PT143.S2.P1.Q7 > Analytics

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Having spent several decades trying to eliminate the unself-conscious "colonial gaze" characteristic of so many early ethnographic films, visual anthropologists from the industrialized West who study indigenous cultures are presently struggling with an even more profound transformation of their discipline. ███████ ███████████ █████ █████████ ██ ███ █████████ ██████████ ███ ██████ ████ ██████████ ███████ ███ ████ ████ ████████ ██ ███ ███████ ██████████████ ██████ ████ █████ ██ ████████ █████ ███ █████████ ████████ ██ ████ ██████████ ██████ ███████ ███████████████ ███████ ██ ███████ ████████

Potential problem · Indigenous peoples are documenting their own cultures using video equipment

Will this bring back something similar to the "colonial gaze" that plagued early ethnographic films?

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Weiner's perspective · Video technology spreads Western values and damages indigenous cultural identity

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Ginsburg's perspective · Indigenous people can use Western media without being dominated by Western culture

Although using Western objects will have an effect on culture, that doesn't mean using cameras will automatically turn indigenous people into Westerners. Cameras can even benefit indigenous cultures by strengthening native languages and traditions.

Author's support of Ginsburg · Turner's work in Brazil supports Ginsburg

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Details of Turner's findings · Kayapo's use of video integrates with Kayapo culture

Passage Style

Critique or debate

Problem-analysis

In using the phrase "technological ████████████ ███████ ████████ ██ ███ █████ ███████████ ███ ██████ ██████ ██ ███ ████ ████

Question Type

Meaning in context (of word, phrase, or idea)

Structure

There are few signals we might pick up on to understand the meaning of “technological determinism.”

First, if we understand that “boilerplate” can be used to describe a clichéd statement that is parroted in many different places, we can tell that “technological determinism” describes something that Ginsburg has a negative attitude toward. What does she have a negative attitude toward? Weiner’s view. That suggests “technological determinism” is a reference to Weiner’s view.

Second, we might understand that “determinism” is associated with the belief that certain things are inevitable. Traditionally the word is used in connection with the philosophical theory that all human actions are predetermined, and that we don’t have free will. What could “technological” determinism refer to in this sentence, then? Well, the sentence is in the middle of a paragraph describing Ginsburg’s opinion about Weiner’s view. Weiner was the one who believed that Western technology inevitably damages native cultures who use it. The idea of technology inevitably doing something sounds similar to “determinism.” This is another way to recognize that “technological determinism” is a reference to Weiner’s view.

Finally, if we don’t understand either “boilerplate” or “determinism,” we might still detect the meaning of “technological determinism” by the structure of the sentence. The sentence begins with Ginsburg’s concession. That means after the concession she’s going to follow with something that is aligned with her own view, which is that Weiner's view is wrong. So, the part of the sentence containing “technological determinism” is likely to express something negative about Weiner’s view. This might not get us enough to be 100% confident in the meaning of the phrase “technological determinism,” but we’d still be able to go to the answers knowing that the phrase relates to Weiner’s view.

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(A) refers to the idea that it seems inevitable that the West would share technology such as guns, computers, and cameras with native culture. That there is nothing we can do about the sharing of technology. But that wasn’t Weiner’s view. Weiner’s view was about the inevitability of damage to native cultures based on technology, not about the inevitability of how technology is spread.

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The technology used by anthropologists in the field? So, they use computers to take notes? They use phones to record interviews? And this affects how they view the native cultures? This wasn’t mentioned anywhere in the passage, so it can’t be the meaning of “technological determinism” in the context of the passage.

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(C) refers to the idea that cultures will, over time, depend more and more on technology. That might be something that sounds true based on real life, but this doesn’t describe Weiner’s view. Weiner’s view was about the inevitability of certain harmful consequences of technology, not about a gradual increase in dependence on technology. So, “technological determinism” does not refer to (C) in the context of the passage.

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Ethical values determine how a culture reacts to new technologies? Was there any reference to a culture’s ethical values? No. Although we got some reference to Kayapo’s aesthetic values in the last paragraph, that has nothing to do with morality or standards of conduct.

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(E) is the answer that most closely describes Weiner’s view. Weiner believed that native cultures are inevitably changed (in a negative way) by using Western technology. In the context of the sentence, Ginsburg uses “technological determinism” to refer to Weiner’s view as part of a description of how Weiner’s view is wrong.

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PrepTest 143 - Section 2 - Passage 1 - Question 7

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