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Study Guide for Final Examination -- Summer 2009

Instructions

Do Section I and then select one of the two questions in Section II. Write no more than 5 double-spaced typed pages (equivalent to about 1,250 words) per answer. Please place your answers (paper copies) in Professor Kemper's mail box in the Anthropology Department.  Only with prior permission, you may submit electronic versions as attachments to an email message. In either case, you must submit your answers no later than 1:50 pm on Thursday, July 2nd.  Late submissions will suffer grade penalties, unless pre-approved by Professor Kemper (e.g., for medical/family emergencies).

Section 1

Select three of the following twelve populations and do a comparative analysis of the relationship among three of their principal institutions and practices (e.g., economic, family/kinship, sociopolitical, religious) and their respective demographic and settlement features. 

Here is the list of populations with a link to basic information for each:

One way to approach this comparative analysis is by creating a matrix of the selected populations and the selected institutions/practices in light of the settlement patterns and demographic circumstances of the selected populations. Your matrix might look like this:

Question 2

The Virgen de Guadalupe has been and continues to be the dominant religious symbol in Mexico since the arrival of the Spaniards and their priests in the early 1500s.  On the other hand, the hegemony of the Catholic Church has been challenged in recent decades, especially by evangelical Protestants, on political, economic, and religious grounds.  Discuss the major challenges and their resolutions, if any, and their impact on the role of the Virgen de Guadalupe in Mexican society as well as for persons of Mexican origin living in the United States. In answering this question, be sure to make direct use of Peter Cahn's book, All Religions Are Good in Tzintzuntzan, as well as other materials from lectures, videos, readings, etc.

Question 3

Since the 1950s, tourism has emerged as a major "industry" in Mexican life, not only in the highlands but also in previously uninhabited places along the coasts. Discuss the impact of tourism on Mexican culture and society in recent decades, with special attention to: (1) different "types" of tourism and (2) different "categories" of tourists; and (3) the linkages between tourism and folk art (artesanías) production. Be sure to cite materials covered in class lectures, videos, readings, etc.