Essentials of Cultural Anthropology A Toolkit for a Global Age 1st Edition By Kenneth J. Guest - Test Bank

Essentials of Cultural Anthropology A Toolkit for a Global Age 1st Edition By Kenneth J. Guest – Test Bank

 

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Sample Questions Are Posted Below

 

Chapter 05: Race and Racism

 

MULTIPLE CHOICE

 

1. What comprises all of the inherited genetic factors that provide the framework for an organism’s physical form?

a.	genotype	c.	RNA
b.	race	d.	phenotype

 

 

ANS:  A                    DIF:    Easy               REF:   Do Biologically Separate Races Exist?

OBJ:   Compare and contrast how many races exist genetically with the number that exists culturally or socially in different cultures.      MSC:  Remembering

 

2. A Saint Bernard and a Chihuahua are of the same species but look very different. It is possible to breed the two and get a puppy that might look like something else entirely but still be a dog. Why might dogs be of interest to an anthropologist?

a.	It could help resolve the question of race.
b.	It could help us understand the nature of ethnicity.
c.	It could help us better understand the relationship between genotype and phenotype.
d.	It provides a vital platform for the study of DNA.

 

 

ANS:  C                    DIF:    Difficult         REF:   Do Biologically Separate Races Exist?

OBJ:   Compare and contrast how many races exist genetically with the number that exists culturally or socially in different cultures.      MSC:  Applying

 

3. Human beings are pretty much identical and share almost 99.9 percent of their DNA. Knowing this, how might we understand the observable differences in body ratios—height versus width—that anthropologists have documented?

a.	This is a matter of race.	c.	This is a matter of ethnicity.
b.	This is a matter of inheritance.	d.	This is a matter of phenotype.

 

 

ANS:  D                    DIF:    Moderate       REF:   Do Biologically Separate Races Exist?

OBJ:   Compare and contrast how many races exist genetically with the number that exists culturally or socially in different cultures.      MSC:  Applying

 

4. Gregor Mendel, a monk in the mid-nineteenth century, discovered that crossing white- and purple-flowered pea plants yielded purple flowers and not a blend of the two colors. This eventually led to the discovery of what we now call

a.	ethnicity.	c.	race.
b.	genotype.	d.	phenotype.

 

 

ANS:  B                    DIF:    Moderate       REF:   Do Biologically Separate Races Exist?

OBJ:   Compare and contrast how many races exist genetically with the number that exists culturally or socially in different cultures.      MSC:  Applying

 

5. A useful way to consider the inherent problem of racially dividing people is described in

a.	doctors sorting according to brain size.
b.	children sorting according to block size.
c.	anthropologists sorting according to height.
d.	coaches sorting according to athletic prowess.

 

 

ANS:  B                    DIF:    Easy               REF:   Do Biologically Separate Races Exist?

OBJ:   Compare how anthropologists view the concept of “race” with how other groups of people construct “race.”           MSC:              Remembering

 

6. All human beings of every race share what percentage of their DNA?

a.	80 percent	c.	98 percent
b.	90 percent	d.	99.9 percent

 

 

ANS:  D                    DIF:    Easy               REF:   Do Biologically Separate Races Exist?

OBJ:   Compare and contrast how many races exist genetically with the number that exists culturally or socially in different cultures.      MSC:  Remembering

 

7. A physical anthropologist would be more likely to consider ________ in his or her work with the physical characteristics of Homo sapiens.

a.	cline	c.	phenotype
b.	genotype	d.	lineage

 

 

ANS:  B                    DIF:    Moderate       REF:   Do Biologically Separate Races Exist?

OBJ:   Compare and contrast how many races exist genetically with the number that exists culturally or socially in different cultures.      MSC:  Understanding

 

8. If a person inherits genes for a dark complexion and blue eyes from his or her parents, this refers to

a.	DNA.	c.	genotype.
b.	phenotype.	d.	race.

 

 

ANS:  C                    DIF:    Moderate       REF:   Do Biologically Separate Races Exist?

OBJ:   Compare and contrast how many races exist genetically with the number that exists culturally or socially in different cultures.      MSC:  Applying

 

9. A person may inherit a genetic pattern for above-average height, but may only reach average height due to poor nutrition. This is an expression of that person’s

a.	genotype.	c.	cline.
b.	phenotype.	d.	DNA.

 

 

ANS:  B                    DIF:    Moderate       REF:   Do Biologically Separate Races Exist?

OBJ:   Compare and contrast how many races exist genetically with the number that exists culturally or socially in different cultures.      MSC:  Applying

 

10. The idea that government policies should favor people born in the United States over immigrants such as Mexicans or Canadians (legal or otherwise) is known as

a.	eugenics.	c.	nativism.
b.	“home first.”	d.	nationalism.

 

 

ANS:  C                    DIF:    Moderate       REF:   How Is Race Constructed in the United States?

OBJ:   Compare how anthropologists view the concept of “race” with how other groups of people construct “race.”           MSC:              Applying

 

11. People who believe that civic policies should favor native-born people over immigrants espouse the concept of

a.	eugenics.	c.	nationalism.
b.	“home first.”	d.	nativism.

 

 

ANS:  D                    DIF:    Moderate       REF:   How Is Race Constructed in the United States?

OBJ:   Compare how anthropologists view the concept of “race” with how other groups of people construct “race.”           MSC:              Remembering

 

12. What is a system of classification that uses physical characteristics to divide the human population into supposedly discrete groups?

a.	ethnicity	c.	phylogeny
b.	cline	d.	race

 

 

ANS:  D                    DIF:    Easy               REF:   Race and Racism

OBJ:   Compare how anthropologists view the concept of “race” with how other groups of people construct “race.”           MSC:              Remembering

 

13. In the period between 1933 and 1936, the Nazi regime under Hitler implemented laws that defined who was and was not Jewish according to ancestry. Any person with three or four Jewish grandparents was considered a “full-blooded” Jew; those with fewer (but more than zero) were considered “half-breeds” or “mongrels.” This approach to dividing and categorizing people implies the existence of multiple, biologically based

a.	clines.	c.	phylogenies.
b.	ethnicities.	d.	races.

 

 

ANS:  D                    DIF:    Moderate       REF:   Race and Racism

OBJ:   Compare how anthropologists view the concept of “race” with how other groups of people construct “race.”           MSC:              Understanding

 

14. What might be a reason for the term miscegenation being a demeaning word?

a.	Racist thinking demands adherence to a strict social standard that hinges entirely on correctness of skin color, so intermarriage would violate this social norm.
b.	Racist thinking often conflates human beings with nonhuman animals, so intermarriage might mean marriage to nonhuman species.
c.	Racist thinking structures a society around a particular kind of social order with whites and nonwhites kept physically separate, so intermarriage would allow physical mixing.
d.	Racist thinking organizes social boundaries along the lines of descent, thus intermarriage would confuse ancestral lineage and paternity.

 

 

ANS:  B                    DIF:    Difficult         REF:   How Is Race Constructed Around the World?

OBJ:   Compare how anthropologists view the concept of “race” with how other groups of people construct “race.”           MSC:              Understanding

 

15. The recent changes in the United States around same-sex marriage have been supported to some degree by what aspect of earlier civil rights legal issues?

a.	apartheid	c.	hypodescent
b.	racialization	d.	miscegenation

 

 

ANS:  D                    DIF:    Difficult         REF:   How Is Race Constructed Around the World?

OBJ:   Compare how anthropologists view the concept of “race” with how other groups of people construct “race.”           MSC:              Understanding

 

16. For the seventy years leading up to 1860, the United States Census counted slaves as three-fifths of a person, which was done in order to

a.	support the emerging interest in eugenics.
b.	maintain a strong economic system.
c.	lay the groundwork for institutional racism.
d.	uphold the idea of white supremacy.

 

 

ANS:  D                    DIF:    Easy               REF:   How Is Race Constructed in the United States?

OBJ:   Compare how anthropologists view the concept of “race” with how other groups of people construct “race.”           MSC:              Understanding

 

17. Over the course of three hundred years, the forced transport of millions of Africans to North and South America helped lay the groundwork for

a.	fascism.	c.	racism.
b.	slavery.	d.	white supremacy.

 

 

ANS:  D                    DIF:    Moderate       REF:   How Is Race Constructed in the United States?

OBJ:   Compare how anthropologists view the concept of “race” with how other groups of people construct “race.”           MSC:              Understanding

 

18. Which term refers to laws implemented after the U.S. Civil War to legally enforce segregation, particularly in the South, after the end of slavery?

a.	caste	c.	Jim Crow
b.	discrimination	d.	“darky”

 

 

ANS:  C                    DIF:    Easy               REF:   How Is Race Constructed in the United States?

OBJ:   Compare how anthropologists view the concept of “race” with how other groups of people construct “race.”           MSC:              Remembering

 

19. After the Civil War, many states passed laws mandating the segregation of American citizens of European and African descent. These policies were known as

a.	white supremacy.	c.	“darky” laws.
b.	discrimination.	d.	Jim Crow.

 

 

ANS:  D                    DIF:    Easy               REF:   How Is Race Constructed in the United States?

OBJ:   Compare how anthropologists view the concept of “race” with how other groups of people construct “race.”           MSC:              Remembering

 

20. What rule assigns the children of racially mixed unions to the subordinate group?

a.	miscegenation	c.	racialization
b.	hypodescent	d.	drop down

 

 

ANS:  B                    DIF:    Easy               REF:   How Is Race Constructed in the United States?

OBJ:   Compare how anthropologists view the concept of “race” with how other groups of people construct “race.”           MSC:              Remembering

 

21. What term describes policies favoring native-born inhabitants over new immigrants?

a.	nativism	c.	racism
b.	eugenics	d.	colonialism

 

 

ANS:  A                    DIF:    Easy               REF:   How Is Race Constructed in the United States?

OBJ:   Compare how anthropologists view the concept of “race” with how other groups of people construct “race.”           MSC:              Remembering

 

22. The attempt to scientifically prove the existence of separate human races to improve the population’s genetic composition by favoring some races over others is known as

a.	racialization.	c.	institutional racism.
b.	nativism.	d.	eugenics.

 

 

ANS:  D                    DIF:    Easy               REF:   How Is Race Constructed in the United States?

OBJ:   Compare how anthropologists view the concept of “race” with how other groups of people construct “race.”           MSC:              Remembering

 

23. A methodology that claims to be improving the human race by advocating in favor of certain races and unequal treatment for others is

a.	Aryanism.	c.	fascism.
b.	eugenics.	d.	nativism.

 

 

ANS:  B                    DIF:    Moderate       REF:   How Is Race Constructed in the United States?

OBJ:   Compare how anthropologists view the concept of “race” with how other groups of people construct “race.”           MSC:              Remembering

 

24. To categorize, differentiate, and attribute a particular racial character to a person or group of people is referred to as

a.	stereotyping.	c.	discrimination.
b.	racial ideology.	d.	racialization.

 

 

ANS:  D                    DIF:    Easy               REF:   How Is Race Constructed in the United States?

OBJ:   Compare how anthropologists view the concept of “race” with how other groups of people construct “race.”           MSC:              Remembering

 

25. To apply stereotypical traits to people based on their supposed racial ancestry is called

a.	segregation.	c.	racial ideology.
b.	prejudice.	d.	racialization.

 

 

ANS:  D                    DIF:    Easy               REF:   How Is Race Constructed in the United States?

OBJ:   Compare how anthropologists view the concept of “race” with how other groups of people construct “race.”           MSC:              Remembering

 

26. In Brazil, race is not merely a matter of skin color but also includes consideration of

a.	wealth and marital status.	c.	job status and spousal status.
b.	marital status and landownership.	d.	wealth and education.

 

 

ANS:  D                    DIF:    Moderate       REF:   How Is Race Constructed Around the World?

OBJ:   Compare how anthropologists view the concept of “race” with how other groups of people construct “race.”           MSC:              Understanding

 

27. To what does the word drop in the “one drop rule” refer?

a.	genes	c.	blood
b.	dark skin	d.	ancestral lineage

 

 

ANS:  C                    DIF:    Moderate       REF:   How Is Race Constructed in the United States?

OBJ:   Compare how anthropologists view the concept of “race” with how other groups of people construct “race.”           MSC:              Understanding

 

28. In 1967, the United States Supreme Court ruled unanimously that laws prohibiting interracial marriage were unconstitutional, which ended the legal practice of

a.	anti-miscegenation.	c.	dilution.
b.	hypodescent.	d.	mixing.

 

 

ANS:  A                    DIF:    Moderate       REF:   How Is Race Constructed Around the World?

OBJ:   Compare how anthropologists view the concept of “race” with how other groups of people construct “race.”           MSC:              Understanding

 

29. The widespread idea in the nineteenth century that it was okay to discriminate against nonwhite people (Italian, Irish, Jewish, and African) because they were biologically different, and not fully human, was called

a.	eugenics.	c.	fascism.
b.	institutional racism.	d.	white supremacy.

 

 

ANS:  D                    DIF:    Moderate       REF:   How Is Race Constructed in the United States?

OBJ:   Compare how anthropologists view the concept of “race” with how other groups of people construct “race.”           MSC:              Applying

 

30. Laws in the United States that allowed such things as “white only” swimming pools, restaurants, schools, beaches, and the like, similar to apartheid in South Africa, were known as

a.	Jim Crow.	c.	eugenics.
b.	white supremacy.	d.	segregation.

 

 

ANS:  A                    DIF:    Moderate       REF:   How Is Race Constructed in the United States?

OBJ:   Compare how anthropologists view the concept of “race” with how other groups of people construct “race.”           MSC:              Applying

 

31. What study claims to be a science, but only promotes the idea that biological races exist, favoring one race over others?

a.	fascism	c.	institutional racism
b.	eugenics	d.	segregation

 

 

ANS:  B                    DIF:    Moderate       REF:   How Is Race Constructed in the United States?

OBJ:   Compare how anthropologists view the concept of “race” with how other groups of people construct “race.”           MSC:              Understanding

 

32. Brazilians have hundreds of ways of categorizing people according to race, and use a continuum of

a.	clines.	c.	phylogenies.
b.	ethnicities.	d.	color shades.

 

 

ANS:  D                    DIF:    Moderate       REF:   Race and Racism

OBJ:   Compare how anthropologists view the concept of “race” with how other groups of people construct “race.”           MSC:              Understanding

 

33. Patterns by which racial inequality is structured through key cultural institutions, policies, and systems are referred to as

a.	racialization.	c.	institutional racism.
b.	fascism.	d.	racial ideology.

 

 

ANS:  C                    DIF:    Easy               REF:   What Is Racism?

OBJ:   Explain the concept of racism, its aspects, and its ideology.

MSC:  Remembering

 

34. When cultural institutions, policies, and systems such as school and justice systems are used to enforce discrimination based on imagined differences among groups, this is known as

a.	racialization.	c.	profiling.
b.	racial ideology.	d.	institutional racism.

 

 

ANS:  D                    DIF:    Easy               REF:   What Is Racism?

OBJ:   Explain the concept of racism, its aspects, and its ideology.

MSC:  Remembering

 

35. Individual thoughts and actions and institutional patterns and policies that create unequal access to power, resources, and opportunities based on imagined differences among groups are referred to as

a.	ethnocentrism.	c.	racism.
b.	prejudice.	d.	white supremacy.

 

 

ANS:  C                    DIF:    Easy               REF:   Race and Racism

OBJ:   Explain the concept of racism, its aspects, and its ideology.

MSC:  Remembering

 

36. Recent clashes between police and African American populations in urban settings have led to an explosion of violence, and some have suggested that the police responses are the result of

a.	alienation.	c.	a lack of racial sensitivity training.
b.	institutional racism.	d.	individual racism.

 

 

ANS:  D                    DIF:    Easy               REF:   What Is Racism?

OBJ:   Explain the concept of racism, its aspects, and its ideology.

MSC:  Applying

 

37. When a person acts on personal prejudiced beliefs and discriminates against someone based on imagined differences between them, this is referred to as

a.	alienation.	c.	private racism.
b.	individual racism.	d.	profiling.

 

 

ANS:  B                    DIF:    Easy               REF:   What Is Racism?

OBJ:   Explain the concept of racism, its aspects, and its ideology.

MSC:  Remembering

 

38. A set of popular ideas about race that allows the discriminatory behaviors of individuals and institutions to seem reasonable, rational, and normal is referred to as

a.	colonialism.	c.	nativism.
b.	fascism.	d.	racial ideology.

 

 

ANS:  D                    DIF:    Easy               REF:   What Is Racism?

OBJ:   Explain the concept of racism, its aspects, and its ideology.

MSC:  Remembering

 

39. In order to make discriminatory ideas and behavior seem reasonable and normal, a few societies invoked popular ideas about racial differences known as

a.	racial ideology.	c.	nativism.
b.	racialization.	d.	colonialism.

 

 

ANS:  A                    DIF:    Easy               REF:   What Is Racism?

OBJ:   Explain the concept of racism, its aspects, and its ideology.

MSC:  Understanding

 

40. While health, education, decent housing and employment are something that most of us would agree are fundamental to all people, these are often denied as a result of

a.	white privilege.	c.	a lack of social capital.
b.	a culture of poverty.	d.	stratified whiteness.

 

 

ANS:  A                    DIF:    Moderate       REF:   What Is Racism?

OBJ:   Explain the concept of racism, its aspects, and its ideology.

MSC:  Understanding

 

41. The right to own a gun is today considered fundamental to many in the United States. While the Second Amendment to the Constitution is often considered the origin of this ideal, it actually was instituted by elites as one of many special “white rights” to ensure cooperation against rebellions and subsequently became part of

a.	cultural hedging.	c.	the invention of white privilege.
b.	the Revolutionary War.	d.	stratified whiteness.

 

 

ANS:  C                    DIF:    Difficult         REF:   What Is Racism?

OBJ:   Explain the concept of racism, its aspects, and its ideology.

MSC:  Understanding

 

42. During the Civil War, many African Americans, then slaves, made the decision to escape their captors and flee to the North in hopes of securing personal freedom. The Underground Railroad made ________ racism possible.

a.	institutional	c.	reverse
b.	personal	d.	resisting

 

 

ANS:  D                    DIF:    Moderate       REF:   What Is Racism?

OBJ:   Explain the concept of racism, its aspects, and its ideology.

MSC:  Applying

 

43. A person who believes that Italians are somehow inferior and therefore refuses to give an Italian person a job is demonstrating

a.	racist ideology.	c.	white supremacy.
b.	individual racism.	d.	nativism.

 

 

ANS:  B                    DIF:    Moderate       REF:   What Is Racism?

OBJ:   Explain the concept of racism, its aspects, and its ideology.

MSC:  Applying

 

44. Practices like segregation that separate groups of people and relegate one group to inferior conditions like run-down schools while the other group gets top-of-the-line schools with the latest equipment is an example of ________ racism.

a.	institutional	c.	group
b.	political	d.	individual

 

 

ANS:  A                    DIF:    Moderate       REF:   What Is Racism?

OBJ:   Explain the concept of racism, its aspects, and its ideology.

MSC:  Applying

 

45. A set of ideas about a group of people, such as “All Irishmen are drunks who beat their wives” or “All Arabs are terrorists,” that then makes it seem natural and normal to discriminate against them is referred to as

a.	group racism.	c.	racist ideology.
b.	institutional racism.	d.	fascism.

 

 

ANS:  C                    DIF:    Moderate       REF:   What Is Racism?

OBJ:   Explain the concept of racism, its aspects, and its ideology.

MSC:  Applying

 

46. People from the Middle East have been considered “white” in the United States for some time, but since September 11, anyone with brown skin who seems foreign or strange is now considered “different” and possibly an enemy. This is an example of

a.	discrimination.	c.	racialization.
b.	segregation.	d.	individual racism.

 

 

ANS:  C                    DIF:    Moderate       REF:   What Is Racism?

OBJ:   Explain the concept of racism, its aspects, and its ideology.

MSC:  Applying

 

47. In many countries, members of the dominant ethnic or racial group tend to favor other members of their own group, give them the benefit of any doubt, and take what other members say more seriously. Minorities are often discounted as less important or even hostile for insisting on being treated fairly. In the United States, this is called

a.	white privilege.	c.	patronage.
b.	nepotism.	d.	cronyism.

 

 

ANS:  A                    DIF:    Moderate       REF:   What Is Racism?

OBJ:   Explain the concept of racism, its aspects, and its ideology.

MSC:  Applying

 

48. The British Empire’s military, economic, and political control over Malaysia was an aspect of

a.	colonialism.	c.	imperialism.
b.	fascism.	d.	globalism.

 

 

ANS:  A                    DIF:    Moderate       REF:   Race and Racism

OBJ:   Explain how the concept of “race” is tied to colonialism.    MSC:  Applying

 

49. The United States’ involvement in Vietnam and the subsequent war was the result of a long legacy of French and United States involvement in Vietnamese economic, military, and political life and can today be understood as a form of

a.	democracy.	c.	despotism.
b.	colonialism.	d.	imperialism.

 

 

ANS:  B                    DIF:    Moderate       REF:   Race and Racism

OBJ:   Explain how the concept of “race” is tied to colonialism.    MSC:  Understanding

 

50. A complex mixture of European powers in what is today called South Africa eventually gave rise to a system that divided the country along racial lines until the 1990s. The historical legacy that fostered this was

a.	colonialism.	c.	apartheid.
b.	communism.	d.	imperialism.

 

 

ANS:  A                    DIF:    Moderate       REF:   Race and Racism

OBJ:   Explain how the concept of “race” is tied to colonialism.    MSC:  Understanding

 

ESSAY

 

1. Compare and contrast the concepts genotype and phenotype.

 

ANS:

Genotype refers to a person’s inherited genetic factors that provide a framework for an organism’s physical form; these factors constitute the total genetic endowment that the organism, in turn, can pass down to its descendants. In contrast, phenotype refers to the way genes are expressed in an organism’s physical form (both visible and invisible) as a result of the interaction of genotype with environmental factors such as nutrition, disease, and stress.

 

DIF:    Moderate        REF:   Do Biologically Separate Races Exist?

OBJ:   Compare and contrast how many races exist genetically with the number that exists culturally or socially in different cultures.      MSC:  Analyzing

 

2. Identify three reasons why anthropologists feel that the concept of “race” is a flawed system of classification, and give an example to support each reason.

 

ANS:

Race categories have no biological basis; races are constructed completely differently in various cultures, and race categories are almost always used to convey benefits to one group and harm others. Students should provide an example from the class for each of these.

 

DIF:    Difficult         REF:   Do Biologically Separate Races Exist?

OBJ:   Compare how anthropologists view the concept of “race” with how other groups of people construct “race.”           MSC:              Analyzing

 

3. Explain how the idea of “white” or “whiteness” changed over time in the United States.

 

ANS:

Originally, “white” only included people of northern and western European descent. People from Africa, Asia, and southern and eastern Europe were excluded. Following World War II, the occupational and educational opportunities presented by economic expansion and the GI Bill of Rights brought millions of former soldiers into the middle class. This softened many of the lines that had formerly separated groups of southern and eastern European immigrants and made them “white” American instead of Italian, Irish, Jewish, or Greek.

 

DIF:    Difficult         REF:   How Is Race Constructed in the United States?

OBJ:   Compare how anthropologists view the concept of “race” with how other groups of people construct “race.”           MSC:              Evaluating

 

4. Explain how and why the “one drop rule” was traditionally used to determine race in American culture.

 

ANS:

Also known as the rule of hypodescent, the “one drop rule” states that any child of mixed ancestry was assigned to the race of the lower or subordinate race parent. This supported ideas of white supremacy and the very sharp separation of whites from so-called inferior races in American culture. The text notes that nonwhites were thought to be biologically different, intellectually inferior, and not fully human in a spiritual sense. These beliefs of white superiority justified practices of slavery and, later, segregation. To maintain the sharp distinction between whites and nonwhites, “whiteness” was rigidly regulated. Intermarriage was outlawed and mixing was punished by loss of white status. Intermarriage and so-called mixed children would have blurred the line between races and the racial ideology that rationalized slavery, and segregation in the American South would have been undermined.

 

DIF:    Difficult         REF:   How Is Race Constructed in the United States?

OBJ:   Compare how anthropologists view the concept of “race” with how other groups of people construct “race.”           MSC:              Analyzing

 

5. Compare and contrast how races have been constructed in two different cultures discussed in the text. What similarities are there, and how are they different? What does this tell us about the concept of race in general?

 

ANS:

In the United States, races were traditionally based on skin color and other physical characteristics. Race lines were rigid and enforced by the rule of hypodescent, which categorized any children of mixed relationships as belonging to the subordinate racial category. Whites were on top, with all other categories being subordinate. In Malaysia, race has been constructed along ethnic lines, with three races: Indian, Chinese, and Malay, with Indians on top, Chinese in the middle, and Malays at the bottom. Brazil has hundreds of racial categories based on skin color, and they are closely tied into class. Classes are based on landownership, wealth, and education and combined with racial categories to determine social status in Brazilian society. This allows a person’s level of affluence to modify his or her racial identity. Social status in the Dominican Republic is based on skin color, affluence, identification as Hispanic, and rejection of African ancestry and “blackness.” There are many categories of skin color, but none are considered “black,” which is associated with neighboring Haitians, who are classified as racial others and inferior. As is the case in Brazil, affluence can “lighten” skin color and raise social status. The creation of race categories is actually completely arbitrary and aimed at justifying unequal statuses.

 

DIF:    Difficult         REF:   How Is Race Constructed Around the World?

OBJ:   Compare how anthropologists view the concept of “race” with how other groups of people construct “race.”           MSC:              Analyzing

 

6. Explain why geneticists state that dividing people into races by skin color is as logical as dividing them by earwax.

 

ANS:

While many societies divide people into races based on traits such as skin color, eye shape, or hair texture, these traits are actually controlled by a small number of genes. As a result, these genes have been able to change rapidly in response to the environment. Other traits such as intelligence, athletic or artistic ability, and social skills are shaped by thousands of genes and are much less susceptible to environmental pressures. As such, these traits are not linked in any way and cannot predict anything about the rest of a person’s genotype. From a genetic standpoint, the use of skin color as the primary variable in constructing a person’s race is arbitrary, and any number of other genes or gene combinations could also be used for the same purpose. Earwax is another trait that would work. Ninety percent of Europeans and only 4 percent of people in northern China have wet, yellow, and sticky earwax, while the rest have dry, gray, and flaky earwax. Geneticists note that this is a real human variation and just as logical as skin color; however, most people find it absurd to divide people into groups based on earwax. So why is the use of skin color not equally absurd?

 

DIF:    Difficult         REF:   Race and Racism

OBJ:   Compare how anthropologists view the concept of “race” with how other groups of people construct “race.”           MSC:              Evaluating

 

7. In at least two cultures discussed in the text, wealth is a factor in determining race. Explain how money can have an effect on racial determination, a supposedly biological classification, and provide an example from class.

 

ANS:

In both the Dominican Republic and Brazil, European conquest and immigration involved mostly men. Since there were few European women, interracial marriage was common. Consequently, the vast majority of the population has mixed ancestry. Therefore, there are hundreds of color terms to describe racial categories in Brazil, and these categories are the key factor in racial determination. The text notes, however, that race in Brazil intersects mostly with class—including landownership, wealth, and education—in determining social status. It notes that because of this power of class, a Brazilian’s racial position can be modified by his or her level of affluence. Affluence can shift a Brazilian’s racial identity in spite of skin color and other supposedly racial markers. Thus, wealth raises status and makes skin lighter in a social sense. In the Dominican Republic, wealth works much the same way.

 

DIF:    Difficult         REF:   How Is Race Constructed Around the World?

OBJ:   Compare how anthropologists view the concept of “race” with how other groups of people construct “race.”           MSC:              Evaluating

 

8. Explain how and why Jim Crow laws came to the American South.

 

ANS:

Long-established patterns of inequality and entrenched ideas of white superiority led to the passage of Jim Crow segregation laws throughout the American South. These laws enforced boundaries between whites and blacks in housing, education, voting rights, property ownership, and access to public services like bathrooms and water fountains. Vigilante white supremacist groups like the Ku Klux Klan emerged to enforce what they saw as the natural order of race in the country. The text notes that murder through lynching became a means to intimidate blacks, enforce segregation, and ensure behavior that southern whites considered normal and appropriate.

 

DIF:    Difficult         REF:   How Is Race Constructed in the United States?

OBJ:   Compare how anthropologists view the concept of “race” with how other groups of people construct “race.”           MSC:              Analyzing

 

9. Explain what is meant by the concept of “white privilege.”

 

ANS:

Anthropologist Peggy McIntosh notes that white privilege involves an “invisible backpack of unearned assets” or advantages that are the result of generations of racial discrimination. Through these assets, whites have become the beneficiaries of cultural norms, values, mental maps of reality, and institutions. Unearned advantages and unearned power are conferred systematically and differentially on one group over others, whether those benefits lie in health, education, housing, employment, banking and mortgages, or the criminal justice system. Many do not realize and very few acknowledge these advantages.

 

DIF:    Difficult         REF:   What Is Racism?

OBJ:   Compare how anthropologists view the concept of “race” with how other groups of people construct “race.”           MSC:              Analyzing

 

10. Identify three factors that determine race in Brazil.

 

ANS:

In Brazil, skin color is a key signifier, with numerous designations for skin color and lighter skin associated with higher status. Brazilian identity is also associated with education, class, and wealth. Wealth is tied to high-class status.

 

DIF:    Difficult         REF:   How Is Race Constructed Around the World?

OBJ:   Compare how anthropologists view the concept of “race” with how other groups of people construct “race.”           MSC:              Analyzing

 

11. Explain how race is constructed in Brazil.

 

ANS:

In Brazil, European conquest and immigration involved mostly men. Since there were few European women, interracial marriage was common. Consequently, the vast majority of the population has mixed ancestry. Skin color is a key signifier of race in Brazil, and there are hundreds of color terms to describe racial categories. The text notes that race in Brazil intersects mostly with class—including landownership, wealth, and education—in determining social status. It notes that because of this power of class, a Brazilian’s racial position can be modified by his or her level of affluence. Affluence can shift a Brazilian’s racial identity in spite of skin color and other supposedly racial markers. Thus, wealth raises status and makes skin lighter in a social sense.

 

DIF:    Difficult         REF:   How Is Race Constructed Around the World?

OBJ:   Compare how anthropologists view the concept of “race” with how other groups of people construct “race.”           MSC:              Analyzing

 

12. Compare and contrast the concepts of individual racism with institutional racism. Provide examples from class to support your points.

 

ANS:

Individual and institutional racism both require a racial ideology to justify discrimination. In the United States, the concept of white supremacy served this purpose. It was believed that whites were intellectually and morally superior to other races and discrimination against others was therefore justified. Individual racism is expressed through personal prejudiced beliefs and discriminatory actions. It involves making negative assumptions about a person’s abilities or intentions based on his or her perceived race, and may be shown through lack of respect or through suspicion, scapegoating, and violence ranging from police brutality to hate crimes. Institutional racism manifests racial inequality through key cultural institutions, policies, and systems. These include education, housing, health, employment, the legal system, law enforcement, and the media. The text notes that institutional racism originates in historical events and legal sanctions, but even when outlawed can persist through contemporary patterns of institutional behavior that perpetuates historical injustice. Examples include Jim Crow segregation, the expropriation of indigenous lands in the settlement of the West, and immigration restrictions. Through these legal forms of institutional racism, the political, economic, and educational systems were organized to privilege whiteness in the United States.

 

DIF:    Difficult         REF:   What Is Racism?

OBJ:   Explain the concept of racism, its aspects, and its ideology.

MSC:  Analyzing

 

13. Explain the concept of racialization and how it applies to Middle Eastern people in the United States.

 

ANS:

Racialization involves categorizing, differentiating, and attributing a particular racial character to a person or group of people. Middle Eastern people were considered “white” in the United States, but after September 11, 2001, many Americans have begun to racialize these people. This involves marking these people as “brown, foreign, strange, and Muslim,” and they are now being considered “different” from other Americans and possibly as an enemy.

 

DIF:    Difficult         REF:   What Is Racism?

OBJ:   Explain the concept of racism, its aspects, and its ideology.

MSC:  Analyzing

 

14. Explain how European colonial expansion gave rise to race and racism.

 

ANS:

As European explorers and merchants moved into new areas, they were confronted by many new and different people with various customs. Classification of these people based on phenotype created a hierarchy of races, with the Europeans on top. With these categories, people’s looks were tied to assumptions about intelligence, physical abilities, capacity for culture, and basic worth. These assumptions were used to justify colonial conquests, the transatlantic slave trade, and the eradication of indigenous populations.

 

DIF:    Difficult         REF:   How Is Race Constructed Around the World?

OBJ:   Explain how the concept of “race” is tied to colonialism.    MSC:  Analyzing

 

15. Explain how the race system in Brazil is considered a racial democracy.

 

ANS:

The government abolished racial categories, despite the hundreds of different skin color shades and words that are ascribed to race, in the 1930s, and officially banned racism in the 1950s. The existence of a kind of color continuum is now seen as a mark of tolerance rather than racism. In spite of this, however, there exists a huge degree of inequality in the country, with some of the poorest places situated in the midst of the most affluent.

 

DIF:    Difficult         REF:   How Is Race Constructed Around the World?

OBJ:   Explain how the concept of “race” is tied to colonialism.    MSC:  Analyzing