Deck 6: Race and Racism

Question 1

What would physical anthropologists be more likely to consider in their work with the physical characteristics of Homo sapiens?

A) culture
B) genotype
C) phenotype
D) lineage

Answer 1

genotype

Question 2

Which term refers to laws implemented after the U.S. Civil War to legally enforce segregation, particularly in the South after the end of slavery?

A) civil rights
B) discrimination
C) Jim Crow
D) antimiscegenation

Answer 2

Jim Crow

Question 3

In the period between 1933 and 1936, the Nazi regime implemented laws that defined who was and was not Jewish according to ancestry. Any person with three or four Jewish grandparents was considered a "full-blooded" Jew; those with fewer (but more than zero) were considered "half-breeds" or "mongrels." This approach to dividing and categorizing people relies on the assumption that:

A) phenotype determines race.
B) race is a cultural reality, but not a biological one.
C) Judaism is a religion, not a race.
D) race is a biological reality.

Answer 3

race is a biological reality.

Question 4

Gregor Mendel, a monk in the mid-nineteenth century, discovered that crossing white- and purple-flowered pea plants yielded purple flowers and not a blend of the two colors. What important discovery did Mendel's work reveal?

A) ethnicity
B) genotype
C) race
D) phenotype

Question 5

A person may inherit a genetic pattern for above-average height, but may only reach average height due to poor nutrition. What is this an expression of?

A) genotype
B) phenotype
C) cline
D) poverty

Question 6

What is one reason why, in 2015, the government of the Dominican Republic began registering the estimated 500,000 (mostly Haitian) undocumented residents and deporting those without citizenship?

A) Haitians have higher criminal rates than Dominicans.
B) It was a rejection of Haitians, African ancestry, and blackness more generally.
C) Haitians are lighter skinned than Dominicans.
D) Deported Haitians did not speak Spanish, which is required for Dominican citizenship.

Question 7

What is the name for the system of classification, with no biological basis, that uses certain physical characteristics to divide the human population into supposedly discrete groups?

A) eugenics
B) phrenology
C) hypodescent
D) race

Question 8

All human beings of every race share ________ percent of their DNA.

A) 90
B) 95
C) 98
D) 99.9

Question 9

A useful way to consider the inherent problem of racially dividing people is described in Jonathan Marks's example of:

A) doctors sorting according to brain size.
B) children sorting according to block size.
C) anthropologists sorting according to height.
D) coaches sorting according to athletic prowess.

Question 10

If a person inherits genes for a dark complexion and blue eyes from his or her parents, what aspect of inheritance does this refer to?

A) RNA
B) phenotype
C) genotype
D) DNA

Question 11

The current argument over whether to build a wall between Mexico and the United States reflects, in part, what long-standing aspect of how race is constructed and managed in the United States?

A) eugenics
B) "home first"
C) nationalism
D) nativism

Question 12

The Department of Justice's investigation of the Ferguson City Police Department found that:

A) Many criminals were never arrested, even though the police department had evidence.
B) African Americans comprised 93% of all arrests, but only because they made up nearly 100% of the population.
C) Whites, African Americans, Hispanics, and Asians comprised an equal percentage of all arrests.
D) African Americans were 67% of the population, but comprised 93% of all arrests.

Question 13

The recent changes in the United States around same-sex marriage have been supported to some degree by what aspect of earlier civil rights legal issues?

A) apartheid
B) racialization
C) hypodescent
D) miscegenation

Question 14

What comprises all of the inherited genetic factors that provide the framework for an organism's physical form?

A) genotype
B) race
C) gene pool
D) phenotype

Question 15

Human beings are pretty much identical and share most of their DNA. Knowing this, we might understand the observable differences in body ratios-height versus width-that anthropologists have documented as a matter of ________.

A) race
B) inheritance
C) ethnicity
D) phenotype

Question 16

What do we call the idea that government policies should favor people born in the United States over immigrants such as Mexicans or Canadians (legal or otherwise)?

A) eugenics
B) "home first"
C) nativism
D) nationalism

Question 17

A Saint Bernard and a Chihuahua are of the same species but look very different. It is possible to breed the two and get a puppy that might look like something else entirely but still be a dog. The study of dogs might be of interest to an anthropologist because it:

A) could help resolve the question of race.
B) could help us understand the nature of ethnicity.
C) could help us better understand the relationship between genotype and phenotype.
D) provides a vital platform for the study of DNA.

Question 18

For the seventy years leading up to 1860, the U.S. Census counted slaves as three-fifths of a person. This was done to:

A) support the emerging interest in eugenics.
B) maintain a strong economic system.
C) lay the groundwork for institutional racism.
D) uphold the idea of white supremacy.

Question 19

In November 2014, what did a local Ferguson, Missouri, grand jury decide in the case of the death of Michael Brown?

A) not to indict Officer Darren Wilson
B) to indict Officer Darren Wilson
C) that the city police department regularly violated the rights of African Americans
D) that the city police department treated all of its citizens fairly under the law

Question 20

Three hundred years of forced transport of millions of Africans to North and South America resulted in ________.

A) fascism
B) slavery
C) a new race
D) white supremacy

Question 21

In Brazil, race is not merely a matter of skin color but also includes consideration of ________.

A) wealth and marital status
B) marital status and landownership
C) job status and spousal status
D) wealth and education

Question 22

When did the cultural practice of the "one drop of blood" rule end in the United States?

A) 1865
B) 1970
C) It has not ended in practice.
D) 1982

Question 23

The hidden cultural curriculum, a reflection of how we are all taught racial biases, often leads us to:

A) deny our racism.
B) openly display our prejudice.
C) commit microaggressions.
D) protest racial inequalities.

Question 24

Chinese immigrants to the United States were quickly separated according to an arbitrary set of characteristics, including slight differences in skin color. The Irish immigrants were similarly segregated, despite having white skin. What was one of the bases on which the Irish were segregated and racialized?

A) hair color
B) island origin
C) height
D) religion

Question 25

What do we call laws in the United States that allowed such things as "white only" swimming pools, restaurants, schools, beaches, and the like, similar to apartheid in South Africa?

A) civil rights laws
B) Jim Crow
C) white supremacy
D) hypodescent

Question 26

A set of popular ideas about race that allows the discriminatory behaviors of individuals and institutions to seem reasonable, rational, and normal is referred to as ________.

A) white supremacy
B) racialization
C) nativism
D) racial ideology

Question 27

What continuing aspect of racism in the United States is illuminated by the Susie Phipps case?

A) eugenics
B) microaggression
C) hypodescent
D) nativism

Question 28

When an individual acts on personal prejudiced beliefs and discriminates against someone based on imagined differences between them, this is referred to as what kind of racism?

A) microaggression
B) individual racism
C) private racism
D) racial profiling

Question 29

To apply stereotypical traits to people based on their supposed racial ancestry is referred to as ________.

A) discrimination
B) microaggression
C) segregation
D) racialization

Question 30

What rule assigns the children of racially mixed unions to the subordinate group?

A) miscegenation
B) hypodescent
C) racialization
D) drop down

Question 31

After the Civil War, many states passed laws mandating the segregation of American citizens of European and African descent. These laws were the result of what existing beliefs?

A) entrenched ideas about white superiority
B) strong feelings about the Civil War
C) strong anti-Lincoln sentiment
D) dislike of the Emancipation Proclamation

Question 32

Brazilians have hundreds of ways of categorizing people according to race. The particular system they use is a continuum of ________.

A) clines
B) ethnicities
C) genotypes
D) color shades

Question 33

President Barack Obama's mother was a white woman from Kansas and his father was a black man from Kenya. What deeply embedded concept of racial division is revealed by the way people regard his race and even debate his birthplace?

A) hypodescent
B) eugenics
C) civil rights
D) racialization

Question 34

Despite the initial racist attitudes directed toward Irish, Jewish, and Italian immigrants, these groups eventually "became white" through:

A) greater accuracy in the census.
B) intermarriage and upward mobility.
C) the elimination of ethnic categories.
D) legal changes.

Question 35

What do anthropologists call common, everyday slights that communicate hostile, derogatory, and negative messages about someone's race, gender, sexual orientation, or religion?

A) color-blind racism
B) microaggression
C) institutional racism
D) racial ideology

Question 36

Since racial categorization in Brazil is not exclusively a function of skin color, Brazilians can change their racial identity through a change in ________.

A) political affiliation
B) hairstyle
C) eating habits
D) affluence

Question 37

The failure of the New York State school system to add $5.6 billion to the annual school budget in order to ensure that all students received the same level of funding reflects what aspect of racism?

A) racialization
B) racial ideology
C) profiling
D) institutional racism

Question 38

Patterns by which racial inequality is structured through key cultural institutions, policies, and systems are referred to as ________.

A) discrimination
B) racialization
C) institutional racism
D) racial ideology

Question 39

What is the one term we might expect to see, but do not, in the variations of names given to different racial categories in the Dominican Republic?

A) fair
B) black
C) coffee
D) dark

Question 40

What do we call the process of categorizing, differentiating, and attributing a particular racial character to a person or group of people?

A) stereotyping
B) racialization
C) discrimination
D) hypodescent

Question 41

A set of ideas about a group of people, such as: "All Irishmen are drunks who beat their wives," or "All Arabs are terrorists," can make it seem natural and normal to discriminate against these groups. What is the term for sets of ideas like these?

A) group racism
B) institutional racism
C) racist ideology
D) private racism

Question 42

Until 1954, state-supported and sanctioned segregation along racial lines was completely legal, and school administrators often refused to allow black, Hispanic, or Asian American children to enter a school building. This is an example of ________.

A) institutional racism
B) color-blind racism
C) group racism
D) racial ideology

Question 43

What do we call the British Empire's military, economic, and political control over Malaysia?

A) colonialism
B) fascism
C) imperialism
D) globalism

Question 44

Compare and contrast the concepts of genotype and phenotype. How do you think these concepts help us understand race, and why?

Question 45

A primary difference between the early census process and the census of 2010 was the:

A) ability to self-select racial category.
B) inclusion of "blurriness" as a racial category.
C) elimination of pejoratives as a racial category.
D) number of racial category choices available.

Question 46

In Living with Racism: The Black Middle-Class Experience (1994), sociologist Joe Feagin and psychologist Melvin Sikes write about middle-class African Americans who, despite their class status, continue to face racial discrimination. This study is an example of ________.

A) intersectionality
B) color-blind racism
C) phrenology
D) individual racism

Question 47

The U.S. involvement in Vietnam and the subsequent war was the result of a long legacy of French and U.S. involvement in Vietnamese economic, military, and political life. Today, this can be understood as ________.

A) democracy
B) colonialism
C) despotism
D) imperialism

Question 48

Explain how the idea of "white" or "whiteness" changed over time in the United States.

Question 49

Maria Kromidas's work in New York City schools reveals that children are creating a "new" racial category based on the post-September 11 media stories they receive. In this particular category, people are categorized by what factors?

A) foreign, strange, and Muslim
B) dark-skinned, Muslim, and wealthy
C) Muslim, Arabic, and different
D) foreign, dark-skinned, and poor

Question 50

While health, education, decent housing, and employment are something that most of us would agree are fundamental to all people, what is a primary reason that these have historically been denied to many people in the United States?

A) white privilege
B) a culture of poverty
C) a lack of social capital
D) stratified whiteness

Question 51

A person who believes that Italians are somehow inferior and therefore refuses to give an Italian person a job is demonstrating what kind of racist behavior?

A) color-blind racism
B) individual racism
C) institutional racism
D) microaggression

Question 52

In many countries, members of the dominant ethnic or racial group tend to favor other members of their own group, give them the benefit of any doubt, and take what they say more seriously. Minorities are often discounted as less important or even hostile for insisting on being treated fairly. In the United States, what do we call this discrepancy between the experiences of the dominant and the minority groups?

A) white privilege
B) nepotism
C) institutional racism
D) patronage

Question 53

Based on what you read in Chapter 6, how can we understand the killing of Michael Brown and its aftermath from an anthropological perspective? Be sure to employ at least two key concepts from the text in your answer.

Question 54

What do societies do in order to make discriminatory ideas and behavior seem reasonable and normal?

A) rely on racial ideology
B) silently use racialization
C) enact legal support for nativism
D) publicly deny the existence of racial differences

Question 55

The right to own a gun is today considered fundamental to many people in the United States. While the Second Amendment to the Constitution is often considered the origin of this ideal, it actually was instituted by elites as one of many special "white rights" to ensure cooperation against rebellions. This is an example of ________.

A) cultural hedging
B) intersectionality
C) white privilege
D) stratified whiteness

Question 56

Explain how and why the "one drop of blood rule" was traditionally used to determine race in American culture.

Question 57

Identify three reasons why anthropologists feel that the concept of "race" is a flawed system of classification, and give an example to support each reason.

Question 58

During the Civil War, many slaves made the decision to escape their captors and flee to the North in hopes of securing personal freedom. The Underground Railroad is an example of what aspect of racism?

A) institutional
B) personal
C) reverse
D) resisting

Question 59

People from the Middle East have been considered "white" in the United States for some time, but since September 11, anyone with brown skin who seems foreign is now considered "different" and possibly an enemy. This is an example of ________.

A) discrimination
B) segregation
C) racialization
D) individual racism

Question 60

The story of Shellcracker Haven and how the local white residents were gradually disenfranchised from their lives and work because of their class status is a strong reflection of the tendency to do what?

A) resist racism
B) colonize
C) racialize
D) stereotype others

Question 61

Explain what is meant by the concept of "white privilege."

Question 62

Compare and contrast the concepts of individual racism with institutional racism. Provide examples from class to support your points.

Question 63

How does the U.S. census, taken every ten years since 1790, provide a window into the changing conception of "race"?

Question 64

Compare and contrast how two different cultures construct race. What similarities are there, and how are they different? What does this tell us about the concept of race in general?

Question 65

Identify the main factors that determine race in the Dominican Republic.

Question 66

To what extent is Brazil a racial democracy?

Question 67

Explain how and why Jim Crow laws came to the American South.

Question 68

Explain why geneticists state that dividing people into races by skin color is as logical as dividing them by earwax.

Question 69

Explain how European colonial expansion gave rise to race and racism.

Question 70

Explain the concept of racialization and how it applies to Middle Eastern people in the United States. Why is this process reflected in the New York school system as studied by Maria Kromidas?