Ritual and Belief Systems
Final Exam Questions
Course Introduction
This course explores the complexities of ritual practices and belief systems across various cultures, examining how rituals serve as powerful social, psychological, and symbolic tools that structure religious and secular life. Through interdisciplinary perspectives including anthropology, sociology, and religious studies students will analyze the functions of ritual, its role in expressing and shaping belief, and its capacity to negotiate identity, community, and change. Case studies will illuminate both enduring traditions and emerging practices in global and historical contexts, encouraging critical reflection on the ways rituals influence meaning, morality, and social order.
Recommended Textbook
Anthropology of Religion Magic and Witchcraft The 3rd Edition by Rebecca Stein Philip L Stein
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Chapter 1: The Anthropological Study of Religion
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following might also be referred to as an ethnographer?
A)a physical anthropologist
B)an archaeologist
C)a cultural anthropologist
D)a linguistic anthropologist
Answer: C
Q2) Which of the following anthropologists is most closely associated with the functionalist approach?
A)Melford Spiro
B)Edward Tyler
C)Alfred Radcliff-Brown
D)Bronislaw Malinowski
Answer: D
Q3) The first use of the term culture in anthropology appeared in 1871 in a book written by:
A)James Frazer
B)Robert Edgerton
C)Edward Tylor
D)Melford Spiro
Answer: C
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Chapter 2: Mythology
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Sample Questions
Q1) In the Navaho Creation Story,First Man and First Woman were created from:
A)dust
B)ears of corn
C)insects
D)nothingness
Answer: B
Q2) Archetypes are:
A)myths about the end of the world
B)myths about a journey to the underworld
C)a main character of the collective unconscious
D)a main character in a hero story
Answer: C
Q3) A proposed relationship between early childhood experiences and adult projection systems like myths is characteristic of which analytic approach?
A)functional analysis
B)structural analysis
C)psychoanalytic analysis
D)evolutionary analysis
Answer: C
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Page 4
Chapter 3: Religious Symbols
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Sample Questions
Q1) Totemic narratives among the Australian aborigines describe journeys taken by totemic creatures in the past.On these journeys the creatures:
A)created by naming the plants and animals
B)produced geological features including water holes
C)through their behavior established customs that characterize contemporary Australian culture
D)all of the above
Answer: D
Q2) Christian groups descended from the Millerism movement of the early Nineteenth Century believed that:
A)life on earth was created by extraterrestrial aliens
B)people die and are reborn in other people or animals
C)after death people travel to a special place and become gods
D)the world as we know it will come to an end at some date in the future
Answer: D
Q3) Types of music,such as religious music,evoke the same emotions in all societies.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
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Page 5
Chapter 4: Ritual
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Sample Questions
Q1) Types of modifications of the human body seen in human societies include:
A)modifying the shape of the skull by wrapping the child's skull with cord
B)piercing a part of the body,such as lips or earlobes,and stretching the separated part
C)cutting the foot and bending the foot back and binding it to create a very small foot
D)all of the above
Q2) In the Zulu male puberty ceremony the boy is taken to the river and bathed.His old cloths are destroyed and he puts on new clothes and is presented to the community.This phase of a rite of passage is known as separation.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Pharanoic circumcision is a type of genital alteration performed on females in many societies in North and East Africa.
A)True B)False
Q4) Sand paintings are an important element in Navaho therapy rituals.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 5: Altered States of Consciousness and Religious Specialists
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following statements about religious use of pain is false:
A)Religious pain is often shared pain.
B)The pain may cause the person to enter an altered state of consciousness.
C)Pain may induce an euphoric state.
D)Religious pain often isolates the individual from the social group.
Q2) Pain brought about by piercing the body,a practice found in many Native American groups,characterized the:
A)Yanomamö
B)Blessing Way
C)Sun Dance
D)San healing ritual
Q3) In a unitary state one feels a disequilibrium and disconnection with the world.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Hildegard of Bingen,who lived in the twelfth century,is known for her:
A)descriptions of her mystical experiences
B)paintings of the saints
C)medicines and medical practices
D)high political position
Page 7
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Chapter 6: Religious Specialists
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Q1) The training of a priest normally involves the memorization of vast amounts of ceremonial knowledge so as to be able to perform rituals correctly.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Priests are usually associated with some sacred space,such as a temple or shrine.
A)True
B)False
Q3) A Korean shaman may be asked to:
A)guide the dead to the underworld
B)locate game for hunters
C)identify and remove layers of illness
D)travel along the Axis Mundi to the underworld
Q4) The ability to enter an altered state of consciousness is central to the role of shaman.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Core shamanism is a concept that was developed by Carlos Castaneda.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 7: Magic and Divination
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Sample Questions
Q1) The Law of Contact (Contagion)states that:
A)magic depends on the apparent association between things B)things which are alike are the same C)things that were once in contact continue to be connected D)none of the above
Q2) The apparent connection between things that are no longer connected as a basis of magic defines homeopathic magic.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Magic refers to rituals that people use to:
A)control the supernatural
B)call upon the deities for help
C)move a person from one status to another D)explain a society's worldview
Q4) Deliberate inspirational forms of divination include:
A)mediums (psychics)
B)reading palms
C)Zande poison oracle
D)prophecy
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Chapter 8: Souls,ghosts,and Death
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Q1) Which of the following is true about the concept of the soul in small-scale religions?
A)the soul may be destroyed on its way to the other world
B)the fate of the soul may be the result of the social statuses of the individual during life
C)the souls of people who die a special death,such as in war,may share a fate different from those who die a different death
D)all of the above
Q2) All Hallows Eve or Halloween takes place on the evening before:
A)Memorial Day
B)dama
C)All Saint's Day
D)Hollows Day
Q3) Reincarnation means that souls are reborn as animals.
A)True
B)False
Q4) The majority of Americans believe there is a Heaven.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 9: Gods and Spirits
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Q1) Kali is a(n):
A)agricultural and fertility deity
B)war goddess and destroyer of demons
C)destroyer of ignorance and bringer of knowledge
D)goddess of love and marriage
Q2) The orisha are the gods of the:
A)Yoruba
B)Ifugao
C)Dani
D)Shoshoni
Q3) In the village of Hofriyat,anxiety in women surrounding marriage and children is mediated by possession by incubi and succubae.
A)True
B)False
Q4) From at etic perspective,Mary can be classified as a goddess in the Roman Catholic Religion.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 10: Witchcraft
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following is true about the concept of the evil eye?
A)a person can cause misfortune by looking at a person
B)it is bad form to say something complementary about a child
C)spitting and particular hand gestures can be used to protect one against the evil eye
D)all of the above
Q2) Hedonism and the symbol of a goat's head within an inverted pentagram refer to:
A)Wicca
B)Asatru
C)Satanism
D)Druidism
Q3) In many parts of Africa today,AIDS is being blamed on the activity of witchcraft.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Among the Azande witchcraft is basically evil,but it is good when it is directed at enemies.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 11: Syncretism and Religious Movements
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Q1) Vodou in Haiti grew out of the:
A)the religions of West Africa
B)Catholicism
C)Freemasonry
D)all of the above
Q2) The lwa of Vodou closely resemble the orisha of the Yoruba.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Cargo Cults are high-demand forms of Christianity that developed in West Africa in the early twentieth century.
A)True
B)False
Q4) In Haitian Vodou,the identification of the Yoruba deity Legba as St.Peter is an example of syncretism.
A)True
B)False
Q5) The Branch Davidians were more of a political than a religious group.
A)True
B)False
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