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.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
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.
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