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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In Asia and Africa, what two seemingly-contradictory ideologies are being used?
(a) Colonial past and nationalism.
(b) Future dreams and individualism.
(c) Revolutionary aspiration and nationalism.
(d) World power and individualism.

2. How did the Spanish Conquest treat religion?
(a) Spain was defending the faith.
(b) The Conquest did not relate to religion.
(c) Spain was protecting the Mesoamerican religions.
(d) Spain was integrating Mesoamerican religions.

3. Where have the great revolutions of the 20th Century occurred?
(a) In places with little modern culture.
(b) In large, wealthy countries.
(c) Among indigenous tribes.
(d) In backward countries.

4. During the Revolution, whom did the intelligentsia make the focal point of its activities?
(a) The common people.
(b) Itself.
(c) The new poets.
(d) Their new leaders.

5. Why did the Spaniards not exterminate the Indians after they were conquered?
(a) They needed labor.
(b) They respected the Indians.
(c) They wanted to learn from the Indians.
(d) Their Catholicism prevented mass slaughter.

6. When Paz sees that Mexicans return to their tradition, what do they remember?
(a) That their tradition is mostly Indian.
(b) That they are part of Spain's tradition.
(c) That their tradition is rooted in conquest and slavery.
(d) That they do not belong to a greater universal tradition.

7. What question did Edmundo O'Gorman try to answer?
(a) What is Mexico?
(b) Who are the Mexicans as a people?
(c) Where does the future lie?
(d) What comprises America?

8. According to Paz, what is the "contemporary crisis"? (Chapter Seven, page 172).
(a) The difficulty of Mexico relating to the advancing western world.
(b) The crisis of self-identity sweeping South America.
(c) The struggle between two diverse cultures.
(d) A struggle within a culture that no longer has any rivals.

9. What is the value of Sor Juana's poem, "First Dream"?
(a) A comprehensive history of the Indians before Cortez.
(b) A philosophical look at the depth of reality.
(c) A philosophical look at Catholicism.
(d) A penetrating analysis of the effects of European influence.

10. What did the Revolution force the Mexican people to do?
(a) Overcome the institutions of colonialism.
(b) Think about the future in global terms.
(c) Synthesize their colonial past with the pre-Catholicism past..
(d) Confront history and invent their future.

11. What has happened to the former plurality of ideas and customs? (Chapter Seven).
(a) It has been replaced by a single civilization.
(b) They have become richer.
(c) It has splintered into even more segments.
(d) It has grown to accommodate special-interest groups.

12. What did positivism do with the ideals of the Reformation?
(a) Blurred them into vague, utopian dreams.
(b) Made them irrelevant to Mexican life and culture.
(c) Pushed them into the background.
(d) Made them reality.

13. Which of the following contributed to making colonialism alive and relevant?
(a) Imperial takeover.
(b) Native acceptance.
(c) Catholicism.
(d) Violence.

14. Why did the Mexican Revolution have to begin before the beginning?
(a) The cities were not large enough to house the farmers-turned-workers.
(b) Mexico did not have the basic electricity and resources needed to transform her cities.
(c) In the early 20th Century, Mexico was far behind the advanced world.
(d) The people still held a feudalistic mindset.

15. What horror did Cortez's rule not commit?
(a) Raping the indigenous women.
(b) Complete annihilation of the native peoples.
(c) Denying the conquered people a place in society.
(d) Forcing indigenous people to speak European Spanish.

Short Answer Questions

1. Following the Revolution, why was socialist education not widely implemented in Mexico?

2. According to Paz, why did the Revolution become a compromise?

3. In Jose Gaos' thought, what unique opportunity do young people have through their education?

4. What was Vasconcelos' philosophy regarding the material world?

5. Which of the following created the Spanish monarchy?

(see the answer keys)

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