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MIDTERM REVIEW
DIRECTIONS: Please read the entire exam through before you start. This will allow you to best allocate your time.
All of the essay questions on this exam are broad and could be approached and answered in several ways. I do not want you to try and guess how I would answer because, for each question, I can think of several equally valid tactics. Thus, you may use any approach you wish. In fact, innovative approaches are often especially indicative of mastery of the material. What will affect your grade is not the approach, but the effectiveness of your argument. The best way to make an argument effective is to give examples from your readings, from lecture, from your audiovisuals. An unsubstantiated argument carries little weight, but a statement with proof is convincing.
Please note that you are to answer all parts of the questions you select.
Section one - Terminology (10 points, 15 minutes)
Please answer one of the questions below. Don't forget that examples always help.
1) What is the difference between the egg ceremony and the wax ceremony?
2) What distinguishes minstrels from beggars?
Section two- Interpretation and Comparison (90 points, 60 minutes)
Please write essays on two of the topics below. These are more complex questions and I expect a longer, more complex answer. Again, be sure to answer all parts of the question you choose and support your argument with examples.
1) Find and show the structural similarities between a minstrel's performance and an incantation. An incantation is goal-oriented: it is spoken to achieve a desired result. A minstrel's performance is less goal-oriented and people might listen to a minstrel for pleasure alone. Can certain "magical" purposes be ascribed to a minstrel performance nonetheless? Do any of them overlap with the purposes for which incantations are spoken?
2) A woman on the snake-handling video expresses great joy over being healed. If she wants to be whole, why would she and the others invite injury through snake-handling and fire-handling? What similarities does snake-handling have to the praise of pain and suffering in Ukrainian minstrel songs?
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