ANTH105: Introduction to Sociocultural Anthropology

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Part I - Identifications: Please provide definitions for five (5) of the following terms, Use ethnographic examples when developing your answers. Each is worth four (4) points for a total of twenty (20) points.

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Social Control

Shamanism

Kinship

Syncretism

Dowry and Bridewealth

Animism, Polytheism and Monotheism

Clan and Lineage

Gender Roles

Patrilocality, Matrilocality and Neolocality

Rite of Passage

Types of Polygamy (Polyandry and Polygyny) Endogamy and Exogamy

Part II – Short Essay Questions: Choose two (2) topics you feel most comfortable discussing. Read and answer all parts of the question. You MUST use examples from the readings, Power Points, Videos, and lectures to support your arguments. Each response is worth fifteen (15) points for a total of thirty (30) points in this section.

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a) Keeping Order

How is “order” typically maintained in tribe level societies? How are people kept in line with the valued behaviors of society?, Think about informal social control and how is this different from the forces of social control within our state-level society? Use cultural examples to support your case.

b) Sex versus Gender

What is the difference between sex and gender? What aspects determine sex? What aspects contribute to gender? Describe an example of a culturally accepted concept of a “third gender” (like the Berdache or Hidras). How is this gender determined? What does this suggest about gender and its relation to culture?

c) Kinship

What is incest? Discuss the incest taboo as both a human universal and a cultural construct. What is the possible origin and function of this taboo? Provide ethnographic

and historical examples.

d) Marriage

What is marriage? What function does it serve? In American society mutual romantic love and co-residence are considered fundamental to a marriage but this conception of marriage does not seem to be universally held. How is marriage often conceptualized differently in other cultures with regards to mate choice and residence?

e) Witchcraft and Shamanism

What is the role and responsibility of the shaman? How does this differ from that of the witchdoctor? How do witches and witchdoctors function? Why might shamanistic knowledge have “practical” applications and value to “Western” society?