Deck 3: Fieldwork and Ethnography

Question 1

Henry Lewis Morgan and Edward Burnett Tylor, two early anthropologists, had notably different approaches to anthropological research. In conducting his research, Tylor:

A) worked from his favorite armchair.
B) worked in the communities he was studying for years at a time.
C) applied statistical methods to the accounts of others.
D) conducted salvage ethnography of Native Americans.

Answer 1

worked from his favorite armchair.

Question 2

What did Lewis Henry Morgan do that was an exception in the field of anthropology at that time?

A) He conducted a restudy of the Trobriand Islands.
B) Morgan researched social life among the Nuer of Africa.
C) He and his team studied the effects of colonialism in Puerto Rico.
D) Morgan conducted fieldwork to become an expert on Native Americans.

Answer 2

Morgan conducted fieldwork to become an expert on Native Americans.

Question 3

In an age of intensifying globalization, ethnographic research continues to provide a deep understanding of informants' everyday lives and cultures, due in large part to the continued use of what specific part of the anthropologist's toolkit?

A) conducting surveys
B) drawing maps
C) participant observation
D) recording field notes

Answer 3

participant observation

Question 4

What is the necessary starting point for all anthropologists conducting fieldwork?

A) Nancy Scheper-Hughes's notion of volunteerism and activism
B) Margaret Mead's emphasis on dynamic writing
C) Franz Boas's notion of cultural relativism
D) E.E. Evans-Pritchard's synchronic approach

Question 5

Making the strange seem more familiar is an overarching outcome of which method of conducting anthropology?

A) kinship analysis
B) mapping
C) ethnographic fieldwork
D) salvage ethnography

Question 6

What idea introduced by Malinowski is fundamental to all research conducted by contemporary cultural anthropologists?

A) participant observation
B) archival research
C) engaged anthropology
D) synchronic study

Question 7

Franz Boas is credited with developing the concept of cultural relativism. What made cultural relativism radical at that time?

A) Cultural relativism views each culture as a variation of unilineal evolution.
B) Cultural relativism applies an ethnocentric perspective to studying different cultures.
C) Cultural relativism seeks to understand each culture on its own unique merits.
D) Cultural relativism views cultures exclusively through comparative ethnology.

Question 8

E. E. Evans-Pritchard used a synchronic approach in establishing social anthropology through his work doing what?

A) A careful reexamination of Malinowski's work in the Trobriand Islands.
B) A methodical analysis of social life among the Nuer of Africa.
C) An examination of effects of British colonialism in Puerto Rico.
D) An analysis of how British colonialism altered the idea of exchange in the kula ring economy.

Question 9

How did Annette Weiner, a feminist anthropologist, challenge preexisting theories in anthropology?

A) Weiner conducted a restudy of the Trobriand Islands and drew new conclusions about gender roles.
B) She rewrote the ethnographies of Evans-Pritchard's work on the Nuer, focusing primarily on women.
C) Weiner established reflexivity as a key part of ethnography through her work in Puerto Rico.
D) She closely reexamined sexuality in Samoa and expanded the role of women in that study.

Question 10

What aspect of life do anthropologists tend find particularly useful when decoding radically different cultures?

A) relationships
B) ethnocentrism
C) patterns
D) language

Question 11

What did Bronislaw Malinowski (1884-1942) specifically encourage fellow anthropologists to do in his guidelines?

A) Clearly document the kinship system of the people being studied.
B) Take time to learn the local language of the people being studied.
C) Carefully document the geographical setting of the people being studied.
D) Conduct in-depth analysis of a culture from an armchair.

Question 12

Anthropologists conducting fieldwork may experience a particular kind of disorientation from the "strangeness" they discover. Which term is used to describe this experience?

A) kinship
B) culture shock
C) polyvocality
D) reflexivity

Question 13

In his study of everyday "Body Rituals among the Nacirema," anthropologist Horace Miner presents us with:

A) an argument that the Nacirema view the body as healthy and beautiful.
B) a clear argument that the household shrine was the most important part of Nacirema life.
C) the importance of focusing on public rituals rather than everyday mundane activities.
D) a story that makes the very familiar seem very strange.

Question 14

What was Nancy Scheper-Hughes's role in Alto do Cruzeiro when she first arrived there?

A) social science research assistant
B) Doctors without Borders volunteer
C) physician's assistant
D) Peace Corps volunteer

Question 15

The roots of cultural anthropology and ethnographic fieldwork lie in:

A) early biological models.
B) modern philosophical debates.
C) turn-of-the-century demographic trends.
D) late nineteenth-century globalization.

Question 16

Attempts to document Native American cultures that were devastated by the westward expansion of settlers is called salvage ethnography. This method involves:

A) rapid gathering of available material and key interviews.
B) rapid assessment of local conditions and detailed interviews.
C) observing many participants over a long period of time.
D) collecting only material goods that were considered trash.

Question 17

Margaret Mead's talent for blending fieldwork with dynamic writing about gender roles provided her with the authority and opportunity to become what kind of anthropologist?

A) synchronic
B) experimental
C) gender
D) public

Question 18

Margaret Mead was both controversial and renowned for her work. Which of the following statements best describes that work?

A) Mead conducted deep-immersion studies of the Trobriand Islands.
B) Mead challenged existing work done among the Nuer of Africa.
C) Mead studied the effects of colonialism in Puerto Rico.
D) Mead examined sexuality and gender in Samoa.

Question 19

What aspect of Julian Steward and Sidney Mintz's work introduced a new approach to ethnography?

A) Mintz and a team conducted a collaborative restudy of the Trobriand Islands.
B) Mintz researched social life among the Nuer of Africa, while others in his team studied the forgotten peoples of Europe.
C) He established collaborative, multi-sited research as he and his team studied the effects of colonialism in Puerto Rico.
D) Mintz and others examined sexuality in Samoa through close collaborative fieldwork.

Question 20

E. E. Evans-Pritchard's approach to anthropology has been criticized for being ahistorical. What was one of the major shortcomings of his work?

A) He ignored the fact that the communities he studied were part of a larger preexisting colonial system.
B) He conducted experiments on people while in the field without their informed consent.
C) He failed to consider the impact of his work on the tribes he studied.
D) He lacked understanding about the forces of evolution which had shaped the modern human.

Question 21

An anthropologist writes an ethnography of coal miners in West Virginia purely from their own, "insider's" point of view. What perspective is the anthropologist using?

A) etic
B) polyvocality
C) ethnographic
D) emic

Question 22

What is one of the personal obstacles that ethnographers will likely need to overcome while conducting long-term fieldwork?

A) gaining access to observe everyday life and practices
B) establishing close rapport with community members
C) gaining a perspective on complex systems of power and meaning
D) stepping back from ethnocentric attitudes about cultural superiority

Question 23

What is the significant difference between quantitative and qualitative data?

A) Qualitative data is more difficult to obtain.
B) Qualitative data cannot be counted.
C) Quantitative data is subject to the bias of the ethnographer.
D) Quantitative data is only obtained via direct conversation.

Question 24

Ethnology is the process of ________ and can be used to examine activities, trends, and patterns of power across cultures.

A) transformation
B) social network analysis
C) mapping
D) comparison

Question 25

What do anthropologists call community members who guide, advise, and teach the ethnographer during fieldwork?

A) local collaborators
B) tribal elders
C) key informants
D) primary subjects

Question 26

Once arriving at a new site for ethnographic research, you spend time walking through the small village complex where you live. What useful ethnographic information do you discover in doing this?

A) who the most friendly people in the area are
B) a spatial awareness of where people live
C) who in the village likes to sit around drinking at night
D) how the history of the village developed over time

Question 27

How did early twentieth-century anthropology differ from the anthropology practiced in nineteenth-century Europe?

A) Twentieth-century anthropologists' research focused on kinship and religion, whereas nineteenth-century anthropologists were more interested in economics and politics.
B) Whereas twentieth-century anthropologists took a four-field approach to understanding culture, nineteenth-century anthropologists were mostly interested in material culture.
C) Nineteenth-century anthropologists were mostly interested in present-day cultures and evolutionary processes that may have created them, but twentieth-century anthropologists were interested in the processes by which cultures changed.
D) Nineteenth-century anthropologists conducted long-term fieldwork, but twentieth-century anthropologists tended to rely on explorers' accounts.

Question 28

Ethnographers must work to establish trust and friendship with their research subjects, and often build rapport. This helps them develop a(n):

A) reflexive perspective.
B) clear sense of who holds power.
C) understanding of local values.
D) opportunity to become an insider.

Question 29

In the past, anthropology has been criticized for failing to properly include the communities being studied. As a response to those critiques, what practice do anthropologists today frequently use?

A) longer periods of fieldwork
B) elements of polyvocality
C) more emic perspectives
D) key informant interviews

Question 30

One of the changes in ethnographic work that has occurred in the twenty-first century has to do with the degree to which native voices are considered. How has this changed?

A) Native voices are used a bit less today.
B) The inclusion of native voices has increased.
C) The inclusion of native voices is required.
D) Today, native voices are used exclusively.

Question 31

An anthropologist publishes their book about their fieldwork in Morocco. The anthropologist interviewed many people in the field and publishes much of those raw interviews as part of the text in each chapter. Why is this a polyvocal approach?

A) It includes many voices from the people interviewed.
B) The voices of the informants are used to describe the ethnographer's personal perspective.
C) There is no actual survey data in the book.
D) It uses selective accounts of the informants to tell the whole story.

Question 32

Imagine you are getting ready to conduct an ethnography on the family and marriage history of royalty in the United Kingdom. What strategy would be most useful in order to understand the diverse and complex relationships among the people you're studying?

A) mutual transformation
B) key informant interviews
C) kinship analysis
D) surveys

Question 33

Imagine thousands of people, all screaming, yelling, and drinking, while a smaller group in the center area fight over the remains of a dead pig. If it were part of the research described in Horace Miner's interpretations of Nacirema culture, this might be seen as significant in anthropological terms because it:

A) illustrates mass ritual effectively.
B) demonstrates the attitudes of a large population toward pork consumption.
C) helps to understand how ethnographic accounts are interpretations.
D) affords a window into the nature of spectacle.

Question 34

What perspective do anthropologists use in their ethnographies when they want to take a zoomed-out approach to describing the culture they work with in order to make comparisons and larger analyses?

A) etic
B) polyvocal
C) thick description
D) emic

Question 35

What is one of the typical first steps taken during the planning stages of a fieldwork project?

A) identifying key informants
B) establishing rapport
C) charting kinship networks
D) conducting a literature review

Question 36

It is essential that ethnographers map communities because mapping:

A) allows the anthropologist to identify key informants.
B) documents the randomness of the built environment.
C) provides a deep immersion in the rhythms of daily life.
D) illuminates how use of space influences social interactions.

Question 37

Why is fieldwork often considered a rite of passage for students?

A) It signifies that the student has achieved a certain level of education in anthropology.
B) It forces a special kind of mutual transformation with the student and the people they are studying.
C) It is a key developmental stage for all social scientists.
D) It uncovers ethnocentrism and develops a sense of deep empathy for others.

Question 38

What term describes ethnographers' awareness that they should engage in critical self-examination regarding the role they play in the research process?

A) polyvocality
B) reflexivity
C) etic
D) emic

Question 39

You are conducting fieldwork and invite local heads of household to a focus group session. You notice that all the heads of household that arrive are women. For research purposes, what do we refer to as the men in these families?

A) zeroes
B) patriarchs
C) key informants
D) imponderabilia

Question 40

One recent development in ethnography includes a kind of "full disclosure," in which anthropologists can discuss the length of fieldwork and their relationships with their research subjects. This is seen as valuable because it:

A) maintains a level of impersonal reflection.
B) helps ensure ethnographic loyalty from informants.
C) is how an ethnographer builds the personal framework.
D) clarifies the nature of ethnographic authority.

Question 41

You are conducting research among a group of migrant farmworkers in southern Florida, and you realize that some of them are undocumented. You know that you are able to protect their identities, even if you publish your findings widely, because of your commitment to what ethical principle?

A) polyvocality
B) informed consent
C) anonymity
D) participant observation

Question 42

An anthropologist conducts ethnographic research on the lives of undocumented immigrant families. How might the anthropologist justify publishing intimate and potentially incriminating details about the subjects?

A) All of the poor must be given an equal voice, and publishing ethnographic research is the most useful way to accomplish this.
B) The researcher obtained informed consent and ensured the anonymity of the subjects.
C) The anthropologist must publish the results to help stop undocumented immigration.
D) The anthropologist will violate the "do no harm" mandate unless the research is published.

Question 43

How would you describe the problems pertaining to the vulnerability of research subjects involved in a study of Facebook groups?

A) The study population might be self-selecting, and therefore nonrepresentative.
B) The researcher would not be able to establish meaningful connections.
C) The population would not have the chance to say things in their own words.
D) The participants would not have anonymity.

Question 44

Sydney Mintz conducted research on sugar production in Puerto Rico in the 1970s and 1980s, examining the way local communities were affected by capitalism. What other problems did his work help to illustrate?

A) the use of small-scale communities as a subject of research
B) the changing nature of food production
C) the consequences of globalization on communities
D) banking systems as a central power in global economies

Question 45

The roots of today's anthropology emerged from very early accounts of travelers in previous centuries. What about these accounts helped fuel anthropological inquiry?

A) a desire to further the hard sciences
B) a desire to mold the unknown world to fit anthropologists' ideas
C) intense curiosity about the nature of other unknown lands and peoples
D) a realization that documenting others would benefit the country in which they already lived

Question 46

Anthropologists are able to collect information, select which people to highlight, and choose which facts to publish in their results. What key aspect of writing ethnography does this clearly illustrate?

A) the importance of accurate notes in the field
B) the crucial need for different types of anthropologists today
C) how the type of ethnographic writing affects the published results
D) the reality that all anthropological inquiry is a form of interpretation

Question 47

Define three fieldwork strategies anthropologists use to conduct research for an ethnography, and describe the context in which each is used.

Question 48

How does the problem of organ trafficking from the poor in Brazil, as documented by Scheper-Hughes's work, mirror the plight of poor people in different countries where she has not worked?

A) The poor are a vulnerable population and are often exploited.
B) The poor are a reliable source of organs for wealthy patients.
C) The poor have many children, and are thus a rich resource.
D) The poor do not draw the attention of the local authorities.

Question 49

Because Nancy Scheper-Hughes has been a community activist and an advocate for her research subjects, what kind of anthropology can we consider her work to be?

A) experimental
B) engaged
C) reflexive
D) medical

Question 50

Increased migration has led anthropologists to conduct different types of ethnographic research, collecting data in two or more locations. What type of ethnography is this?

A) reflexive
B) extensive
C) public
D) multi-sited

Question 51

One way that anthropologists make an effort to protect informants' anonymity is by:

A) anonymizing names in publications, but continuing to use subjects' real names in research notes.
B) using the real names of communities, but not those of the people living there.
C) altering details when writing about sensitive topics within a community.
D) referring to individuals in both research notes and publications using secret codes.

Question 52

Programs like Human Terrain Systems Program and the Minerva Initiative offer funding to anthropologists whose work can benefit defense planning. Many in anthropology see this as a problem for the discipline. What do they find problematic?

A) an excess of funding sources for a narrow range of interests
B) the "weaponizing of anthropology"
C) the "militarization of anthropology"
D) recruitment of anthropologists as fighting soldiers

Question 53

Fieldwork is considered a scientific approach to understanding human societies but it is also considered:

A) precise qualitative evaluation
B) a form of exploitation
C) an art
D) intrusive

Question 54

What changed and expanded in the late twentieth century that has allowed anthropologists to continue research even after leaving the field?

A) transportation
B) social media
C) economics
D) communications

Question 55

Explain how ethnographers can explore global phenomena by conducting fieldwork at the local level.

Question 56

Compare Nancy Scheper-Hughes's early ethnographic fieldwork in Alto do Cruzeiro with her current research and work with Organs Watch. How has globalization affected her fieldwork?

Question 57

How did the American Anthropological Association's "do no harm" mandate come into existence?

A) Anti-colonialist ideas spurred a debate in the 1900s about the role of anthropology in protecting indigenous groups.
B) The loss of life during the Human Terrain Systems Program was made public and provoked outrage among the anthropological community.
C) An increasing awareness of loss of Amazonian rain forest populations evoked a worldwide outcry.
D) Ethical and moral lapses toward the end of the twentieth century led to changes in attitude about the role of the anthropologist.

Question 58

The anthropological practice of sharing ethnographic information on particular communities with nonanthropological institutions such as the military has been questioned within the discipline of anthropology under a:

A) form of covert operations.
B) form of foreign aid.
C) form of economic development.
D) directive called "do no harm."

Question 59

Explain why ethnography is considered both a science and an art.

Question 60

Evaluate the merits of the long-term participant observation advocated by Bronislaw Malinowski relative to merits of the methods of "armchair" anthropology, discussing both these concepts in the context of today's social media networks and the Internet as avenues for conducting research.

Question 61

What are the core moral and ethical concerns of anthropological research? Why are they necessary?

Question 62

Discuss Horace Miner's article "Body Rituals among the Nacirema." What is the subject of the ethnography? What was Miner's purpose in writing it, and how did he approach that purpose?

Question 63

Evaluate the El Dorado controversy around anthropologist Napoleon Chagnon. You must demonstrate that you know when and where the contested activities occurred, and how the population was allegedly affected. Conclude by stating why this might have been seen to violate ethical standards, and what the American Anthropological Association (AAA) ultimately found on review of the evidence presented.

Question 64

Define zeros and explain their significance for ethnographers.

Question 65

Describe the state of anthropology at the end of the nineteenth century. What was it primarily focused on? How did this focus change to include fieldwork and ethnography? Describe at least two anthropologists who were responsible for the field's shift to an emphasis on fieldwork and the strategies they used. What do you think are some of their most lasting contributions to anthropology?