An Ethnography!

Here is a link to my Ethnography highlighting my visits and interviews with some automotive technicians from a small town in South Carolina!

Here is the link!

Reading: Cell Phones, Sharing, and Social Statuses...

In Smith’s article about cell phone use in Nigeria, the biggest thing that I took away was the view of cell phone usage as a commodity. Even though the phone cards they purchase cost money, they don’t look at the use of the minutes as cash. They view it more like food or gas maybe. As a college student, I know that if I have a full refrigerator or a full tank of gas, then I’m set for the week and willing to share. I’ll cook dinner and share it with a friend or offer to drive somewhere without thinking twice. But ask me to lend you ten dollars and I’m not so sure I can do that. They view cell phone usage that way. Very rarely do we have to think about minute usage here, unless using a prepaid cell phone plan. There, it is the same scenario as me offering to drive. Lending a friend a phone call there equates to me offering to share my spaghetti with you Pretty interesting!

Link: The Kayapo

I read the Kayapo Resistance last week and was appalled at the treatment of the people and the fact that these people are being removed. It saddens me to see that this is allowed to happen. I followed this link out of interest then realized that it was following the same group that Turner had outlined in his article. I believe this is a petition of some sort but definitely worth taking a look at!

Link to Petition 

Reading: The Kayapo Resistance

Reading The Kayapo Residence, the only thing I could think of was a link I’d followed on Facebook. (I’ll give the link in my next post!)

It is heart-breaking to see what is happening to the native people of our world. The most gripping part of the article that stuck with me was that many people think that these people fear being moved because of economics. Turner says early in the article that this is not just an economic threat to these people. It is a “threat to the continuity and meaning of social life.” Their economy (like any economy, really) is completely immersed in their cultural life. Nothing is separate and nothing is complete without one part of their sphere and for some odd reason, larger groups continue to feel that it is their place to determine the sphere for smaller native groups.

Reading: Encounters with the Elderly

Tsuji had remarkable ideas and accounts of the treatment and view of the elderly. Towards the end of the article she details the fact that many Japanese families would be shocked if an elderly widow was left to live alone despite the fact that she had multiple children. In America, it is not unheard of for a mother to live alone after the passing of her husband or to even enter into a retirement home or assisted living facility. I feel that the Japanese reaction to this is very similar to a typical southern (small town) reaction. Allowing the elderly to live alone is considered negligence on the family’s part and once a parent reaches old age, a “mutual dependency” is established. I liked the statement that the view of old age is as a “period of rightful dependency.” As far as my family is concerned, we owe it to our elder family members and friends to help as much as possible. Even those who are not our “blood relatives” (as we’d call it) need not worry. Those who are able will always pitch in.

Reading: Heading Home...

Shandy and Moe had a really interesting insight into what determines dominance in a social structure. The concept of “protein control” was very interesting but started to make sense as I read farther into the article. The fact that gaining the animal product went along with the distribution of the meat directly aligned an individual with dominance. While women gathered and provided for the family, men in some cultures were responsible for divvying up the protein for an entire group and this responsibility came with the added benefit of power. I’d never understood hunger-gatherers in this way and this outlook makes the study of other societies even more interesting. The fact that women are the dominant sex in many other cultures is even more interesting considering the way food collection and distribution impacts the social hierarchy.

Reading: Berdache Tradition

Williams’ article, The Berdache Tradition, left me feeling refreshed. The widespread traditional thoughts in the Western world on sex and gender differ radically from those found in the American Indian culture he studied. Being androgynous was considered a blessing in the group he studied and I found it interesting that he explained the androgynous individual as being a “mediator” between two sides. These people are seen as peacemakers who can bring two lifestyles together and I feel that this is a very acceptable and logical role for androgynous individuals. I have a few friends that could be considered androgynous and the lifestyle they live definitely requires tolerance from other sides. They tend to unite masculinity with femininity and in my eyes, don’t lack either. It is just a combination of the two unique to what our society is used to.

Link: Religion and Psychology

Our class discussion on religion led me to the following article that discusses the fact that religion might make people better adjusted psychologically. According to the writer, people who identify with a specific religion have higher self-esteems and therefore more psychologically sound views than non-believers. This falls right in line with a lot of our class discusson. Not only were studies conducted throughout different countries, but also studies were conducted across the United States comparing religiously based universities to non-religiously based universities.  

Link to the article! 

Link: English Ambiguity

Link to the article!

So apparently, a lot of my interest lays with our discussion on Language and Culture. This article highlights the fact that ambiguity exists in language and that it might just be advantageous. This writer argues that ambiguity is something that a speaker actually wants in their language because it simplifies the process of speaking and explaining. This is a pretty interesting article that deserves the read!

Link: English, An Optimistic Language

After our discussion of Language and Culture, I found the attached article to be pretty interesting! Studies are showing that we speak an “optimistically biased” language which I was not expecting at all. All words were ranked on a scale of 1 to 10 with lower numbers being negative while higher numbers were positive. Words like “the” received a neutral rank of 5 to give a point of reference. The study was based off of text from The New  York Times, Twitter, Google Books, and music from 1960-2007 so I think they covered all of their bases. :) 

Link to the article!

Video: Is Inequality Making Us Sick?

The portion of Unnatural Causes that we viewed in class pointed me in so many directions for this blog. It was very thought provoking but I’ll settle with my interest on animals. Majoring in Biological Science, I was very intrigued by the Primatologists’ studies. The fact that a hierarchy’s dominant/submissive roles play directly into heart health is amazing to me. I’ve consciously tried to stop stressing out so much over the weekend already.

I found myself contemplating Cortisol levels and my immune system strength and it makes one wonder how much sickness we can prevent just by erasing stressful situations from our lives. The majority of stress is self-induced so this video was a huge eye opener.

Video: Covered Girls

I really appreciated the short film, Covered Girls. Within just a few minutes it was obvious that these New York girls were just girls. I loved that they compared a “bad hijab day” to a “bad hair day” and it shows that they know about the culture of any American girl that does not happen to cover herself.

Towards the end of the film the African American girl told her personal story about why she chose to convert to Islam and it hit very close to home. She chose the strict religion because she was unhappy with her life. She felt lost and a dear friend of mine went through the same scenario. The regimented prayer and rule associated with the Islamic religion gives comfort to many who need structure in their lives. Many would argue that this structure is the basis for all world religions. This makes one wonder how her mother could have been so against her decision...?

Video: The Mark of Cain

After viewing Alix Lambert’s The Mark of Cain, the thing that stuck with me the most was how much the body art in these Russian prisons differed among men and women. Just as free men and women prefer different tattoo types, these prisoners had drastically different ideas of what a tattoo should look like and symbolize. The view of the tattoos were also depicted differently. The men were proud of their work (well, most of it) while many of the women regretted their ink. The men proudly took off their shirts and explained numerous works and the origin of each one while only a few women explained their choice of body art. Many women had even gone to the extremes of using Manganese to burn off the tattoos. I consider this to be an interesting look into gender roles and how they play parts on these people as they considered what they would look like to the public after being released from prison.

Video: Number Our Days

Looking back on watching this film, I feel that Barbara Myerhoff really showed us how simple an ethnography can be. Sometimes all you have to do is listen and it all falls into place. I enjoyed that many of the elderly Jewish men and women she was interacting with did not need to be provoked to talk. They were eager to share their stories with us. Not all anthropologists have the special touch that Myerhoff obviously had with these people. Her eagerness to embrace old age and respect for it may have had a lot to do with how comfortable her subjects were with her. I think that respect was Myerhoff’s tip to all cultural anthropologists following in her footsteps.

Symbolizing Roles: Behind the Veil

This article perfectly ties in with my last post about “saving” women in Afghanistan. I want to point out that, as the authors write, veil signify honor, personal protection, sanctity and privacy of the family, wealth, high status, and city life to many women that choose to wear them. Since studying the veil in Islamic Civilization and in many Women and Genders Studies courses, I have a great respect for the women that proudly wear them around this campus. The women of Iran have brought it back and they are even becoming fashion statements throughout many Islamic influenced countries. I cannot recall the name of the documentary but MTV showed an in depth view of three different women’s lives in the Middle East and one girl started her own business creating intricate and colorful Hijabs, Burqas, and Niqabs. The veil is a beautiful thing.

Abu Lughod: Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving?

Religion is what I would call the biggest determining factor of Middle Eastern culture. Having taken a course on Islamic Civilization and having known, befriended, and lived with many Muslims, I feel that I can safely say that I have a fair understanding of the importance of religion to this region of the world. Lughod wrote that “Liberals sometimes confess their surprise that even though Afghanistan has been liberated from the Taliban, women do not seem to be throwing off their burqas.” I cannot believe that this would come as a surprise to anyone who knows the smallest thing about Middle-Eastern culture. Burqas and hijabs are worn by Muslim women all around the world. It is a definitive part of their religion that ties them together and I have been told that covering oneself and feeling linked to something bigger than yourself is liberating. I do think that there are many problems in Afghanistan and there are definitely women that are oppressed there, but I do not agree with using the women as an excuse for war. Many women choose their fate knowing that they will gain protection in return and it is not our place to save them without fully comprehending each individual person’s role and opinion of life in Afghanistan.

Manipulating Meaning: The Military Name Game

I’ve never realized how much goes into the naming of military operations! Although everything is institutionalized today, I was still surprised that the names of operations have been known to change at the drop of a hat due to offensive undertones. I found it interesting how the word “war” has changed from describing an armed battle to being used to describe any epidemic (the war on drugs, for example). Simultaneously, the naming of military operations has evolved from being a top-secret affair to being used to invoke a positive connotation with actual WAR. We have devalued the term “war” and are apparently working to make it a more publically accepted, even positive,  part of American life. Interesting.

Jennifer Boehlke: Juicing Clients in Tattoo World

I really enjoyed the conversation and emphasis put on body art as a form of communication in class. Boehlke's article/ethnography highlighting the "juicing" seen in today's tattoo and piercing shops made me take a look back at my own experiences. She was absolutely correct in outlining the six major worries that prospective clients have about body art. Of course I worried about the permanence of the tattoo, cost, possible infection, quality, pain, and my privacy in the shop (considering I had to go without a shirt for the entire 7 hour ordeal), but my tattoo artist found ways to get me through all of the above. It didn't take "flirt juice" to reel me in, but the "I'll take care of you" juice is what kept me in the swing of things. I'll admit that money was not a big part of our discussion when deciding on my tattoo, but my personal opinion is that I refuse to bargain with someone that is permanently altering my appearance. Honestly, the price was just a range until the piece was finished then we settled on a final payment. Reading about this shop made me rethink my experience and the "This shit is dope" phrase used to explain the "during tattoo juice" definitely rang a bell. I couldn't count how many times I was told by numerous workers that the tattoo was definitely "one of a kind," "amazing," and "the shit." I have referred countless friends, family members, and coworkers to the tiny shop I went to so I'd say that the employees there were professional "juicers!"

Reading: The Roshomon Effect

While reading Karl Heider's The Roshomon Effect, I was drawn into the introduction discussing how ethnographers may disagree. I got the most out of the statement that a culture is "a created product" and really enjoyed Heider's reference to the "human qualities of the creator" as the number one "ingredient" when creating a view of a culture. After reading the word ingredient, I immediately began to see the entire reading as a recipe.

• Heider discusses that the viewer, creator, and culture all shape the final product. As a recipe, I saw the actual culture as a staple food, such as flour. 

• Another important factor was "the outside viewer's understanding," which I understood to be the reader's impression of what the creator had to say about the culture at hand. I can see that viewer's understanding as a binder, or like egg in a recipe. 

• And from there, we can dissect the number one ingredient, the "human qualities of the creator." Heider further broke this down into ways that ethnographers can disagree and why. One possibility is that one ethnographer is wrong, while the other is correct. Another possibility is that two ethnographers may be looking at entirely different cultures, or maybe studying subcultures of a common culture and seeing differently based on that. Yet another possibility is that the ethnographers may be viewing the same people of the same culture but in differing time periods. Then an emphasis was put on the fact that maybe the ethnographers were examining the exact same culture, but due to many factors (like differing ethnographic competence or differing personal cultural backgrounds) they still had a different view on the culture. I saw this as the bulk of my cultural recipe. The ethnographers and all of these variations could make the difference between cake and focaccia bread. One ethnographic view may add sugar and vanilla to the flour and egg, while another ethnographic view may add rosemary and buttermilk to the exact same flour and egg. 

The same foundation has the capacity to yield two entirely different outcomes.

Video: The Ju/'hoan Bushmen and John Marshall

Although this was not a very in-depth film, I still found it interesting because we began our study of culture. Personally, I cannot find many things more interesting than a new and strange (to me) culture. I have always thought of culture as something that evolves over time and becomes almost solid. It is a strong characteristic of many people that most often defines them. I have never thought of culture as a fluid and changing part of life so I was surprised to see the fluidity of the Ju/'hoan tribe's culture. John Marshall's initial visit and the footage were intriguing to me because, as I said earlier, I love diverse culture. The second visit introduced this tribe of bushmen as a group who had not only been impacted by their government, but who had ultimately lost much of their original culture due to that governmental impact. Initially,  I found this to be a depressing thought but then I thought back to the fact that the very essence of culture is that it changes. These Namibian people had not lost their culture, it had just changed. For every piece of culture lost, another was gained as they learned to speak English, hold other jobs, and continue standard education.