ANTHROPOLOGY 303 FINAL EXAM 40 points total

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DUE August 3rd by 5pm AT THE LATEST.

Choose FOUR questions to answer, one from each section and one of your choice.

  • Expect to write at least two pages and preferably more per answer.
  • Use plenty of examples FROM READINGS! There should be AT LEAST THREE per answer (only one example may be used twice) but better answers will have more than that.
  • This is in addition to examples from lecture
  • Do not cite works unless they are ones that have not been assigned for the class.

SECTION ONE: From symbols to magic. (Answer at least one. 10 points per answer)

  1. Imagine you are trying to explain to someone (you can use your creativity to think about who this person is) why people in so many cultures seek supernatural explanations for misfortune, and seek oracles to help find answers. (Misfortune includes both accidents and illness). Write out what you’d say, using evidence from at least THREE readings and be sure to refer to the distinction between HOW and WHY questions in your answer).
  1. “Shamans are con artists and charlatans.” Is this a fair and comprehensive appraisal of what shamans offer to their communities? What useful services do they perform (alongside other kinds of faith healers or mediums), both from a practical as well as a spiritual standpoint?

SECTION TWO: New religious movements. Answer at least one. 10 points per answer.

  1. What kinds of social, political and environmental conditions lead people to create a new religion? Refer to Wallace’s model of revitalization, and give several specific examples to the moral and pragmatic crises that cultures face when their religions are unsatisfactory.
  1. We are confronted by fundamentalists in various forms in the present day (Christian, Islamic, Hindu etc. etc.). How might you explain to someone that while fundamentalism may “look” old it is in fact relatively new (use revitalization to help you explain this).
  1. Should we distinguish between religions as either trivial or serious, or possibly try to set apart religion from cult, or dismiss examples of “superstition” in the West? Answer using at least three examples from reading plus other examples from lecture.

SECTION THREE: Overview (Answer at least one, 10 points per answer).

  1. How can we evaluate the success of a religious movement or religious movement? Consider the question of success from the point of view of the practitioners, as well as of outsiders, like anthropologists. What might be the criteria for failure? Give at least three distinct examples of success and failure from readings (plus lecture notes).
  1. While an individual may sincerely hold religious beliefs, a group does not have a common mind and cannot hold any belief. Faith becomes socially relevant through action. Until there is action, religions are socially meaningless. Discuss these statements, connecting your argument to at least three specific readings.
  1. One lesson from the course is the critical and ubiquitous phenomenon of ritual in human life. Give some of the explanations that anthropologists offer to explain why this is so, and give examples of where ritual serves to order and give meaning to existence Should we think of secular ritual as religious? Why or why not?.