Study-Guide Essay Questions for Final Exam

Format of the Final Exam: The final exam consists of three parts:

PART 1 (40 points): A required essay on a topic synthesizing material from the entire semester. In your answer, you must discuss four authors or examples chosen from the list provided.

PART 2: (two essays, 20 points each): The essays in this section will focus on the second half of the course. You must write on two of the three questions provided. Each essay must include discussion of three examples from readings, lectures, or films. For Part 2, you are free to choose any three examples relevant to your argument, but some suggestions will be provided to guide you.

PART 3 (20 points): Identify 8 out of 11 terms chosen from the list circulated in class. For each term, explain what it means and where it comes from (1 point) and why it is significant in the context of the themes covered in class (1.5 points).

Note: Your essays, both in Part 1 and Part 2, may not repeat examples from other essays. While you may, for example, discuss Scott's concept of resistance in one essay and his assessment of the Green Revolution in another, you cannot describe his views on resistance in more than one essay. If you repeat material, points will be deducted from your essay grade.

The following is a selection from the final exam essay questions which you submitted. Please keep in mind that most of the questions tend to be narrower in scope than the ones which you will encounter on the exam. In thinking through possible answers for these questions in preparation for the final, pay particular attention to formulating a clear, interesting, and arguable thesis statement. For more information about thesis statements and some examples, see the writing assignments handout.

ESSAY QUESTIONS FOR PART I

I.1. Using the works of authors we have read and theorists introduced in lecture, examine the globalization of capitalism (who was right...Marx or Weber...Mintz) and the different effects it has promoted in various societies (be sure to discuss syncretism, Japan and China, Ong, Scott, Freeman, etc.).

I.2. Is an inherent function of capitalism the destruction of culture? Or, in some countries is capitalism able to coexist with culture? If capitalism cannot successfully exist without destroying culture, what are the factors of capitalism that cause this destruction? If capitalism can coexist with culture in certain countries, what are the characteristics of the culture in such countries that facilitate such a coexistence? Support your argument with four works/examples from the semester.

ESSAY QUESTIONS FOR PART II

 

For more information, contact:  aleshkow@holycross.edu