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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. In "Chapter Sixteen: Last Place Anxiety: Packed in a Flooding Basement," what kind of stratification within America's lowest caste does Wilkerson note?

2. What prejudice does Tushar, from the London conference in "Chapter Ten: Central Miscasting," say exists inside Indian castes?

3. In "Chapter Eleven: Dominant Group Status Threat and the Precarity of the Highest Rung," what is one factor Wilkerson points to as an explanation for "dominant group status threat" in modern America?

4. In "Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Symbols of Caste," Wilkerson says that the tarp-covered statue looks like "a giant chifforobe" (334). What is a "chifforobe"?

5. On page 287 of "Chapter Twenty-Two: The Stockholm Syndrome and the Survival of the Subordinate Class," what does Roxanne Gay say causes whites to "embrace narratives about forgiveness"?

Short Essay Questions

1. In "Chapter Twenty-Five: A Change in the Script," why does Wilkerson say that Barack Obama's parentage helped in his election bid?

2. "Chapter Seventeen: On the Early Front Lines of Caste" tells the story of Allison Davis's early career. Who was he, and what important work did he contribute to scholarship about race in America?

3. In "Chapter Twenty-Four: Cortisol, Telomeres, and the Lethality of Caste," what does Wilkerson say about the biological threat response of white Americans?

4. In "Chapter Twenty-Four: Cortisol, Telomeres, and the Lethality of Caste," what evidence is there that Blacks in America are under stress from the society around them?

5. In "Chapter Sixteen: Last Place Anxiety: Packed in a Flooding Basement," what idea does Wilkerson use the story of Freddie Gray to illustrate?

6. Explain what Wilkerson finds particularly abhorrent about the film clip of Hitler that she describes in "Chapter Nineteen: The Euphoria of Hate."

7. What is "dominant group status threat" and how does Wilkerson link it to mortality statistics in "Chapter Eleven: Dominant Group Status Threat and the Precarity of the Highest Rung"?

8. In "Chapter Twelve: A Scapegoat to Bear the Sins of the World," what is the rhetorical purpose of including the anecdote about the murder of Carol DiMaiti?

9. In "Chapter Fourteen: The Intrusion of Caste in Everyday Life," what is the rhetorical purpose of including the anecdote about the father and toddler in the restaurant?

10. Describe the "Brown Eyes/Blue Eyes" experiment and its results.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Choose a work of fiction or poetry by an American Afrofuturist author to read. (Yes, Black Panther comics count.) Write an essay in which you explain the relationship of ideas in Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents to the ideas conveyed by the work of fiction or poetry.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay in which you explore modern Indian beliefs about caste. To what extent are they linked to Hinduism? To what extent are they linked to rural versus urban settings? To what extent are they linked to education? How have they changed as the Indian economy has changed? Cite your sources in MLA format.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay that makes and defends a claim regarding one of the "Pillars" of caste that Wilkerson lays out in "Part Three: The Eight Pillars of Caste." Use textual support for your claim, and be sure to cite all sources in MLA format.

(see the answer keys)

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