#13 - Specific Reference, Function

[JPConstantine]

Hi Powerscore,

During my normal practice and my blind review I received the incorrect answer for question 13. I chose D over C. I wanted to check to see if this is why C is correct over D.


Question Type: Must be true, Specific Reference:

Procedure: I immediately went to where the reference in the passage is and started reading at the start of the second paragraph.

I narrowed the answers down to C and D.

The main difference between C and D is that C refers to centers of style as "locations" while D refers to them as geographical areas.

Is C correct because the second paragraph states that there are "centers of style throughout Africa where families, clans, and workshops produce sculpture, and other art, that is dispersed over a large area". Moreover, the key to distinguishing these two answers is the word "dispersed". Does this insinuate that the "center of style" is actually just one direct area, such a set of houses, or a building, where art is created and then spread out between different tribes and cultures?

Best,
JPC

[katehos]

Hi JPC!

To help answer your question, we can find a few different supporting lines of text. For examples, lines 11-13 discuss how objects and styles have been diffused through trade by workshops of artists who "sell their work over a large geographical area." This is in line with the "centers of style" discussed in the following sentence (and the focus of this question) where people produce art that is then "dispersed over a large, multitribal geographical area." Later on in the passage, the author introduces an example of one "center of style" in Ouri. All of this indicates that the "centers of style" are specific places in which art is created and then distributed throughout geographical areas, as opposed to being large geographic areas themselves (as (D) states).

Additionally, the passage does not assert that "centers of style" produce works of art that are so similar that it is difficult for outside observers to distinguish one piece of art from another. Instead, the author says that the marked uniformity of styles, as well as the inclusion of commission-specific styles, makes it hard for historians who try to assign one object to one group on the basis of style to do so. So, the issue here is not that the pieces are indistinguishable, but rather the historians' approach is confounding. This is another reason to eliminate (D), but reading the description of "centers of style" as "large geographical areas" themselves is reason enough!

Answer choice (C), on the other hand, lines up nicely with the discussion of "centers of style" mentioned previously and is thus the correct answer!

I hope this helps
Kate