CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY EXAM
SCRIPT UPDATED QUESTIONS AND
ACCURATE ANSWERS FULL SOLUTION
●● Who are the Nacirema?
Answer: A unique North American socio-cultural group highly
concerned with the body, health, and ritual.
●● What does Miner use to describe everyday practices of the
Nacirema?
Answer: A formal anthropological tone, describing them as rituals.
●● How does language shape judgment in the context of Nacirema?
Answer: Common terms are replaced with exotic descriptions, such as
'dentist' becoming 'holy-mouth-man'.
●● What is the significance of Malinowski's insight regarding magic?
Answer: Magic provided early humans with power and guidance to
master practical difficulties.
●● What is a key contrast made between modern and primitive
societies?
,Answer: Modern societies are also ritualized but use different names for
rituals, such as medicine and science.
●● What does anthropology aim to do regarding cultural judgments?
Answer: Suspend judgment and not rank cultures by rationality.
●● What does 'Shakespeare in the Bush' illustrate about cultural
interpretation?
Answer: It shows how different cultures can reinterpret the same story
based on their own contexts.
●● What mistake does Laura Bohannan make in 'Shakespeare in the
Bush'?
Answer: Confusing the universality of humanity with the universality of
meaning.
●● How do the Tiv reinterpret Hamlet's elements?
Answer: They see ghosts as omens, marriage customs as morally
correct, and madness as a social or supernatural cause.
●● What is a core anthropological insight regarding stories?
Answer: Stories do not have fixed meanings; meaning depends on
kinship, authority, cosmology, and moral order.
, ●● What perspective does Zora Neale Hurston provide in 'How It Feels
to Be Colored Me'?
Answer: She writes from inside lived experience and refuses to accept
tragedy as the only Black narrative.
●● What is the difference between insider and outsider perspectives in
anthropology?
Answer: Insiders negotiate meaning from within their culture, while
outsiders may impose interpretations.
●● What does Hurston claim about her identity in her writing?
Answer: She claims joy, multiplicity, and self-definition.
●● What is the big synthesis question raised by the texts?
Answer: What do these texts teach us about culture, knowledge,
authority, and representation?
●● Why is it important to read ethnographies critically?
Answer: To question assumptions about modernity and recognize power
in description.
●● What role does language play in the perception of rituals?
Answer: Language shapes how rituals are understood and judged, often
making them seem exotic.
SCRIPT UPDATED QUESTIONS AND
ACCURATE ANSWERS FULL SOLUTION
●● Who are the Nacirema?
Answer: A unique North American socio-cultural group highly
concerned with the body, health, and ritual.
●● What does Miner use to describe everyday practices of the
Nacirema?
Answer: A formal anthropological tone, describing them as rituals.
●● How does language shape judgment in the context of Nacirema?
Answer: Common terms are replaced with exotic descriptions, such as
'dentist' becoming 'holy-mouth-man'.
●● What is the significance of Malinowski's insight regarding magic?
Answer: Magic provided early humans with power and guidance to
master practical difficulties.
●● What is a key contrast made between modern and primitive
societies?
,Answer: Modern societies are also ritualized but use different names for
rituals, such as medicine and science.
●● What does anthropology aim to do regarding cultural judgments?
Answer: Suspend judgment and not rank cultures by rationality.
●● What does 'Shakespeare in the Bush' illustrate about cultural
interpretation?
Answer: It shows how different cultures can reinterpret the same story
based on their own contexts.
●● What mistake does Laura Bohannan make in 'Shakespeare in the
Bush'?
Answer: Confusing the universality of humanity with the universality of
meaning.
●● How do the Tiv reinterpret Hamlet's elements?
Answer: They see ghosts as omens, marriage customs as morally
correct, and madness as a social or supernatural cause.
●● What is a core anthropological insight regarding stories?
Answer: Stories do not have fixed meanings; meaning depends on
kinship, authority, cosmology, and moral order.
, ●● What perspective does Zora Neale Hurston provide in 'How It Feels
to Be Colored Me'?
Answer: She writes from inside lived experience and refuses to accept
tragedy as the only Black narrative.
●● What is the difference between insider and outsider perspectives in
anthropology?
Answer: Insiders negotiate meaning from within their culture, while
outsiders may impose interpretations.
●● What does Hurston claim about her identity in her writing?
Answer: She claims joy, multiplicity, and self-definition.
●● What is the big synthesis question raised by the texts?
Answer: What do these texts teach us about culture, knowledge,
authority, and representation?
●● Why is it important to read ethnographies critically?
Answer: To question assumptions about modernity and recognize power
in description.
●● What role does language play in the perception of rituals?
Answer: Language shapes how rituals are understood and judged, often
making them seem exotic.
