Traditionally, anthropology has been distinguished from history by the

Question

Traditionally, anthropology has been distinguished from history by the presence or absence of written documents in the societies studied. Beyond question, the absence of written documents in many primitive societies has forced the anthropologist to develop methods and techniques appropriate to the study of activities that remain “imperfectly” conscious on all the levels in which they are expressed. Apart from the fact that this limitation is often overcome by oral tradition (so rich among certain African and Oceanic peoples), it should not be regarded as a rigid barrier. Anthropology is equally concerned with cultures that employ writing, such as those of ancient Meso-America, the Arab world, and the Far East. Similarly, historians have reconstructed the history of a people like the Zulu, who have never known a written language.

Ultimately, distinctions between these fields are a matter of degree, not of kind. The anthropologist is interested in unwritten data, not because the peoples studied are incapable of writing, but because the discipline’s principal concerns differ from the information people ordinarily record on stone or paper. Historians find the concrete examples particularly illuminating regarding transition from the explicit to the implicit. Both disciplines seek an understanding of man in the theater of culture. The complementary nature of their inquiries suggests that neither will achieve that understanding without the other.   1 
 B 
 1) The primary purpose of this passage is to

A) mediate a contentious dispute between two disciplines
B) describe the underlying connections between two different academic fields
C) delineate the ways in which anthropology and history diverge
D) argue that the essential difference between history and anthropology lies in the presence or absence of written documents
E) criticize anthropologists for failing to acknowledge the contributions of historians

2 
 D 
 2) The author uses the phrase "theater of culture" in paragraph two to describe

A) the richness and complexity of oral traditions as compared to the written traditions of the west
B) the momentous historical events and epochs that anthropologists have previously ignored
C) the artistic and religious aspects of a pre-literate society that are used to piece together its history
D) the contextual beliefs and behaviors that must be studied in order to arrive at a more complete understanding of human nature
E) the necessity for social scientists to consider the spoken word as well as written documents in their study of society

3 
 E 
 3) According to the author, the presence of written data is

A) useful in addressing the confusion between anthropology and history
B) not important, because historians have described the history of cultures who have never had a written language
C) the single essential element used in determining whether a culture can be subjected to study by historians
D) functions as an important check on the techniques and methods used to assess cultures in Africa and Oceania
E) not a consideration in determining whether a society is appropriate for anthropological study

4 
 4) Which of the following best describes the organization of the first paragraph?

A. Exceptions to a conventional definition are presented in order to emphasize that the definition is less useful than previously thought.
B. A distinction between academic fields is explained and then examples are given of the distinction.
C. A conceptual difference between two disciplines is proven to be invalid.
D. Examples are given that amplify and support a traditional concept.
E. A tradition is descrihed and then repercussions of that tradition are criticized.

5 
 5) According to the passage, which of the following are common to the fields of history and anthropology?

I. A strict adherence to factual, documented material
II. A belief that knowledge about human nature is revealed through the study of culture
III. A dependence on the study of oral traditions

A. I only
B. II only
C. II and III only
D. I and III only
E. I, II, and III

6 
 6) Which of the following statements, if true, would most seriously weaken the author's assertion that history and anthropology are interrelated?

A. Historians find the study of human social interactions to be of no value in achieving an understanding of human nature.
B. The overlap of history and anthropology has allowed for greater accuracy in the study of some cultures.
C. Because anthropology studies cultures without written documents, knowledge about such cultures has been difficult to verify.
D. Some historical documents uncovered in the 19/Us were subsequently used by both anthropologists and historians.
E. The anthropologist's emphasis on information not expressed consciously is clearly separate from the historian's interest in specific, concrete events.

7 
 7) It can be inferred from the passage that one possible method of reconstructing the history of the ancient Zulus might be to study

A. the history of modern Zulus
B. oral traditions of the Zulus
C. the history of other cultures that do not possess a written language
D. the written records of ancient Zulus
E. anthropological research on ancient cultures of Meso-America

RC Butler 2021  -  Practice Two RC Questions Everyday.   
Passage # 250 Date: 24-Jun-2021
 This question is a part of RC Butler 2021 .  Click here for Details

GRITTY16 · Answer

This passage was relatively short , however understanding answers to questions was equally difficult.
Please provide the explanations of the 3 answers.

Regards.

DmitryFarber · Answer

In this passage, the author is showing how a traditional distinction doesn't hold up. The distinction in question is that history studies societies that produce writing, while anthropology studies societies that don't. Paragraph 1 explains this distinction but then shows examples of work that doesn't follow that rule. Paragraph 2 shows how the two disciplines pursue similar goals through somewhat different means.

1) We want an answer that show that the distinction mentioned at the beginning is not really correct.
A) There's no contentious dispute (i.e. fighting) between the disciplines.
 B)  Yes, these two fields are connected, not sharply separated.
C) This passage is more about similarities than differences. Also, to "delineate the ways" would be to provide a clear list of the ways in which the two fields were different, rather than just to focus on one difference in approach (written vs. oral). We're told that the two disciplines have different concerns, but we're not given a clear accounting of what those concerns are.
D) This is the opposite of the author's point.
E) This just doesn't happen. There is no criticism of anthropologists, nor is there anything about acknowledging (or failing to acknowledge) the contributions of historians.

DmitryFarber · Answer

2) This is a troublesome one, as I'm not sure it's possible to predict the answer based on the text alone. It's very helpful to have some outside understanding of what the passage is getting at. For this reason, I don't think this question would make it into the real GMAT. Still, while the passage doesn't really supply additional information to support our decision, we might get the right answer by understanding that "theater" is being used metaphorically to mean "context." The idea is that the "theater of culture" is the broader context in which both disciplines are trying to understand humans. With this understanding, (D) is the only choice that works.

Note that (A) - (C) are very specific and do not clearly point to practices of  both  disciplines. (E) seems to be pointing to the author's main point--that there is not such a clear divide between disciplines in terms of spoken vs. written language--but the author never says that both aspects must be used by the same scientists, and in any case, this idea doesn't connect to the phrase "theater of culture."

DmitryFarber · Answer

3) The author is disputing the idea that the presence of data means that a society will be studied by historians rather than anthropologists.

A) opposite
B) "Not important" is too extreme. The presence of written data can still be important--it just doesn't stop us from doing anthropology. 
C) opposite and very extreme--you could probably cross this answer choice out without even reading the passage!
D) there's no support for this
E) Exactly. Anthropologists can study a society whether or not it has writing.

Gladiator59 · Answer

Relatively short passage but tricky questions to go with it.  3 min 25 sec and two out of three correct.

Summary & Main point:  Anthropology and History are considered to be different but are not. Then a whole bunch of similarities and ways they are connected ending with examples. Ending with the bigger purpose of both is "studying the vast human culture" and neither can live without the other ( Harry Potter reference here :-P ) to end it. Great short passage.

Primary purpose - history and antrho are similar even if they seem to be different 
 1) The primary purpose of this passage is to

A) mediate a contentious dispute between two disciplines  HOLD   WRONG - there is no contentious dispute ( fight ) between the two. Here it is very important to understand the meaning of the word contentious 
B) describe the underlying connections between two different academic fields  Bingo - connections are shown to show the similarity between the two fields 
C) delineate the ways in which anthropology and history diverge  Opposite 
D) argue that the essential difference between history and anthropology lies in the presence or absence of written documents  Opposite - this is what the passage tries to refute 
E) criticize anthropologists for failing to acknowledge the contributions of historians  BS Option

Detail question 
 2) The author uses the phrase "theater of culture" in paragraph two to describe

A) the richness and complexity of oral traditions as compared to the written traditions of the west  TRAP choice - first few words are what we are looking for but there is no compari written traditions of the west that we want to signify here 
B) the momentous historical events and epochs that anthropologists have previously ignored  WRONG - BS option 
C) the artistic and religious aspects of a pre-literate society that are used to piece together its history  Nah 
D) the contextual beliefs and behaviors that must be studied in order to arrive at a more complete understanding of human nature  BINGO - the theatre of culture is precisely this 
E) the necessity for social scientists to consider the spoken word as well as written documents in their study of society  Maybe true but unrelated to the question

Another detail question 
 3) According to the author, the presence of written data is

A) useful in addressing the confusion between anthropology and history  BS Option - there is no confusion 
B) not important, because historians have described the history of cultures who have never had a written language  "NOT IMPORTANT" is too strong hence wrong 
C) the single essential element used in determining whether a culture can be subjected to study by historians  Precisely what the author refutes with example given of Hulu tribe 
D) functions as an important check on the techniques and methods used to assess cultures in Africa and Oceania  Nope 
E) not a consideration in determining whether a society is appropriate for anthropological study  Bingo - this is what the author mentions... both history and anthro study culture of civilizations that both use and which don't use written text

Best,
Gladi

GMATmronevsall · Answer

Got 2 out of 3

3) According to the author, the presence of written data is

A) useful in addressing the confusion between anthropology and history 
B) not important, because historians have described the history of cultures who have never had a written language
C) the single essential element used in determining whether a culture can be subjected to study by historians
D) functions as an important check on the techniques and methods used to assess cultures in Africa and Oceania
 E) not a consideration in determining whether a society is appropriate for anthropological study

junii · Answer

Please explain Q6 why A is correct and E incorrect? should not both these field should study social interaction of human?

RanonBanerjee · Answer

Why Question 6 is A? Not E?

Posted from my mobile device

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Explanation

6) Which of the following statements, if true, would most seriously weaken the author's assertion that history and anthropology are interrelated?

Difficulty Level:   700

Explanation

According to my limited knowledge here is how I took this question. This is like of CR weaken question so we can put in our CR strategies here. Read the choices one by one.

A. Historians find the study of human social interactions to be of no value in achieving an understanding of human nature.

In the first look, I would like to keep this option and I am not very much convinced until I find nothing better than this. Keep reading the other options.

B. The overlap of history and anthropology has allowed for greater accuracy in the study of some cultures.

This is clearly opposite to what we are looking for, this option rather strengthens the author's point of view that history and anthropology are interrelated. This is clearly out.

C. Because anthropology studies cultures without written documents, knowledge about such cultures have been difficult to verify.

First of all, this is not hard a fast rule (According to the passage) that anthropology studies cultures without written documents, and second, we are not going to debate on the verifiable information. This is also out.

D. Some historical documents uncovered in the 19/Us were subsequently used by both anthropologists and historians.

The first indication of the false choice is the first quantity word used in this choice is "some" and this is an example of the extreme answer which normally tries to trap us by the use of quantity words such as most, more, minimum, maximum, some, few, etc.

E. The anthropologist's emphasis on information  not expressed consciously  is clearly separate from the  historian's interest in specific, concrete events.

This looks promising but is false and the reason is the text in red which makes it extreme to consider. The passage never puts weight on that the anthropologist's emphasis on information not expressed consciously. Although at one place the passage discusses this it does not make this a rule to decide the difference between them both, also the second Red part of this choice is also extreme according to the passage.

Now read option A once again and it looks better than all other four.

Answer: A

Makhabbat · Answer

Hi! Is is possible to explain 4&5 question? Thank you!

Traditionally, anthropology has been distinguished from history by the

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Traditionally, anthropology has been distinguished from history by the

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