Geertz
1. Why does Geertz view the “natural laboratory” analogy in ethnographic work to be a poor one?
2. Compare Geertz’s understanding of the final purpose of ethnography with that of Malinowski.  How does he agree and how does he disagree?
4. According to Geertz, what are the four characteristics of ethnographic description?
5. What point was Geertz trying to make when he explained Gilbert Ryle’s example of a boy twitching, another boy winking, and a third boy imitating the boy winking?
6. In Balinese culture as described by Geertz, name two characteristics of a “deep” cockfight that differentiates it from a more shallow one.
7. Explain what Geertz means when he says that culture is always public, and give one example.
8. Explain the difference between “thick” and “thin” description according to Geertz.
9. According to lecture, what is Geertz’s critique of Levi-Strauss?
10. Explain how Geertz’s semiotic approach is a critique of functionalism.
11. Explain what is meant by Geertz’s argument that cultural is not a power but a context.  Use an example from readings or lecture.
12. According to Geertz, what is a potential shortcoming or danger from an interpretive approach?
13. In Geertz's terms, write a "thin" description of taking this exam.  How is it different from the way a "thick" description would be written?
14. Name three or more facts that Geertz provides as evidence that the Balinese cockfights are a “dramatization of status concerns.”

Gordon/Sholto-Douglas
1. Briefly explain the reasons Gordon and Sholto-Douglas give for using the term “Bushmen.”
2. Give one major reason for the military recruitment of the “Bushmen,” as described by Gordon and Sholto-Douglas.
3. How are Gordon and Sholto-Douglas’ representation of the “Bushmen” different from Lee’s representation?
4. What impact did films such as “The Gods Must Be Crazy” have on the worldwide image of the “Bushmen” culture?
5. What role did the “Bushmen” play in the trading of ivory?
6. Provide two examples of environmental changes that occurred because of “Bushmen” interactions with colonial powers in Namibia.
7. How did the use of “Bushmen” by the South African military contribute to stereotypes about their culture?
8. In Gordon and Sholto-Douglas’s book, they discuss two general time periods and modes of how powerful outsiders constrain the “Bushmen” way of life. Give details about when, who, and how for each period.

Roberts
1. Contrast Roberts's view of class struggle in "The Classic Slum" with Marx’s view.
2. What are two examples of class division illustrated in "The Classic Slum?"
3. From Roberts’ example, how did one’s clothing affect how you were treated in the workplace?
4. How is Roberts’s discussion of social organization a critique of Marx’s theory of class?
5. How is Roberts's description "anthropological?"  How is it not?
6. Compare and contrast Roberts’ idea of subjective stratification with “objective” class.
7. What anthropological methods does Roberts use in his description of the Salford slum?

Crawford- Labor of the Undead
1. What aspect of village life in the Agoundis Valley does Crawford describe as fulfilling Gellner’s concept of segmentarity?  Describe how this aspect illustrates the “inequality of when.”
2. How is Crawford’s article, “Labor of the Undead,” a critique of Durkheim?
3. In “Labor of the Undead,” what specific contribution does Crawford make the discussion of Gellner’s principle of segmentarity?
4. According to Crawford's "Labor of the Undead," are High Atlas Berbers egalitarian (as Gellner suggested) or not?  Explain your answer.
5. How is High Atlas Berber society related to Durkheim's "mechanical solidarity?"
6. According to Crawford in “Labor of the Undead,” what was the problem with Gellner’s segmentary model of society? Should it, according to Crawford, be ignored?
7. According to Crawford, how do particular forms of equality imply other forms of inequality? Give two concrete examples.
8. Contrast Crawford's treatment of "segmentary society" in Morocco with Abu Lughod's treatment of a segmentary community in Egypt.
9. What is "undead" in Crawford's "Labor of the Undead?"

Roseberry
1. Roseberry argued that both Geertz and Harris treat culture as a “product” and not a “production.” What specific examples did Roseberry cite to critique each?
2. What specific argument did Roseberry have against Geertz’s description of the cockfight? (i.e. what did Geertz not do that Roseberry believes he should have?)
3. Define vulgar Marxism. What is Roseberry’s critique of it?
4. What two aspects of culture does William Roseberry believe are missing from Clifford Geertz’s work, especially the "Notes on a Balinese Cockfight?"
5. How does Abu-Lughod’s book respond to Roseberry’s critique of Geertz?  How does it fail to respond to it?
6. How is Roseberry against the common antimony of “materialism vs. idealism?”

Wolf
1. Define and describe Wolf’s understanding of the “billiard ball” model of culture. How, specifically, does he critique it?
2. Define Wolf’s concept of “global culture history.”
3. How does Wolf account for anthropologists’ coming to seeing culture as isolated bits?
4. According to Wolf, in what specific ways did imperialism help to establish anthropology?
5. According to Wolf, what specific concepts are missing from a Geertzian cultural analysis or Geertzian interpretivist anthropology?
6. According to Wolf's article, what does Weber mean by a traditional and modern society?

Nanda
1. According to Nanda, why are hijras “neither man nor woman?”
2. Cite two examples from Nanda explaining how Hinduism accommodates “sexual ambiguities” (e.g. transgendered people, homosexuals, hermaphrodites) and views them as powerful and meaningful.
3. Describe the role of the hijras in Indian society.
4. Explain how Nanda describes the ambivalent attitudes towards hijras in Indian society.
5. Under what circumstances does a person born as a “man” become a hijra?
6. What gender are hijras?
7. What sex are hijras?
8. What sexual orientation do hijras have?
9. Contrast the Indian understanding of “hijras” with the mainstream US understanding of “homosexual.”
10. What would a hijra brought to the US think about our understandings of gender?

Shostak
1. What connection does Shostak suggest between “mortality” and “morality” among the !Kung?
2. According to Shostak, how are girls as free as boys in !Kung society? Give at least three examples.
3. According to Shostak, where and how do !Kung children first learn about sex?
4. According to Shostak, !Kung do not place a high value on virginity. What specific reasons does she cite?
5. Drawing on both Shostak and Nanda, is there a relationship between gender specialization and the relative “complexity” of society? Give two examples to explain why or why not.
6. What solution does Shostak employ to the problem of an anthropological study of sex and sexuality? What specific advantages does this approach have?
7. How does !Kung childhood compare to our own?
8. Compare Shosktak’s view of !Kung life to 1. Lee, and 2. Gordon and Sholto Douglas.
9. What elements of Shostak’s presentation of !Kung life could be seen as “structural functionalist?”  Explain your answer.
10. What would a !Kung person brought to the US find bizarre about the way we raise our children, especially in regards to how we learn about sex?

Herdt
1. According to Herdt, how do Sambian nose bleeding rites contribute to the growth of men in Sambian society?
2. According to Herdt, what are the four developmental themes in males’ relationships to women that define the context of nosebleeding throughout the lifecycle?
3. According to Herdt, why is it important to Sambian males to avoid contact with women?
4. How could a structural functionalist describe or justify the nosebleeding rituals of the Sambian men?
5. According to Herdt, how do Sambia men and women purify themselves?
6. Explain how nosebleeding within the Sambia culture is related to power and social hierarchy.
7. Compare the “function” of Sambia nosebleeding rituals to the “function” of this exam.  How are they alike?  How are they different?
8. What is the relationship between Sambi nosebleeding rituals and war?  What does Herdt think will happen to nosebleeding rituals when Sambia territory is pacified?
9. Why do the Sambia bleed their noses rather than some other body part?
10. According to Herdt, why do the Sambia find femininity less problematic than masculinity?
11. What part of Herdt’s article on the Sambia could be described as “interpretivist?”  Why?
12. What part of Herdt’s article on the Sambia could be described as “structural functionalist?”  Why?
13. What would a Sambia person brought to the US find bizarre about the rituals we use to transform boys into men?

Weismantel
1. According to Weismantel, what did Malinowski contribute to the understanding of reproduction?
2. According to Weismantel, which sex act is most commonly portrayed on the Moche sex pots?
3. Because of the Moche sex pots we might tend to jump to the conclusion that the Moche were very open about recreational sex. Why, according to Weismantel, might this be inaccurate?
4. According to Weismantel, how are anal sex and breast feeding considered reproduction in Moche society?
5. Summarize Weismantel’s point about time, reproduction, and sexuality among the Moche as opposed to the US.
6. How is vaginal sex considered “non-reproductive” in US mainstream society?
7. According to Weismantel, how could the Moche consider anal sex to be “reproductive?”
8. According to lecture, why are we so uncomfortable with Moche depictions of breast feeding women having anal sex?  (Explain your answer.)
9. What would a Moche person brought to the contemporary US find bizarre about our understandings of sexuality?
10. According to Weismantel, what is significant about the fact that Moche pottery is found in tombs?
11. According to Weismantel, what is significant about masturbating skeletons?

Abu-Lughod
1. Name and explain two aspects of Abu-Lughod’s immersion in the Bedouin society that contributed to her attaining unique or meaningful insights.
2. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of Abu Lughod's choice to to be part almost exclusively of the women's segment of society?
3. How are honor killings a form of internal policing in “segmentary” societies like that of the Bedouin?
4. Why did Abu-Lughod’s father first accompany her to the Bedouin community where she did her fieldwork? How did this help her research?
5. From "Veiled Sentiments," list two ways that increasing modernization in Bedouin society has decreased the independence of Bedouin women.
6. How does Abu-Lughod’s “non-directed” research approach differ from Malinowski’s?
7. In what ways can Abu-Lughod’s book be considered (a) “functionalist,” (b) “structural functionalist” (c) "interpretivist"?
8. According to Abu-Lughod, what are the different purposes for poetry for men and women?
9. According to Abu-Lughod, patrilineal parallel cousin marriages were preferred among the Bedouin society she studies. Cite at least three specific reasons why as mentioned in her text.
10. What are the two ways in which the concept of “blood” is central to the Bedouin society according to Abu-Lughod?
11. According to Abu-Lughod, why do the Awlad ‘Ali women veil in some contexts and not others? (In which contexts do they veil, in which contexts do they not veil, and why?)
12. According to Abu-Lughod, how does poetry relate to hasham?
13. How specifically does Abu-Lughod use Foucault’s idea of discourse in "Veiled Sentiments?" What argument is she making using Foucault’s notion of discourse?
14. According to Abu-Lughod, how do the Bedouin view sexuality as a threat, both to the system of social relations and to the solidarity of the kin group?
15. What advantages and disadvantages did Abu-Lughod face as an anthropologist specifically because of her gender?
16. Explain the following concepts and their importance to Bedouin society: “ ‘asl”, “ ‘agl” and “hasham.”
17. How does menstruation and childbirth reflect a lack of autonomy in women, and how does this impact their position in the Bedouin moral hierarchy, according to Abu-Lughod?
18. What role does context play in the importance of poetry to the Awald ‘Ali according to Abu-Lughod?  Why would a person ask “who said it” when trying to interpret a poem?
19. How do the Awlad ‘Ali perceive the Egyptians, according to Abu-Lughod?
20. How would Eric Wolf critique Abu Lughod's presentation of the Awlad 'Ali?
21. What changes did the settlement of the formerly nomadic Awlad 'Ali have on the group?
22. How does the egalitarian ideology of the Awlad 'Ali contrast with their hierarchical communal relations?  How does egalitarian ideology in the United States contrast with hierarchical communal relations?  What sorts of discourses "resolve" the contradictions in the ideologies of these two societies?
23. Contrast the various forms of status among the Awlad 'Ali  with those found at UCSB.
24. What kinds of power does Abu Lughod examine in her book?  What kinds of power does she ignore?
25. Contrast the most important forms of power in your life with those Abu Lughod claims are important to the Awlad Ali.

Lecture Week 4
1. What is the “conscience collectif” in structural functionalism?
2. According to Dr. Crawford, why were Chagnon’s theory and methods controversial?
3. In lecture Dr. Crawford cited Geertz's list of seven activities undertaken by anthropologists doing fieldwork.  List four of the seven, and discuss which is, in Geertz's view, most important.
4. Why does Geertz warn of the danger "that cultural analysis, in search of all-too-deep-lying turtles, will lose touch with the hard surfaces of life?"  What does this mean?  What exactly is the danger?
5. In what ways did Geertz find the Balinese "a complete enigma?"  In what ways were they not enigmatic?

Lecture Week 5
1. According to lecture, briefly describe Weber’s three types of authority.
2. Define mechanical and organic solidarity.
3. Define "ideology."
4. As described in lecture, explain how Karl Marx was more successful as a social “astronomer” than a social “astrologer” (i.e. compare his success at analyzing social systems with his success at predicting them).
5. Define Marx’s concept of “species being.”
6. According to Marx, why does capitalism lead to alienation?
7. Compare and contrast Durkheim’s notion of "anomie" with Marx’s "alienation," as discussed in lecture.
8. According to lecture, what are “social facts?” Give an example from either lecture or the course reading materials.
9. According to lecture, Clifford Geertz borrows heavily from Max Weber. What are the similarities in these two theorists’ thinking? What is Geertz’s unique contribution?
10. Compare Marx's understanding of human nature with Hobbes, Rousseau, and Ibn Khaldun.
11.  What do we mean by "nomothetic" and "ideographic" approaches to anthropology?
12. What is the difference between "culture" and "ideology?"
13. What is Max Weber's point in "Protestantism and the Spirit of Capitalism?"
14. According to lecture, what is Durkheim's "problem of the individual?"
15. According to lecture, how is "creative social labor" central to who we are as human beings?

Lecture Week 6
1. According to lecture, how does Foucault’s understanding of power differ from Marx's or Weber’s understanding of power?
2. Define world systems theory as discussed in lecture. Why is world systems theory important to anthropology?
3. In the National Geographic video on the Ju/’hoansi, is the narrator-photographer more influenced by Hobbes or Rousseau? Explain your answer.
4. List one characteristic of Durkheim’s approach to anthropology that can be found in Lee.
5. According to lecture, how can Durkheim be considered a positivist?
6. How is the perspective of the Bushmen painted by the National Geographic video different from that of Gordon and Sholto Douglas?
7. Why does Weber describe interpretation as “necessarily partial?”
8. According to lecture, what is Foucault's view of Durkheim's "problem of the individual?"
9. Describe the basic operation of a "segmentary society."
10. According to lecture, what are some of the "uses of theory?"
11. For Foucault, what is the relationship between discourse and power?
12. According to lecture, how did anthropology get to the point where it treated cultures as isolated from a larger global cultural history? (Discuss 1. methods and 2. disciplinary history.)
13. What is "underdevelopment?"
14. According to lecture, how is "holism" for Wallerstein and Wolf different than it was for Malinowski?

Lecture Week 7
1. Describe two ways in which Shostak’s method of data presentation is helpful in revealing the “native’s point of view.”  Then, describe the dangers or disadvantages of Shostak’s approach.
2. According to lecture, what relationship does private property have to the status of women in society? Cite two examples from the readings. (Professor Crawford raised a critique of this idea, also from the readings. What was the critique?)
3. Drawing on lecture and the readings, critique the idea that the status of women is related to political economic conditions.
4. According to lecture, how does “letting the native speak for herself” still allow the author some control over the subject? (Discuss at least three ways an author maintains control.)
5. Compare Chagnon’s view of aggression with Herdt’s.
6. According to lecture, contemporary U.S. culture is in some ways surprisingly non-permissive of some kinds of sexual acts.  List three examples Professor Crawford discussed.
7. According to lecture, why is it difficult for anthropologists to study sex? Describe two approaches in the readings that address these difficulties.
8. Define sex, gender, and sexual orientation.
9. In mainstream US society, what relationship does a person’s gender have to their sex and sexual orientation?
10. List common stereotypes of the two genders recognized in the US.
11. List five ways that US society discriminates against people with sexual orientations outside of what is considered the norm.
12. Explain the differences between transexual, transvestite and hermaphrodite.
13. When it comes to sexuality in anthropological research, why is “participant observation” limiting?
14. According to lecture, how does the category “homosexual” vary across societies?
15. What does Professor Crawford mean when he says that he wants to use “thinking about sexuality to think about thinking?”
16. Is our society “permissive” about sex or not?  Explain your answer.
17. From what we saw in lecture, how are Western gender stereotypes adopted by hijras?
18. As suggested in lecture, how are US mainstream understandings of sexuality related to broader understandings in society?

Other stuff
1. Discuss gender in the context of Nanda, Shostak, and Abu Lughod.
2. Discuss the relationship between gender and political economy in Herdt and Abu Lughod.
3. How would Roseberry critique Herdt?
4. Constrast the Marxian approaches of Roseberry and Wolf.
5. Be able to tell us where we could find the Balinese, Bushmen, Bedouin, hijras, Moche pottery, Sambia people?  (You should be able to describe the location of these societies / cultures / people, or find them on a map.)

Super Double Added Bonus Questions
1. Why does it seem that other cultures become “Western” when they borrow “our” technology, techniques, or ideas but we don’t become “Eastern” (or anything else) when we borrow technolology, ideas, and techniques from others?
2. Write "agl" in Arabic.  Define it in English.
3. Multiply 21 by 177 using Latin numerals.  Do the same operation using Arabic numerals.
4. Where does the word "alcohol" come from? (Hint: same place as algebra.)