cultural anthropology final
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### Flashcards for Final Exam Review
#### General Concepts
Q: What are the four fields of anthropology?
A: Cultural anthropology, archaeology, biological anthropology, and linguistic anthropology.
Q: Define ethnocentrism.
A: The belief that one's own culture or way of life is normal and natural, or superior to others.
Q: What is cultural relativism?
A: The practice of assessing a culture by its own standards rather than viewing it through the lens of one’s own culture.
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#### Key Articles and Case Studies
Q: What is the main focus of "Body Ritual Among the Nacirema"?
A: To satirically examine American culture's obsession with body rituals and hygiene.
Q: What is discussed in "Innovation and the Incinerated Tongue"?
A: The history and cultural appropriation of Nashville hot chicken as a Black culinary innovation.
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#### Culture
Q: What are mental maps of reality?
A: Cultural frameworks that categorize and assign meaning to things.
Q: Explain enculturation.
A: The process through which individuals learn their culture.
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#### Fieldwork & Ethnography
Q: Differentiate between emic and etic perspectives.
A: Emic: Insider's perspective; Etic: Outsider's analytical perspective.
Q: What is salvage ethnography?
A: The documentation of cultures and languages threatened with extinction.
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#### Gender
Q: Define gender performativity.
A: The concept that gender is an ongoing performance shaped by social norms rather than a fixed identity.
Q: What is gender stratification?
A: Unequal access to power, prestige, and resources based on gender.
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#### Kinship, Family, and Marriage
Q: What is fictive kin?
A: People considered family but not related by blood or marriage.
Q: Explain polygamy and its types.
A: Polygamy: Having multiple spouses. Types: Polygyny (multiple wives) and Polyandry (multiple husbands).
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#### Race and Ethnicity
Q: Define hypodescent.
A: The practice of assigning a child of mixed race to the subordinate racial group.
Q: What is the AAA Statement on Race's stance on biological races?
A: Biological races do not exist; race is a social construct.
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#### The Global Economy
Q: What is neoliberalism?
A: An economic approach emphasizing free markets, deregulation, and reduction of government intervention in the economy.
Q: Define diaspora.
A: The movement, migration, or scattering of people away from an established homeland.
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#### Health, Illness, and the Body
Q: Differentiate between illness and disease.
A: Disease: Biological health issue; Illness: Individual and cultural perception of health.
Q: What is critical medical anthropology?
A: A field examining how economic and political systems influence health and healthcare.
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#### Religion
Q: What is liminality in rites of passage?
A: A transitional stage where participants are neither in their old status nor fully in their new one.
Q: Define communitas.
A: A sense of camaraderie and equality experienced during collective rituals.
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#### Food and Culture
Q: What are the three points of the culinary triangle?
A: Convenience, identity, responsibility.
Q: What does "Bee Larvae and Onion Soup" highlight?
A: The cultural relativity of food practices.
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### Kinship, Family, and Marriage
Q: What is a nuclear family?
A: A family unit consisting of two parents and their biological or adopted children.
Q: What is companionate marriage?
A: A marriage based on love, intimacy, and personal choice rather than social obligation.
Q: Define fictive kin.
A: Non-biological relationships that are regarded as equivalent to family bonds, such as godparents or close friends.
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### Gender
Q: What is gender stratification?
A: The unequal distribution of resources, rights, and privileges between genders.
Q: Define intersex.
A: Individuals born with ambiguous or atypical sexual anatomy.
Q: What does gender performativity mean?
A: The idea that gender is expressed through repetitive actions and behaviors rather than being an inherent trait.
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### The Global Economy
Q: What is Fordism?
A: A system of industrial production characterized by mass production and consumption.
Q: Define neoliberalism.
A: A policy model that emphasizes free markets, privatization, and minimal government intervention in the economy.
Q: What is diaspora?
A: The movement of a population from their homeland, often maintaining cultural connections to their origin.
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### Food and Culture
Q: What is the culinary triangle as discussed in "The Political Economy of Obesity"?
A: It represents the balance between convenience, identity, and responsibility in food choices.
Q: How does "Feeding Lesbigay Families" relate to food and kinship?
A: It explores how LGBTQ+ families navigate traditional food practices and create new family rituals.
Q: What is the focus of "Mexicanas’ Food Voice"?
A: The use of food practices to assert identity and resistance among Mexican-American women.
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### Health, Illness, and the Body
Q: Define critical medical anthropology.
A: A field studying how political and economic systems shape health outcomes and access to healthcare.
Q: What is ethnomedicine?
A: Traditional healing practices and beliefs specific to a cultural group.
Q: What is biomedicine?
A: A system of medical practice based on biological science, focusing on disease diagnosis and treatment.
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### Religion
Q: What is liminality?
A: A transitional phase in rites of passage where participants are between their old and new statuses.
Q: Define communitas.
A: A sense of camaraderie and equality experienced during collective rituals.
Q: What is cultural materialism?
A: The theory that material conditions, including technology and economy, influence culture.
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### Obesity and Poverty
Q: What does "The Political Economy of Obesity" argue about food systems?
A: It critiques how industrialized food systems prioritize profit over public health, contributing to obesity.
Q: How does "The Struggle of Eating Well When You’re Poor" frame food consumption?
A: It highlights the challenges and stigma faced by low-income individuals in accessing nutritious food.
Here are flashcards excluding the definitions already provided:
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### Chapter One: Anthropology in a Global World
Q: What is ethnology?
A: The comparative study of cultures, aiming to understand patterns of cultural similarities and differences.
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### Chapter Two: Culture
Q: Define norms.
A: Shared expectations and rules that guide the behavior of people within social groups.
Q: What are values?
A: Deeply held beliefs about what is good, right, and important in a culture.
Q: What are symbols in culture?
A: Objects, gestures, sounds, or images that carry particular meaning recognized by people who share a culture.
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### Chapter Three: Fieldwork & Ethnography
Q: What does etic perspective mean?
A: An outsider's perspective, analyzing cultures using concepts and categories from outside the culture being studied.
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### Chapter 7: Gender
Q: Define sex.
A: The biological differences between males, females, and intersex individuals.
Q: What does transgender mean?
A: A term for people whose gender identity differs from the sex they were assigned at birth.
Q: Define gender stereotypes.
A: Oversimplified and fixed ideas about the characteristics of males and females.
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### Chapter 9: Kinship, Family, and Marriage
Q: Define chosen families.
A: Non-biological relationships that provide emotional and practical support, often formed by LGBTQ+ individuals or those estranged from biological kin.
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### Race and Ethnicity
Q: Define racial formation.
A: The process by which social, economic, and political forces determine the content and importance of racial categories.
Q: What are social races?
A: Races that are socially constructed and recognized, rather than based on biological differences.
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### Chapter 11: The Global Economy
Q: What is redistribution?
A: A system of economic exchange involving the collection and reallocation of resources by a central authority.
Q: Define reciprocity.
A: The exchange of goods and services among individuals or groups, typically of relatively equal status.
Q: What is market exchange?
A: The buying and selling of goods and services, often with a currency involved.
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### Chapter 14: Health, Illness, and the Body
Q: What is human microbiome?
A: The collection of microorganisms living in and on the human body, playing a key role in health and disease.
Q: Define health transition.
A: The shift in health patterns as societies develop, including changes in life expectancy and the prevalence of diseases.
Q: What are illness narratives?
A: Personal stories that people share to explain their experiences with illness.
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### Chapter 1: Why Study Food?
Q: Why has food been ignored in studies?
A: Historically, food was considered a trivial subject and not central to social or cultural analysis.
Q: What is the culinary triangle?
A: A framework balancing convenience, identity, and responsibility in food choices.
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### Chapter 13: Religion
Q: Define martyr.
A: An individual who suffers or sacrifices their life for a religious or ideological cause.
Q: What is a shaman?
A: A spiritual leader believed to have access to, and influence in, the spirit world.
Q: Define magic.
A: Practices and beliefs used to influence supernatural forces for specific outcomes.