The Department of Ethnography Reading Answers

Dec 23, 2022

The Department of Ethnography Reading Answers includes reading questions like MCQs, identifying, and matching formation. The IELTS Reading section tests the understanding ability and summarizing capability of the candidates. The Department of Ethnography Reading Answers has 12 questions. This IELTS reading topic has been taken from the book: Cambridge IELTS 3 Student's Book with Answers. This topic: The Department of Ethnography Reading Answers comprises of two question types: True/False/Not Given, Choose the Correct Answer from the list. Candidates can improve their reading skills by practicing more topics like The Department of Ethnography Reading Answers. IELTS reading practice papers is the most recommended preparation method.

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Section 1

Read the Passage to Answer the Following Questions

Department of Ethnography Reading Answers

The Department of Ethnography was created as a separate department within the British Museum in 1946, after 140 years of gradual development from the original Department of Antiquities. It is concerned with the people of Africa, the Americas, Asia, the Pacific and parts of Europe. While this includes complex kingdoms, as in Africa, and ancient empires, such as those of the Americas, the primary focus of attention in the twentieth century has been on small-scale societies. Through its collections, the Department’s specific interest is to document how objects are created and used, and to understand their importance and significance to those who produce them. Such objects can include the both, the extraordinary and the mundane, the beautiful and the banal.
The collections of the Department of Ethnography include approximately 300,000 artifacts, of which about half are the product of the present century. The Department has a vital role to play in providing information on non-Western cultures to visitors and scholars. To this end, the collecting emphasis has often been less on individual objects than on groups of material which allow the display of a broad range of a society’s cultural expressions.
Much of the more recent collecting was carried out in the field, sometimes by Museum staff working on general anthropological projects in collaboration with a wide variety of national governments and other institutions. The material collected includes great technical series – for instance, of textiles from Bolivia, Guatemala, Indonesia and areas of West Africa – or of artifact types such as boats. The latter include working examples of coracles from India, reed boats from Lake Titicaca in the Andes, kayaks from the Arctic, and dug-out canoes from several countries. The field assemblages, such as those from the Sudan, Madagascar and Yemen, include a whole range of material culture representative of one people. This might cover the necessities of life of an African herdsman or an Arabian farmer, ritual objects, or even on occasion airport art. Again, a series of acquisitions might represent a decade’s fieldwork documenting social experience as expressed in the varieties of clothing and jewelry styles, tents and camel trappings from various Middle Eastern countries, or in the developing preferences in personal adornment and dress from Papua New Guinea. Particularly interesting are a series of collections which continue to document the evolution of ceremony and of material forms for which the Department already possesses early (if not the earliest) collections formed after the first contact with Europeans
The importance of these acquisitions extends beyond the objects themselves. They come to the Museum with documentation of the social context, ideally including photographic records. Such acquisitions have multiple purposes. Most significantly they document for future change. Most people think of the cultures represented in the collection in terms of the absence of advanced technology. In fact, traditional practices draw on a continuing wealth of technological ingenuity. Limited resources and ecological constraints are often overcome by personal skills that would be regarded as exceptional in the West. Of growing interest is the way in which much of what we might see as disposable is, elsewhere, recycled and reused.
With the Independence of much of Asia and Africa after 1945, it was assumed that economic progress would rapidly lead to the disappearance or assimilation of many small-scale societies. Therefore, it was felt that the Museum should acquire materials representing people whose art or material culture, ritual or political structures were on the point of irrevocable change. This attitude altered with the realization that marginal communities can survive and adapt in spite of partial integration into a notoriously fickle world economy. Since the seventeenth century, with the advent of trading companies exporting manufactured textiles to North America and Asia, the importation of cheap goods has often contributed to the destruction of local skills and indigenous markets. On the one hand, modern imported goods may be used in an everyday setting, while on the other hand other traditional objects may still be required for ritually significant events. Within this context trade and exchange, attitudes are inverted. What are utilitarian objects to a Westerner may be prized objects in other cultures – when transformed by local ingenuity – principally for aesthetic value. In the same way, the West imports goods from other peoples and in certain circumstances categorize them as ‘art’.
Collections act as an ever-expanding database, nor merely for scholars and anthropologists, bur for people involved in a whole range of educational and artistic purposes. These include schools and universities as well as colleges of art and design. The provision of information about non-Western aesthetics and techniques, not just for designers and artists but for all visitors, is a growing responsibility for a Department whose own context is an increasingly multicultural European society.

Section 2

Solution With Explanation

Questions 1-6
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the Reading Passage?
In boxes 1-6 on your answer sheet write:

TRUE	if the statement is true according to the passage
FALSE	If the statement is false according to the passage.
NOT GIVEN	If the information is not given in the passage.

(Guide: In this question type, candidates need to identify the correct answer and mark it true, or false if the statement is untrue. In case the answer is not given they will mark it the same)

Question 1: The twentieth-century collections come mainly from mainstream societies such as the US and Europe.

Answer: False
Supporting sentence: “While this includes complex kingdoms, as in Africa, and ancient empires, such as those of the Americas, the primary focus of attention in the twentieth century has been on small-scale societies.”
Keywords: While this includes complex kingdoms, Africa, the primary focus, twentieth century, small-scale societies
Keyword Location: Para 1, line 4
Explanation: The author states that the 20th-century collection was found not only in the US or Europe. The focus of the 20th century was also on small-scale societies and that includes the complex kingdoms of Africa. Hence, the statement contradicts the information in the passage. The answer is False.

Question 2: The Department of Ethnography focuses mainly on modern societies.

Answer: False
Supporting Sentence: Such objects can include both the extraordinary and the mundane, the beautiful and the banal.”
Keywords: ancient empires, mundane, such as those of the Americas
Keyword Location: Para 1, lines 4 - 5
Explanation: The passage states that the Department of Ethnography was built inside the British Museum. It had a particular interest in showcasing the production and usage of the objects created. That collection of productions included both extraordinary and mundane and beautiful and banal collections. Hence, it did not only focus on modern societies. This makes the answer False.

Question 3: The Department concentrates on collecting single unrelated objects of great value.

Answer: False
Supporting Sentence: “To this end, the collecting emphasis has often been less on individual objects than on groups of material which allow the display of a broad range of o society's cultural expressions.”
Keywords: collecting emphasis, less on individual objects than, groups of material, allow the display, broad range, society’s cultural expressions
Keyword Location: Para 2, last 2 lines
Explanation: The supporting sentence clearly states that the department puts more focus on collecting groups of pieces than emphasizing individual ones. Hence, the materials collected by the Department have mainly been related to groups as these groups of objects can represent the broader range of a society’s cultural expression. This is just the opposite of what is stated in the question.

Question 4: The textile collection of the Department of Ethnography is the largest in the world.

Answer: Not Given
Explanation: There is no information in the passage that states if it is the largest in the world.

Question 5: Traditional societies are highly inventive in terms of technology.

Answer: True
Supporting Sentence: “The material collected includes great technical series - for instance, of textiles from Bolivia, Guatemala, Indonesia and at areas of West Africa - or of artefact types such as boats. The latter includes working examples of coracles from India, reed boars from Lake Titicaca in the Andes, kayaks from the Arctic, and dug-out canoes from several countries. The field assemblages, such as those from the Sudan, Madagascar and Yemen, including a whole range of material culture representative of one people”
Keywords: The material, great technical series, textiles from Bolivia, Guatemala, Indonesia, West Africa, artefact types, boats, coracles, India, reed boars, Lake Titicaca, Andes, kayaks, Arctic, dug-out canoes, several countries, Sudan, Madagascar, Yemen, whole range of material culture
Keyword Location: Para 3, lines 3 - 8
Explanation: The third paragraph shows that the statement is correct. The passage states how the traditional societies of India, Andes, Arctic, Sudan, Madagascar, Yemen are highly advanced in technological terms. Textiles from Bolivia, Guatemala, and Indonesia are also greatly acclaimed due to their technological advancement. Hence traditional societies are highly inventive.

Question 6: Many small-scale societies have survived and adapted in spite of predictions to the contrary.

Answer: True
Supporting Sentence: “This attitude altered with the realisation that marginal communities can survive and adapt Inspire of partial integration into a notoriously fickle world economy”
Keywords: marginal communities, survive and adapt, partial integration, world economy
Keyword Location: Para 5, lines 5 - 6
Explanation: The author states that after the independence of many parts of Africa and Asia, it was assumed that many small-scale societies to vanish. However, it did not happen as these societies were quite quick to adapt themselves even after integration into the much larger world economies. Hence, this statement is True.

Questions 7-12

Some of the exhibits at the Department of Ethnography are listed below (Questions 7-12). The writer gives these exhibits as examples of different collection types.

Match each exhibit with the collection type with which it is associated in Reading Passage 1. Write the appropriate letters in boxes 7-12 on your answer sheet.

NB You may use any collection type more than once.

7 _____________ Bolivian textiles

8 _____________ Indian coracles

9 _____________ airport art

10 _____________ Arctic kayaks

11 _____________ necessities of life of an Arabian farmer

12 _____________ tents from the Middle East

(Guide: In this question type the candidates are required to match the options given in the box with the blanks from 7 to 12.)

Question 7:

Answer: TS
Supporting Sentence: “The material collected includes great technical series - for instance, of textiles from Bolivia, Guatemala, Indonesia and at areas of West Africa - or of artefact types such as boats.”
Keywords: great technical series, textiles from Bolivia
Keyword Location: Para 3, lines 3 to 4
Explanation: The supporting sentence clearly states that the material includes technical series. The author also gives instances like textiles from Bolivia. Hence, TS or Technical series is the correct answer.

Question 8:

Answer: AT
Supporting Sentence: “The latter include working examples of coracles from India, reed boars from Lake Titicaca in the Andes, kayaks from the Arctic, and dug-out canoes from several countries”
Keywords: artifact types, working examples, coracles, India
Keyword Location: Para 3, line 5
Explanation: We can see that the Department of Ethnography collected materials from India and those artifacts are coracles. They also collected reed boards from Lake Titicaca, Kayaks from the Arctic, and more. These are artifact types. Hence AT is the correct answer.

Question 9:

Answer: FA
Supporting Sentence: “The field assemblages, such as those from the Sudan, Madagascar and Yemen, include a whole range of material culture representative of one people”
Keywords: field assemblages, material culture representative of one people, necessities of life, African herdsman or an Arabian farmer, airport art
Keyword Location: Para 3, lines 7 to 10
Explanation: As per the passage, the Department of Ethnography collected a lot of material from the field. These included Field Assemblages belonging to Sudan, Madagascar, Yemen, etc. The material represented the specific culture of a group of people. Hence FA or Field Assemblages is the correct answer.

Question 10:

Answer: AT
Supporting Sentence: “latter include working examples of coracles from India, reed boars from Lake Titicaca in the Andes, kayaks from the Arctic, and dug-out canoes from several countries”
Keywords: artifact types, kayaks from the Arctic
Keyword Location: Paragraph 3, lines 5 to 6
Explanation: The author states that the material collected by the Department of Ethnography included Artifact Types like boats. Indian Coracle, reed boats from Andes, kayaks from the Arctic are few examples. Therefore, AT is the correct answer.

Question 11:

Answer: FA
Supporting Sentence: “This might cover the necessities of life of an African herdsman or on Arabian farmer, ritual objects, or even on occasion airport art.”
Keywords: field assemblages, Arabian farmer
Keyword Location: Para 3, lines 7 - 9
Explanation: The passage mentions that the Ethnography Department collected lots of material from fields. These Field Assemblages represented the culture of a group of people. These assemblages can be utilized by an Arabian Farmer to cover the necessities of life. Hence, FA is the correct answer.

Question 12:

Answer: SE
Supporting Sentence: “Again, a series of acquisitions might represent a decade's fieldwork documenting social experience as expressed in the varieties of clothing and jewellery styles, tents and camel trappings from various Middle Eastern countries, or in the developing preferences in personal adornment and dress from Papua New Guinea.”
Keywords: documenting social experience, tents and camel trappings, Middle Eastern countries
Keyword Location: Para 3, lines 11 - 12
Explanation: The supporting sentence mentions a series of acquisitions like a variety of clothing and jewelry styles, tents, and camel trappings. These acquisitions from various Middle Eastern countries might represent a decade’s fieldwork documenting the social experience. Hence, SE is the correct answer.