Sustainability Test Bank Chapter 6

1.

Anthropologists study the diversity of diets, the complex interactions between nutrition and the environment, cultural beliefs surrounding food, and political and economic processes, meaning that they study food

A)

ethnocentrically

B)

structurally

C)

indifferently

D)

holistically

2.

The human diet is

A)

vegan

B)

vegetarian

C)

carnivorous

D)

omnivorous

3.

Anthropologist Sidney Mintz observes that most people around the world usually

A)

eat only plants

B)

eat only animals

C)

do not eat much dairy

D)

eat a common patterned diet of core–legume–fringe foods

4.

Why was meat eating important for human evolution?

A)

it breaks down toxins in the body

B)

it provides high-quality protein for human brain development

C)

it provides us with more muscle

D)

it is not important for human evolution

5.

Mary Douglas compared food's structure in society with _______________ and a formal dinner with a _______________.

A)

theatre; play

B)

music; opera

C)

language; sentence

D)

sports; game

6.

Eating practices are

A)

unique to each culture, and rarely show similarities across cultures

B)

disconnected from political and economic processes in a society

C)

influenced only by elders in a society

D)

marked by identities such as gender, age, and ethnic group

7.

Foodways are subject to large-scale industrial processes, trade relationships, and trends, suggesting that they are

A)

stable

B)

irrational

C)

isolated

D)

dynamic

8.

Which mode of subsistence includes the search for edible things?

A)

foraging

B)

horticulture

C)

pastoralism

D)

intensive agriculture

9.

Food security refers to

A)

protecting food from contamination

B)

access to sufficient nutritious food to be healthy and active

C)

government subsidies to agriculture to ensure a steady food supply

D)

providing food to all people equally

10.

The structured beliefs and behaviors surrounding the production, distribution, and consumption of food is referred to by anthropologists as

A)

horticulture

B)

intensification

C)

life systems

D)

foodways

11.

A process that increases yields and includes prepping soil, technology, a large labor force, water management, and plant and soil modification is

A)

transhumance

B)

industrialization

C)

intensification

D)

localization

12.

Why do foragers turn to agriculture?

A)

foraging is too difficult and time-consuming

B)

agriculture provides a better diet

C)

increased population density causes too much competition for resources

D)

old age

13.

Foodways are the structured beliefs and behaviors surrounding the production, distribution, and consumption of food.

14.

The ability to digest milk into adulthood is called lactase persistence.

15.

Taste refers to both a physical sensation and social distinction and prestige.

16.

There are four major modes of subsistence that anthropologists understand as the social relationships and practices necessary for procuring, producing, and distributing food.

17.

Changes in diet toward energy-dense foods and declines in physical activity are producing what scholars call the nutrition transition.

18.

Slash-and-burn agriculture, also called swidden agriculture, is the most effective farming technique in tropical areas when population densities are low.

19.

Most human diets follow a common pattern.

A)

True

B)

False

20.

It is unusual for human adults to be able to digest milk.

A)

True

B)

False

21.

There are more undernourished people than obese and overweight people in the world.

A)

True

B)

False

22.

In many parts of the world food is a very important way of communicating social identity.

A)

True

B)

False

23.

The principles of agroecology are at the heart of industrial agriculture.

A)

True

B)

False

24.

What pivotal evolutionary shift happened around 1.8 to 2 million years ago that is closely related to human foodways?

A)

primates walked bipedally

B)

meat consumption increased

C)

humans learned to make tools

D)

humans developed language

25.

There has been a reduction of maize varieties in Mexico. What is the primary reason for it?

A)

they became extinct from bug infestation

B)

Mexican agricultural policies favored cheap imports from the United States

C)

people changed their tastes because of globalization

D)

Americans turned towards organic corn varietals

26.

Why was symbolic anthropologist Mary Douglas so interested in Jewish dietary laws?

A)

because they were a way to communicate symbolic piety

B)

because they helped people avoid disease

C)

because they are wrong

D)

because they are strictly biological

27.

What is the most important thing that the core–legume–fringe dietary pattern indicates about how people eat?

A)

they love carbohydrates most of all

B)

relishes define a tasty meal

C)

there is a common general pattern of how people around the world eat

D)

the intersections between culture and biology

28.

A key component of nutritional anthropology as defined by Audrey Richards was attention to the

A)

eating of food

B)

manner in which food is grown

C)

interrelationship between biology, health, ecology, political-economic, and cultural concerns

D)

ecological conditions necessary for growing nutritious food

29.

Anthropologists are interested in the nutrition transition because

A)

it explains widespread changes in bodily form, eating patterns, and everyday life in urban settings

B)

it directs attention to the spread of nutritious food because of industrial agriculture

C)

it will aid the creation of sustainable agriculture

D)

it demonstrates in a powerful way how foodways mark social boundaries

30.

Which of the following is not true of how food preferences relate to gender?

A)

men always love meat, no matter which culture they are from

B)

foods take on qualities associated with one gender or another

C)

men and women are enculturated to eat certain foods

D)

foods are linked to gender-appropriate behaviors

31.

One of the main reasons agricultural intensification interests anthropologists is that

A)

pastoralists and foragers practice it

B)

it's the basis of industrial agriculture, which is the only viable way to feed large populations

C)

it often leads to overproduction

D)

there are many strategies for achieving it

32.

One of anthropology's insights about the foraging mode of subsistence is that

A)

foraging people struggle to survive in harsh environments

B)

foraging people have a cultural view of their environments as giving

C)

foraging people settle into agriculture the first chance they get

D)

foraging people lead largely unsustainable lifestyles

33.

For anthropologists, what is important about the existence of differences between populations in the ability to digest milk?

A)

the absence of genetic aspects of the practice among humans

B)

the way human children innately crave cow’s milk

C)

the lack of social and political power of the milk industry

D)

the ways cultural beliefs and practices can support milk consumption

34.

The biocultural logic of local foodways is related to each of the following observations except

A)

people typically have a stable understanding of good taste

B)

most local foodways have developed to provide nutritious energy to people

C)

many groups of people will willingly change their foodways when something better, such as industrial agriculture, comes along

D)

foodways develop alongside and are influenced by political and economic processes

35.

Long-term damage to soil quality is typical of

A)

pastoralism

B)

foraging

C)

horticulture

D)

Intensification

36.

In the face of disparities in access to food, anthropologists are increasingly studying the issue of food security.

37.

A major social impact of industrial agriculture is social stratification, as can be seen by the creation of a peasant class.

38.

Although the image of burning tropical forests can be unsettling, swidden agriculture can be a sustainable form of horticulture.

39.

The flexibility and adaptability of human diets do not automatically mean that every diet is optimal.

40.

The recent popularity of local, organic foods in certain places is an illustration of globalization.

A)

True

B)

False

41.

Foodways rarely change because people are conservative.

A)

True

B)

False

42.

Foragers tend work less to survive than agriculturalists or pastoralists.

A)

True

B)

False

43.

Societies tend to stick with one mode of subsistence.

A)

True

B)

False

44.

A structuralist approach to the study of a large banquet would emphasize the

A)

spatial placement of the food on the table

B)

manner in which social relations were structured around the table

C)

oppositions and contrasts in foods that help people make sense of the banquet

D)

food taboos that prevent some people from eating certain things

45.

An anthropologist who promotes principles of agroecology would likely view horticulture as

A)

based on inadequate and inappropriate agricultural techniques

B)

better than pastoralism as an adaptation to nature

C)

completely opposed to the principles of agroecology

D)

useful to learn new principles about sustainable farming

46.

A nutritional anthropologist who studies the nutrition transition would probably focus on all of the following except

A)

changes in bodily form associated with urbanization

B)

changes in residential patterns and mobility associated with urbanization

C)

the labor conditions of migrant workers

D)

changes in ideas about what is healthy food

47.

A foodways perspective on human evolution would emphasize

A)

that people prefer the same kinds of fruit-based diet as primates, with periodic eating of meat

B)

that changes in human dietary physiology are intertwined with how people grow, share, and eat food

C)

that modes of subsistence evolve from the most simple, foraging, to the most complex, industrial agriculture

D)

that all aspects of human culture are compartmentalized

48.

A cultural relativist would be most likely to emphasize that pastoralists

A)

are living backward lives and need to modernize

B)

are inefficient in their adaptation to nature

C)

have developed effective social institutions and knowledge that ensure long-term sustainability of the landscape

D)

are a relatively new example of cultural adaptation to nature

49.

Which of the following would be least likely as an explanation given by a cultural anthropologist for the existence of food insecurity among the poor?

A)

it's related to the ignorance of the poor to effectively feed themselves

B)

it's related to the globalization of foodways

C)

it's related to government policies and priorities

D)

it's related to dynamics involved in the industrialization of foodways

50.

Do you think an anthropologist studying pastoralism in a non-Western setting, such as Ethiopia or Sudan, could offer useful insights about rangeland management to ranchers in a US state like Wyoming or Texas? Explain your answer.

51.

Is knowledge of how horticulture in small-scale societies works useful for rethinking how agriculture works in our society?

52.

One of Mary Douglas's major insights is that the ancient Israelites used food to communicate symbolic piety. Give an example of how people today might use food to communicate symbolic piety.

53.

Choose a meal you like to eat. Apply a foodways perspective to analyze it.

54.

Discuss areas in American life where you see a nutrition transition taking place. Can you apply insights about those processes by applying insights from the textbook?

55.

If you were asked to analyze food insecurity in your community as an anthropologist, what perspectives and concerns would you bring to the issue?

56.

What are the major commonalities and differences in the human diet?

57.

How does gender differentiation help organize women's and men's food preferences?

58.

How and why do social relationships differ in distinct modes of subsistence such as foraging, horticulture, and pastoralism?

59.

Is there a biocultural logic to the foodways in which you are involved? What is it?