After taking this Anthropology course I have learned to look at things holistically. I am able to make the connection between events, objects, ect and culture very quickly. I really enjoyed learning about the meanings and symbols behind culture and how they got there. Most importantly I learned not look at culture from an ethnocentric point view, I need to be more open to understanding the meanings behind people’s actions. I feel that Anthropology needs to be done through fieldwork; I think sitting in a classroom learning about a culture is not as interesting as actually being there. By reading Nest in the Wind by Martha Ward I was able to connect everything we had learned over the semester, I feel we should have read more than one ethnography but I understand the time constraints.
So what do I think about anthropology? I think it is an important field and if more of us looked at cultures the way anthropologists there would be less discrimination and hate. I feel anthropology helps us understand other’s cultures and our own. I never analyzed my own culture until I analyzed some else’s because I was able to compare the two cultures. Overall I think anthropology is an awesome field to work in, I feel much more understanding of other cultures and much more aware of my own after taking this course. Anthropology seems like a lot of fun and the fieldwork seems like an amazing experience. I find Anthropology interesting because I was able to look at my culture holistically and I am now aware of how changes in one area of my life affect the rest. I really enjoyed learning about anthropology.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
VIPs [Delaney chapter 9 pg 422]
LA or New York City
I chose LA or New York City because they have both been places that I have always felt were important. I feel that LA is the center of the entertainment business which I used to want to be a part of. New York City has always been portrayed as this classy city where the best of the best live. I also went through a Sex in the City faze and really wanted to live there. These places represent large cultural trends and meanings. If I look at New York City as a cultural place I think it represents fame and class. It has so many monuments and when the September 11th attack happened everyone was focused on New York. LA has a cultural meaning because it seems as though everyone is focused on what is going on in LA. The fashions and events that go on in LA are important to people that don’t even live in LA. This is all due to media and fame from celebrities, but I know if I go out of town and I say I am from California they ask how close I am to LA or to the beach.
Kobe Bryant
I picked Kobe Bryant because I love basketball and he is one of the biggest basketball stars at the moment. He is important culturally because he uses his basketball fame to endorse products. The products that he endorses are generally the most famous products such as Nike. By looking at Kobe Bryant’s career I am able to see what most Americans consume and the importance of fame on marketing.
Britney Spears
Britney Spears is known as the princess of pop. She is one of the largest celebrities in the music industry of my generation and when I was younger I loved her. Culturally I feel that she shows how much we love to watch people fail. Ever since she had children and had an emotional breakdown everyone has to know exactly what she is doing. This also shows how much we value perfection. The second that someone slips up we have to judge them instantly. Our society views perfection both physically and mentally. When she gained a few pounds everyone criticized her, America views perfection as thin. America also views perfection as someone who is always happy and always doing the right thing. Someone with no emotions or downfalls in their lives. I picked Britney because she is a good example of all of these cultural implications.
Paris Hilton
Paris Hilton is not an important figure in my life, in fact she disgusts me but I feel that she holds a lot of cultural meanings. Most of all she represents our cultural motto “money is power.” This woman does not do anything with her life but go out and party and she has many fans. She has so much money that she can go to jail and get out in 4 days just because she has money. She also shows that in a society based on education and social mobility through education; if you have money brains aren’t important. It’s a horrible cultural analysis but it is true. This woman made money off of making stupid comments. Paris Hilton shows a bad side of our cultural values.
Twin Towers
The twin towers are important because it was an event that changed our culture. It inspired fear into most of the members in society, and being very young at the time I was scared as well. September 11th changed everyone’s lives whether it was directly or indirectly. The twin towers are a constant reminder of terrorism and fear in our culture.
I chose LA or New York City because they have both been places that I have always felt were important. I feel that LA is the center of the entertainment business which I used to want to be a part of. New York City has always been portrayed as this classy city where the best of the best live. I also went through a Sex in the City faze and really wanted to live there. These places represent large cultural trends and meanings. If I look at New York City as a cultural place I think it represents fame and class. It has so many monuments and when the September 11th attack happened everyone was focused on New York. LA has a cultural meaning because it seems as though everyone is focused on what is going on in LA. The fashions and events that go on in LA are important to people that don’t even live in LA. This is all due to media and fame from celebrities, but I know if I go out of town and I say I am from California they ask how close I am to LA or to the beach.
Kobe Bryant
I picked Kobe Bryant because I love basketball and he is one of the biggest basketball stars at the moment. He is important culturally because he uses his basketball fame to endorse products. The products that he endorses are generally the most famous products such as Nike. By looking at Kobe Bryant’s career I am able to see what most Americans consume and the importance of fame on marketing.
Britney Spears
Britney Spears is known as the princess of pop. She is one of the largest celebrities in the music industry of my generation and when I was younger I loved her. Culturally I feel that she shows how much we love to watch people fail. Ever since she had children and had an emotional breakdown everyone has to know exactly what she is doing. This also shows how much we value perfection. The second that someone slips up we have to judge them instantly. Our society views perfection both physically and mentally. When she gained a few pounds everyone criticized her, America views perfection as thin. America also views perfection as someone who is always happy and always doing the right thing. Someone with no emotions or downfalls in their lives. I picked Britney because she is a good example of all of these cultural implications.
Paris Hilton
Paris Hilton is not an important figure in my life, in fact she disgusts me but I feel that she holds a lot of cultural meanings. Most of all she represents our cultural motto “money is power.” This woman does not do anything with her life but go out and party and she has many fans. She has so much money that she can go to jail and get out in 4 days just because she has money. She also shows that in a society based on education and social mobility through education; if you have money brains aren’t important. It’s a horrible cultural analysis but it is true. This woman made money off of making stupid comments. Paris Hilton shows a bad side of our cultural values.
Twin Towers
The twin towers are important because it was an event that changed our culture. It inspired fear into most of the members in society, and being very young at the time I was scared as well. September 11th changed everyone’s lives whether it was directly or indirectly. The twin towers are a constant reminder of terrorism and fear in our culture.
Culture Change in Pohnpeian Society
After finished Nest in the Wind by Martha Ward, I felt very sad about the culture change that occurred in the past 30 years in Pohnpei. When I read the first 8 chapters of the book I thought it was a great example of a different economy and culture that was successful in doing things their own way. I enjoyed reading about their feasting and their sense of community, and I feel with Martha Ward goes back 30 years later the sense of community has decreased. I was able to pull examples from the story and add them to the model of cultural change that we were given in class. The interconnectedness of globalization is the most apparent part of their cultural change. Transportation technology was changed greatly. When Martha went back to the Island she no longer had to walk everywhere, many people thought it was odd she was walking and offered to give her a ride. The communication technology hit Pohnpei which decreased their activity and made them able to communicate much faster. Martha heard a phone go off at her friend Maria’s house and was shocked. I see this technology increase the rate of change. As the media and technology hit the island the family dynamic changed. Children were no longer being adopted as frequently by other parents. It became more expensive to have a large family as they did in the beginning of the ethnographic study. I also saw that the material items changed before the behaviors and social institutions. The food and media changed so therefore the hierarchy changed. Gifts were harder to purchase for the High Chief and the hierarchy started to become more about money than about skill, such as producing the largest yam. The food became much more expensive so therefore it was harder to have larger families because you couldn’t afford to feed them all.
The mechanisms of cultural change that the Pohnpeians experienced were external. Due to governmental policies and investments, the introduction of American and Japenese products were abundant. More members of their society were also being educated in other nations and coming back to Pohnpei. This created an increase in contact with other people and their ideas and values. Martha Ward didn’t focus on how selective this cultural change was. I interpreted this change as more forced than an individual choice but this could have had to do with the way the study was written. We see that both the American and Pohnpeian societies are affected, the American economy becomes larger because they are investing businesses in Pohnpei, Wal mart is especially profiting. Pohnpei is impacted much more than American society; their entire way of living changed and this impacted their moral and cultural values. Most importantly these cultural changes involved a change in form and function of items and implied meanings. The way in which the Pohnpeians valued food changed greatly. It also changed the Pohnpeian’s views on health and hierarchy.
By examining the way that the culture has changed I cannot say that the change is good or bad. It caused greater health problems and reduced the sense of community but it also gave individuals more jobs and greater knowledge of their health. There is no good or bad dichotomy while looking at culture change because some changes may have good and bad aspects. Most importantly when I looked at the culture change I was able to see the interrelatedness that we discussed in class, because culture is holistic the change in one domain changes in another. This is mainly seen through food, because food was so central and symbolic to their culture. I wrote this blog because after I was reading the last the chapters of Nest in the Wind I started seeing all of the things that we have discussed in class about culture change. It was really cool to be able to identify what aspects of culture change related to parts of the study. I could write an entire paper on the topic of culture change in Pohnpeian society but I think I will end it with the broad examples.
The mechanisms of cultural change that the Pohnpeians experienced were external. Due to governmental policies and investments, the introduction of American and Japenese products were abundant. More members of their society were also being educated in other nations and coming back to Pohnpei. This created an increase in contact with other people and their ideas and values. Martha Ward didn’t focus on how selective this cultural change was. I interpreted this change as more forced than an individual choice but this could have had to do with the way the study was written. We see that both the American and Pohnpeian societies are affected, the American economy becomes larger because they are investing businesses in Pohnpei, Wal mart is especially profiting. Pohnpei is impacted much more than American society; their entire way of living changed and this impacted their moral and cultural values. Most importantly these cultural changes involved a change in form and function of items and implied meanings. The way in which the Pohnpeians valued food changed greatly. It also changed the Pohnpeian’s views on health and hierarchy.
By examining the way that the culture has changed I cannot say that the change is good or bad. It caused greater health problems and reduced the sense of community but it also gave individuals more jobs and greater knowledge of their health. There is no good or bad dichotomy while looking at culture change because some changes may have good and bad aspects. Most importantly when I looked at the culture change I was able to see the interrelatedness that we discussed in class, because culture is holistic the change in one domain changes in another. This is mainly seen through food, because food was so central and symbolic to their culture. I wrote this blog because after I was reading the last the chapters of Nest in the Wind I started seeing all of the things that we have discussed in class about culture change. It was really cool to be able to identify what aspects of culture change related to parts of the study. I could write an entire paper on the topic of culture change in Pohnpeian society but I think I will end it with the broad examples.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Ethnographic Fieldnotes on Food
Last week I went to the University of Redlands Commons alone 3 times to eat dinner. I went three times and all three times were very awkward. I felt very out of place eating alone because everyone else was eating with someone else. The only people who weren’t eating with someone else were doing homework. I noticed that if people were doing homework they went to the section on the commons that served sandwiches and to-go food rather than in the more formal dining area. The more formal dining area had larger groups of people in it. The longer I sat there by myself the more out of place I felt. I knew I was doing homework, but didn’t feel like it or look like it to others.
This experience was already strange for me because I live off campus. I don’t tend to eat on campus, and if I do it is between classes when not many people are there. One of the things was I was expecting to observe before going into the common was a gender divide; I thought that genders would sit together more often than not. I made this assumption based on what I observed in my classes and living arrangements. I thought that many people would go to lunch with their roommates. My assumption was false. I saw many groups of people with both many female and male members. The only time I really saw the gender divide was if it was a group of two. Those groups were mainly same sex, I concluded that this was because the action of eating dinner with someone of the opposite sex may be considered a date. There wasn’t a gender divide in food choice either. I thought that mainly women would go to the salad bar but from what observed both genders went to the salad bar pretty equally.
I also notice a temperal change when it comes to the choice and formality of food. Om my third time of going to the commons I went at around 7:30 because one of my classes was dismissed early. While I was sitting at the commons I noticed that more people were going to the café area than to the other. More students were getting food to go and some came to eat in their pajamas. This was different from the earlier times because they seemed to be much more informal when coming to eat. It was also more common to see the genders come in same sex groups later at night. But, the act of eating was still a very social action.
The social aspect of food is what became most apparent to me while doing this ethnographic exercise. Even when I heard about the exercise I thought it was going to be very strange eating by myself. I always tend to eat with someone else, and if someone else is eating I tend to get something to. I felt very lonely eating by myself, and people thought it was strange that I was doing so. I even put off doing this assignment because I knew I was going to feel uncomfortable. Our society uses food to celebrate, to be used a lot of time on dates, and a common get together with friends. Eating alone outside of my home felt very strange.
This experience was already strange for me because I live off campus. I don’t tend to eat on campus, and if I do it is between classes when not many people are there. One of the things was I was expecting to observe before going into the common was a gender divide; I thought that genders would sit together more often than not. I made this assumption based on what I observed in my classes and living arrangements. I thought that many people would go to lunch with their roommates. My assumption was false. I saw many groups of people with both many female and male members. The only time I really saw the gender divide was if it was a group of two. Those groups were mainly same sex, I concluded that this was because the action of eating dinner with someone of the opposite sex may be considered a date. There wasn’t a gender divide in food choice either. I thought that mainly women would go to the salad bar but from what observed both genders went to the salad bar pretty equally.
I also notice a temperal change when it comes to the choice and formality of food. Om my third time of going to the commons I went at around 7:30 because one of my classes was dismissed early. While I was sitting at the commons I noticed that more people were going to the café area than to the other. More students were getting food to go and some came to eat in their pajamas. This was different from the earlier times because they seemed to be much more informal when coming to eat. It was also more common to see the genders come in same sex groups later at night. But, the act of eating was still a very social action.
The social aspect of food is what became most apparent to me while doing this ethnographic exercise. Even when I heard about the exercise I thought it was going to be very strange eating by myself. I always tend to eat with someone else, and if someone else is eating I tend to get something to. I felt very lonely eating by myself, and people thought it was strange that I was doing so. I even put off doing this assignment because I knew I was going to feel uncomfortable. Our society uses food to celebrate, to be used a lot of time on dates, and a common get together with friends. Eating alone outside of my home felt very strange.
House vs. Home
What is the difference between where you live and your home? I started reading this book called Kindred by Octavia Butler. The story is about an African American woman who goes back in time to a slave plantation. She begins to have a connection with the plantation and as she travels through time she begins to question where she calls home, the plantation or her home in 1979. This story made me think about how our society defines home and how I define home. Society defines home by where you live. Your current address, or when someone is a minor the place in which their parents or legal guardian lives. I find home to be very different than this.
I define home as somewhere where I feel safe, where there are people that care about me, and where I have spent a lot of time. I have many different homes, I have the home where I lie with my parents and I have my close friends homes through over the years have turned into a feeling of home for me as well. Although whenever someone asks me where I live I always reply the house that I reside in because there is a cultural understanding that is what they are asking. Some of my peers feel that you can only have one true home because home is where your family is. While this is a matter of opinion, I feel that my kinship chart in an earlier blog shows that I consider friends as family as well. From an etic point of view someone may say that in our society home is where someone sleeps and goes back to everyday when they have completed their tasks for the day. An emic point of view would be much different. I believe that language plays into the meaning of home as well.
When talking about home you have to separate the meaning of home from the physical space of house. “House” can represent many other cultural meaning such as class and social status while home can represent family and meaningful places. Many people can live in a house but not feel as though they live in a home. There is some cultural variability in this concept of one home versus many homes. I feel that this relates to the process of assimilation for immigrants as well. Some of them may feel that they live in America but their home is where they were born. This can be conflicting in situations like this. The choice of words and context of questions has a to do with where we may consider home to be.
I define home as somewhere where I feel safe, where there are people that care about me, and where I have spent a lot of time. I have many different homes, I have the home where I lie with my parents and I have my close friends homes through over the years have turned into a feeling of home for me as well. Although whenever someone asks me where I live I always reply the house that I reside in because there is a cultural understanding that is what they are asking. Some of my peers feel that you can only have one true home because home is where your family is. While this is a matter of opinion, I feel that my kinship chart in an earlier blog shows that I consider friends as family as well. From an etic point of view someone may say that in our society home is where someone sleeps and goes back to everyday when they have completed their tasks for the day. An emic point of view would be much different. I believe that language plays into the meaning of home as well.
When talking about home you have to separate the meaning of home from the physical space of house. “House” can represent many other cultural meaning such as class and social status while home can represent family and meaningful places. Many people can live in a house but not feel as though they live in a home. There is some cultural variability in this concept of one home versus many homes. I feel that this relates to the process of assimilation for immigrants as well. Some of them may feel that they live in America but their home is where they were born. This can be conflicting in situations like this. The choice of words and context of questions has a to do with where we may consider home to be.
The Impact of Clothing
After reading Chapter 8 in the textbook by Delaney I began to think about my own experiences with clothing. I have gone through many changes in my life and they can all be seen through my clothing. I could tell you who my friends were by an outfit I might have worn in a picture, I could tell you who I was dating, and what occasion it was. Clothing represents a lot in my life, it at one point represented how I was feeling emotionally; my clothing changed through different transitions in my life, and it was also influenced by my peers.
My clothing didn’t reflect my own personal style till I was in Middle School. Up to that point my parents dressed me, or I put together my own outfits based on what my parents bought me. In Middle School I began to look at what my peers were wearing, and started to care about what other thought of me. Clothing was my way of fitting in, I always noticed that if someone is wearing the right outfit they will generally fit in during a social situation, and in Middle School it is a very huge “social situation.” I was happy in Middle School, I wore a lot of bright colors, a pass time for my friends and I was to go shopping for popular clothes, or critique what are favorite stars are wearing, and I listened to whatever music was popular at the time. Then I hit High School. I started listening to different music and having harder times in my life. I began to wear darker clothes, and didn’t care what pop culture said I should wear. I made friends based on my clothing choices because the punk kids that used to make fun of me for being preppy now saw me as one of them. I acted differently when I started to wear different clothing, I spoke differently (I stopped using the word “whatever”).
As I got older I got a boyfriend that had a different style than me. I changed my choice of clothing, yet again, and again made different friends and listened to different music. This point in my life was not as emotional as my “teen angst” years, and you could see this from the clothing I chose, the colors were dark, but not gothic. I always seemed to feel a little out of place wearing that clothing because I didn’t choose this style I chose it for someone else. Now I have a style that is purely mine. It changed after high school; I started to wear more “sophisticated” clothing in the sense that my shirts don’t have stupid sayings on them or strange designs. I realized that I am going to be in an adult world, so I need to start dressing respectively.
Through analyzing my own experience with clothing I am able to see how my clothing choices affected my peer group, it changed my music tastes, it changed my language, and it made me play a role that the clothing represented in society consciously and subconsciously. Ever since I was a little girl I have always known clothing had a significant meaning, I could distinguish between adults and children and I could always tell what I was going to do for the day depending on the clothing I was going to wear. If I wore something fancy I knew it was a holiday, if I wore something old I knew it was a play day, and if I wore my everyday clothing I was generally going to school. I got older I was able to categorize people by the clothing that they wore. I could tell if someone was rich by the name brand they were wearing, I could tell what music they listened to due to their specific style, and I was able to see employment based on the clothing the person was wearing. I used clothing to decide where I was going to be accepted, I wasn’t going to go up to a gothic person bright pink shirt, and I used clothing to express my emotions. Clothing is an important part of my life because when examined holistically it represents many aspects of my life and how clothing affects the social situations we face every day.
My clothing didn’t reflect my own personal style till I was in Middle School. Up to that point my parents dressed me, or I put together my own outfits based on what my parents bought me. In Middle School I began to look at what my peers were wearing, and started to care about what other thought of me. Clothing was my way of fitting in, I always noticed that if someone is wearing the right outfit they will generally fit in during a social situation, and in Middle School it is a very huge “social situation.” I was happy in Middle School, I wore a lot of bright colors, a pass time for my friends and I was to go shopping for popular clothes, or critique what are favorite stars are wearing, and I listened to whatever music was popular at the time. Then I hit High School. I started listening to different music and having harder times in my life. I began to wear darker clothes, and didn’t care what pop culture said I should wear. I made friends based on my clothing choices because the punk kids that used to make fun of me for being preppy now saw me as one of them. I acted differently when I started to wear different clothing, I spoke differently (I stopped using the word “whatever”).
As I got older I got a boyfriend that had a different style than me. I changed my choice of clothing, yet again, and again made different friends and listened to different music. This point in my life was not as emotional as my “teen angst” years, and you could see this from the clothing I chose, the colors were dark, but not gothic. I always seemed to feel a little out of place wearing that clothing because I didn’t choose this style I chose it for someone else. Now I have a style that is purely mine. It changed after high school; I started to wear more “sophisticated” clothing in the sense that my shirts don’t have stupid sayings on them or strange designs. I realized that I am going to be in an adult world, so I need to start dressing respectively.
Through analyzing my own experience with clothing I am able to see how my clothing choices affected my peer group, it changed my music tastes, it changed my language, and it made me play a role that the clothing represented in society consciously and subconsciously. Ever since I was a little girl I have always known clothing had a significant meaning, I could distinguish between adults and children and I could always tell what I was going to do for the day depending on the clothing I was going to wear. If I wore something fancy I knew it was a holiday, if I wore something old I knew it was a play day, and if I wore my everyday clothing I was generally going to school. I got older I was able to categorize people by the clothing that they wore. I could tell if someone was rich by the name brand they were wearing, I could tell what music they listened to due to their specific style, and I was able to see employment based on the clothing the person was wearing. I used clothing to decide where I was going to be accepted, I wasn’t going to go up to a gothic person bright pink shirt, and I used clothing to express my emotions. Clothing is an important part of my life because when examined holistically it represents many aspects of my life and how clothing affects the social situations we face every day.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
The Meanings of Cars
Our society values cars on so many levels. First of all, we see them as a necessity for transportation. Most of us don’t live in walking distance of everywhere that we need to go and public transportation is not always considered. When we think of transportation the first thought we have is a car, it is the easiest and fastest way to get anywhere. This is not what I thought of when writing this blog. The first thing I thought of was how the car represents a right of passage. In our culture a car represents freedom. We look at it as a separation from our parents, that we are able to go wherever we want whenever we want. Of course this is regulated by laws and parental rules, but we don’t think of that when we get our first car. A car is important in our lives, we always remember our first car. We see this right of passage as a symbol of independence. Since you can begin to drive at the age of 16 but cannot be completely independent from your parents till you are 18, having a car and driving is a way of establishing some sort of independence and responsibility without having the full experience.
Not only are cars a right of passage, but they are a status symbol in our culture. Everyone knows which cars are expensive and which are not, and judge the person driving the car by that price tag. Everyone is always trying to buy a more expensive car, and I understand the quality of the car is better, but when you get up to the $100,000, that’s ridiculous. This shows that people are willing to spend that much money on a car, because they know it will gain them respect, whether it be from themselves or others. Some people spend hours on their cars making sure they look perfect, because they feel it is a reflection of themselves.
Cars also relate to space in our culture. Many people extend their personal space to their car, as I described in my earlier blog “Personal Space”. We decide who we let in our car, what we put in it, and design it to look exactly how we want it. I wouldn’t let a stranger get inside of my car, I try to keep my car clean, and I generally only have certain things inside of my car. I get embarrassed when my car is dirty, I feel like it reflects on myself. My car, this thing on wheels for TRANSPORTATION, has so many other meanings in my life.
Not only are cars a right of passage, but they are a status symbol in our culture. Everyone knows which cars are expensive and which are not, and judge the person driving the car by that price tag. Everyone is always trying to buy a more expensive car, and I understand the quality of the car is better, but when you get up to the $100,000, that’s ridiculous. This shows that people are willing to spend that much money on a car, because they know it will gain them respect, whether it be from themselves or others. Some people spend hours on their cars making sure they look perfect, because they feel it is a reflection of themselves.
Cars also relate to space in our culture. Many people extend their personal space to their car, as I described in my earlier blog “Personal Space”. We decide who we let in our car, what we put in it, and design it to look exactly how we want it. I wouldn’t let a stranger get inside of my car, I try to keep my car clean, and I generally only have certain things inside of my car. I get embarrassed when my car is dirty, I feel like it reflects on myself. My car, this thing on wheels for TRANSPORTATION, has so many other meanings in my life.
My Real Kinship Chart
After making my kinship charts in class I thought about who I actually consider my family. My charts are very small, and I don’t even know my mom’s brothers. If I were to draw another kinship chart of who I really considered family it would look like:
I believe most people in the class would have had a different kinship chart if we didn’t have to do it by blood. I have not met anyone who has a friend that they consider family. I believe our culture values blood ties to identify who we are and where we came from, but in everyday life our culture needs other ties than just blood to survive. This reminded me of a book I read in my Intro to Sociology class called “All Our Kin” by Carol Stack. Their family would have starved to death without help from friends around them. The support structure that this family living in poverty had did not just come from the blood tie of the family unit itself. I think family is a support structure, and I know many “families” that don’t support each other, they just live under the same roof. It was really depressing looking at my kinship chart because it was so small. The new version is full of people that support me and do love me. I don’t think blood kinship charts are a good representation of the family at all.
I believe most people in the class would have had a different kinship chart if we didn’t have to do it by blood. I have not met anyone who has a friend that they consider family. I believe our culture values blood ties to identify who we are and where we came from, but in everyday life our culture needs other ties than just blood to survive. This reminded me of a book I read in my Intro to Sociology class called “All Our Kin” by Carol Stack. Their family would have starved to death without help from friends around them. The support structure that this family living in poverty had did not just come from the blood tie of the family unit itself. I think family is a support structure, and I know many “families” that don’t support each other, they just live under the same roof. It was really depressing looking at my kinship chart because it was so small. The new version is full of people that support me and do love me. I don’t think blood kinship charts are a good representation of the family at all.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Delaney Ch.6 Excersise #2
I can think of several times that I tried to make my body conform to the cultural norm or standard. It all started in middle school when bodies started to matter, when the word “fat” was a word worse than any other. It was ridiculous, I went to a very small middle school so as my body changed everyone noticed it whether they wanted to or not. This put pressure on all of the girls in my class to try and control our changing bodies, some of us gained weight while others lost it. I noticed this created a clique between the two groups, those of us that gained it were so jealous of the ones that lost it that we were willing to speak badly about them even though we probably didn’t mean everything we said.
So what did I do? I joined a gym. LA Fitness had just opened by my house and my friend and I joined, we thought we were so cool going to the gym. We went everyday for the whole summer, and we did lose some weight, but we quit going once we lost it. We thought our weight loss was complete, we weren’t going to the gym to become healthy or change our life style, and we were doing it for the momentary satisfaction. I am glad I went to the gym instead of developing an eating disorder. When I got into high school I began to see the many ways that people would conform their bodies to society standards. Girls would wear makeup everyday religiously and it seemed like everyone had something to complain about their body. I watched girls starve themselves, binge eat and purge, I actually had a girl on my basket ball team who only joined to lose weight and then passed out on the court from de hydration and she hadn’t eaten in a couple days.
Most of these girls did lose weight, and even though most of them looked sick, people would tell them “oh you look so good”. This disgusted me, and after thinking about the culture of our beauty, I realized that our culture doesn’t care if we are healthy, our culture cares if we are a certain size, where certain clothes, and look a certain way. Everybody is going for that momentary satisfaction and not thinking about making healthy life choices. Society has an impossible image of the perfect women, not a lot of women are a size 2. Our society should stop putting so much pressure on women. I love the comparison that this chapter makes of the expectations society has for us and the product they give us. There are fast food restaurants on every corner but we have to be a size two. Our culture has a horrible and unfair view of the body.
So what did I do? I joined a gym. LA Fitness had just opened by my house and my friend and I joined, we thought we were so cool going to the gym. We went everyday for the whole summer, and we did lose some weight, but we quit going once we lost it. We thought our weight loss was complete, we weren’t going to the gym to become healthy or change our life style, and we were doing it for the momentary satisfaction. I am glad I went to the gym instead of developing an eating disorder. When I got into high school I began to see the many ways that people would conform their bodies to society standards. Girls would wear makeup everyday religiously and it seemed like everyone had something to complain about their body. I watched girls starve themselves, binge eat and purge, I actually had a girl on my basket ball team who only joined to lose weight and then passed out on the court from de hydration and she hadn’t eaten in a couple days.
Most of these girls did lose weight, and even though most of them looked sick, people would tell them “oh you look so good”. This disgusted me, and after thinking about the culture of our beauty, I realized that our culture doesn’t care if we are healthy, our culture cares if we are a certain size, where certain clothes, and look a certain way. Everybody is going for that momentary satisfaction and not thinking about making healthy life choices. Society has an impossible image of the perfect women, not a lot of women are a size 2. Our society should stop putting so much pressure on women. I love the comparison that this chapter makes of the expectations society has for us and the product they give us. There are fast food restaurants on every corner but we have to be a size two. Our culture has a horrible and unfair view of the body.
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Friday, October 30, 2009
What can you do with Anthropology?
If were to go into the field of anthropology I would want to work in the business and corporate aspect of anthropology. I never really thought about how anthropology relates to business, but it is actually really important in the field. With our increase in technology and communication with other countries our economies seem somewhat dependent on each other. In order for our business relationships to go smoothly we need to understand their culture and what is acceptable and inacceptable for them. This can also be important in marketing for the business. If you are marketing to another country you would need to understand their culture so you can better appeal to them and make sure that you don’t offend them. I also thought medical anthropology was interesting. When the woman was talking about HIV and other medical epidemics that occur I didn’t think anthropology had much to do with it. Then I realized that you have to understand someone’s culture to prevent these epidemics. You have to understand their everyday life and this could help you understand how these epidemics are occurring. They look at the differences and solutions to health problems.
Not only do I like the business and corporate aspect of anthropology, the one that interested me the most was Sociocultural Anthropology. This is when anthropologists work in the government and community to find and solve problems. I think this would be the most rewarding of the jobs for me, because I love to look at social problems. Anthropology plays a huge role in finding social problems because they usually stem from cultural differences and culture clashes. You can also analyze a culture and find where their problems come from, especially historically. The movie was very eye opening to the many things you can do with anthropology. It surprised me but I was able to understand how all of the jobs connect because of all of things we have looked at in our readings and class discussions.
Not only do I like the business and corporate aspect of anthropology, the one that interested me the most was Sociocultural Anthropology. This is when anthropologists work in the government and community to find and solve problems. I think this would be the most rewarding of the jobs for me, because I love to look at social problems. Anthropology plays a huge role in finding social problems because they usually stem from cultural differences and culture clashes. You can also analyze a culture and find where their problems come from, especially historically. The movie was very eye opening to the many things you can do with anthropology. It surprised me but I was able to understand how all of the jobs connect because of all of things we have looked at in our readings and class discussions.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
My Bitter-Sweet Relationship with Technology
I began using technology when I was about 13 years old. That is when I got my first laptop that had internet. I was so excited, I didn’t really know what I was going to do with it, I didn’t have papers to write or anything to type, I was excited because all of my friends went on the internet all of the time. I had been on the internet before but only to play games, and not for very long. Soon the boom of AIM and Myspace would hit and I would always be on the computer. I felt social; I was able to manipulate my Myspace to make me look older or cooler than I was. I then realized the dangers of technology when my friend got into some trouble, and I since then I have not used the internet as my space. I used to think as the internet as a space where I could write and post whatever I wanted, I was able to make friends and chat with people around the world. Then I realized that this space wasn’t private, but it felt like it to me. I used to use this technology as my private space, and then people I didn’t know recognized me from their friends Myspace and such. It creeped me out, technology was almost like my personal space, but I didn’t filter who was able to see it, now I do. My relationship with technology has changed in the sense that I don’t see it as my personal space; anyone can view what I post on the internet because I know that it is not private.
When I use technology it is generally for school. As I got older my relationship with technology became less social and more educational. I was I began to realize the social aspect of technology can become toxic. It replaces real relationships with people; it makes it way less formal, and people say things online that they wouldn’t usually say in person. I use technology for school because it is so important in education now. Can you imagine not having a laptop in High School or College? It wasn’t always like this, and I think it is very beneficial in education, but how much do we depend on it. I believe our society we have focused so much on technology that if it was taken from us we wouldn’t know what to do. It is embedded in us to use it, when teachers tell us to write a paper we never give them a handwritten paper, we always type it. We assume that is what we mean. We look at a typed paper as more professional than a handwritten paper; we value this technology to make us look presentable. We can make fancy power points and spell-check our papers, but we now tend to rely on this instead of editing our own work or creating our own designs. My relationship with technology is bitter sweet, I love technology and can’t imagine my life without it, but I also feel that it has gone so far as to enable us to be lazy and like I said depend on it for almost everything.
When I use technology it is generally for school. As I got older my relationship with technology became less social and more educational. I was I began to realize the social aspect of technology can become toxic. It replaces real relationships with people; it makes it way less formal, and people say things online that they wouldn’t usually say in person. I use technology for school because it is so important in education now. Can you imagine not having a laptop in High School or College? It wasn’t always like this, and I think it is very beneficial in education, but how much do we depend on it. I believe our society we have focused so much on technology that if it was taken from us we wouldn’t know what to do. It is embedded in us to use it, when teachers tell us to write a paper we never give them a handwritten paper, we always type it. We assume that is what we mean. We look at a typed paper as more professional than a handwritten paper; we value this technology to make us look presentable. We can make fancy power points and spell-check our papers, but we now tend to rely on this instead of editing our own work or creating our own designs. My relationship with technology is bitter sweet, I love technology and can’t imagine my life without it, but I also feel that it has gone so far as to enable us to be lazy and like I said depend on it for almost everything.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Going to Youth Group [Fieldwork Portfolio]
I am not a religious person. I have gone to church a couple times in my life with some friends, but never really began to immerse myself in it and participate in all of the activities. For this ethnographic fieldwork portfolio assignment I went to a youth group session with my friend Christine. I felt very out of place, yet I was welcomed with open arms the entire time. The youth group was composed of kids from 14-18 some of the people a little older, but they were considered councilors. My friend Christine is a councilor, she has attended the church for most of her life, she knew everyone there and helped anyone in need. Going into this fieldwork study I was skeptical if I was going to enjoy it, and I actually had a lot of fun.
At the youth group everyone was dropped off by their parents outside. The kids went inside while the adults discussed their lives and new events in the church outside. As the kids went in they had about a half an hour to socialize before the service. During this socialization the kids were separated mainly by gender, the girls and the boys said hello to each other, but they didn’t seem to have full conversations with them. Everyone their knew each other and they were all happy to see each other, Christine told me “most of us go to different schools and live in different towns, we have made some of our best friends here, so this is where we get to see each other.” I felt very out of place while everybody socialized, people were very nice to me and seemed happy to see I was there, but I felt as though I wasn’t part of the group, it was a very tight knit community in the youth group.
After everyone socialized they went into the chapel to listen to their service. Christine and I sat down close to the front and all of her friends sat around her. She turned to me and said “we generally always sit in the same spot” I asked her why but she didn’t really have a clear answer, she was considering it more habit than anything. Everyone was still chatting until the pastor came in and everyone bowed their heads and prayed. I didn’t know the prayer but I bowed my head with them until it was finished. Christine turned to me and said “its ok Ill teach it to you later.” I think she thought that she was going to make this a regular thing for me.
I felt that from a lot of the people there. The first question the pastor asked after the prayer and the announcements was “Do we have any new guests today?” He asked us to stand up, I was the only one, and he said “Welcome”. He began to preach about trust and the need to praise Jesus wherever you go, and to not be ashamed of Christianity. I thought it was going to be like this the whole time, but through out the sermon there were activities that people went up and participated in. My friend Christine and I participated in an example of the importance of praising Jesus even when others weren’t. We had to stage a High School situation where no one else prayed but us before a basket ball game, we made this up because Christine had experienced this. We pretended to run into the bathroom and pray with each other, and then go play the game. It emphasized the importance of Jesus in every aspect of your life. Everyone was laughing and having fun, it made me enjoy it as well.
After the sermon we all began to socialize again and discuss the events of the church coming up. Christine knew all of them and had every intent of participating, all of her friends did too. Everyone kept telling me to come back, the pastor had a long conversation with me about religion and how I should accept Jesus into my life, and how Christine “has to bring me back every Wednesday.” I felt very included yet out of place at the same time because they all knew I didn’t believe the same thing they did. After socializing everyone hugged each other goodbye, parents had discussions with the pastor, and they got in their cars and went home.
1. What understanding was gained from participation compared to just observing?
I was able to understand why they thought youth group was so much fun. When participating in the example I was able to connect with the members of the church because I felt included. No one made fun of me everyone was very supportive and it was good clean fun. I was also able to experience the emotion aspect tying us together. Even though I am not a religious person as I was singing the songs with them, people were crying and getting very emotional, and there was this emotional feeling through out the whole church that connected us.
2. What did having a key informant add to your understanding?
A key informant helped me understand what was going on. It was helpful to have her introduce me to people and people acted normal around me because they thought I was just a new member, or a friend of Christine’s spending time with her. It was also cool because she was there to give me the confidence to participate. I am a very shy person, I probably wouldn’t have done that if she wasn’t there.
3. What was learned from participant-observation at this event that a questionnaire or interview might miss?
I believe the main thing a survey might miss is the truly emotional moments in the church that really tied people together. Their sense of community is so strong and they all want to help each other, because they are going through these strong spiritual experiences together that a simple circle of an answer can explain.
4. For what purposes might a questionnaire or interview be better than participant-observation?
I think an interview would be better to get a broader sense of the structure of the church. You would get other people’s opinions that might be completely different, they might not go as much and have a different feeling while they are there. A questionnaire would be good to see what they might change about the church, no one complained about anything when I was there because I think they felt as though they weren’t supposed to, I think with a questionnaire you would get a more honest feeling about the structure of the church.
At the youth group everyone was dropped off by their parents outside. The kids went inside while the adults discussed their lives and new events in the church outside. As the kids went in they had about a half an hour to socialize before the service. During this socialization the kids were separated mainly by gender, the girls and the boys said hello to each other, but they didn’t seem to have full conversations with them. Everyone their knew each other and they were all happy to see each other, Christine told me “most of us go to different schools and live in different towns, we have made some of our best friends here, so this is where we get to see each other.” I felt very out of place while everybody socialized, people were very nice to me and seemed happy to see I was there, but I felt as though I wasn’t part of the group, it was a very tight knit community in the youth group.
After everyone socialized they went into the chapel to listen to their service. Christine and I sat down close to the front and all of her friends sat around her. She turned to me and said “we generally always sit in the same spot” I asked her why but she didn’t really have a clear answer, she was considering it more habit than anything. Everyone was still chatting until the pastor came in and everyone bowed their heads and prayed. I didn’t know the prayer but I bowed my head with them until it was finished. Christine turned to me and said “its ok Ill teach it to you later.” I think she thought that she was going to make this a regular thing for me.
I felt that from a lot of the people there. The first question the pastor asked after the prayer and the announcements was “Do we have any new guests today?” He asked us to stand up, I was the only one, and he said “Welcome”. He began to preach about trust and the need to praise Jesus wherever you go, and to not be ashamed of Christianity. I thought it was going to be like this the whole time, but through out the sermon there were activities that people went up and participated in. My friend Christine and I participated in an example of the importance of praising Jesus even when others weren’t. We had to stage a High School situation where no one else prayed but us before a basket ball game, we made this up because Christine had experienced this. We pretended to run into the bathroom and pray with each other, and then go play the game. It emphasized the importance of Jesus in every aspect of your life. Everyone was laughing and having fun, it made me enjoy it as well.
After the sermon we all began to socialize again and discuss the events of the church coming up. Christine knew all of them and had every intent of participating, all of her friends did too. Everyone kept telling me to come back, the pastor had a long conversation with me about religion and how I should accept Jesus into my life, and how Christine “has to bring me back every Wednesday.” I felt very included yet out of place at the same time because they all knew I didn’t believe the same thing they did. After socializing everyone hugged each other goodbye, parents had discussions with the pastor, and they got in their cars and went home.
1. What understanding was gained from participation compared to just observing?
I was able to understand why they thought youth group was so much fun. When participating in the example I was able to connect with the members of the church because I felt included. No one made fun of me everyone was very supportive and it was good clean fun. I was also able to experience the emotion aspect tying us together. Even though I am not a religious person as I was singing the songs with them, people were crying and getting very emotional, and there was this emotional feeling through out the whole church that connected us.
2. What did having a key informant add to your understanding?
A key informant helped me understand what was going on. It was helpful to have her introduce me to people and people acted normal around me because they thought I was just a new member, or a friend of Christine’s spending time with her. It was also cool because she was there to give me the confidence to participate. I am a very shy person, I probably wouldn’t have done that if she wasn’t there.
3. What was learned from participant-observation at this event that a questionnaire or interview might miss?
I believe the main thing a survey might miss is the truly emotional moments in the church that really tied people together. Their sense of community is so strong and they all want to help each other, because they are going through these strong spiritual experiences together that a simple circle of an answer can explain.
4. For what purposes might a questionnaire or interview be better than participant-observation?
I think an interview would be better to get a broader sense of the structure of the church. You would get other people’s opinions that might be completely different, they might not go as much and have a different feeling while they are there. A questionnaire would be good to see what they might change about the church, no one complained about anything when I was there because I think they felt as though they weren’t supposed to, I think with a questionnaire you would get a more honest feeling about the structure of the church.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Bone Thugs Money Money vs. Abba Money Money Money
"Money money, mighty dollar dollar" (Bone Thugs) sums up how the American culture feels about money. We idolize anyone who has money and the American Dream has us striving to get it. In the Bone Thugs in Harmony song "Money Money" they are representing the lower classes view of money, while in the song "Money Money Money" by Abba they are speaking more about how the rich men view money and how we want that. In the Bone Thugs song, with their lyrics and the way that they are rapping, you realize that they will do anything for this "mighty dollar". It reminded me a lot of the article "Workaday World, Crack Economy" by Philippe Bourgois because of the line "gotta get my grind on" generally refers to drug dealing. They are making it known that they will take the money if they have to, they just cant live without the money anymore. It really gives you insight on the poverty lifestyle and their feelings about the importance of money.
In the Abba song we are also seeing the American feeling of money and the greed that goes with it. We hear about how "money must be funny in a rich man's world". The concept of money in this song seems to be more directed towards a female audience and how she is going to marry a rich man. Without the violence and drugs Abba is still saying that they will do anything for money. At the beginning of the song she says that she worked all day with nothing to show for it. I think that is how most Americans live with this dream that they will somehow come to find a lot of money. Both songs speak about money and have the same sort of importance of money, but they are speaking to two different social classes.
In the Abba song we are also seeing the American feeling of money and the greed that goes with it. We hear about how "money must be funny in a rich man's world". The concept of money in this song seems to be more directed towards a female audience and how she is going to marry a rich man. Without the violence and drugs Abba is still saying that they will do anything for money. At the beginning of the song she says that she worked all day with nothing to show for it. I think that is how most Americans live with this dream that they will somehow come to find a lot of money. Both songs speak about money and have the same sort of importance of money, but they are speaking to two different social classes.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Reflection on Personal Space
After talking about space for the past week I began to observe how different cultures feel about personal space. I realized that all of my friends and I give each other hugs when we see each other but when we meet new people we generally don’t even shake their hands unless it is an adult or a formal introduction. When I went over to my boyfriend’s friend’s house the other night everyone gave me a hug, they sat close to me and when the spoke to me they stood very close. This was a very close Mexican family that my boyfriend had grown up with. I felt as though my personal space was being invaded at some points, but I realized that they just had a difference sense of personal space than I did.
After thinking about this topic I thought about the Arabic household that I have visited quite often. They seem to be the extreme opposite where personal space is much larger than mine. I remember my friends little sister was crying and talking to me and she thought it was weird that I gave her a hug, especially in front of others. The parents were quiet and straight faced as she was crying and consoled her with words and no visible affection. I felt as though I invaded her personal space now. It’s hard to judge other peoples personal space and I think that’s why in America we are not very touchy feely people.
I have always been told to keep distant of people until I am very close emotionally with them. I have never really given someone I just met a hug unless they give me one first. As children we have always observed adults shaking hands and being formal and I think we internalized that. We have internalized our own personal space and have not only made it a “bubble” around you but physical spaces.
As I was younger my personal space was just the space around me, now that I am older my personal space as grown to physical places, such as my room, my car, and my office. I realized this when we made our maps in class. Personal space is important in our society and after reflecting on this I saw how much our culture keeps people at a certain distance with our personal space. I think it determines who are friends and family are, who we trust, who we love, it represents a lot about who we let into our personal space.
After thinking about this topic I thought about the Arabic household that I have visited quite often. They seem to be the extreme opposite where personal space is much larger than mine. I remember my friends little sister was crying and talking to me and she thought it was weird that I gave her a hug, especially in front of others. The parents were quiet and straight faced as she was crying and consoled her with words and no visible affection. I felt as though I invaded her personal space now. It’s hard to judge other peoples personal space and I think that’s why in America we are not very touchy feely people.
I have always been told to keep distant of people until I am very close emotionally with them. I have never really given someone I just met a hug unless they give me one first. As children we have always observed adults shaking hands and being formal and I think we internalized that. We have internalized our own personal space and have not only made it a “bubble” around you but physical spaces.
As I was younger my personal space was just the space around me, now that I am older my personal space as grown to physical places, such as my room, my car, and my office. I realized this when we made our maps in class. Personal space is important in our society and after reflecting on this I saw how much our culture keeps people at a certain distance with our personal space. I think it determines who are friends and family are, who we trust, who we love, it represents a lot about who we let into our personal space.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Space and Organization (Ch.2 pg 74-75)
Part 1: How I Would Draw the Uof R....
Part 2: After driving around campus, how is the space organized?
I am a sophomore at the University of Redlands and I live off campus. I have lived off campus for both years but I have spent a lot of time on before I attended this school. My dad used to work at the school and I basically grew up on campus, but I really only went to the School of Music and the Commons. You would think that my map of the campus would be pretty accurate, but trust me…it wasn’t.
Since I have started my education at the University I haven’t spent as much time on campus. I tend to just come to my classes, go to the library, and maybe the commons, and then go home. I noticed that when I made my map the largest parts were the spaces where I took my classes and have spent time, otherwise the spaces on my map were small or non existent. I realized this when walked around the campus after class one day.
While I was walking around campus I saw the divisions of work vs. leisure. I noticed that all of the work or class were around the campus while the leisure such as the commons and the dorms were at the center of the campus. The leisure places were the most populated at the time when I walked around campus, the work was quiet while the leisure was loud, and the while the work was not as friendly as the atmosphere of the leisure.
I also realized the separations of different categories of people on campus. The students were at the center of the campus while the faculty was around the edges. I saw a larger population of the females in the library then of males, that could be due to the school demographic. I noticed that more men were walking from the gym than women but there were still women at the gym. I didn’t see any real gender separations throughout the campus.
The faculty of the university is also separated through space. They are separated from their students, their offices are in a certain area of the building. They are also separated from the student workers in the library, they have their own large desks while student worker’s are smaller. I also noticed that the clerical workers of the university are separated from the teachers, they all generally share an office with each other and are at the front of the building than at the back.
I felt that I had a large amount of freedom moving throughout these space but a different amount if I wanted to interact with these spaces. I had to show my ID to use the library, to talk to a worker I would have had to be invited into their space, I felt awkward walking throughout campus by myself, I felt as though I wasn’t a part of the campus community, which effected my perception of the space.
Space at the university is also categorized by activity. All of the buildings of the same subject were grouped together. All of the sciences were grouped together at one end of the campus while music was on the other side. Every building has its own name and its own subject. The commons are categorized by everyday life and the dorms are categorized by personal space and social life.
The thing that made me think about space the most were the sorority and fraternity houses. As I drove past them I got this feeling that they weren’t part of the campus, that they were their own little private community. Their placement is on the very outskirts of campus and I didn’t see a lot of students there. I saw flyers for events going on at the house but they felt very exclusive, as if you had to know someone to go there. I felt that the small campus felt very inclusive but the way that the sorority and fraternity houses are placed in space they feel very exclusive. Since I don’t live on campus it was interesting to see how the university is organized by space and how my perception changed after I took the time out to walk the whole campus.
Part 2: After driving around campus, how is the space organized?
I am a sophomore at the University of Redlands and I live off campus. I have lived off campus for both years but I have spent a lot of time on before I attended this school. My dad used to work at the school and I basically grew up on campus, but I really only went to the School of Music and the Commons. You would think that my map of the campus would be pretty accurate, but trust me…it wasn’t.
Since I have started my education at the University I haven’t spent as much time on campus. I tend to just come to my classes, go to the library, and maybe the commons, and then go home. I noticed that when I made my map the largest parts were the spaces where I took my classes and have spent time, otherwise the spaces on my map were small or non existent. I realized this when walked around the campus after class one day.
While I was walking around campus I saw the divisions of work vs. leisure. I noticed that all of the work or class were around the campus while the leisure such as the commons and the dorms were at the center of the campus. The leisure places were the most populated at the time when I walked around campus, the work was quiet while the leisure was loud, and the while the work was not as friendly as the atmosphere of the leisure.
I also realized the separations of different categories of people on campus. The students were at the center of the campus while the faculty was around the edges. I saw a larger population of the females in the library then of males, that could be due to the school demographic. I noticed that more men were walking from the gym than women but there were still women at the gym. I didn’t see any real gender separations throughout the campus.
The faculty of the university is also separated through space. They are separated from their students, their offices are in a certain area of the building. They are also separated from the student workers in the library, they have their own large desks while student worker’s are smaller. I also noticed that the clerical workers of the university are separated from the teachers, they all generally share an office with each other and are at the front of the building than at the back.
I felt that I had a large amount of freedom moving throughout these space but a different amount if I wanted to interact with these spaces. I had to show my ID to use the library, to talk to a worker I would have had to be invited into their space, I felt awkward walking throughout campus by myself, I felt as though I wasn’t a part of the campus community, which effected my perception of the space.
Space at the university is also categorized by activity. All of the buildings of the same subject were grouped together. All of the sciences were grouped together at one end of the campus while music was on the other side. Every building has its own name and its own subject. The commons are categorized by everyday life and the dorms are categorized by personal space and social life.
The thing that made me think about space the most were the sorority and fraternity houses. As I drove past them I got this feeling that they weren’t part of the campus, that they were their own little private community. Their placement is on the very outskirts of campus and I didn’t see a lot of students there. I saw flyers for events going on at the house but they felt very exclusive, as if you had to know someone to go there. I felt that the small campus felt very inclusive but the way that the sorority and fraternity houses are placed in space they feel very exclusive. Since I don’t live on campus it was interesting to see how the university is organized by space and how my perception changed after I took the time out to walk the whole campus.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Myth and Magic
[Based on the reading "Magic, Science, and Religion" By Bronislaw Malinowski]
Malinowski states that there are three kinds of stories in primitive cultures that have different meanings and purposes. A fairytale, which is told by a certain person at a certain time, is a story for entertainment. The person is judged by how they told it and to what accuracy they told it. This story has no real meaning to the tribe other than entertainment. The second form of story is legend. The legend is a true story of something that is ordinary to he tribe and explains to most what is coming up in their life. Legends are told at anytime and are mainly told by elders to younger tribesman. The third and most valuable story to the tribe is the myth. The myth is thought to be a true story that focuses on things such as origin, magic, life and death, ect. It forms the cultural beliefs and norms you would see if you were observe the tribesman.
Malinowski believes that "myth is believed to be the real cause which has brought about the moral rule, the social grouping, the rite,or the custom" (pg. 108)of the tribal culture. He focuses on the impact of myth on culture through examining the myth of origin, the myth of life and death, and the myth of magic. These myths were created in order to give reason to the experiences they face in everyday life. Myths are seen mainly in ceremonies, traditions, and social customs. Malinowski believes that we can not understand a tribal myth without understanding and experiencing the tribe itself. We are not able to understand the myth in text without seeing the effect of the myth in person. An example he uses is the myth of magic. which is used to "bridge over the gaps and inadequacies in highly important activities not yet completely mastered by man" (pg. 140) This gives us a great example of how myths affect their social customs and everyday life through gardening, fishing, ect. They always do a certain chant or spell before they engage in certain activities.
In the conclusion of Malinowski's writing he states that after examining a more primitive culture "we may be able to gain a new sense of proportion with regard to our own institutions, beliefs, and customs." (pg. 145) I began to examine the myths in my culture and came to realize that the myths in U.S. society is entirely based on religion. With that we have looked more at the myths in society as symbolic with morals at the end and such that we don't take them as true instances that occurred. Some believed the stories happened but from what I feel myths in society are more for interpretation and symbolism rather that pure fact.
In examining the magic of the more primitive culture I gathered that they truly believed in magic, that if magic wasn't used their society wouldn't have justified things such as life and death. In the U.S. society I believe that magic is used more as an entertainment factor, something that we can use are imagination to play with, that children believe and as they grow up realize it was false. I feel as though in society magic has been replaced by science, the tribes used magic to explain phenomenons while now we generally try to use science. I thought reading about these myths was interesting and I do agree wit Malinowski that "myth conveys much more to the native than is contained in the mere story; that the story only gives the the really relevant concrete local differences; that the real meaning, in fact the full account, is contained in the traditional foundations of social organizations."
Malinowski states that there are three kinds of stories in primitive cultures that have different meanings and purposes. A fairytale, which is told by a certain person at a certain time, is a story for entertainment. The person is judged by how they told it and to what accuracy they told it. This story has no real meaning to the tribe other than entertainment. The second form of story is legend. The legend is a true story of something that is ordinary to he tribe and explains to most what is coming up in their life. Legends are told at anytime and are mainly told by elders to younger tribesman. The third and most valuable story to the tribe is the myth. The myth is thought to be a true story that focuses on things such as origin, magic, life and death, ect. It forms the cultural beliefs and norms you would see if you were observe the tribesman.
Malinowski believes that "myth is believed to be the real cause which has brought about the moral rule, the social grouping, the rite,or the custom" (pg. 108)of the tribal culture. He focuses on the impact of myth on culture through examining the myth of origin, the myth of life and death, and the myth of magic. These myths were created in order to give reason to the experiences they face in everyday life. Myths are seen mainly in ceremonies, traditions, and social customs. Malinowski believes that we can not understand a tribal myth without understanding and experiencing the tribe itself. We are not able to understand the myth in text without seeing the effect of the myth in person. An example he uses is the myth of magic. which is used to "bridge over the gaps and inadequacies in highly important activities not yet completely mastered by man" (pg. 140) This gives us a great example of how myths affect their social customs and everyday life through gardening, fishing, ect. They always do a certain chant or spell before they engage in certain activities.
In the conclusion of Malinowski's writing he states that after examining a more primitive culture "we may be able to gain a new sense of proportion with regard to our own institutions, beliefs, and customs." (pg. 145) I began to examine the myths in my culture and came to realize that the myths in U.S. society is entirely based on religion. With that we have looked more at the myths in society as symbolic with morals at the end and such that we don't take them as true instances that occurred. Some believed the stories happened but from what I feel myths in society are more for interpretation and symbolism rather that pure fact.
In examining the magic of the more primitive culture I gathered that they truly believed in magic, that if magic wasn't used their society wouldn't have justified things such as life and death. In the U.S. society I believe that magic is used more as an entertainment factor, something that we can use are imagination to play with, that children believe and as they grow up realize it was false. I feel as though in society magic has been replaced by science, the tribes used magic to explain phenomenons while now we generally try to use science. I thought reading about these myths was interesting and I do agree wit Malinowski that "myth conveys much more to the native than is contained in the mere story; that the story only gives the the really relevant concrete local differences; that the real meaning, in fact the full account, is contained in the traditional foundations of social organizations."
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Introduction
Hi!
My name is Chelsea and I am a Sophmore at the University of Redlands. I am a Psychology major with a minor in Sociology. During this class I am interested to learn about the many symbols that an objet can hold in a culture that I would have never noticed without having the discussions and assignments that I am going to participate in, in this course. So....this is my blog of what I find interesting and notice in everyday life as I start thinking more like an anthropologist.
My name is Chelsea and I am a Sophmore at the University of Redlands. I am a Psychology major with a minor in Sociology. During this class I am interested to learn about the many symbols that an objet can hold in a culture that I would have never noticed without having the discussions and assignments that I am going to participate in, in this course. So....this is my blog of what I find interesting and notice in everyday life as I start thinking more like an anthropologist.
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