Q19

[ManhattanPrepLSAT1]

For number 19, how is D an example of one of the "rituals, ceremonies, and traditions"? - how is a ritual dance that depicts "the friendship between the colonial and native cultures" at all in any way an example of "reinforcing and shaping" "Images of European authority over other cultures" (lines 23-24) I just felt like none of those answer choices in 19 were on point at all.


Thanks in advance for taking the time!

If we look at the relevant text that Q19 is asking us about, there are a few criteria to highlight: European, tradition-reinforcing, and signifying European power over colonies. Let's keep this in mind reviewing the answer choices.

(A) is out because the ceremonies are not meant to honor the colonized culture - quite the opposite if anything.
(B) is out for the same reason - anything that incorporates or elevates the colonized culture would not fit the text were are referred to.
(C) has the same problem.
(D) uses something from the colonized culture but it fixes the problem. Do you see how? What it does is twists something from the colonized culture to serve the European purpose - that sounds more like the text we were thinking of.
(E) is the most opposite of all - this would be directly controverting the sort of message the Europeans wanted to convey according to the text.

So we're left only with (D). It may not be as strong or clear an example as what we were expecting, but that's part of the reason we work by process of elimination.

I hope this helps! Don't hesitate to let me know if you aren't satisfied or have follow-up comments.

Hello, Aileen:

I have a question that follows-up on your response to Question 19. In explaining why B is wrong, you seem to read lines 25-28 as saying that the Europeans used European _ not: native-- rituals, ceremonies, and traditions to build their authority over other cultures. But lines 25-28 doesn’t really tell us one way or the way, I feel.

I ask because your explanation of why answer choice is B is wrong _ i.e. the answer seems to countenance the native culture-- assumes that the traditions, rituals, and ceremonies mentioned in lines 25-28 were European. I did not necessarily think that passage said so. So, I’m wondering if you could please explain what made you read lines 25-28 the way you did.

Many thanks!

Hello again Rishi!

I think the general tenor of the whole passage - emphasizing the European tendency to place itself over the native culture - should inform how we read this sentence. Additionally, I don't think it matters for purposes of determining why (B) is out. In either case, I think it's clear that the purpose of the ceremonies was to emphasize supposed European dominance and not at all to win converts from the native culture. While the Europeans did seek to establish legitimacy, they didn't seem concerned about winning hearts and minds.

Does this make sense? If you disagree that the ambiguity can be resolved this way or ignored, tell me why. I'd love to chat about this!

[timmydoeslsat]

Just read this passage and got this one wrong.

I read the above post and simply do not agree with it.

I am puzzled at how this answer is D.

I will go ahead and say that I eliminated A, C, E with no problems.

I am down to B and D.

I want an answer choice that fits in with this narrative that I take away regarding a prephrase to this question stem.

I want something to tell me how the Europeans manufactured or reinterpreted these rituals, traditions, and ceremonies that showed their authority over other cultures.

Answers B and D both have rituals/ceremonies that have been altered by the colonizing culture. No different there.

The reasons for altering them are different. Answer B states that it was altered to gain converts. This can be seen as consistent with the idea that the Europeans were attempting to regain their influence back as it was receding.

Answer D states that the reason for altering the dance was to show the friendship of the two cultures. This does not show the element of dominance that I wanted to see.

I would like to hear more comments about this one.

[farhadshekib]

For number 19, how is D an example of one of the "rituals, ceremonies, and traditions"? - how is a ritual dance that depicts "the friendship between the colonial and native cultures" at all in any way an example of "reinforcing and shaping" "Images of European authority over other cultures" (lines 23-24) I just felt like none of those answer choices in 19 were on point at all.


Thanks in advance for taking the time!

If we look at the relevant text that Q19 is asking us about, there are a few criteria to highlight: European, tradition-reinforcing, and signifying European power over colonies. Let's keep this in mind reviewing the answer choices.

(A) is out because the ceremonies are not meant to honor the colonized culture - quite the opposite if anything.
(B) is out for the same reason - anything that incorporates or elevates the colonized culture would not fit the text were are referred to.
(C) has the same problem.
(D) uses something from the colonized culture but it fixes the problem. Do you see how? What it does is twists something from the colonized culture to serve the European purpose - that sounds more like the text we were thinking of.
(E) is the most opposite of all - this would be directly controverting the sort of message the Europeans wanted to convey according to the text.

So we're left only with (D). It may not be as strong or clear an example as what we were expecting, but that's part of the reason we work by process of elimination.

I hope this helps! Don't hesitate to let me know if you aren't satisfied or have follow-up comments.

Hello, Aileen:

I have a question that follows-up on your response to Question 19. In explaining why B is wrong, you seem to read lines 25-28 as saying that the Europeans used European _ not: native-- rituals, ceremonies, and traditions to build their authority over other cultures. But lines 25-28 doesn’t really tell us one way or the way, I feel.

I ask because your explanation of why answer choice is B is wrong _ i.e. the answer seems to countenance the native culture-- assumes that the traditions, rituals, and ceremonies mentioned in lines 25-28 were European. I did not necessarily think that passage said so. So, I’m wondering if you could please explain what made you read lines 25-28 the way you did.

Many thanks!

Hello again Rishi!

I think the general tenor of the whole passage - emphasizing the European tendency to place itself over the native culture - should inform how we read this sentence. Additionally, I don't think it matters for purposes of determining why (B) is out. In either case, I think it's clear that the purpose of the ceremonies was to emphasize supposed European dominance and not at all to win converts from the native culture. While the Europeans did seek to establish legitimacy, they didn't seem concerned about winning hearts and minds.

Does this make sense? If you disagree that the ambiguity can be resolved this way or ignored, tell me why. I'd love to chat about this!

But one can make a good argument that in (D), by depicting the "friendship between the colonial and native cultures", the colonizing culture may have attempted to win the hearts and minds of the natives in order to establish their dominance.

I am not sure if this is a good reason to eliminate B. I choose D because it felt more 'right', but I still cannot justify why B is 100 percent incorrect.

[joseph.carroll.555]

Just read this passage and got this one wrong.

I read the above post and simply do not agree with it.

I am puzzled at how this answer is D.

I will go ahead and say that I eliminated A, C, E with no problems.

I am down to B and D.

I want an answer choice that fits in with this narrative that I take away regarding a prephrase to this question stem.

I want something to tell me how the Europeans manufactured or reinterpreted these rituals, traditions, and ceremonies that showed their authority over other cultures.

Answers B and D both have rituals/ceremonies that have been altered by the colonizing culture. No different there.

The reasons for altering them are different. Answer B states that it was altered to gain converts. This can be seen as consistent with the idea that the Europeans were attempting to regain their influence back as it was receding.

Answer D states that the reason for altering the dance was to show the friendship of the two cultures. This does not show the element of dominance that I wanted to see.

I would like to hear more comments about this one.

I think the reason why B is wrong is because it takes a ritual of the colonizing culture and implements elements of the native culture. However, in the passage, the relationship is reversed and somewhat different. That is, we are given an example of a ritual of the native culture (the jamboree) being modified by the colonizing culture to help the queen gain influence. We also find this type of relationship in D, where the native ritual is being modified to help the colonizing culture exert influence.

[ManhattanPrepLSAT1]

Nice work Joseph, that's exactly right!

[amil91]

Just read this passage and got this one wrong.

I read the above post and simply do not agree with it.

I am puzzled at how this answer is D.

I will go ahead and say that I eliminated A, C, E with no problems.

I am down to B and D.

I want an answer choice that fits in with this narrative that I take away regarding a prephrase to this question stem.

I want something to tell me how the Europeans manufactured or reinterpreted these rituals, traditions, and ceremonies that showed their authority over other cultures.

Answers B and D both have rituals/ceremonies that have been altered by the colonizing culture. No different there.

The reasons for altering them are different. Answer B states that it was altered to gain converts. This can be seen as consistent with the idea that the Europeans were attempting to regain their influence back as it was receding.

Answer D states that the reason for altering the dance was to show the friendship of the two cultures. This does not show the element of dominance that I wanted to see.

I would like to hear more comments about this one.

I agree with you completely and am still not convinced of why B is incorrect and why D is correct. In my mind converting someone is more of an example of dominance than becoming their friend...

I think the reason why B is wrong is because it takes a ritual of the colonizing culture and implements elements of the native culture. However, in the passage, the relationship is reversed and somewhat different. That is, we are given an example of a ritual of the native culture (the jamboree) being modified by the colonizing culture to help the queen gain influence. We also find this type of relationship in D, where the native ritual is being modified to help the colonizing culture exert influence.

I disagree, in the passage it says rituals, ceremonies and traditions were manufactured or reinterpreted, but does not say which society these rituals/ceremonies/traditions had to come from or that they even had to come from anything, hence the word manufacture. And I cannot infer from the end of the second paragraph that the "numerous 'traditional' jamborees," were at all a ritual of the native culture. The fact that traditional had quotes around it gives it a near sarcastic tone indicating almost the opposite of your reasoning. Could anyone else shed light on this question? Or give better reasoning for why D is correct and B is incorrect?

[ohthatpatrick]

Good questions.

I think we're skewing the issue a little here if we're looking for an answer that shows the imperial country's "dominance" over the colony.

When it says that "images of European authority over other cultures were shaped and reinforced", that doesn't necessarily mean they shaped an image of an imperial overlord. They may have found it more conducive to maintaining their power to shape an image of them as the "parent" of "sponsor" of the colonial territory, or even, as (D) says, the "friend".

It is true that manufacture/reinterpret rituals, ceremonies, and traditions isn't specific to whose culture these derive from, if from either culture.

However, we can toss out 'manufacture' when analyzing (B) vs. (D), since neither of these ceremonies was fabricated out of nothing.

Even though this question asks about the things mentioned in lines 26-27, there aren't enough details in those lines to reliably pick an answer. The test writers want us to use the rest of the 2nd paragraph, its details and its example, to flesh out the concept they're testing in this question.

So I was more focused on something that would "project power backward". I wanted something that would appropriate a native tradition, like a jamboree, and then insert the imperial culture in some self-serving way.

The quotes around "traditional" aren't calling into question whether a jamboree is a traditional Indian ceremony, they're expressing the sarcasm that celebrating Queen Victoria in a jamboree was far from an authentic version of a jamboree.

Naturally, none of what I'm saying is in the text explicitly, but this is the contextual meaning intended.

Since this example is all we have to go off of to support our answer for Q19, I think we CAN be confident in looking for something that matches up with the imperial culture exploiting a native tradition for self-serving reasons.

Hence, (B) is not matching up with the Queen Victoria example in terms of which culture's tradition was adapted. Again, there is no textual support for the idea that these adapted traditions were meant to show dominance. That would rub the natives the wrong way.

Instead, these adapted traditions were meant to ingratiate the imperial culture into the native one - to make it seem like the imperial culture was just naturally interwoven into the fabric/history/tradition of the native one.

Hope this helps.

[amil91]

Good questions.

I think we're skewing the issue a little here if we're looking for an answer that shows the imperial country's "dominance" over the colony.

When it says that "images of European authority over other cultures were shaped and reinforced", that doesn't necessarily mean they shaped an image of an imperial overlord. They may have found it more conducive to maintaining their power to shape an image of them as the "parent" of "sponsor" of the colonial territory, or even, as (D) says, the "friend".

It is true that manufacture/reinterpret rituals, ceremonies, and traditions isn't specific to whose culture these derive from, if from either culture.

However, we can toss out 'manufacture' when analyzing (B) vs. (D), since neither of these ceremonies was fabricated out of nothing.

Even though this question asks about the things mentioned in lines 26-27, there aren't enough details in those lines to reliably pick an answer. The test writers want us to use the rest of the 2nd paragraph, its details and its example, to flesh out the concept they're testing in this question.

So I was more focused on something that would "project power backward". I wanted something that would appropriate a native tradition, like a jamboree, and then insert the imperial culture in some self-serving way.

The quotes around "traditional" aren't calling into question whether a jamboree is a traditional Indian ceremony, they're expressing the sarcasm that celebrating Queen Victoria in a jamboree was far from an authentic version of a jamboree.

Naturally, none of what I'm saying is in the text explicitly, but this is the contextual meaning intended.

Since this example is all we have to go off of to support our answer for Q19, I think we CAN be confident in looking for something that matches up with the imperial culture exploiting a native tradition for self-serving reasons.

Hence, (B) is not matching up with the Queen Victoria example in terms of which culture's tradition was adapted. Again, there is no textual support for the idea that these adapted traditions were meant to show dominance. That would rub the natives the wrong way.

Instead, these adapted traditions were meant to ingratiate the imperial culture into the native one - to make it seem like the imperial culture was just naturally interwoven into the fabric/history/tradition of the native one.

Hope this helps.

Yes this does, it also really helps reinforce what Matt talked to me about today during my office hour in regards to this question. He pointed out to me that in the text later in the paragraph it discusses a need to legitimize the European's authority by giving it longevity, and that a ritual, ceremony, or tradition that came from the colonizing nation's culture, despite adding native elements to it, would not legitimize the authority.

Unfortunately for myself, while doing this section I saw two things in choices B and D that made them distinct from each other. The first being that one came from the colonizing nation's culture and the other came from the native culture, and the second being the difference of 'authority' conferred by the two examples. When going back to eliminate one of the choices I decided the latter difference was more important than the former and this is not the case because of what is stated above. I think I read 'images of European authority' just a bit too literally and almost 'overlord' like as you stated when that is not the nature of that statement in the context of that paragraph.