Chapter 1: Anthropology in a Global Age

MULTIPLE CHOICE

1. Audrey Richards conducted a detailed ethnography of the coming-of-age rituals of the Bemba, and is
often credited with opening the door to the study of health and nutrition among women and children.
Which of the four fields of anthropology was Richards working in?
a. archaeology c. historic ethnology
b. biological anthropology d. cultural anthropology
ANS: D DIF: Moderate OBJ: 1.1 What is anthropology?
MSC: Understanding

2. Which concept refers to anthropology’s commitment to looking at the full scope of human diversity
and experience, including cultural, biological, historical, and linguistic aspects?
a. ethnology c. holism
b. fieldwork d. inclusivity
ANS: C DIF: Easy OBJ: 1.1 What is anthropology?
MSC: Understanding

3. Anthropology has long studied the marginalized and remote segments of human society. Recently, a lot
of research has begun to look at the upper segments of society, which can help us understand how the
other marginalized groups come into being and exist at all. What is this process called?
a. studying up c. deep ethnography
b. marginalization d. thick description
ANS: A DIF: Moderate OBJ: 1.1 What is anthropology?
MSC: Understanding

4. Archaeology, the study of cultures in the human past, focuses on what?

a. human adaptation to the environment in the past
b. human evolution from the fossil record
c. any human material remains
d. any human burial sites
ANS: C DIF: Moderate
OBJ: 1.2 Through what lenses do anthropologists gain a comprehensive view of human cultures?
MSC: Understanding

5. What type of anthropologist focuses on how humans have adapted to their environments over time?
a. physical anthropologist c. paleoanthropologist
b. descriptive linguist d. cultural anthropologist
ANS: A DIF: Moderate
OBJ: 1.2 Through what lenses do anthropologists gain a comprehensive view of human cultures?
MSC: Remembering

6. Anthropology looks at the complete diversity of human life across space and time. This kind of study
requires a(n):
a. belief that other cultures are normal
b. belief that one’s own culture is normal
c. belief in the power of globalization
d. ability to evaluate others on the basis of one’s own beliefs
 ANS: A DIF: Moderate
OBJ: 1.2 Through what lenses do anthropologists gain a comprehensive view of human cultures?
MSC: Analyzing

7. Which subfield of anthropology traces the history of human evolution in fossils?

a. prehistoric archaeology c. evolutionary archaeology

b. primatology d. paleoanthropology
ANS: D DIF: Easy
OBJ: 1.2 Through what lenses do anthropologists gain a comprehensive view of human cultures?
MSC: Remembering

8. Both historic archaeologists and prehistoric archaeologists study the past through the analysis of
artifacts. What do historic archeologists have access to that prehistoric archaeologists do not?
a. larger numbers of artifacts c. works of art
b. written records d. burial sites
ANS: B DIF: Difficult
OBJ: 1.2 Through what lenses do anthropologists gain a comprehensive view of human cultures?
MSC: Understanding

9. What is considered the most distinctive feature of being human?

a. tool use c. bipedal locomotion
b. an opposable thumb d. language
ANS: D DIF: Moderate
OBJ: 1.2 Through what lenses do anthropologists gain a comprehensive view of human cultures?
MSC: Remembering

10. Cultural anthropologists employ the process of ethnology to:

a. challenge ethnocentrism.
b. challenge ethnographic authority.
c. ethnographically document other cultures.
d. compare cultures.
ANS: D DIF: Moderate
OBJ: 1.2 Through what lenses do anthropologists gain a comprehensive view of human cultures?
MSC: Understanding

11. Material remains help prehistoric archaeologists reconstruct:

a. human behavior. c. garbage dumps.
 b. written records. d. burial sites.
ANS: A DIF: Moderate
OBJ: 1.2 Through what lenses do anthropologists gain a comprehensive view of human cultures?
MSC: Understanding

12. What do garbage dumps offer to both anthropologists and archaeologists?

a. understanding burial practices
b. analysis of nutritional intake
c. a deeper understanding of climate change
d. understanding cultural practices
ANS: D DIF: Moderate
OBJ: 1.2 Through what lenses do anthropologists gain a comprehensive view of human cultures?
MSC: Applying

13. The so-called “N-word” would be most likely studied for its origins, uses, and meaning by a(n):
a. descriptive linguist. c. biological anthropologist.
b. historic linguist. d. sociolinguist.
ANS: D DIF: Easy
OBJ: 1.2 Through what lenses do anthropologists gain a comprehensive view of human cultures?
MSC: Analyzing

14. In order to gain a complete understanding of any aspect of human behavior, the field of anthropology
adopts what strategy?
a. four-field approach c. physical anthropology
b. cultural evolution d. ethnobiology
ANS: A DIF: Moderate
OBJ: 1.2 Through what lenses do anthropologists gain a comprehensive view of human cultures?
MSC: Understanding

15. In late nineteenth-century debates on American immigration, many scholars and government officials
privileged immigrants from northern Europe over those from southern Europe, such as Italians and
Greeks, because the officials felt these southern people were a separate and inferior biological race
with primitive ways. This is an example of:
a. holism. c. genocide.
b. ethnocentrism. d. ethnocide.
ANS: B DIF: Difficult
OBJ: 1.2 Through what lenses do anthropologists gain a comprehensive view of human cultures?
MSC: Applying

16. Pablo is an anthropologist studying the Japanese tea ceremony. He considers Japanese religion and
history, as well as social relations, the politics of gender, and the language used to talk about the tea
ceremony. Pablo’s approach to studying the Japanese tea ceremony is an example of what aspect of
anthropology?
a. participant observation c. four-field approach
b. physical anthropology d. holism
ANS: D DIF: Moderate
OBJ: 1.2 Through what lenses do anthropologists gain a comprehensive view of human cultures?
MSC: Applying
17. The sequencing of mitochondrial DNA to trace changes in human ancestors over time involves which
specialization of anthropology?
a. prehistoric archaeology c. paleoanthropology
b. forensic anthropology d. historic archaeology
ANS: C DIF: Easy
OBJ: 1.2 Through what lenses do anthropologists gain a comprehensive view of human cultures?
MSC: Applying

18. Studying how men and women use language differently and how this regularly leads to
miscommunication between them would demand a close examination of the cultural context of
language. This would be the work of what type of anthropologist?
a. biological linguist c. historical linguist
b. sociolinguist d. descriptive linguist
ANS: B DIF: Moderate
OBJ: 1.2 Through what lenses do anthropologists gain a comprehensive view of human cultures?
MSC: Applying

19. What do we call the belief that one’s own culture or way of life is normal and natural and the practices
of other people are abnormal and unnatural?
a. holism c. “walking in their shoes”
b. relativism d. ethnocentrism
ANS: D DIF: Moderate
OBJ: 1.2 Through what lenses do anthropologists gain a comprehensive view of human cultures?
MSC: Remembering

20. Cultural anthropologists like to hang out with the people they are studying and ask lots of questions as
the people work, celebrate, dance, or play games. What is the term used for this process?
a. ethnology c. cultural anthropology
b. participant observation d. cognitive anthropology
ANS: B DIF: Moderate
OBJ: 1.2 Through what lenses do anthropologists gain a comprehensive view of human cultures?
MSC: Remembering

21. An anthropologist who has conducted fieldwork on Mormon fundamentalists and their marriage
patterns wants to now compare those patterns to those of Muslim tradition. What would this require?
a. conducting ethnological analysis
b. undertaking comprehensive holistic analysis
c. carrying out additional ethnographic fieldwork
d. locating informants who are both Mormon and Muslim
ANS: A DIF: Difficult
OBJ: 1.2 Through what lenses do anthropologists gain a comprehensive view of human cultures?
MSC: Applying

22. The Latin language of ancient Rome is no longer spoken routinely. What kind of work is needed to
examine how Latin changed into the Romance languages of today (French, Spanish, Portuguese,
Romanian, and Italian)?
a. descriptive linguistics c. classical linguistics
b. comparative research d. historic linguistics
ANS: D DIF: Moderate
OBJ: 1.2 Through what lenses do anthropologists gain a comprehensive view of human cultures?
 MSC: Applying

23. Participant observation as a research strategy is an essential part of which subfield of anthropology?
a. ethnological analysis c. primatology
b. cultural anthropology d. descriptive linguistics
ANS: B DIF: Easy
OBJ: 1.2 Through what lenses do anthropologists gain a comprehensive view of human cultures?
MSC: Understanding

24. What type of anthropologists explore all aspects of living human culture—from war and violence to
love, sexuality, and child rearing—and look at the meanings that people from all over the world place
on these things?
a. ethnologists c. holistic anthropologists
b. sociolinguists d. cultural anthropologists
ANS: D DIF: Moderate
OBJ: 1.2 Through what lenses do anthropologists gain a comprehensive view of human cultures?
MSC: Understanding

25. Anthropologists take a comprehensive approach to understanding human beings. They accomplish this
task by:
a. exploring the past. c. looking at biology.
b. using the four-field approach. d. using participant observation.
ANS: B DIF: Easy
OBJ: 1.2 Through what lenses do anthropologists gain a comprehensive view of human cultures?
MSC: Understanding

26. The scientific discipline that looks at genetics, evolution, the fossil record, and our closest relatives in
the animal kingdom in order to gain a greater understanding of what it means to be human is known
as:
a. evolutionary biology. c. primatology.
b. physical anthropology. d. cultural anthropology.
ANS: B DIF: Moderate
OBJ: 1.2 Through what lenses do anthropologists gain a comprehensive view of human cultures?
MSC: Remembering

27. What do we call an anthropologist working among a Native American group to map their spoken
language into a written form?
a. descriptive linguist c. sociolinguist
b. cultural anthropologist d. historical linguist
ANS: A DIF: Moderate
OBJ: 1.2 Through what lenses do anthropologists gain a comprehensive view of human cultures?
MSC: Applying

28. What kind of researchers work to record languages that are disappearing by finding the last speakers
and making recordings and dictionaries to preserve them for the future?
a. descriptive linguists c. cultural anthropologists
b. historic linguists d. sociolinguists
ANS: A DIF: Moderate
OBJ: 1.2 Through what lenses do anthropologists gain a comprehensive view of human cultures?
MSC: Applying
29. Ancient rift valleys and deep caves often contain human fossils that can provide clues about human
evolution and the lives of our ancestors. What do we call an anthropologist who examines just the
human evolutionary aspect of fossils?
a. prehistoric archaeologist c. paleoanthropologist
b. archaeologist d. paleoprimatologist
ANS: C DIF: Moderate
OBJ: 1.2 Through what lenses do anthropologists gain a comprehensive view of human cultures?
MSC: Applying

30. What field of anthropology studies monkeys and apes, but not human beings?
a. evolutionary biology c. paleoprimatology
b. paleoanthropology d. primatology
ANS: D DIF: Easy
OBJ: 1.2 Through what lenses do anthropologists gain a comprehensive view of human cultures?
MSC: Remembering

31. The huge inflow of refugees from the wars in the Middle East to parts of Europe and Scandinavia has
created a lot of social and political problems in those countries where the refugees wind up. What kind
of anthropologist would offer useful input to the politicians making decisions about resettlement
programs?
a. physical anthropologist c. holistic anthropologist
b. cultural anthropologist d. sociolinguist
ANS: B DIF: Moderate
OBJ: 1.2 Through what lenses do anthropologists gain a comprehensive view of human cultures?
MSC: Applying

32. Which discipline of anthropology studies human beings through the excavation and analysis of human
material artifacts?
a. archaeology c. physical anthropology
b. cultural anthropology d. ethnology
ANS: A DIF: Easy
OBJ: 1.2 Through what lenses do anthropologists gain a comprehensive view of human cultures?
MSC: Remembering

33. Human beings have long been migrant, moving themselves, their material goods, and even ideas from
one part of the world to another. What makes this process, which is now called globalization, seem so
different today than in the past?
a. the four-field approach c. intensification
b. migration d. ethnocentrism
ANS: C DIF: Moderate
OBJ: 1.3 What is globalization, and why is it important for anthropology?
MSC: Understanding

34. The theory of time-space compression suggests that the way we think about time and space has been
transformed. What do anthropologists think might be the underlying reason for this?
a. flexible time scales
b. rapid economic growth
c. rapid accumulation of profits
d. rapid innovation of communication and transportation
 ANS: D DIF: Moderate
OBJ: 1.3 What is globalization, and why is it important for anthropology?
MSC: Remembering

35. When companies move their production facilities around the world to take advantage of cheaper labor
and lower taxes, what is this called by anthropologists?
a. marginal exploitation c. labor-tax compression
b. technological migration d. flexible accumulation
ANS: D DIF: Easy
OBJ: 1.3 What is globalization, and why is it important for anthropology?
MSC: Remembering

36. Global poverty has risen dramatically over the past twenty years, and is generally considered a sign of
what by anthropologists?
a. economic elitism c. marginalization
b. uneven development d. neocolonialism
ANS: B DIF: Moderate
OBJ: 1.3 What is globalization, and why is it important for anthropology?
MSC: Understanding

37. Many large corporations—Walmart, General Motors, and others—routinely operate larger numbers of
factories in places like China in order to take advantage of very cheap wages, putting workers in their
home country out of a job. What is this an example of?
a. uneven development c. flexible accumulation
b. workload migration d. global regulation
ANS: C DIF: Easy
OBJ: 1.3 What is globalization, and why is it important for anthropology?
MSC: Applying

38. Changes in communication technology that have allowed military spouses to switch from mailing
letters to their partners in Afghanistan to chatting with them on Skype are an example of what dynamic
of globalization?
a. Internet communication c. flexible accumulation
b. technological adaptation d. time-space compression
ANS: D DIF: Moderate
OBJ: 1.3 What is globalization, and why is it important for anthropology?
MSC: Applying

39. In the “Social Life of Things,” we follow the path of a shoe. In this example, a corporation in the
United States makes a large profit. At the same time, almost half of the people in Senegal live in
poverty and many children suffer poor living conditions. What is this an example of?
a. uneven development c. elitism
b. flexible accumulation d. marginalization
ANS: A DIF: Moderate
OBJ: 1.3 What is globalization, and why is it important for anthropology?
MSC: Applying

40. Nepali workers building roads in India, Filipino maids in Saudi Arabia, and Turkish street repairmen in
Germany are examples of which global dynamic?
a. time-space compression c. domestic migration
 b. uneven development d. increasing migration
ANS: D DIF: Moderate
OBJ: 1.3 What is globalization, and why is it important for anthropology?
MSC: Applying

41. The dramatic impact of globalization in the past, and even more so today, is driven by what kind of
changes?
a. internal and external migration patterns
b. perceptions of time and space
c. greenhouse gasses and weather patterns
d. transportation and communication technologies
ANS: D DIF: Moderate
OBJ: 1.3 What is globalization, and why is it important for anthropology?
MSC: Understanding

42. What key dynamic of globalization is characterized by the movement of people, not only between
countries but also within the individual countries themselves?

a. ease of transportation c. increasing migration

b. increasing nationalism d. increased access to the Internet
ANS: C DIF: Easy
OBJ: 1.3 What is globalization, and why is it important for anthropology?
MSC: Remembering

43. The Chinese government counts nearly 250 million internal migrants floating in China’s cities. What
draws these internal migrants?
a. work opportunities c. higher education
b. more affordable housing d. social movements
ANS: A DIF: Easy
OBJ: 1.3 What is globalization, and why is it important for anthropology?
MSC: Understanding

44. The distinct era in which human activity is reshaping the planet in permanent ways is referred to as
what?
a. Homocene c. Paleocene
b. Anthropocene d. Humanism
 ANS: B DIF: Easy
OBJ: 1.3 What is globalization, and why is it important for anthropology?
MSC: Remembering

45. Policy makers and environmental experts struggle to agree on what should be done with nuclear waste,
the life span of which will extend beyond human existence itself. What concept is best used to explain
this phenomenon?
a. ethnocentrism c. time-space compression
b. cultural anthropology d. Anthropocene
ANS: D DIF: Easy
OBJ: 1.3 What is globalization, and why is it important for anthropology?
MSC: Applying

46. What is one possible consequence of oil spills and other forms of mass water pollution?
a. It will kill off edible sea life completely by 2048.
b. New mutant varieties of sea life will evolve.
c. Killer whales will alter their migration routes to avoid garbage.
d. It will kill off all fish in the Gulf of Mexico by 2030.
ANS: A DIF: Moderate
OBJ: 1.3 What is globalization, and why is it important for anthropology?
MSC: Remembering

47. The British Petroleum Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010 poured 210 million gallons of crude oil into
the Gulf of Mexico over the course of two months. What is the British Petroleum oil spill characteristic
of?
a. ethnocentrism
b. time-space compression
c. today’s global age and the impacts of increasing globalization
d. the changing meaning of natural resources
ANS: C DIF: Easy
OBJ: 1.3 What is globalization, and why is it important for anthropology?
MSC: Understanding

48. Climate change, including global warming, is primarily produced by what?

a. pro-market policies that allow emissions to go unchecked
b. overpopulation, which leads to increased consumption
c. increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases created by the burning of fossil fuels
d. natural changes in the earth’s atmosphere
ANS: C DIF: Easy
OBJ: 1.3 What is globalization, and why is it important for anthropology?
MSC: Understanding

49. The author states that pollution, population growth, climate change, and overfishing are serious issues,
and nature may not be able to adapt to:
a. human activity. c. global warming.
b. glacial activity. d. intensification.
ANS: A DIF: Moderate
OBJ: 1.3 What is globalization, and why is it important for anthropology?
MSC: Remembering
 50. Anthropology developed during an intense period of globalization in the nineteenth century. What was
one of the major characteristics of that period of globalization that drove this development?
a. slave economies
b. the willingness of anthropologists to travel great distances to study remote peoples
c. transportation
d. decline of European monarchies
ANS: C DIF: Moderate
OBJ: 1.3 What is globalization, and why is it important for anthropology?
MSC: Remembering

51. In order to understand how any group of people lives in our global world today, what would we need
to consider in addition to the customs, beliefs, and other aspects of their local culture?
a. political systems c. production and exchange systems
b. global influences d. religion and belief systems
ANS: B DIF: Moderate
OBJ: 1.4 How is globalization transforming anthropology? MSC: Understanding

52. What does an anthropologist call the type of research that compares multiple communities in order to
examine links between them?
a. cross-linked ethnology c. globalized anthropology
b. multisited ethnography d. bilocational fieldwork
ANS: B DIF: Moderate
OBJ: 1.4 How is globalization transforming anthropology? MSC: Remembering

53. Global forces are expanding rapidly and moving into local communities everywhere. According to the
author, people in local communities respond to these global forces by:
a. actively working to reshape encounters with global forces.
b. strengthening and renewing religious practices.
c. overturning immigration restrictions.
d. acting with violence and rebellion.
ANS: A DIF: Moderate
OBJ: 1.4 How is globalization transforming anthropology? MSC: Understanding

ESSAY

1. Describe how changes in transportation technology in the nineteenth century led to the development of
anthropology.

ANS:
Advances in transportation technology rapidly transformed long-distance movement of people and
goods. This allowed regular travel, trade, and colonization in new and varied places. Merchants,
missionaries, and government officials came back with tales and artifacts of the incredible diversity of
human cultures and “exotic” appearances they had encountered. Anthropology developed as people
began to try to understand this diversity.

DIF: Difficult OBJ: 1.1 What is anthropology? MSC: Analyzing

2. Explain why anthropologists study nonhuman primates like apes and monkeys.

ANS:
 In order to understand which aspects of human physiology and behavior are uniquely human and
which attributes are legacies of our primate heritage, it is necessary to study our closest living
relatives. The study of nonhuman primates gives us clues about our human behavior and the shared
behavior of all primates. Careful observation of primates in their natural habitats and captivity has
offered significant insights into sexuality, parenting, male and female differences, cooperation,
intergroup conflict, and aggression. These insights can also help us understand what the behavior of
human ancestors may have been like.

DIF: Difficult
OBJ: 1.2 Through what lenses do anthropologists gain a comprehensive view of human cultures?
MSC: Analyzing

3. Compare and contrast how historic and prehistoric archaeologists investigate past human life and
explain what insights can be gained.

ANS:
Both prehistoric and historic archaeologists locate, excavate, and analyze material remains or artifacts
of past human activity. Prehistoric archaeologists use the remains of everyday activities to reconstruct
family life and work life, such as what kinds of foods they ate and what types of tools they used.
Burial sites provide information on how they treated their elders and the dead. Evidence can also
suggest trade patterns, consumption habits, gender roles, and power stratification. Historic archaeology
adds written or oral records to the interpretation of artifacts and physical remains. These allow a much
wider array of investigations and much deeper analysis because they have records such as deeds,
census forms, personal letters, diaries, and other accounts to add insight into topics such as the lives of
African slaves in the American South and global warming and climate change.

DIF: Difficult
OBJ: 1.2 Through what lenses do anthropologists gain a comprehensive view of human cultures?
MSC: Analyzing

4. Explain the difference between a descriptive linguist and a sociolinguist. If you knew the last living
speaker of a language and wanted to preserve that language, who would you call and why?

ANS:
Descriptive linguists describe and record spoken languages and save them as written languages, while
sociolinguists study language in its social and cultural context. Trying to save the language would be
the domain of the descriptive linguist, who records and describes languages in order to construct a
written language. Once you have a written language, you can preserve dictionaries, poetry, and stories
of all sorts by simply writing them down. This makes it possible to save them for posterity. Languages
have been brought back from the dead to millions of speakers. An example would be the Hebrew
language of Israel.

DIF: Difficult
OBJ: 1.2 Through what lenses do anthropologists gain a comprehensive view of human cultures?
MSC: Analyzing

5. Bronislaw Malinowski spent two years doing participant observation among the people of the
Trobriand Islands in the early 1900s, and there he learned about the islanders’ beliefs and customs
regarding trade, warfare, marriage, sex, and death. What kind of anthropologist was Malinowski?
Explain how participant observation works and what kind of information it provides. Name another
topic you could study this way and how you would do it.

ANS:
 Malinowski was a cultural anthropologist. Participant observation works by living and working with a
group of people for an extended period of time and asking lots of questions. It gives you information
about the complex systems of power and meaning that all people construct. You can study almost any
topic using this approach, so any reasonable example of a topic and strategy that involves working
closely with people would be good.

DIF: Difficult
OBJ: 1.2 Through what lenses do anthropologists gain a comprehensive view of human cultures?
MSC: Analyzing

6. Time-space compression is one of the key dynamics of globalization. Explain just exactly what time-
space compression is and how it works, and give an example.

ANS:
Time-space compression is the result of rapid innovation in transportation and communication
technology, and it has transformed how we think about space and time. Jet travel, superhighways,
telephones, fax machines, computers, and the Internet have changed our sense of how long things take
and how far away things are. For example, at the turn of the twentieth century, it took weeks to get
from San Francisco to Paris, but today it takes less than a day. Where once a letter sent from the United
States might take ten days or longer to reach its addressee overseas in Europe or Africa, we can now
send a text message, including photographs, to that same individual in under 30 seconds. With cell
phones and satellites, it is possible to talk to a person in any part of the world at any time, even if they
are on the opposite side of the planet.

DIF: Difficult OBJ: 1.3 What is globalization, and why is it important for anthropology?
MSC: Analyzing

7. The text notes that increasing migration is one of the key dynamics of globalization. Explain where
people are moving and why. What effect is this having on people around the world?

ANS:
People are moving in vast numbers within and between countries, and they are usually moving from
rural to urban areas in search of work. In general, they are looking for jobs to improve their lives and
the lives of people back home. In China, 250 million people—internal migrants—are moving to cities,
looking for work on construction projects, in service jobs, and in export-oriented factories. This
stretches human relationships across time and space. Migration is building connections between
different parts of the world, replacing face-to-face interactions with more remote encounters, and
potentially reducing the hold of the local environment over people’s lives and imaginations.

DIF: Difficult OBJ: 1.3 What is globalization, and why is it important for anthropology?
MSC: Analyzing

8. Explain how globalization has enabled flexible accumulation, and how it works. Provide an example
from the class.

ANS:
Flexible accumulation reflects the fact that advances in transportation and communication have
enabled companies to move their production facilities around the world in search of cheaper labor,
lower taxes, and fewer environmental regulations—in other words, to be completely flexible in how
they accumulate profits. Companies in developed countries move factories to other countries in the
developing world. Lower labor and transportation costs along with fewer regulations mean they can
then export their goods back to the United States at a much greater profit than if they produced them
locally. One good example is Walmart, which went from advertising “Made in America” to having
seven thousand factories in China, and the members of the Walton family are billionaires because
 of it.

DIF: Difficult OBJ: 1.3 What is globalization, and why is it important for anthropology?
MSC: Analyzing

9. One aspect of globalization is uneven development. Explain what this means and how it affects the
world. Provide an example.

ANS:
Many people associate globalization with rapid economic development and progress, but globalization
has not brought equal development to the world’s people. There are 3.2 billion people who now have
Internet access, but the distribution is very uneven. Europe, North America, and Asia account for the
vast majority of high-tech consumption, while whole areas of Africa are completely marginalized and
excluded from the globalization process. Globalization is creating extreme wealth for some people, but
it is also creating extreme poverty for others. Even in the United States, the wealthiest country in the
world, some full-time workers who earn the minimum wage make so little money that they must rely
on state welfare programs for food stamps and medical care for themselves and their children.

DIF: Difficult OBJ: 1.3 What is globalization, and why is it important for anthropology?
MSC: Analyzing

10. Anthropologists have increasingly used the concept of the Anthropocene to explain the relationship
between human activity and changes in the environment. Define the term Anthropocene and use it to
explain one phenomenon mentioned in the text.

ANS:
The Anthropocene is a distinct era in which human behavior is shaping the earth in permanent ways.
The text focuses on negative effects of human behavior on the planet, including climate change, water
scarcity, overpopulation, extreme poverty, biological weapons, and nuclear missiles. All of these
phenomena threaten human survival.

DIF: Difficult OBJ: 1.3 What is globalization, and why is it important for anthropology?
MSC: Analyzing

11. Globalization is also affecting the world’s environment. Identify three effects of human activity on the
environment, and then choose one and discuss its consequences.

ANS:
Possible effects include overfishing, population growth, limited access to water, pollution, and global
warming. The consequences are frequently very bad and threaten the world’s ecological balance.

DIF: Difficult OBJ: 1.3 What is globalization, and why is it important for anthropology?
MSC: Analyzing

12. Discuss the ways in which local communities react to global forces influencing and mingling with
local cultures. Support your description with an example from the class.

ANS:
 In part because of the forces of globalization, people in local communities may be driven to redefine
many aspects of their personal lives. Sometimes they embrace new opportunities, and they frequently
and actively resist changes they see as having a negative effect on their lives. In the example discussed
at the beginning of the chapter about the Coca Cola plant in India, the company drained and
contaminated the primary water aquifer, so local people began to protest and the local village council
withdrew the plant’s license. When the company got support from local government, the local people
gained international support and eventually took the case to the highest state court, which ruled that the
factory had to cease illegal extraction of groundwater.

DIF: Difficult OBJ: 1.4 How is globalization transforming anthropology?

MSC: Analyzing

13. Explain how anthropologists have had to adapt to the impact of global forces on the communities they
study.

ANS:
The author states that it is no longer possible to study any community without studying the global
forces that affect it. Anthropologists have adapted by studying local communities and following the
effects of global forces through multisited ethnographies. This allows anthropologists to get a
comprehensive view of the community and its unique situation. The author found that in order to study
the Chinese community in New York, it was necessary to go to China to get a complete understanding
of Chinese communities and population movement.

DIF: Difficult OBJ: 1.4 How is globalization transforming anthropology?

MSC: Analyzing