Deck 9: Lifes Lesions

Question 1

World religions include all of the following except ________.

A) Buddhism
B) Shamanism
C) Confucianism
D) Judaism

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Which of the following statements about world religions is true?

A) World religions have some specialists for thinking and healing, and others for emotions and performing ritual.
B) They may expand through colonialism, evangelism, military enforcement, or economic coercion.
C) World religions depend on embodied rather than authoritative knowledge.
D) They acknowledge human suffering, and appoint women to specialize in religious healing.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Which researcher/research interest pair is matched correctly?

A) Janice Boddy/zār cult
B) Brigitte Jordan/womanism
C) Mama Lola/Vodou
D) I.M. Lewis/Korean shamanism

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Generally-speaking, women's religions _______.

A) denounce pregnancy and motherhood for the pain these experiences bring to women
B) can be conceived of as spiritual expressions of patriarchal religious hierarchies
C) acknowledge and attempt to alleviate suffering through various and often eclectic means
D) all of the above

Question 5

Women as healers create authority through _________.

A) embodied knowledge
B) evangelism
C) spells and potions
D) fear

Question 6

Which of the following statements about the relationship between healing and religion is true?

A) The current boundaries between biomedicine and religion did not always exist.
B) The boundaries between science and religion were created long ago, and will never be renegotiated.
C) Most people around the world view the supernatural and therapeutic as completely separate.
D) Healing and religion have nothing to do with one another in the United States today.

Question 7

Complete the sentence: Spirit possession ________.

A) addresses and explains imaginary problems
B) is the same as mental illness
C) is an experience unique to women
D) separates individuals from their socially constructed selves
E) is only done in primitive cultures

Question 8

In the Zuni religious tradition, women are considered ________.

A) inferior to men who have a stronger connection to the supernatural
B) closer to nature, and therefore impure
C) purer than men, and therefore less in need of publicized ceremonies
D) more powerful than men, and should be feared

Question 9

All around the world, women practice various forms of divination. Divination means ________.

A) becoming divine, through reincarnation
B) discovering the otherwise unknowable
C) becoming possessed by spirits
D) taking over traditional male religious roles

Question 10

Anthropologist Kaja Finkler is known for her work on ________.

A) female Spiritualist healers in Mexico
B) women and shamanism in Korea
C) women's secret societies in Sierra Leone
D) Hatian Vodou in New York City

Question 11

Which of the following statements about Santería is correct?

A) Santería is the religion of elite Cuban Roman Catholics.
B) Santería is too secret to talk about.
C) Santería incorporates ritual assistance from Yoruba spirits and orishas.
D) Santería has become extinct as a result of the African slave trade.

Question 12

Of the following, which is common to Vodou, Candomblé and Santería?

A) rejection of anything associated with world religions
B) the absence of female ritual specialists
C) the use of witchcraft
D) a history of colonialism and slavery

Question 13

Which of the following characterizes healing in women's religions?

A) Female healers spend years in extensive training away from home.
B) Women's religious healing is a deviant form of the Western biomedical tradition.
C) Healers generally have suffered and know of loss and pain.
D) The written traditions go back many centuries.

Question 14

Mama Lola is the name of _______.

A) a Vodou priestess in New York City
B) professional healer Alourdes Margaux
C) a woman who calls out spirits like Ezili, Dambala, and Gede
D) all of the above

Question 15

"Harshly fated" Korean housewives experience what we in America might call a "nervous breakdown." Which of the following statements apply to these women?

A) Western medicines have proven effective for women in the early stages of illness.
B) Bed rest and herbal medicines will return the woman to good health.
C) Women may be possessed, transformed into shamans, and thus healed.
D) Victims become obsessed with performing feminine tasks like housecleaning.

Question 16

With which of the following would women of the zār cult in Sudan disagree?

A) Women must strictly control their speech and actions, even during periods of possession.
B) Zār spirits are like husbands-they are unpredictable and restrict women.
C) Women who have lost many children or have unstable marriages are likely to become possessed.
D) Zār spirits are subject to the laws of Allah.

Question 17

The "life lesions" of women _______.

A) tend to be expressed in their physical bodies
B) stem from their feelings of betrayal and struggle
C) are not easily "cured"
D) all of the above

Question 18

Which of the following has NOT been offered as an explanation for women's high participation in possession trance behavior?

A) Women are often deprived of sufficient levels of important nutrients, like calcium, making it easier for them to enter altered states of consciousness.
B) Women benefit from spirit possession when they receive material gifts, such as jewelry and clothing, demanded by the spirits.
C) Men have no natural ability to enter trance, only women do.
D) Possession allows women to process experiences restricted by everyday gender ideologies.

Question 19

Which of the following is NOT a common characteristic of women's religions?

A) a focus on social, natural, and supernatural experiences
B) motherhood as a pivotal metaphor
C) acknowledgement of suffering and strategies for healing
D) segregation of women from men

Question 20

Which of the following statements is correct?

A) Human religions exhibit a sexual division of labor.
B) Because of their role as child bearers, women are known as the gate-keepers of world religions.
C) In women's religions, authoritative knowledge is more important than experiential knowledge.
D) World religions are the oldest and most long-lasting religions.

Question 21

Describe three types of life's lesions women face, providing examples from cultures profiled in Chapter 8. What sort of therapies do women seek in order to alleviate their suffering, and why?

Question 22

Explain the relationship between 1) biomedicine, science, and world religions and 2) women's experiences of suffering and healing. Support your answer with specific examples. Include an analysis of how other cultural features, such as political organization, economics, and gender ideologies influence each.

Question 23

Compare and contrast spirit possession in the Vodou tradition with the call to shamanism for Korean housewives. Can you cite a similar phenomenon from your own or another culture?

Question 24

Why have women's religions and spiritual practices gone unrecognized by scholars for so long? What power issues are at stake? Incorporate ideas of public and private spheres, conspicuous worship, and embodied and authoritative knowledge in your answer.

Question 25

In the zār cult, male as well as female spirits possesses women. Do such gender crossings transcend, challenge, or reinforce the gender ideology prevalent in Muslim Sudan? Describe some other trance behaviors that conflict with ideas of proper femininity in the community.