ANT208H5S FINAL STUDY QUESTIONS, 2016
Final exam is scheduled for April 20th from 1-4 pm in Gym A/B. Please check the Registrar website for updates or changes, and for which ROOM you will write in. If there is a room split, you must write the exam in the room location you have been assigned based on your last name.
These are SHORT ANSWER questions, which means about a paragraph or half a page, at most. Each questions is different, and some answers require more detail than others. Thus, read each question carefully so you understand the components of the question, and make sure to answer fully (all parts). Be concise but clear.
To help you study for the exam, it is a good idea to answer these questions completely in full, as you would on the final exam. However, it is suggested that you then come up key points or words to help you remember each answer, rather than try to memorize an answer in its entirely. Good luck!
1. What is popular culture? Define the concept in detail, and list two examples of popular culture.
2. What is cultural anthropology and two of its guiding principles? Based on the reading and lecture (week 2), also provide two detailed examples of how cultural anthropologists are represented in horror films.
3. Define semiotics and hermeneutics. Using one example from the Cormack article, explain how Tim Horton’s coffee (through its commercials) is a symbol of Canadian identity.
4. Define discourse and colonial discourse. Provide one example of a colonial discourse and briefly describe what that discourse consists of.
5. According to the readings and lecture (week 4), what is the national discourse produced at the Vancouver Olympics and why is this problematic? Please describe and explain your answer clearly and succinctly.
6. Drawing from the “What is a Nation? The Appropriation of First Nations as Canadian” readings and/or lecture, provide an example of how either First Nations and other marginal members of society contested power (representations and discourses) at the Vancouver Olympics. Explain your example in some detail.
7. Some scholars argue that the spread of Hollywood films globally is a form of cultural imperialism. What does cultural imperialism mean? Define and explain the concept in detail.
8. While Bollywood has achieved international success, many filmmakers wish to expand their market globally (i.e. to the U.S, Canada, and Britain). Briefly discuss two of the issues surrounding the question “can Bollywood go global?”
9. How is managing your facebook profile like neoliberalism (use a neoliberalism logic)? Explain and provide two examples (week 5)
10. Based on the article by Gershon (2011) or lecture (week 5), describe two ways facebook influences social relationships.
11. Soap operas such as Forbidden Love produce hegemonic discourses and reproduce societal norms. However, fans have edited and remade this soap into ‘webisodes,’ Christian & Oliver, as a form of resistance. Describe the changes made and how these changes subvert dominant norms.
12. The lifestyle reality television show What Not to Wear (WNTW) is a space where identity is produced and remade. The authors argued that this is achieved through governmentality. Define governmentatity and explain how it works in the show WNTW to remake identity.
13. In his article about blackness in science fiction films, Russell (week 7) argues that blackness appears as avatarism. Define avatarism and provide two examples of avatarism in film. Describe your examples.
14. In her article (week 8), Abu-Lughod (2002) discusses how Egyptian melodramatic serials are embedded with political and moral messages. What are these messages and how are these messages received by the lower economic classes? Explain in detail.
15. Stuart Hall (week 8) argues that audiences read, rather than passively consume, popular culture. Although audiences actively construct meaning and interpret messages, this does not mean that they can construct ANY meaning. Identify and define the three possible reading positions.
16. Based on the article Luo and Sun (2015) and lecture in week 10, explain two ways in which the Chinese dating show Fei Cheng Wu Rao (“If You the One?”) produces sociocultural gender norms. In your answer, identify what gender norm is being produced.
17. Jhally (2002) writes that we live in an “image based culture,” which has skewed our views of gender. According to his article, how can society reveal more of the “real world of substance?” Outline his four points and explain you answer using the Dove Campaign as an example (film: The Beauty Backlash, reading and film from week 11).
