, divorce rates are on the rise worldwide. Identify whether or not anthropologists have cited the following as reasons for the growing divorce rates.

Reason for Higher Divorce Rates

expanding opportunities for women

shifting expectations about gender roles

Not a Reason for Higher Divorce Rates

decreasing rates of arranged marriage

increasing rates of companionate marriage

Reproductive technologies allow culture to shape biology. These technologies are not new, but they are rapidly expanding. Identify the following technologies as either having existed for a long time in various forms and in various cultures, or as new technologies that have emerged over the last thirty years.

technologies that have existed in various forms and in various cultures for many years

contraceptives

abortion

cesarean surgeries

new technologies that have emerged over the last thirty years

DNA testing for paternity

testing for the sex of unborn children

Descent groups are kinship groups in which primary relationships are traced through blood relatives. Identify whether or not these factors may cause descent groups to shift and change.

Factor that Causes Descent Groups to Change

politics

colonialism

migration

Not a Factor that Causes Descent Groups to Change

anthropological research

Identify the theory explaining the incest taboo advocated by anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski and psychologist Sigmund Freud.

Incest taboos protect the family from sexual competitiveness and jealousy.

A man is married to two women, and all three individuals come from different kinship groups. The marriage has been orchestrated by the parents of the groom and brides, in order to create alliances between groups. Identify whether or not these terms describe these marriages.

Describes This Marriage Situation

polygyny

exogamy

arranged

Does Not Describe This Marriage Situation

polyandry

endogamy

Drawing on Benedict Anderson's theory, anthropologist Janet Carsten describes how nationalism draws heavily on ideas of kinship and family to create a sense of connection within the nation. Identify whether or not these are ways in which kinship and nationalism are similar.

Similarity Between Kinship and Nationalism

Members may see themselves as sharing common ancestry and biological connection.

Marriage is one key pathway to membership.

Belonging often derives from birth and biology.

Not a Similarity Between Kinship and Nationalism

Members see themselves as descended from a common ancestor.

Identify the kinship system in which the nuclear family is emphasized.

Eskimo - The Eskimo kinship naming system is the most common in Europe and North America. The nuclear family, in the center, is distinguished from the extended family.

Anthropologist Kath Weston described "chosen families" as those formed when gay men and lesbians develop tightly knit groups after they come out and their biological families cut ties with them. Identify an issue faced by chosen families.

They lack certain rights that traditional families have.

Anthropologist Janet Carsten studied the island of Langkawi in Malaysia in the 1990s. Identify whether or not Carsten observed these Langkawi kinship practices.

Describes Langkawi Kinship Practices

Langkawi kinship is acquired through co-residence and co-feeding.

Langkawi kinship relations do not require connection of biology or marriage.

Does Not Describe Langkawi Kinship Practices

Langkawi kinship relationships remain the same throughout a person's life.

Langkawi kinship practices developed due to the settled and sedentary nature of the society.

While most monogamous marriages take place between a man and a woman, same-sex marriage is gaining legal standing in nations around the world and currently is allowed in twenty-two countries. Place the following countries in order from the country that was first to legalize same-sex marriage on a national level to the country that did so most recently.

the Netherlands in 2000

South Africa in 2006

Argentina 2010

United States 2015

Identify the marriage pattern shown in the diagrams, wherein the circle signifies a social group. Labels may be used more than once.

Monogamy - a relationship between only two partners

Endogamy - requiring marriage inside the group

Exogamy - marriage to someone outside the group

In the diagram man and woman inside a circle are an example of monogamy and endogamy

In the diagram man inside the circle and woman outside the circle exogamy and monogamy

Current ideals about types of family in Western culture became entrenched after World War II and the rise of an industrialized society. Match each term to the correct definition.

family of orientation

Correct label:

family group in which one is born, grows up, and develops life skills

both

Correct label:

family group consisting of mother, father, and children

family of procreation

Correct label:

family group created when one reproduces and within which one rears children

Israel takes a strong stance on family planning for its citizens. Identify whether or not these reproductive technologies are supported and subsidized by the Israeli government.

Supported by Israeli Government

in vitro fertilization

artificial insemination

surrogacy

Not Supported by Israeli Government

contraceptives

Identify the various types of marriage shown in the diagrams.

One man and two women

One Woman and two men

One Man and One Woman

Polygyny

Polyandry

Monogamy

Identify whether or not the following are local beliefs held by Malay villagers on the island of Langkawi, as identified by Janet Carsten in the 1990s.

Local Belief

Sisters and brothers are especially close because they live and eat together.

Bonds of "blood" are formed by eating food cooked at home.

All those who eat together eventually resemble one another physically.

Not a Local Belief

Including animal blood in meals creates "blood" bonds between people.

Anthropologist - observed an African American community including both biological kin and - kin within their networks. This kinship system was a productive response to -.

Carol Stack

Fictive

Poverty

Identify what the graph tells us about the change (or lack of change) in the prevalence of the nuclear family in U.S. society.

Correct choiceThe nuclear family has decreased in prevalence over time. (The nuclear family consists of two parents and children. The graph shows that the percentage of households that are married with children has decreased significantly, from 40 percent to around 25 percent.)

Anthropologist Carol Stack studied an impoverished urban African American community called the Flats in a town outside Chicago in the early 1970s. Identify the main creative and complex survival strategy that Stack identified in her ethnography.

Residents of the Flats used their extended kinship networks to survive structural poverty.

Marriage gifts between the families of brides and grooms help solidify relationships and alliances between these groups. Match the types of marriage wealth transfer to the correspondent section of the diagram.

Dowry - gift of goods or money from the bride's family to the groom's family as part of the marriage process

Brideswealth - The gift of goods or money from the groom's family to the brides family as part of the marriage process

Match each term to the correct definition.

Family of procreation

Family of orientation

the family group created when one reproduces and within which one rears children

family of procreation

the family group in which one is born, grows up, and develops life skills

family of orientation

Anthropologists distinguish two types of descent groups, -, where the group can clearly trace back to a common ancestor, and -, where the group identifies a founding ancestor that cannot be expressly documented.

Lineage

Clan

What percentage of DNA do humans share

99.9%

In Imagined Communities (1983), Benedict Anderson argued that national identity is a relatively weak identity because it is socially constructed.

False

Cross-cultural ethnographic research reveals diverse strategies for constructing kinship ties that do not require biological connection or marriage. Match the kinship networks with the fieldwork locale where anthropologists studied them.

Map of southeast Asia, with Langkawi, Malaysia labeled

kinship network that creates closer ties of kinship through sharing meals and living in the same house

Map of United States with the state of Illinois highlighted and Chicago labeled

kinship network that fights chronic poverty by providing a network of mutual support