Course listing | Ant 102 Home | Syllabus | Assignments | Readings | Assessment
Dr. Dorothy D. Wills |
Concepts to know:
anthropology - study of human beings (whenever and wherever they live, not only exotic or past civilizations; including other primates and hominids)
problem terms:
primitive, civilization, tribe, dialect
Modes of production (lifeways) of humankind:
1. food collectors (hunter-gatherers, fishing people)
2. pastoralism
3. agriculture
a. horticulture
b. peasant farming (feudal system)
c. industrial agriculture
culture - the customary ways of thinking and behaving of a society or group (a culture, culture in general)
ethnocentrism - world view colored by one's own cultural background, even to the degree of believing one's culture is superior to all others; cultural relativism is the attitude of suspending judgement on others or at least not expressing one's assessment of other people's ways, in the belief that different customs have arisen in different cultures for a reason
cultural relativism - a non-judgemental perspective toward other customs, traditions, and social relations in other people's cultures or our own multi-cultural society. See Steps toward Cultural Relativism.
race - a social construct that has no biological validity but nonetheless is socially, politically, economically powerful in some societies
A FEW QUESTIONS IN ANTHROPOLOGY:
How old is our species (Homo sapiens)?
Choose one:
a) one million years old
b) 6007 years old
c) 50,000 - 100,000 years old
d) your current age
Where did human beings originate?
a) a lot of different places
b) Africa
c) Garden of Eden
d) Western Europe
When did human beings first populate North America?
a) 500 years ago
b) 3000 years ago
c) 30,000 years ago
d) 12,000 years ago
e) trick question
How many people are alive today?
a) 600 million
b) 6 billion+
c) 1.8 billion
d) 20 billion
When did people first populate the Pacific Islands?
a) 30,000 years ago - if we include Australia
b) 6,000 years ago - if we don't include Australia
c) 3,000 years ago
d) 500 years ago
How many languages are spoken in the world today?
a) 100
b) 1000
c) 3000
d) 6000
e) 10,000
How many people are poor in the world today (live on $1/day)?
a) 2 billion
b) 1 million
c) 500 million
d) 50,000
e) very few
Which of the following concepts or customs is/are not universal?
a) marriage
b) belief in supernatural
c) etiquette
d) games of ‘catch’
e) hierarchy
f) art
g) burial of the dead
h) body ritual
Which issue is not a problem in anthropological research?
a) ethnocentrism
b) subjectivity of researcher
c) informant bias
d) people tell lies
e) people don’t know their own culture
f) people don’t want to be studied
g) no more subjects to research
Back to
Course listing | Ant 102 Home | Syllabus | Assignments | Readings | Assessment