Chapter 4-9 (80 mc, 20 t/f) Readings 10,11,13,16,17,21 ( 20 mc ) Chapter 4: Constructing Realities Introduction - People take beliefs for granted - When people try to make sense of their experiences, they do so by drawing from shared cultural assumptions about how the world works - Shared cultural assumptions create an encompassing picture of reality - Worldview: an encompassing picture of reality based on shared cultural assumptions about how the world works - Worldviews differ between cultures - Evans-Pritchard is a famous anthropologist in the 1900’s known for his fieldwork among the azande of southern sudan - ^ argued that witchcraft was ubiquitous among them and tended to explain many acts of misfortune such as death and illness - We all interpret experiences based upon our worldview - Ethnocentric assumptions may be assumed - Edward taylor: the founder of modern anthropology - ^ beliefs in gods developed through the efforts of human beings to explain certain events, to understand why things happened as they did - Emile Durheim: the lives of these people could be best studied by looking at societies that were considered simple or underdeveloped - Anthropologists efforts to understand belief rarely start from the premise that other people’s beliefs are irrational or incorrect - Anthropologists try to understand the nature of belief or religious practice and how it is that people come to believe that their view of the world is correct - Symbolic actions: the activities- including ritual, myth, art, dance, and music that dramatically depict the meaning shared by a specific body of people Chapte 5: Introduction Family relations in North American Popular Culture - Kinship: refers to the anthropological, cross cultural study of family composition, marriage and descent patterns - Many early anthropologists assumed that kinship was more important in small scale societies where provided the entire basis of social organizations - Kinship have demonstrated that kinship remains a meaningful element of social life in large scale societies - Ethnographic present: use of the present tense to describe a culture, although the description may refer to situations that existed in the past 5.1 The family composition of Ju/’hoansi - Families live in groups 10-40 people who hunt and gather in a territory associated with a particular water hole - Membership in a camp is fluid - Within the camp, the basic family group is the nuclear family of husband, wife and children - Brideservice: the requirement that when a couple marries, the groom must work for the bride’s parents for some specified time - When couples get married, the groom is said to move in with the bride’s family The family composition of Trobriand Islander - Matrilineage; a lineage that is formed by tracing descent in the female line - They ranked relative to one another, and each village ranking matrilineage - Trobrianders mythology and beliefs about procreation dramatically depict the matrilineal element in their lives - They reinforce the matrilineal principle as well as the tie between brothers and sisters - Extended family: a family group based on blood relations of three or more generations The family composition of Rural Chinese - Patrilineage: a lineage that is formed by tracing descent in the male line - The identity of each male is defined by his relations to the dead as much as it is by his relations to the living - Chinese prefer males rather than females 5.2 - Most societies require the socially recognized union of a female and male Incest taboo: a rule that prhibits sexual relations among kin of certain categories such as brothers or sisters, parents and children or in some cases, cousins - The marriage ceremony in many north american societies is often arranged and financed by the bride’s family - After the honeymoon, the couple ideally establishes an independant residence The family cycle of Ju/’ hoansi - Little privacy - Men tend to marry between the ages of 18 and 25 - Marriage is status to men as it shows that he is an adult worthy of taking part in the public life - Cannot marry men the same name as their fathers The family cycle of Trobriand Islanders - Children begin seeking sex partners at the ages of seven anf eight - Sexual activities before marriage is common - Clans: unilineal descent groups whose members claim descent from a common ancestor - Exogamy: a rule that requires a person to marry someone outside his or her own group - Endogamy: a rule that requires a person to marry someone inside his or her own group - Bridewealth: the valuable that a groom or his family are expected or obligated to present to the bride’s family - Yams are valuable symbols of wealth and are used as gifts The family cycle of Rural chinese - When a boy is 6, his parents may hire a matchmaker to find his soulmate - The time of a person’s birth influences his or her personality and fate, the parents may slo enlist the services of a diviner to make the appropriate match - Sometimes the family adopt a female in order to find someone for their son - ^ when the kids get older, they find it hard to make it work because they grew up as siblings - Chinese adopt males when they have none in the family to carry the family name - Dowry: the goods and valuables a bride’s family supplies to the groom’s family or to the couple 5.3 Sex, Love, and Wealth Among Ju/’hoansi - Wealth plays no part in marriages - When grown women do not have sex, they are angry - A woman's sexuality maximizes her independence Sex, Love and Wealth among Trobriand Islanders - The maintenance of sexuality is important throughout life - Women uses her sexuality to negotiate her relationships with others - A woman's worth is determined by her ability to collect yams for her husband, produce children, and provide banana leaf bundles for her matrilineage - Men who want to marry must use the wealth of members of their matrilineage as bridewealth payments to their wives families Sex, Love and Wealth among Rural Chinese - Virginity is both valued and necessary for a Chinese bride - If the girl is known to have been mixed up in an affair, her only chance of marriage is to someone in a distant village - Love and sexulity are irrelevant also in the relations between traditional chinese husbands and wives - A women’s value consists in her potential to become the mother of a boy - A women must establish bonds of emotion and affection with her sons 5.4 Threats to a Ju/’hoansi Family - The major threat to family stability is conflict between husband and wife over infidelity or the efforts of a husband to secure a second wife - Men say that the emotion and passion of extramarital affairs are wonderful - Male adulthood requires acquiring and demonstrating a willingness to fight for a secure marital status Threats to a Trobrian Island Family - Yams are the main focus - Claim to know of spells and magic forms that are capable of killing - Someone who is believed to have this power is both feared and respected - Death is a serious matter Threats to a Rural Chinese Family - The absence of a son is the biggest threat - Fathers have enormous power over sons - Breaking away from a father is a violent act - Partible inheritance: a form of inheritance in which the goods or property of a family is divided among the heirs - Impartible inheritance: a form of inheritance in which family property is passed undivided to one heir 5.5: Challenges to Theory in Anthropology - “ is blood really thicker than water?” - Food is another substance that may be more important than blood in creating kinship - This process of visualization, according to Rapp ( 2007 ) becomes a key means through which mother's form a social bond with their fetus - “ marriage was, and to a certain extent still is, something that rich people do” - The status of women within the family decreased as they left for work outside the home - The study of family relations has expanded to include gay anf lesbian families 5.6 - Anthropologists can apply their understanding to prevent sexually transmitted diseases, especially HIV/ AIDS Condoms use is one of the simplest and more common measures AIDS prevention in Namibia - Government were making a concerted effort to mount publicity and education campaigns, even in remote areas where the Ju’/hoansi have lived - Poverty is relative Chapter 6: Constructing Identities - Interactions with others are shaped by their perception of us - We use our bodies in unconscious and conscious ways to communicate information about ourselves with others Introduction - Social identity: who we are and how we stand in relation to others - Individuals seek confirmation from others that they occupy the positions on the social landscape that they claim to occupy - We group individuals into categories based on criteria such as gender, ethnicity and personal character etc - Our social identities are constructed in large part by others who by their behaviour toward us, confirm that we occupy the spot on the social landscape we claim to occupy 6.1:Learning to Belong - Inut babies know their importance right when they are born - - - As people tell stories about the land and its creation, babies learn to connect and pictures the scenario Stories present people of all ages with ways of knowing about who they are and where they came from Storytelling is also a form of communication from one generation to another No one really understand everything in the stories Brody: We are not born knowing who we are or what our places are on social landscape, we learn these things At the same time, identities are political and collective Imagined community: a term coined by Benedict Anderson in 1983, it refers to the fact that even in the absence of face to face interactions, a sense of community is culturally constructed by forces such as the mass media Nature vs. nurture: a phrase coined by Sir Francis Galton in 1874, that references a long standing scholarly debate concerning whether or not human behaviours and identities are the result of nature ( biological and genetic factor ) or nurture ( learned and cultural factors ) Biology with human behaviours and identities is potentially dangerous Gender stereotypes are common 6.2: The importance of Self - Our name remains with us throughout our lives and represent the self - Jorge climbinda ( 2006) has explored the process of “naming” children among the Umbunu of Angola - Names are tools with which people reward the life they have received from their relationship and their world The egocentric self and the sociocentric self - Factors such as poverty and ethnicity may make individualism and self reliance difficult to achieve - Sociocentric view of the self is context dependent Personhood in Japan - Children are taught that interdependence between the person and the family or group is more important than independence - They are expressed in their language - Since japanese language is status based, people must be careful of the linguistic forms they use in conversations - Believed that social interactions should be characterized by restraint or reserve, traits they identify a enryo - Personhood is not static or fixed but processual and ongoing 6.3 - Differences and similarities among persons are the materials from which we construct our social landscape - Allows us to distinguish individuals from one another or assign them to one group or another - From differences and similarities, we construct our social identity In many societies, the most important characteristic for defining the self are related to kinship and family members To have no kinship label in such a society is to have no meaningful place on the social landscape Language is another important identity marker Language is often tied strongly to a national identity 6.4 - identities are not static Birthdays, graduation, marriage are examples that mark significant changes in an individual's status in society The transition to Adulthood - Three phases: spertion, liminality, and reincorporation 6.5 - In north america, think about how designer clothing, shoes, and bgs are coveted as markers of class and status Rituals of gift giving and hospitality - Principle of reciprocity: the giving and receiving of gifts. The idea is that the exchange of gifts creates a feeling of obligation in that the gift must be repaid - The giving of the gift creates a tie with the person who receives it and who, on some future occasion, is obligated to reciprocate - If the gifts are roughly of equal value, the relationship is one of equality - If the gifts are unequal in value, the person who gives the more valuable gift is generally of higher status than the receiver - Kula ring: a system of inter-island gift exchange documented by anthropologist Bronislaw in the Robriand islands - Potlatch: a celebration usually involving elaborate feasting and the redistribution of gifts, found among many indigenous northwest coast groups Gifts and Commodities - A handmade gift is more meaningful than buying from the store - Commodities: traditionally, thay are items that involve a transfer of value and a countertransfer - A sells something to B, and the transaction is finished. As is typical of capitalist marketexchange systems, a long standing personal relationship between buyer and seller is not established - Commodities are independent of their sellers Gift Giving and the Christian Celebration of Christmas in North America - “ it is the thought that counts “ - Christmas shopping demonstrates that they can create a world of family 6.6: The meaning of “ Indigenous “ - Indigeneous people: groups of people whose ancestors predate the arrival of Europoean or other forms of colonialism, who share a culture and or way of life that they often identify as distinct from “ mainstream” society - People are defined as indgigenous because “ ancestors of members did not practice one of the world's religions and therefore needed to be converted - Indigenes are defined by their relationship to the state, in which they are recognized as having different rights than other citizens Conflict within Collective Identity: Telefomin and Land in Papua New Guinea - Creating a collective identity does not mean that everyone who assumes that identity experience it in the same way Chapter 7: Social Hierarchies Introduction: the rationale for social inequality - Wealth, status, power and privilege is a significant problem throughout the modern world - Social hierarchy is not an inevitable feature of human societies - Social hierarchy: the ordering and ranking of individuals within society, also known as social stratification - ^^Hierarchies are based on race, gender, class, caste, ethnicity, national affiliation - The use of age as a criterion of rank varies from society to society - The hierarchical ordering of people and groups is unavoidable - Indigenous populations, minorities, and women are the social categories of people most at risk for poverty 7.1 Class: a form of identity informed by perceptions of an individual's economie worth or status. It is also a form of social hierarchy - Lower, middle, upper class - Family background, ethnicity Class as a form of social hierarchy - Social class refers to perceptions of an individual's standing or status in society, based on economic criteria, status, etc - We live in a commodified, consumer-driven society in which material possessions such as cars, houses Caste as a form of social stratification - Caste systems: a form of social stratification and identity where individuals are assigned at birth to the ranked and endogamous social occupational groups of their parents - A person’s place in the social order is fixed; there is no mobility from one caste to another - Castes are sepereated by strict rules that forbid intermarriage and other forms of interaction - Caste systems exist in societies all over the world - Castes are occupational, they do not so much determine one’s occupation as they exclude one from a certain job 7.2: Constructing the ideology of racism - Based on the assumption that a person’s position in the class hierarchy is determined largely by achievement or individual effort - The hierarchical ordering of society is seen as an expression of a natural law that some people are born better able to lead and succeed than others - Race: a culturally constructed form of identity and social hierarchy, race refers to the presumed hereditary, physical characteristics of a group of people - We live in a society that views race as a natural, ascribed category; it is something we believe we are born with - Structural racism: as opposed to prejudice and discrimination by individuals - White privilege: refers to the fact that in many societies “ white “ people have access to greater power, authority and privileges than no white people - Science became a tool for naturalizing power, privileges and power - All “ whites “ were not only socially superior but also biologically superior Class, race, and the social construction of “ intelligence” 1. Intelligence is assumed to be a single entity - If someone is intelligent in one way, they will be in other ways also 2. Intelligence is assumed to be measurable and unequally distributed in the population - We can measure innate intelligence, as opposed to achievement 3. The amount of people is assumed to be relatively fixed throughout life - We can show that whatever is measured does not vary throughout a person’s life 4. The amount of people have is assumed to largely explain their degree of success in live - People who have more measured intelligence is more likely to be successful 5. Intelligence is assumed to be inherited - The children of people with high measurable intelligence also have high measurable intelligence 7.3 Constructing male and female Sex Gender - - Male Female - Man Woman Third gender We often assume that gender, like race is biological The two spirit is a biological male who does not fill a standard male role One way to learn about how a society constructs gender differences and relationship sis to explore theatrical and ritual transvestism Constructing stratification by gender - Many people believed that women’s bodies defined both their social position and their function, which was to reproduce, in the same way that men’s bodies dictates that they manage, control and defend - Menstruation is likewise described even today as a breakdown in the reproductive process - There are many different definitions of menstruation ( some being positive, some being negative ) Gender stratification and the privileging of hegemonic masculinity - Often used to construct gendered hierarchies in societies - Those who fall outside hegemonic gender ideals are often labeled as “less masculine” - Men who fail to pursue women aggressively are often labelle's macume ( sissy ) - Also constructed through sports, competitions and rituals - Sex constitutes a major status and idenityt marker - Masculinity is defined and demonstrated by sexual conquest Gender stratification and the feminization of poverty - Gender and age are related to whether a person lives in poverty - Women are more likely to be poor and malnourished and less likely to receive medical services, clean water - Women have less access to education and government employment in the informal sector Body Image and Gender Hierarchies - Weight is a handicap in the education system, where teachers perceive heavy children as having more behavioural problems than others - People who are overweight face hostile work environements and job discrimination - Adolescent girls are more vulnerable to body image issues - Being “ thin “ was the ticket to happiness - Not losing weight implied that the girl was unconcerned about her personal appearance or was lazy Language, Gender and Racial Hierarchies - Language was one tool that people have to signal how they want to be placed in society - Grammar can signal gender - Whether or not to speak can convey gender - Conversational styles may also convey gender - Language can also be used to construct others or groups from which people want to separate themselves 7.4 Constructing a new racism - New racism: a form of soft racism that posits racial differences as cultural, rather than biological, but which still views such differences as immutable or insurmountable Pakistain Immigrant Women and the Construction of the “ Sanitized Body” - Pakistian women have an unemployment rate of over 20% - In workplaces, Pakistains were too keep their religion at home 7.5 The Hutterites and the Colony of Heaven - The goal of hutterites is to create a “ colony of heaven “ - They reject competition and believed that property is to be used, not possessed - Governed by an elected board that includes the religious leaders and the community teachers Accepted and used modern technology Society is ranked by age and gender Children are taught to avoid seeking honours or placing themselves above others “Frieden nehmen”, taking away the individual’s peace of mind Wealthier colonies that delay branching are often disrupted by internal quarrels and became examples of the danger of failing to branch on schedule 7.6 - Inequality is striking and is growing worse both within wealthy countries and between the rich and the poor countries of the world Anthropology and Human Rights - Rights have been largely ignored or unenforceable - Economic and social inequality that creates the conditions for human rights violations continues to grow Anthropology and Medical Rights: The Work of Paul Farmer - Structural violence is often invisible and lacking one specific person who can ( or will ) be held responsible Chapter 8: Globalization, Neoliberalism, and the nation-state Introduction - The leaders of the 20 of the wealthiest nations in the world convened to discuss the future of global capitalist economies, international aid and development strategies - During the G20 meeting, indigenous groups, gay rights activists, environmentalist were among the protestors - Globalization; defined as the intensification of worldwide social relations which link distant localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped by events occurring many miles away and vice versa 8.1 The great transformation - Economic systems: the rules mechanisms, institutions, and systems or relations through which goods and services are distributed and people get what they want - Industrial revolution had enormous worldwide economic and social consequences, and it was intimately linked with colonialism - Capitalism expanded such that we engage in the sale or barter of goods and services on large international scales - Adam smith saw the workings of the market as an “ invisible hand”: God created the world where human happiness is maximized - By seeking money and wealth, each person would work towards supplying what others needed or demanded The emergence of Neoliberalism - Ideas were prompted by concerns about the spread of totalitarianism societies and religious and racial intolerance in the aftermath of the second world war If cities went bankrupt, workers would lose their pensions Removing government involvement in the economy is central to neoliberal economic philosophy 8.2 - Neoliberal philosophy is the driving force behind what we call “ globalization” The central idea behind neoliberalism is to keep governments from interfering in the functioning of the market Nation-state: a political community that has clearly defined territorial borders and centralized authority “Nation” and state do not mean the same thing Nation: a collection of people who share a common language, worldview, and ancestry Nation-states typically keep public order, maintain armies, collect tribute or taxes Nation states began to develop into partnershi[s between ruling elites and the merchant classes The nation-state and the cost of snickers bars - Market externalities: costs that are not included in the prices people pay, for example; health risks and environmental degradation - The nation-state also manipulates the prices of things by regulating the price of labour - Tax policies of the nation-state are constantly being adjusted to ensure the maintenance of corporate profits and low prices - Nation state develops sich instruments such as tax laws, financial policies, environmental regulations and labour laws that help corporations and consumers avoid paying the real costs of production and consumption - Corporations look to nation states to further their interests - Workers expect the nation-states to enact and enforce rules and regulations that allow their citizens to pass on the real costs of things ( health risks, poverty ) What is the role of the nation state in an increasingly neoliberalized global economy? - Transnational: involve more than one nation state; reaching beyond or transcending national boundaries - The major candidate to replace the nation state is the transnational corporation Globalization, free trade and the canadian garment industry - One effect of economic globalization has been the movement of capital, production and goods around the globe - People migrate in search of a better livelihood or because they have been displaced by the lack of economic and social opportunities 8.3 - The integration and maintenance of the national economy is the most important tasks facing the modern nation state - The state must be recognized by its citizens as the legitimate source of authority - Must establish and uphold its own citizens rules - When people can be persuaded to identify themselves as members of a common political entity, they more easily accept integration into the national economy - Membership in the state is voluntary and contractual - Nation states carefully define the places occupied by the various groups[s within their borders - Multiculturalism: defined as a canadian policy in which all hyphenated cultures such as african Canadians and french Canadians are described and celebrated as part of a cultural mosaic - The meaning of “ culture” changes within the policy of multiculturalism Education and the nation state - Requires institutions that integrate all of its members - People must be taught to deal with meanings rather than with things such as shovels The first nation’s challenge to the canadian state - Indigenism: refers to an international, collaborative movement that aims to protect the rights and livelihoods of indigenous people 8.4 - Globalization is having a variety of cultural impacts, both positive and negative The transitional flow of ideas, commodities and images can help groups cultivate a sense of collective identity Intersections of nationalism and economic and cultural globalization in vanuatu - Tourism is an aspect of contemporary life in which the simu;taneous impacts of economic and cultural globalization are most obvious Globalization and cultural diversity - The vulnerability of small- scale cultures has increased in recent years, largely because of globalization and the expansion into virtually all areas of the world of a culture that assumes that economic trade is the source of all well being - The same economic forces that are undermining traditional cultures are promoting environmental destruction Finding hope in the face of cultural devastation - All cultures are vulnerable - People’s views of the world, what they count as important, what they value and what the good life means to them are all subject to sudden upheaval Chapter 9: Resolving Conflict Introduction: Justifying Violence and Imagining Peace - Violence is an innate human tendency and that peace is simply the absence of violence - Violence, “ a category in between peaceful disputing, and major planned warfare and fighting “ - Human beings have an innate instinct toward aggression and that the roots of war and collective violence lie somewhere in the biological mechanisms that animals and humans have in common - It is part of human nature 9.1 Horses, Rank, and Wareshare Among the Kiowa - One way societies create a bias toward collective violence is by rewarding it - Horses symbolize wealth - Acquiring a horse meant to rise in status - Kiowa rewarded aggressive behaviour and bravery in battle Good Hosts Among the Yanomamo - Another way societies create a bias in favour of collective violence is by making it a necessary means for protecting valuable resources - Women and children are valuable resources - Men believed that to protect themselves and their resources, they must be fierce - Raids must be conducted to avenge the death of a village member at the hands of an enemy village - Raids may also be conducted to capture women and children - The Yanomamo also socialize male children to be aggressive and hostile Constructing Religious Justification for Violence - Another way to justify violence is by framing it as a cosmic struggle between good and evil 9.2: Peaceful societies are hard to find Characteristics of Peaceful Societies - Peaceful societies avoid conflicts over material resources through a strong emphasis on sharing and cooperation - People whose arrow kills an animal is considered to be the owner of the game - Another way that people in peaceful societies create a bias against violence is by condemning those who boast or who make claims that can be interpreted as a challenge to others - “Killing is wrong because it produces blood” - Peaceful societies also minimize violence and conflict through ceremony - ^ symbolizes the relationship between group harmony and individual well being 9.3 - Humans have a natural inclination to be violent - However, anthropologists found that those societies with no government, were the most peaceful - “ Where every man is enemy to every man “ The Need to Protect Resources - Must protect resources through force - Failure to control conflict and the need for men to build a reputation for aggressive in order to protect their resources Creating the Conditions for Violence - Violence and aggression were a product of three major changes. 1. The presence of new outpost settlements of government agents, missionaries and researchers 2. Competition for western manufactured goods and steel cutting tools 3. A breakdown of social relations brought about by epidemics and the depletion of game and other food resources - A reputation for fierceness was also an advantage in negotiating for desired goods Sexism and Violent Conflict - Another difference between peaceful and violent societies that has been suggested has to do with gender roles - Men make ware, though women may fill certain positions in the armed forces - There is a strong cross cultural link between patriarchy and violent conflict - Intensity of collective violence is significantly higher in societies characterised by a strong male bias - Socities characterized by sexual violence against women tend to be more warlike and prone to collective violence 9.4 Violence and the Nation State - The use of violence or the threat of armed force is another key instrument in creating and maintaining the nation state - Widespread assumption that nation states are necessary for maintaining peace and economic stability - Arreest and torture provide a way to symbolically mark discipline and stimatize cateogories oe people whose excistence or demands threaten the idea of power - Ethnocide: the attempt to destroy the culture of a people - Genocide: the attempt to exterminate a people - Nation states and national identity can also be an integral part of the process of creating and maintaining peace Violence, the Nation-State, and Peace in East Timor - Rape was pften committed agaimst the wives ot daughters of men suespected of being incoled with the resistance - Rape was also committed against women who failed to produce identity cards or who refused to accompany the sexual demands of soldiers - Diaspora: a population whose members are dispersed and living outside their homeland - “ community suffering” - Individuals have developed a sense of identity based on collective suffering 9.5 - Those who justify nuclear weapons and who question nuclear disarmament make four assumptions 1. They claim that naarchy characteristics international relations 2. They assume that states must rely on self help since no one else is going to offer them protection - 3. They assume that nuclear weapons are the ultimate form of self help - 4. They assume that relatively little can be done in the short term to change the anarchistic nature of the international system - Many critics see the nuclear arms race as “ objective social madness “ - Working on nuclear weapons was more ethical than working on conventional weapons - Deterrence was the only reason to develop nuclear weapons The Language of Nuclear Destruction - Language is one of the key ways in which members of a particular culture come to understand their shared worldview as true and natural - Domestic metaphors were common in the technostrategic language - Language and metaphors of those working at the institute deemed incapable of expressing certain realities 9.6: The Endangered Anthropologist - Human violations are common - Being killed is a risk Making sense of combat: Canadian Soldiers in Kandahar - Language and rituals are successful to make nuclear proliferation and the subsequent possibility of mass destruction seem both feasible and meaningful - Pride in peacekeeping was a key part of Canadian national identity Reading 10 WEEK FIVE George Gmelch: Baseball Magic Baseball Magic: George Gmelch - Trobrianders fished in two different settings; in the inner lagoon where fish were plentiful and there was little danger and on the open sea where fishing was dangerous and yields varied widely - Malinowski found that magic was not used in lagoon fishing, but when fishing in the open sea, it is used a great deal of magic to ensure safety and increase their catch - By magic, anthropologists refer to practices, the use of rituals and taboos - In baseball, there is pitching, hitting and fielding - Pitcher have little control - Hitting is the hardest to control - Fielding has no chance play in the role Routines and rituals - The most common way athletes attempt to reduce changes and feelings of uncertainty is to create a routine - Baseball rituals are varied, some are personal, some are as a group - Efforts are made to change routines when they think bad luck is happening Taoo - The opposite of rituals, things you shouldn't do - Breaking a taboo, can lead to bad luck - Many taboos concern behaviours off the field - Taboos grow out of exceptionally poor performances which players later attribute to a particular behavior - While most taboos are idiosyncratic, a few uniiceral to all ballplayers and are unrelated to personal misfortune Fetishes - Fetishes are charms, usually small objects believed to embody supernatural power that can aid or protect the owner - They are standard equipment for some baseball players - ^ they believe is good fortune - Number obsession can extend beyond uniforms - Fetishes and rituals often intersect - Losing streaks often produce the opposite effect as players discard and try new attire in hope of breaking the “jinx” - Baseball’s superstitions like most everything else, change overtime Uncertainty and Magic - The best evidence that players turn to rituals, taboos and fetishes to control chance and uncertainty is found in their uneven application - Fielders have complete control - Baseball players change their ways when they find out it doesn't work anymore Reading 11 WEEK FIVE Body ritual among the Nacirema (Horace Miller) - Rituals involving repeated symbolic acts can be about many things The human body is ugly and that its natural tendency is to debility and diseases Ritual by mouth, the mouth is very sacred to them They put a bundle of hog hairs in their mouth along with magic powders and then move the bundle in a highly formalized series of gestures Shrines within their homes are important to their daily activities Magic mouth man, performs a sort of torture (such as filling cavities with rocks) in a spiritualistic way for better luck in the coming years Reading 13 WEEK SIX Melvyn Goldstein: Polyandry; When Brothers Take a Wife - The most common form of polygamy is polygyny, an arrangement in which a man marries more than one wife - Another form is polyandry, organized around the marriage of a women to more than one husband - These forms may seem odd in other countries but normal in the Tibetan society - Arranged by parents with children having zero say - All sons marry one girl - Unusual for children to get married without parental consent - In some regions, the word “ father” is used on the oldest son - Fraternal polyandry and monogamy are the most common forms of marriage - Having a joint marriage can save the division of family resources and leading to a higher standard of living - Families see this as a disavadanvat because some children such as males get favourtistm - Two reasons have commonlyy been offerend for the perpetuation of fraternal polyandry in Tibet: that Tibetans practive female infanticide and therefore have to marry - polyandrously, owing to a shortage of females, and that Tibetm lying at extremely high altitudes is so barren and bleak that Tibetans would starve without resort to this mechanism Having own wages is more efficient than sharing it with the entire family Reading 16 WEEK EIGHT Mikaela Rogozen-Solatar: Becoming Muslim in Europe - People from different backgrounds can lead to conflict or to mutual influence, as people create new identifies that draw on diverse backgrounds - Most obvious case of intercultural marriage is when people fall in love with someone from a different culture Maria Martinez - Anthropologists are interested in how people in different cultures view their religious identities in relation to other aspects of identity like their nationality - Change in religion often entail changes in how people identify themselves Conversation to Islam in Spain - On a rise - The world’s fastest growing religion - Sometimes a stigmatized relgion that many people associate with erroneous a ssterotypes about fundamentalist terrorism or the oppression of women - Spain became a democratic nation in which people are allowed to choose their own religious practices - Islam is foundational to Spain Bridging Religious and National identities - The five pillars of the islamic faith: the recitation of the shahada, daily prayers, fasting during the month or ramadan, annual charitable giving, and pilgrimage to Mecca once during the lifetime of those who are available Conclusion - Like members of all societies, members operate according to social norms and cultural assumptions that are so ingrained that they are often unconscious - People are at once constrained by strongly held cultural assumptions about identity, even as they are also sometimes able to modify their own understanding of their identities and the ways they live them Reading 17 WEEK TEN Philippe Bourgois: Poverty at Work: Office Employment and the Crack Alternative - Underground economy such as ( selling drugs ) is predicted on violence and substance abuse - Transformation from manufacturing to service employment is much more culturally disruptive than the already revealing statistics on reductions in income and worker’s benefits Shattered working class dreams - The decision to drop out of junior high and become a marginal factory worker is attractive - ^ It provides the employed youth with access to the childhood “ necessities “ basketball shoes, entertainments - Individuals reaching their 20’s, are unemployed high school dropouts - They take refuge in an alternative search for career, meaning, and ecstasy in substance abuse - Factories are inevitably rifle with confrontational hierarchies - In the factory, being tough and violently macho has high cultural value - Workers in a mail room or behind a photocopy machine cannot publicly maintain their cultural autonomy - The common sense of white collar work is foreign to them - Social skills are more inadequate than their limited professional capacities - Gender barriers are an even more culturally charged realm - Service workers who are incapable of obeying the rules of interpersonal interaction dictated by professional office culture will never be upwardly mobile “ Gettin’ dissed “ - The trauma of experiencing a threat to one’s personal dignity has been frozen linguistically in the commonly used phrase” to diss” which is short for “ to disrespect “ - Behaviour considered appropriate in street culture is considered dysfunctional in office settings - Job requirements in the service sector are largely cultural style and this conjugates powerfully with racism Self Destructive Resistance - During the 1980’s, the real value of the minimum wage for legally employed workers declined by one third - New immigrants are from isolated rural communities or squalid shanty towns where meat is only eaten once a week Conclusion: ethnography and oppression - Resistance results in individual self destruction and wider community devastation through substance abuse and violence Reading 21 WEEK NINE How Sushi Went Global Growing appetites - Tuna is Japan’s most popular seafood - Sushi isn’t an easy concept to sell to the uninitiated - 1970’s sushi became really popular in North America - Japan’s emergence on the global economic scene in the 1970’s as the business destination - Japanese design all prepared the world for a sushi fad - Sushi has even became the stuff of fashion from “ sushi “ lip gloss, coloured the deep red of raw tune to “ wasabi” nail polish, a soft avocado green Angling for New Consumers - Japan remains the world's primary market for fresh tuna for sushi and sashimi Demand in other countries is a product of Janpanese influence and the creation of new markets by domestic producer looking to expand their reach - Sushi’s global popularity as an emblem of a sophisticated, cosmopolitan consumer class more or less coincided with a profound transformation in the international role Culture Splash - Just because is popular in other countries, it does not mean it lost its status as Japanese cultural property - In the global economy of consumption, the brand equity of sushi as Japanese cultural property adds to the cachet of both the country and the cuisine - The brand equity is sustained by complicated flows of labour and ethnic biases - Japanese cultural control of sushi remains unquestioned - On the docks, too,Japanese cultural control of sushi remains unquestioned - Desite high shipping costs and the fact that 50% of the gross weight of a tuna is unusable, tuna is sent to Japan as a whole Playing the Market - Fishing is rooted in local communities and local economies - Environmental organizations on one continent rail against distant industry regulations implemented an ocean away - The deep red of tuna served as sashimi or sushi contrasts with the stark with rice, evoking the red and white of the Japanese national flag - Japenses culture and the place of tuna within its demanding culinary traditions is constantly shaped and reshaped by the flow of cultural images that now travel around the globe in all directions simultaneously, bumping into each other in airports - Japan is plugged into the popular north American imaginations as the sometimes inscrutable superpower, precise and delicate in its cultural symbolism Key Terms ● Totemism: the use of a symbol, generally an animal or a plant, as a physical representation for a group, generally a clan ● Matrilineal kinship: a system of descent in which persons are related to their kin through the mother only ● Patrilineal kinship: a system of descent in which persons are related to their kin through the father only ● Bilateral kinship: a system in which individual trace their descent through both parents ● Bride Service: the requirement that when a couple marries, the groom must work for the bride’s parents for some specified time ● Polygamy: a form of marriage in which a person iis permitted to have more than one spouse ● Polygyny: a form of marraige in whiich a man is permitted to have more than one wife ● Polyandry: a form of marriage in which a woman is permitted to have more than one husband ● Enculturation: the process through which individuals learn an identity. It can encompass parental socialization, the influence of peers, the mass media, government and other forces ● Sociocentric: a context-dependent view of self. The self exists as an entity only within the concrete situations or roles occupied by the person ● Egocentric: a view of the self that defines each person as a replica of all humanity, as the location of motivation and drives, and as capable of action independently from others ● Rites of passage: the term coined in 1908 by Arnold Van Gennep to refer to the category of rituals that accompany changes in status, such as the transition from boyhood to manhood, living or dead, or student to graduate ● Indigenosus: groups of people whose ancestors predate the arrival of European or other forms of colonialism, who share a culture or way of life that who often identify as distinct from mainstream society ● Social stratification: Those at the top of the hierarchy are afforded more power, wealth, and privileges in the society ● Ascribed status: an identity that is perceived as fixed and unchanging because a person is believed to be born with it. In canadian society, race is often assumed to be ascribed at birth ● Achieved status: an identity that is believed to be in flux and that is dependent upon the actions and achievements of an individual's ● Meritocracy: a social system in which individuals are rewarded and resources are distributed according to achievement, effort, and ability ● Racism: refers to the discrimination and mistreatment of particular “ racial” groups ● Sex: horomonal, chromosomal, or phsycial differences between males and females ● Gender: culturally constructed ideals of behaviours, dress, occupations, roles, and comportment for particular sexes ● Third gender: a gender role given to someone who does not fit within strictly masculine or feminine gender roles in a society that recognizes the possibility of at least three genders ● Hegemonic masculinity: refers to ideals and norms of masvulinitin a society, which are often privileged over others ● Structural violence: refers to the systematic ways in which social structures or social institutions harm or otherwise disadvantage local individuals ● Free trade: the removal of barriers to the free flow of goods and capital between nations by eliminating import and export taxes as well as subsidies paid to farmers and business people ● Neoliberalism: an economic philosophy that argues for minimal government involvement in the economy and greatly accelerated economic growth ● Ritual: a dramatic rendering or social portrayal of meanings shared by a specific body of people in a way that makes them seem correct and proper ● Ethnocide: the attempt to destroy the culture of a people ● Genocide: the attempt to exterminate a people ● Refugees:Groups of people who have left their homelands due to warehare, forced explusion, acts of terrorism or other factors ● Caste systems: a form of social stratification and identity where individuals are assigned at birth to the ranked and endogamous social occupational groups of their parents ● Class: a form of identity informed by perceptions of an individual's economie worth or status. It is also a form of social hierarchy ● Market externality: costs that are not included in the prices people pay ( health risks, and environmental degradation ) ● Revitalization Movements: attempts by people to construct a more satisfying culture ( anthony f.c. Wallace ) ● Key Scenarios: Dominant stories or myths that portray the values and beliefs of a specific society ● Witchcraft: refers to the beliefs that an individual ( the witch ) has the ability to cause harm to others through the manipulation of powerful substances ● Religious Revival: renewal of attention to religious faith and service in a church or community, usually following a period of comparative inactivity and frequently marked by intense fervor ● Secularism: refers to the separation of political and economic realms of society from religion or spirituality ● Atheism: a lack of belief in supernatural forces or beings ● Centralized government: one which power or legal authority is exerted or coordinated by political executive to which federal states, local authorities and smaller units are considered subjects ● Fair trade: trade between companies in developed countries and producers in developing countries in which fair prices are paid to the producers ● Reciprocity: The practice of exchanging things with others for mutual benefit, especially privileges granted by one country or organization to another ● Ranking: A position in a scale of achievement or status, a classification ● Nature vs Nurture: debate concerning whether or not human behaviours and identities are the results of nature ( biological and genetic factors ) or nurture ( learned and cultural factors ) ● Holistic: characterized by comprehension of the parts of something as intimately interconnected and explicable only by reference to the whole ● Chrstian Communalism - Christinaity began as a utopian dream of universal equity - Isolated, virtually self sufficient communities in which the work was collective and egalitarian - A political theory based upon the view that the teachings of Jesus Christ compet Christians to support communism as the ideal social system ● Liberation Theology - Roman catholic churches became centres for the defence of human rights - Forming organizations and social movements to give the poor a political and economic voice - ● ● ● ● “ a powerful.rebuke to the hiding away of poverty “ Driven by a need to accomplish something concrete in the lives of the poor and was characterized by what Farmer called “ pragmatic solidarity “ WTO: An intergovernmental organization that is concerned with the regulation of international trade between nations Thomas Hobbes - Proposed that human beings in their natural state, without government or laws are driven by greed and the quest for gain - People live in a state of war, with every person against every other person Durkheim - French sociologist - Speculated that secret must lie in the beliefs of early human beings - Lives of people could best be studied by looking at societies that were considered simple or underdeveloped - Developed totemism: element of nature Royal Proclamation of 1763: Aborginal lands could be surrendered only through a legal treaty signed by a representative of the Crown and a representative of the appropriate First Nations Key terms Totemism, key scenarios, witchcraft, religious revival, secularism, atheism, matrilineal, patrilineal, bilateral, bride service, polygyny, polyandry, enculturation, nature versus nurture, holistic, sociocentric, egocentric, rites of passage, reciprocity, indigenous, social stratification, achieved status, ascribed status, ranking, racism, sex, gender, hegemonic masculinity, Christian communalism, structural violence, liberation theology, free trade, fair trade, market externality, WTO, visible minority, residential schools, Royal proclamation of 1763, neoliberalism, Thomas Hobbes, centralized government, ritual, Ethnocide, genocide, refugee, Durkheim, revitalization, caste, class
