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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. When is dirt not dangerous, according to Douglas?
(a) With absent identity.
(b) With full purity.
(c) With rituals.
(d) With absent barriers.

2. Whose life is put at risk when a wife commits adultery in the Nuer society described?
(a) The wife's husband.
(b) The wife's lover.
(c) The wife's first son.
(d) The wife.

3. What does the Oyo Yoruba tribe distinguish between?
(a) Dirt and cleanliness.
(b) Left and right hand.
(c) Left and right eye.
(d) Hands and feet.

4. What type of behavior does the pollution Douglas describes reflect?
(a) Righteous.
(b) Wrong.
(c) Good.
(d) Religious.

5. In Lele culture, what is killed to challenge the notion of ambiguity?
(a) Pangolin.
(b) Bird.
(c) Octopus.
(d) Flying squirrel.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does the allegiance established through marriage determine in Purity and Danger?

2. What does Douglas describe purification allows for avoiding?

3. As excrements pass the boundary of the body, what do they present to the cultures Douglas describes?

4. What do the Lele regard as the cause of early death and source of all evil?

5. What type of collaboration does Douglas believe must be maintained to assure social life is preserved?

Short Essay Questions

1. Are the arguments that Douglas poses in regards to primitive cultures being thought of as primitive and neurotic valid? Why or why not?

2. How do escapism and realism relate to the dirt and primitive cultures that Douglas describes?

3. Why is dirt regarded as being a powerful part of a ritual, according to Douglas?

4. Describe Mae Enga culture and beliefs.

5. Describe incest in Bushong culture and beliefs.

6. Describe the structure of witchcraft that Douglas explains.

7. Describe the enforcements of harmony that Douglas introduces.

8. Describe the beliefs of the Maoris.

9. Compare and contrast the Nuers and Bedouins on political structure.

10. How is dirt related to madness in the cultures described in the reading?

(see the answer keys)

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