Ch9 Test Questions & Answers Kinship And Descent

Test Bank

Chapter 9

In this revision of the test bank, I have updated all of the questions to reflect changes in Cultural Anthropology, 4e. There is also a new system for identifying the difficulty of the questions. In earlier editions, the questions were tagged in one of three ways: factual (recall of factual material), conceptual (understanding key concepts), and applied (application of sociological knowledge to a situation). In this revision, the questions are now tagged according to the six levels of learning that help organize the text. Think of these six levels as moving from lower-level to higher-level cognitive reasoning. The six levels are:

REMEMBER: a question involving recall of key terms or factual material

UNDERSTAND: a question testing comprehension of more complex ideas

APPLY: a question applying anthropological knowledge to some new situation

ANALYZE: a question requiring identifying elements of an argument and their interrelationship

EVALUATE: a question requiring critical assessment

CREATE: a question requiring the generation of new ideas

The ninety questions in this chapter’s test bank are divided into two types of questions. Multiple-choice questions span a broad range of skills (over half are “Remember” questions and the remainder are divided among two higher levels). Essay questions are the most demanding because they include three of the highest levels of cognitive reasoning (from “Apply” to “Evaluate”) as well as lower levels.

Types of Questions

Easy to Difficult Level of Difficulty

MULTIPLE CHOICE

1. A system of determining who one’s relatives are and what one’s relationship is to them is a(n) ________.

a. fictive kin

b. kinship system

c. kindred system

d. inheritance rules

2. People related by blood are called __________.

a. affines

b. kindred

c. consanguines

d. relatives

3. __________ are people who are related through marriage.

a. Affines

b. Consanguines

c. Kindred

d. In-laws

4. The notion of kinship is essentially __________, not based on universal, objective criteria.

a. biological

b. fictive

c. social and symbolic

d. philosophical

5. Kinship systems are organized around __________ and rules of marriage.

a. rules of inheritance

b. biological relationships

c. rules of descent

d. households

6. A(n) __________ is a group consisting of known bilateral relatives with whom people interact, socialize, and rely on for economic and emotional assistance.

a. kinship system

b. affine

c. clan

d. kindred

7. __________ is the principle of descent in which people think of themselves as related to both their mother’s kin and their father’s kin at the same time.

a. Unilineal descent

b. Bilateral descent

c. Double descent

d. Parallel descent

8. ______ is the principle of descent in which people define themselves in relation to only one side, either their mother’s side or their father’s side.

a. Unilineal descent

b. Bilateral descent

c. Double descent

d. Parallel descent

9. Bilateral descent is adaptive for people in which type of society because it functions to loosen kinship ties?

a. Industrial

b. Horticultural

c. Communist

d. Dictatorships

10. What is the advantage of bilateral descent groups in foraging societies?

a. Such groups make claims for assistance on a wide group of related people possible.

b. Such groups limit the number of people who can ask for help and expect to receive it.

c. Such groups draw clear distinctions between relatives and nonrelatives and so limit the size of kin groups.

d. Such groups are the smallest kin groups possible.

11. What is the advantage of bilateral descent groups in industrial societies?

a. Such groups expand the kin network more than unilineal descent groups.

b. Such groups make it possible to loosen obligations to kin.

c. Such groups are more likely to provide help to members in times of need.

d. Such groups are the only ones compatible with nuclear families.

12. __________ is a kinship principle in which people belong to the kinship groups of both their mother and their father.

a. Ambilineal descent

b. Bilateral descent

c. Patrilineal descent

d. Matrilineal descent

13. In a bilateral kinship system, the very wealthy can rely on one another for political support based on __________and __________.

a. shared interests; goals

b. obligation; money

c. goals; money

d. shared interests; obligation

14. What are the two main forms of unilineal descent?

a. Matriarchy and patriarchy

b. Affines and fictive kin

c. Matrilineal and patrilineal

d. Parallel and double

15. __________ systems are ones in which kinship group membership and inheritance pass through the female line.

a. Patrilineal

b. Matrilineal

c. Patriarchy

d. Matriarchy

16. __________ systems are ones in which kinship group membership and inheritance pass through the male line.

a. Patrilineal

b. Matrilineal

c. Patriarchy

d. Matriarchy

17. The great majority of known unilineal descent systems around the world are __________.

a. matrilineal

b. patrilineal

c. patriarchal

d. matriarchal

18. Societies based on __________ have the highest proportion of matrilineal systems.

a. agriculture

b. pastoralism

c. horticulture

d. foraging

19. The proportion of matrilineal societies was highest among __________ and __________ horticulturalists.

a. South American; Polynesian

b. Melanesian; East African

c. East African; South American

d. West African; North American

20. Which of the following is NOT an important difference between patrilineal and matrilineal societies?

a. Among matrilineal descent groups, male authority is weak while it is strong in patrilineal descent groups.

b. Members of a lineage are linked directly by birth in patrilineal systems while in matrilineal systems they are not.

c. Among matrilineal descent groups, marital bonds are weak while they are strong in patrilineal descent groups.

d. In patrilineal systems, women tend to leave their own kin group after marriage while in matrilineal systems men tend to live with their wife’s kin.

21. A social system in which men occupy positions of social, economic, and political power from which women are excluded is called ____________.

a. a matriarchy

b. a patriarchy

c. double descent groups

d. parallel descent groups

22. Divorces are more difficult to get in patrilineal systems than matrilineal systems because __________.

a. children are linked to their mothers by birth

b. children are linked by fathers to their lineage, but by birth to their mothers

c. men are less likely to desire divorces

d. women can draw on the support of their patrilineage to resist a divorce

23. Divorces are easier to acquire in matrilineal societies because __________.

a. children are linked to the lineage through their uncle, not their father

b. women are more likely to wish for a divorce

c. children are linked to the matrilineage by their mother, so fatherhood has a diminished role in kinship

d. a group of women can successfully eject a male from their home

24. Subsistence, in particular the value placed on the __________ of either men or women, plays a role in shaping patterns of kinship.

a. accumulated surplus

b. cooperative labor

c. time away from the group

d. hunting territory

25. In matrilineal societies, men often suffer from split loyalties because __________.

a. their children belong to another lineage, but their primary obligations are to their own lineage

b. men have a harder time adjusting to residence with their wife’s family than women do to life with their husband’s family

c. men have important social and economic functions in both lineages

d. when they marry, men are compelled to sever ties with their lineage and move away

26. Matrilineal descent groups retain control of __________ while patrilineal descent groups do not.

a. all lineage-owned property after a marriage

b. both male and female members of the lineage

c. male members of the lineage

d. children

27. In patrilineal descent groups, women bear children for their husband’s lineage and are __________ members of their own descent group.

a. the prime

b. important

c. secondary

d. temporary

28. In the matrilineal Trobriand Islander society, men raise yams, but because they work lands through matrilineal ties, the produce belongs to the man’s __________.

a. mother

b. wife

c. sister

d. aunt

29. Matrilineal inheritance rules mean that in Tlingit society on the Pacific Northwest coast, a man’s inheritance passes to his __________.

a. son

b. daughter

c. sister’s husband

d. sister’s son

30. Matrilineal descent groups do not require the statuses of __________ or __________ to function.

a. father; husband

b. father; uncle

c. father; son

d. father; cousin

31. In matrilineal societies, a man is often needed by and is loyal to __________.

a. his own family of decent

b. his wife’s family

c. both his and his wife’s families

d. his wife’s father

32. Who is most likely to exert authority over a child among the Trobriand Islanders?

a. Child’s father

b. Child’s mother

c. Child’s maternal uncle

d. Child’s maternal aunt

33. __________ is a form of unilineal descent in which people belong to kinship groups of both mother and father.

a. Double descent

b. Parallel descent

c. Ambilineal descent

d. Matrilineal descent

34. __________ is a kinship principle in which descent and inheritance follow gender-linked lines so that men consider themselves descended from their fathers and women consider themselves descended from their mothers.

a. Ambilineal descent

b. Bilateral descent

c. Parallel descent

d. Double descent

35. The Yako of Nigeria follow __________ rules for inheritance, with patrilineal groups receiving land and grazing rights and matrilineal groups receiving cattle and other livestock.

a. ambilineal descent

b. bilateral descent

c. parallel descent

d. double descent

36. The __________ of Peru had a system of parallel descent with inheritance following parallel lines as well.

a. Jivaro

b. Inca

c. Dinka

d. Kwakiutl

37. __________ creates strong gender identity and solidarity in a society.

a. Ambilineal descent

b. Double descent

c. Parallel descent

d. Unilineal descent

38. __________ is a principle of descent in which individuals may choose to affiliate with either their mother’s or their father’s kinship group.

a. Ambilineal descent

b. Double descent

c. Parallel descent

d. Unilineal descent

39. In societies where __________ is the kinship system, individuals often choose the descent group that will advantage them the most in resources or power.

a. double descent

b. ambilineal descent

c. parallel descent

d. unilineal descent

40. In the South Pacific, members of societies with ambilineal descent groups __________.

a. had to choose only one group to be associated with during his or her lifetime

b. received advantages of only one descent group, but still owed responsibilities to both descent groups

c. could shift membership in their mother’s or father’s descent group depending on short-term advantage

d. had flexibility in who they chose to align, but were forced to choose an affiliation for their offspring

41. The smallest kinship unit is a __________ in which a set of relatives trace descent from a known common ancestor.

a. family

b. kindred

c. lineage

d. clan

42. In some West African societies, oral histories of lineage ancestors may go back __________ or more.

a. three generations

b. 200 years

c. 100 years

d. two generations

43. Which of the following differentiates unilineal and bilateral descent groups?

a. Bilateral descent rules lead to more structured groupings than among unilineal descent groupings.

b. Lineages are only part of bilateral descent groups.

c. All cultures practicing unilineal descent rules exemplify all four types of unilineal descent groups.

d. Unilineal descent groupings are more structured than bilateral descent groupings.

44. In societies where __________ contributes to one’s social standing and prestige, sibling order determines the relative status of each new lineage.

a. merit

b. inheritance

c. seniority

d. responsibility

45. The child of one’s mother’s sister or of one’s father’s brother is one’s ___________.

a. parallel cousin

b. cross-cousin

c. second cousin

d. third cousin

46. The child of one’s mother’s brother or of one’s father’s sister is one’s ______.

a. parallel cousin

b. cross-cousin

c. second cousin

d. third cousin

47. __________ marriage is common in Middle Eastern Arab societies where patrilineal descent systems prevail.

a. Brother–sister

b. Cross-cousin

c. Parallel cousin

d. Second cousin

48. The opposite of a cross-cousin is a __________.

a. fictive kin

b. parallel cousin

c. totem

d. direct cousin

49. A marriage principle in which people cannot marry members of their own lineage or clan but instead must forge alliances with members of other groups is called __________.

a. endogamy

b. exogamy

c. kinship system

d. inheritance rules

50. A marriage principle in which people marry members of their own group is called ________.

a. endogamy

b. exogamy

c. kinship system

d. inheritance rules

51. __________ are named groups of people who believe that they are relatives even though they may not be able to trace their actual relationships with all members of their group.

a. Lineages

b. Fictive kin

c. Patriclans

d. Clans

52. An animal or plant believed by a group of people to have been their primordial ancestor or protector is a __________.

a. guardian spirit

b. totem

c. founder spirit

d. endogamous creature

53. The matrilineal Diné’s tradition of exogamy rules that exclude marriage within both the mother’s and the father’s lineages may be evidence of former __________.

a. patrilineal descent reckoning

b. parallel descent reckoning

c. ambilineal descent reckoning

d. bilateral descent reckoning

54. How will a Diné person give his/her name when introducing him- or herself?

a. Mother’s clan, father’s clan, personal name

b. Mother’s clan, personal name

c. Father’s clan, mother’s clan, personal name

d. Mother’s clan only

55. __________ are lineages organized in a hierarchical structure, ranked according to the number of generations they encompass.

a. Matriclans

b. Patriclans

c. Segmentary lineages

d. Corporate lineages

56. Which of the following is/are NOT among the corporate functions that lineages and clans perform?

a. Allocation of common lands to members

b. Decision making and problem solving

c. Assigning tasks to specific members of the group

d. Providing highly structured, inflexible solutions to resolving disputes

57. In Ganda society, each clan is associated with a particular __________.

a. animal

b. elder

c. mother

d. ancestor

58. Ganda clans are organized into __________.

a. segmentary lineages

b. moieties

c. phratries

d. totems

59. __________ are groups of linked clans that are usually exogamous.

a. Phratries

b. Clans

c. Totemic lineages

d. Moieties

60. The Ganda, patrilineal horticulturalists from Uganda, use patrilineal inheritance rules but traditionally bypassed the eldest son for what purpose?

a. To prevent infighting among sons

b. To include younger sons in an important event

c. To disperse kinship ties and link more distant relatives into the kin group effectively

d. To avoid upsetting the dead man’s ghost

61. __________ are groups of linked clans that divide a society into two halves, usually exogamous.

a. Phratries

b. Clans

c. Moieties

d. Segmentary lineages

62. A Mohawk household usually consisted of __________.

a. an elder man, his sons and their wives and children, and unmarried sons and daughters

b. an elder woman, her husband, their daughters and daughters’ families, and the couples’ unmarried sons

c. a nuclear family of a single married couple and their children, as well as possibly the man’s grandparents

d. a woman and her sisters along with their families

63. __________ are chosen informally today by the Mohawk based on public recognition of their good advice, intelligence, and personal charisma.

a. Clan mothers

b. Clan chiefs

c. Godmothers

d. Godfathers

64. Mohawk clan chiefs are selected by __________.

a. election

b. lineal seniority

c. a long record of public service

d. clan mothers

65. The Mohawk nation is divided into __________ moieties and __________ clans.

a. two; four

b. four; eight

c. two; three

d. three; six

66. The Trobriand Islander kinship system is based on which type of descent pattern?

a. Matrilineal

b. Patrilineal

c. Bilateral

d. Parallel

67. Trobriand Islanders are divided into how many named exogamous clans?

a. One

b. Two

c. Three

d. Four

68. All are true of the leaders of Trobriand dala EXCEPT which of the following?

a. Dala are usually the eldest male of the eldest lineage in the group.

b. Upon the death of a headman, the position is passed on to his eldest son.

c. Headmen allocate farmland to resident members of the dala.

d. Headmen perform ceremonial duties to protect and enhance the fertility of their land.

69. In Trobriand society, women’s power is based on which of the following?

a. Their control of land

b. The statuses of hamlet headman and district chief

c. Their roles in the continuity of the dala and of dala identity

d. The number of yams they are able to acquire

70. Avoidance relationships characterizes relationships between who in many societies?

a. Parents-in-law and children-in-law

b. Aunts and nephews

c. Grandparents and grandchildren

d. Siblings

71. Why do some societies have joking relationships and avoidance relationships among certain relatives?

a. So that relatives will always have something to talk about

b. So that problematic relationship between certain relatives will have carefully defined sets of interactive behaviors

c. So that individuals can institutionalize their feeling about certain relatives

d. S that improper sexual innuendos can be avoided

72. The Cheyenne utilizes which type of kinship terminology system?

a. Eskimo

b. Crow

c. Iroquois

d. Omaha

73. The __________ system makes distinctions between (1) the nuclear family and all other types of relatives and (2) gender.

a. Omaha

b. Crow

c. Hawaiian

d. Eskimo

74. The __________ system uses kin terms that emphasize the difference between one’s parents’ same-sex siblings and parents’ opposite-sex siblings, classifying parallel cousins with one’s own siblings.

a. Eskimo

b. Crow

c. Iroquois

d. Omaha

75. The Hawaiian kinship terminology system is often associated with which type of descent pattern?

a. Ambilineal

b. Bilateral

c. Parallel

d. Double

76. The __________ system uses kin terms making distinctions only of generation and gender.

a. Hawaiian

b. Crow

c. Eskimo

d. Sudanese

77. Why is marriage to a cousin in the Hawaiian kinship system impossible?

a. Because brother–sister weddings are preferred and arranged

b. Because people never know their cousins

c. Because all cousins are considered siblings

d. Because cousins are not classified in the Hawaiian kinship system

78. The __________ system is used by some matrilineal peoples that extend the term for father and father’s sister to include cross-cousins on the paternal side.

a. Eskimo

b. Crow

c. Omaha

d. Hawaiian

79. The __________ system is used by some patrilineal peoples that extend the term for mother and mother’s brother to include cross-cousins on the maternal side.

a. Eskimo

b. Crow

c. Omaha

d. Hawaiian

80. The __________ system gives separate kin terms to all kin relationships.

a. Omaha

b. Sudanese

c. Hawaiian

d. Crow

ESSAY QUESTIONS

81. Using examples to make your points, explain this statement: Kinship is primarily a social and symbolic system.

(EVALUATE)

82. What is bilateral kinship? What advantages does it offer to foraging societies? Industrialized societies? What are unilineal descent systems? How do they vary from bilateral descent systems?

(UNDERSTAND)

83. Explain what is meant by fictive kinship. Why might it be used? Are there any examples of fictive kinship in your family?

(APPLY)

84. What are the differences in the structures of matrilineal and patrilineal systems? Why do these affect marriages differently?

(EVALUATE)

85. What are inheritance rules? How are they related to rules of descent? How do they work in different systems of unilineal descent?

(ANALYZE)

86. Explain how unilineal descent systems act in a corporate manner for the benefit of members. Provide examples.

(ANALYZE)

87. All marriages obey some rules of both endogamy and exogamy. What do these two terms mean? What rules of endogamy and exogamy are common in the United States? Consider both formal and informal rules.

(EVALUATE)

88. How did (and does) the kinship system of the Mohawks work to balance economic and political rights between man and woman?

(UNDERSTAND)

89. In what ways are clans different from lineages? How are the two the same?

(UNDERSTAND)

90. Using Aboriginal Australians as an example, explain totems in kinship systems.

(APPLY)