Chapter 23 - The Contemporary World: Globalization, Terrorism, and Postmodernism, 1970-2001

Chapter 23
The Contemporary World: Globalization, Terrorism, and Postmodernism,
1970-2001
Multiple Choice Questions
1. The shift in Soviet-American relations that eased international tensions starting around
1970 is known as
A. laissez-faire.
B. bilateral agreements.
C. dtente.
D. glasnost.

2. The reforms of Gorbachev in the Soviet Union contributed to

A. a higher standard of living.
B. the breakup of the Soviet Union.
C. tighter control over the member states of the Soviet Union.
D. an era of prosperity in Eastern Europe.

3. The Latin American authors of the late 1960s that achieved international acclaim tended to
write in what style?
A. social realism
B. magic realism
C. absurd naturalism
D. Marxist naturalism

4. The postmodern novels of Milan Kundera stress the

A. connection of sexual freedom to political freedom.
B. themes of fantasy and linguistic experimentation.
C. principles of Christian fundamentalism and Slavophilism.
D. ideals of revolutionary politics and social justice.

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Chapter 23 - The Contemporary World: Globalization, Terrorism, and Postmodernism, 1970-2001

5. Toni Morrison's fiction sometimes deals with

A. the supernatural.
B. cold war politics.
C. Anglo-Saxon myth.
D. science fiction themes.

6. The writings of Maxine Hong Kingston

A. are concerned exclusively with her matriarchal heritage.
B. argue that Western culture is superior to Eastern culture.
C. point out the evils of racism and exploitation in America.
D. romanticize life both in China and the United States.

7. Who wrote the opera Marco Polo (1995), which fuses elements of Tibetan, Chinese, and
Japanese cultures?
A. John Adams
B. Zhang Yimou
C. Ang Lee
D. Tan Dun

8. Philip Pearlstein is famous for his paintings of

A. athletic nudes copied from classical sculpture.
B. cartoon nudes in the style of comic strips.
C. middle-aged nudes with decaying bodies.
D. suburban nudes with sleek, erotic bodies.

9. Which of the following art styles are identified with postmodernism?

A. neoimpressionism, neoabstractionism, and neonaturalism
B. neorealism, neoexpressionism, and neoclassicism
C. neocubism, neoromanticism, and neogothicism
D. neorenaissance, neobaroque, and neorococo

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Chapter 23 - The Contemporary World: Globalization, Terrorism, and Postmodernism, 1970-2001

10. The classical aspect of postmodernism is apparent in

A. Anselm Kiefer's Osiris and Isis.
B. Philip C. Johnson's AT&T Headquarters.
C. Rogers and Piano's Pompidou Centre.
D. Paik's My Faust (Stations): Religion.

11. The postmodernist composers Philip Glass and John Adams are famous for their
A. serial music.
B. operas.
C. use of sonata form.
D. atonality.

12. The Young British Artists (the YBA) tend to make art that is
A. deeply serious and modest in execution.
B. attention-grabbing and associated with scandal.
C. low-key and conventionally beautiful.
D. familiar and attuned to popular culture.

13. Installation art is typically

A. an architectural tableau.
B. a wall hanging.
C. an idea for an art piece that is rarely completed.
D. made with a video monitor.

14. The founder of video art is

A. Cindy Sherman.
B. Rachel Whiteread.
C. Nam June Paik.
D. Laurie Anderson.

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Chapter 23 - The Contemporary World: Globalization, Terrorism, and Postmodernism, 1970-2001

15. Which of the following nations was the site of extensive public demonstrations in
Tiananmen Square in June 1989, resulting in the government's harsh response to protestors?
A. Russia
B. China
C. Yugoslavia
D. Iran

16. Which of the following nations is NOT directly involved in NAFTA (North Atlantic Free
Trade Association)?
A. Venezuela
B. Mexico
C. Canada
D. United States

17. Which of the following nations signed peace treaties with Israel during the late 1970s?
A. Iran
B. Kuwait
C. Egypt
D. Iraq

18. Which of the following nations instituted a theocratic government after the seizing of an
American embassy in 1979?
A. Iran
B. Kuwait
C. Egypt
D. Iraq

19. Which of the following nations was invaded by Iraq in 1980?

A. Iran
B. Kuwait
C. Egypt
D. Iraq

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Chapter 23 - The Contemporary World: Globalization, Terrorism, and Postmodernism, 1970-2001

20. Whose investigations examine the concept of the "paradigm shift"?

A. Thomas Kuhn
B. Roland Barthes
C. Jacques Derrida
D. Milan Kundera

21. What is the homeland of Pope John Paul II?

A. Hungary
B. Bulgaria
C. Poland
D. Italy

22. Which of the following authors was the first Latin American novelist to receive the Nobel
Prize for Literature?
A. Tony Morrison
B. Alice Walker
C. Orhan Pamuk
D. Gabriel Garc'a Mrquez

23. Which of the following authors received the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for her work that tells the
story of a black woman abused by black men and victimized by white society?
A. Tony Morrison
B. Alice Walker
C. Orhan Pamuk
D. Gabriel Garc'a Mrquez

24. Which of the following authors created a book-length poem that revisited Homer's epics
and transposed their setting to the Caribbean in the 1900s?
A. Orhan Pamuk
B. Zadie Smith
C. Derek Walcott
D. Naguib Mahfouz

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Chapter 23 - The Contemporary World: Globalization, Terrorism, and Postmodernism, 1970-2001

25. Which of the following artists began as a neoexpressionist, moved to minimalism in the
1970s, then ultimately mixed the two styles in her work, Maggie's Ponytail?
A. Frank Stella
B. Sue Coe
C. Dan Flavin
D. Susan Rothenberg

26. Which devotee of late modern abstraction is considered to be one of the leading postWWII African American painters?
A. Frank Stella
B. Samuel Gilliam
C. Dan Flavin
D. Susan Rothenberg

27. Which of the following artists has made light the principal medium in his art, often
depending on fluorescent tubes?
A. Dan Flavin
B. John De Andrea
C. Robert Smithson
D. Gerhard Richter

28. Which of the following artists designed a monument that has become one of the most
hallowed and visited places in the United States, standing on the northwest side of the
National Mall in Washington, D.C.?
A. Rachel Whiteread
B. Ann Hamilton
C. Maya Ying Lin
D. Robert Smithson

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Chapter 23 - The Contemporary World: Globalization, Terrorism, and Postmodernism, 1970-2001

29. Which of the following artists created a work intended to erase the boundary between art
and life, using such native materials as rock, mud, and water?
A. Rachel Whiteread
B. Ann Hamilton
C. Maya Ying Lin
D. Robert Smithson

30. Which of the following architects designed the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum
in Cleveland, Ohio?
A. Frank Gehry
B. I. M. Pei
C. Rem Koolhaas
D. Robert Venturi

31. Which of the following architects depended on a "metallic flower" in his design of the
Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain?
A. Frank Gehry
B. I. M. Pei
C. Rem Koolhaas
D. Robert Venturi

32. Who founded the Sundance Film Festival in 1980?

A. John Madden
B. Clint Eastwood
C. Robert Redford
D. Woody Allen

33. What organization was founded in 1994 to promote free trade?

A. WTO
B. NAFTA
C. IMF
D. EU

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Chapter 23 - The Contemporary World: Globalization, Terrorism, and Postmodernism, 1970-2001

34. Which country did the United States first invade following September 11, 2001?
A. Iran
B. Iraq
C. Saudi Arabia
D. Afghanistan

35. Which of the following means the exchange of one worldview for another?
A. deconstruction
B. nihilism
C. paradigm shift
D. liberation theology

36. Whose conceptual art projects tend to overawe the viewer, relate to the landscape, bring
out crowds and the media, and stir up controversy?
A. Maya Ying Lin
B. Rachel Whiteread
C. Christo and Jeanne-Claude
D. Dan Flavin

37. Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty is an example of

A. video art.
B. environmental art.
C. installation art.
D. conceptual art.

38. Which of the following architects was the first woman to receive the Pritzker Architecture
Prize?
A. Hadid
B. Koolhaas
C. Pei
D. Gropius

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Chapter 23 - The Contemporary World: Globalization, Terrorism, and Postmodernism, 1970-2001

39. Which film director's work led to a new genre, blaxploitation film?
A. Spike Lee
B. Peter Weir
C. Melvin van Peebles
D. None of these answers is correct.

40. Atmospheres is the work of which of the following composers?

A. John Corigliano
B. Tan Dun
C. John Cage
D. Gyorgy Ligeti

41. White Teeth is the debut novel of which of the following authors?
A. Orhan Pamuk
B. Derek Walcott
C. Toni Morrison
D. Zadie Smith

42. Australia's film boom produced art films that were often
A. based on real life events with elements of magic realism.
B. centered around race relations and hung on a strong social message.
C. action stories depicted with highly original visuals.
D. love stories that used the natural setting of the outback.

43. John Corigliano belongs to what wing of postmodern music?

A. realist
B. neorealist
C. neoromantic
D. expressionist

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Chapter 23 - The Contemporary World: Globalization, Terrorism, and Postmodernism, 1970-2001

44. American Cindy Sherman created a body of performance art characterized in part by
A. feminist themes and opposition to the visual sexualization of women.
B. removing herself from the work or its attribution.
C. the use of science fiction themes.
D. a lack of music.

45. What musical movement helped to play a role in the Arab Spring?
A. hip-hop
B. folk rock
C. heavy metal
D. classical Persian

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Chapter 23 - The Contemporary World: Globalization, Terrorism, and Postmodernism, 1970-2001

Essay Questions
46. Use the works of Philip Glass and John Adams to describe postmodern music.
Answers will vary

47. Why did the cold war end? How did the internal policies of the United States and the
Soviet Union influence the course of events?
Answers will vary

48. Discuss the major medical and scientific breakthroughs of the past forty years. What
ethical quandaries have they raised?
Answers will vary

49. Define poststructuralism and deconstruction. Identify the major figures associated with
each school of thought and explain their individual contributions.
Answers will vary

50. What are the most significant developments in film in the past forty years? Include
popular, independent, and foreign films in your discussion.
Answers will vary

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Chapter 23 - The Contemporary World: Globalization, Terrorism, and Postmodernism, 1970-2001

51. Who are the major figures of postmodern literature? Use the works of three of those
figures to identify the themes and issues addressed by postmodern literature, and the stylistic
techniques adopted by postmodern authors. Is there a discernible postmodern literary
movement in literature, or are the works that are often described as postmodern too disparate
to be lumped together?
Answers will vary

52. What are the general characteristics of neorealism, neoexpressionism, and neoclassicism?
Are there significant similarities among these movements, or do they reveal a fundamental
fragmentation of contemporary arts?
Answers will vary

53. Discuss the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial as an exemplar of a minimalist aesthetic. In

general, does minimalist art suggest that aesthetic standards are based on simple fundamental
shapes and combinations that everyone shares, or does it suggest that, in the postmodern era,
agreement over aesthetic standards can no longer be reached?
Answers will vary

54. Use Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty to define environmental art.

Answers will vary

55. Define video art, and discuss the contributions of Nam June Paik to this type of art.
Answers will vary

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any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part