#19 - Specific reference

[lsat2016]

Could anyone explain the difference between B and D?

Thank you

[Claire Horan]

Hi,

Thanks for the question--this is a challenging one!

The question stem reads: "Which one of the following would most likely be an example of one of the "rituals, ceremonies, and traditions" mentioned in lines 26-27?"

The best place to start is to reread the referenced part of the text, including the parts immediately before and after to get the needed context:

Another example is the use of "tradition" to determine national identity. Images of European authority over other cultures were shaped and (25) reinforced during the nineteenth century, through the manufacture and reinterpretation of rituals, ceremonies, and traditions. At a time when many of the institutions that had helped maintain imperial societies were beginning to recede in influence, and (30) when the pressures of administering numerous overseas territories and large new domestic constituencies mounted, the ruling elites of Europe felt the clear need to project their power backward in time, giving it a legitimacy that only longevity could (35) impart.

(A) an annual ceremony held by an institution of the colonizing culture to honor the literary and theatrical achievements of members of the native culture
(B) a religious service of the colonizing culture that has been adapted to include elements of the native culture in order to gain converts
(C) a traditional play that is part of a colonized nation’s original culture, but is highly popular among the leaders of the imperial culture
(D) a ritual dance, traditionally used to commemorate the union of two native deities, that is modified to depict the friendship between the colonial and native cultures
(E) a traditional village oratory competition in which members of the native culture endeavor to outdo one another in allegorical criticisms of the colonizing culture

D is a better answer than B because D projects European power back in time by pairing a traditional indigenous dance with colonial relationships. B does not really project the relationship back in time because a religious service of the colonizing culture is more obviously limited in longevity (the indigenous people know that the religion came with the colonizing culture).

Take-away point from this question is to take into account the entire context of the line, including the whole passage generally and several lines before and after more specifically.

I hope this helps!

-Claire

[lilmissunshine]

Hello,

I thought (B) was a better answer because it showed "European authority over other cultures" but (D) emphasized "the friendship" instead of a colonizing power dynamics. Could you explain it for me? Thanks a lot!

[Adam Tyson]

Take a look in the text, lilmissunshine, at the example of Queen Victoria and India, and you'll see the kind of thing we are looking for in this answer. We want to see a ritual or ceremony of the colonized culture being reinterpreted by the colonizing culture, not an alteration in the dominant culture's rituals. Think of it is the dominant power co-opting the colonized culture, rather than bending to it. Answer B looks more like the dominant culture adapting itself to work within the colonized culture, rather than inserting itself into and altering the colonized group. That's what makes D a better choice here, along with wise reliance on the "backward in time" aspect, whereby the colonizing culture essentially rewrites the history of the colonized culture and inserts itself into it.