Reading Comprehension

PT147 · S3 · P2 · Q10 Artistic and Cultural Patrimony in Mali

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The government of Mali passed a law against excavating and exporting the wonderful terra-cotta sculptures from the old city of Djenne-jeno, but it could not enforce it.

Topic

The problem of looting Djenne-jeno's ancient sculptures, restrictive cultural property laws, and whether a more practical, regulated approach could have protected Mali’s heritage more effectively.

Framework

Problem / Solution

Main Point

Efforts to protect Mali's Djenne-jeno antiquities through restrictive laws and international doctrines (like UNESCO’s) unintentionally led to damaging looting and loss of information, and a more flexible, regulated approach might have been more effective. Most Valuable Sentence: The final paragraph’s rhetorical question () most directly captures the author’s main point.

P1: The Scope of the Looting Problem

Mali made laws to protect its historic sculptures, but these laws couldn't be enforced, so many valuable pieces were illegally taken and sold, resulting in lost archaeological knowledge.

P2: UNESCO and Protective Cultural Property Laws

International condemnation and UNESCO-led doctrine have emphasized that artifacts should be the property of the nation/culture they come from, prompting many countries to ban export and claim antiquities as state property.

P3: Unintended Consequences of Strict Regulation

While it’s rational for Mali to want control, these strict regulatory systems can ironically prevent proper recording and preservation of artifacts because people want to avoid creating documentation that could incriminate them or lead to confiscation.

10.

The author of the passage would be most likely to agree with which one of the following statements about UNESCO?

  1. Correct

    It can play an important

    Why this is right

    This is so weakly worded that it's very lovable at a glance: UNESCO can play an important role? We'd support this with what the author is saying in the final paragraph. She's suggesting a course of action that would have been better than the debacle in Mali, wherein tons of precious terra-cotta sculptures were dug up and exported, by amateurs who didn't keep track of what they were digging up. The 4th paragraph begins: Suppose that from the beginning, Mali had been helped by UNESCO ... Suppose Mali had done XYZ. Such a system would have encouraged excavations that aren't as good as those done professionally, but would this not have been better than what actually happened? Since the author wants UNESCO to be part of the solution, she thinks that UNESCO can play an important role in averting the type of crappy stuff that went down in Mali.

    Skill tested: Author Opinion · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.

    76% picked this

  2. Its stance on cultural artifacts

    Too Strong

    Too Strong: for the most part Unsupported Causal Claim The beginning of the 2nd paragraph transitions from talking about what went down in Mali to talking about UNESCO creating protective doctrines to try to prevent such stuff. But it never assigns a direct causal connection between those two things. We don't hear that UNESCO's feeling about cultural artifacts was mainly caused by the Mali situation.

    4% picked this

  3. It is more effective with

    Unsupported Comparison: individual vs. several

    The author never compares the efficacy of UNESCO's doctrine with individual states to that with several states.

    5% picked this

  4. It pays too little attention

    Wrong Objection

    The author is never saying that UNESCO cares too little about countries like Mali. She is saying their caring response kind of backfires because it's too prohibitive and restrictive (it encourages bad behavior to get around their regulations). She wants UNESCO to express its concern in a different way (help countries like Mali find a way to minimize the damage that amateur excavators can do by allowing them to pay for licensed digs).

    10% picked this

  5. Its effectiveness in limiting the

    Out of Scope: inadequate funding

    Nothing the author says about UNESCO suggests that they are inadequately funded.

    5% picked this

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