Comparative Magic and Witchcraft Study Guide Questions
Course Introduction
This course explores the diverse practices, beliefs, and social functions of magic and witchcraft across different cultures and historical periods. Students will examine the definitions, rituals, and symbolic systems associated with magical and witchcraft traditions, analyzing their roles in religion, medicine, politics, and community life. Through comparative case studies from regions such as Africa, Europe, the Americas, and Asia, the course investigates issues of power, gender, colonialism, and the construction of the other. Emphasis is placed on critical theoretical perspectives and the impact of modernization and globalization on magical beliefs and practices.
Recommended Textbook
Anthropology of Religion Magic and Witchcraft The 3rd Edition by Rebecca Stein Philip L Stein
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11 Chapters
532 Verified Questions
532 Flashcards
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Chapter 1: The Anthropological Study of Religion
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60 Verified Questions
60 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Anthropologists frequently apply the term primitive to small-scale societies.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q2) There are many approaches to the study of religion in anthropology.One approach is to ask the question: What does religion do? What roles does religion play in human societies? This approach is referred to as the:
A)functional approach
B)psychosocial approach
C)evolutionary approach
D)cognitive approach
Answer: A
Q3) Who wrote,"Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature"?
A)Edward Tylor
B)Bronislaw Malinowski
C)Karl Marx
D)Sigmund Freud
Answer: C
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3
Chapter 2: Mythology
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50 Verified Questions
50 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The Navaho Creation Story takes place:
A)in a special garden similar to the Judeo-Christian Garden of Eden
B)in the realm of the gods in the sky
C)in a series of layers that exist underneath the present world
D)in another reality
Answer: C
Q2) To say that something is a myth means that it is not true.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q3) An example of a legend would be:
A)the voyage of the Pilgrims on the Mayflower
B)the story of Little Red Riding Hood
C)the story of Noah and the ark
D)all of the above
Answer: A
Q4) The Golden Bough is an example of an origin story.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Page 4
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Chapter 3: Religious Symbols
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50 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The Islamic calendar is a solar calendar.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q2) An example of a membranophone is a:
A)flute
B)rattle
C)drum
D)violin
Answer: C
Q3) An early Christian symbol that predates the cross is the:
A)swastika
B)pentagram
C)fish
D)triangle within a circle
Answer: C
Q4) In a Buddhist temple the swastika stands for evil.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Page 5
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Chapter 4: Ritual
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58 Verified Questions
58 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Exorcism is used primarily for the cure of witchcraft.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The first-fruit ceremonies of the Cahuilla of the California desert are an example of both a technological ritual and a hunting and gathering rite of intensification.
A)True
B)False
Q3) All of the following are phases of a rite of passage except:
A)transition
B)separation
C)peripheralization
D)incorporation
Q4) Mana can be thought of as:
A)impersonal supernatural power
B)food provide by the gods
C)a technique for divination
D)an hallucinogenic cactus
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Chapter 5: Altered States of Consciousness and Religious Specialists
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41 Verified Questions
41 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The term synesthesia refers to:
A)hypersuggestibility
B)fear of losing self-control
C)one form of sensory experience is translated into another D)distortion of time
Q2) Dancing to heat up the energy known as n/um to enable healing characterized the: A)Yanomamö
B)Blessing Way
C)Sun Dance
D)San healing ritual
Q3) The Jewish Yom Kippur and the Islamic Ramadan are both characterized by: A)fasting
B)ingestion of wine
C)spirit possession states
D)meditation
Q4) Pain,caused by placing skewers through the skin,characterizes the Cheyenne Sun Dance.
A)True
B)False
Page 7
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Chapter 6: Religious Specialists
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42 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The revival of shamanism among the Yakut (Shkha)is,in part,a rejection of Christian elements introduced by the Russian Orthodox Church.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The development of full-time religious specialists is associated with:
A)foraging societies
B)small-scale horticultural societies
C)large,technologically advanced societies
D)all of the above
Q3) Shamans are able to cure illness by:
A)sending their souls to recapture the lost soul of the patient
B)removing spirits and objects from within the body of the patient
C)allowing a deity to possess their body
D)all of the above
Q4) Okinawa is the only known society in which women lead a mainstream,official,publicly funded religion that is practiced by both sexes.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 7: Magic and Divination
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47 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) A student picks up a coin from the sidewalk and puts it in her pocket.Later that day she takes an exam on which she scores an A.She then carries her "lucky coin" to her next exam.This is an example of magical thinking.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Magic that is worked for antisocial and evil ends is known as:
A)witchcraft
B)sorcery
C)oneiromancy
D)necromancy
Q3) Among the Trobriand Islanders,a "man with knowledge" is one who possesses technological knowledge as well as knowledge of magic.
A)True
B)False
Q4) The observation of animal behavior or objects in the sky such as comets is called omens.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 8: Souls,ghosts,and Death
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Sample Questions
Q1) Reincarnation means that souls are reborn as animals.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Haitian Zombies are:
A)living persons who have been placed in a zombie state in order to work in the fields
B)reanimated dead persons who eat brains
C)a special class of especially evil and troublesome ghosts
D)people who have died before their time and return to life to bring death to friends and neighbors
Q3) The egungun are spirits that travel from the land of the lead to visit the living among the:
A)Hmong
B)Yoruba
C)Tana Toraja
D)Jivaro
Q4) The distinction between a soul and a ghost is not always a clear one.
A)True
B)False
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Page 10
Chapter 9: Gods and Spirits
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Sample Questions
Q1) The idea that supernatural beings reflect human behavior and provide a model for humans was developed by:
A)Guy Swanson
B)Sigmund Freud
C)John Roberts
D)Robin Horton
Q2) Among the Dani spirits can be classified on the basis of all of the following except whether they are:
A)close or remote
B)male or female
C)beneficent or malevolent
D)spirit or non-spirit life form
Q3) Gods that are remote and uninterested in human affairs are otiose gods.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Ishtar was an Egyptian goddess who is the mother of the god Horus.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 10: Witchcraft
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36 Verified Questions
36 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following is true about Navaho witchcraft?
A)Navaho witches are born with witchcraft substance within their bodies
B)witchcraft is a common factor in Navaho life that is freely talked about
C)witchcraft is learned from a close relative and requires initiation
D)witches participate in healing rituals
Q2) Among the Azande,the diagnosis of an illness is confirmed by a medium through spirit possession.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The book Malleus Maleficarum stated that witches:
A)could shift shapes,and fly through the air
B)were more likely to be women than men
C)must be arrested,convicted,and executed
D)all of the above
Q4) Among the Azande,people accused of being witches are usually people who:
A)are unknown enemies living in nearby villages
B)have been initiated as witches by joining a witching society
C)are known to the victims with whom there have particular social relationships
D)hold high office,such as chief
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Chapter 11: Syncretism and Religious Movements
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46 Verified Questions
46 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) John Frum is:
A)revered as a god in Vanuatu
B)the anthropologist who first studied the Trobriand Islanders
C)the founder of a high demand UFO religion
D)the leader of the tribal association in the Amazon
Q2) A shaman finds a new kind of bush whose leaves,made into a tea,soothes a stomach ache.This is an example of:
A)diffusion
B)syncretism
C)a discovery
D)an invention
Q3) Peoples of New Guinea involved with cargo cults imitated the behavior of Europeans
(such as writing on paper and sitting on chairs)because they:
A)felt these were the rituals which made cargo available to the Europeans
B)hoped to impress European officials and in turn receive more cargo
C)wanted to be good Christians
D)wanted to make proper use of their newly obtained wealth
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