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NewsletterANTH 2-Ishaya
ANTH 2-Telecourse (Ishaya)
ANTHROPOLOGY 2 - NEWSLETTER
Cultural Anthropology ANTH-002
De Anza Distance Learning Center, LCW-102
Instructor: Arianne Ishaya
TO: Students of "Cultural Anthropology"
FROM: Arianne Ishaya, Course Instructor
Greetings! Welcome to the Cultural Anthropology
course. I am sure you are enjoying the videos as
well as the readings. For the benefit of those who
did not have a chance to attend the First Class
Meeting, I would like to repeat that you are not
missing anything by taking this course through the
Distance Learning Center. Research has indicated
that telecourses are as effective as classroom type
courses.
I personally think that in Cultural Anthropology, a
telecourse is even more effective because you can
actually see the people you are reading about. Like
real anthropologists, you are taken to the scene of
action and observe (although for a short time),
people acting and reacting in the context of their
own cultures. The videos make the readings tangible
and far more meaningful.
Telecourses give you the flexibility to schedule
your study program at your own pace and time.
A word of warning though: flexibility does not mean
laxity, on the contrary, the key to your success
will be in the efficient management of your time,
and keeping up with the readings in order not to
fall behind and increase the workload to the point
that it gets out of hand.
This newsletter is for all students to share articles, and commnets regarding the course. So do not hesitate to fax your summary and commentary on relevant articles that you have read elsewhere, or viewed on T.V. educational channels. I will print your contributions under your own name and you can also get 5 extra credit points for being a contributor.
Remember that I will be calling and keeping track of
your progress. If you have questions or problems
with the material, feel free to contact me by email or voicemail.
Web page: http://faculty.deanza.edu/ishayaarianne
Voicemail: (408) 864-8999 X 3690
Good News: Online Counseling is available now to our DLC students. To communicate with your online advisor please go to the following website:
http://www.deanza.fhda.edu/counseling/
Another good news is that the Library's Online research databases are accessible now from off campus by students. To log in and get the password, please contact me by phone or in person. This is a free service for registered students only.
STUDENT INPUT
Use this newspaper as a forum to express your critical comments on related issues discussed in this course. Or, if you come across an article in one of the professional journals or newspapers, write a summary paragraph and a commnentary analyzing the significance of the article and its relevance to our course. Email or fax this to me and I will place it under your own name in our newsletter. You will get 5 extra credit points for completing such an assignment.
Input #1
Self-Made Man by Vincent
by BEN MAKIT
I found Self-Made Man article very relevance to this to whhat it means to be a man in contemporary American culture is somewhat different than what it means to be a man in a traditional family in Africa today. In Africa men are supposed to be physically and mentally strong for the protection of the family without ever showing any weakness. Men have very specific and important roles in the traditional African family. The husband is expected to find food for the family and protect them. Men have to prove how tough and in control they are at all times. A man there must be in control of the kids and his wife. Men do this by making all the decisions and don’t listen to their wife’s point of view or let her communicate openly. The wife lacks the chance to communicate her feelings and in turn does not get shown much respect because her husband is known as the leader of the family. Over all I believe these traditional African cultural beliefs in the family have a negative effect on the society as a whole.
Men in Africa learn cultural traditions from living in that environment as young boys and being taught ways to behave by other men. One thing boys are taught in Sudan is to never cry and not to back down when another boy hits him or insults him. He is expected to go after the other boy and to fight. He is not supposed to go to his mom or to cry about it, if he does these things he will be teased and laughed at by other children and even by adults. At about age 15 -17 boys in villages in Sudan go through a traditional face-mark or scarification process that symbolizes the beginning of manhood for the boy and thus the end of his childhood as a boy. He has deep cuts put in his forehead in a ceremony. At least 20-30 other older boys go through the process at the same time. It is like an initiation into manhood for the boys. A boy is never to cry during this incredibly painful process. It would be an insult to his family and a huge embarrassment to them all if he were to cry or complain.
Traditional families in Africa place a huge importance on having a male child be the first born. The family places a lot of expectation on the baby being born a male because they want a boy to carry on the family name and hope he will grow up to help the father protect the family too. The first born boy child takes on a lot of responsibility in order to help support his family. He will endure a lot of pressure from his parents to be tough and not act like a baby.
In the reading by Vincent the idea that men face a lot of pressure just trying to be men is apparent: “Somebody is always evaluating your manhood. Whether it’s other men, other women, even children. And everybody is always on the lookout for your weakness or inadequacy…”(Self-Made Man by Vincent Pg. 276) Its hard to know if this woman dressed as a man could really understand how this feels as an actual real life man, but it does seem to capture the basic way it can feel. Some cultures seem to place a more important role on being manly or tough than other cultures do. Africa definitely expects a lot out of the men in this area because they are the sole protectors of the family.
Boys learn how to be a man from watching the men around them. If a boy does not have a father he is less likely to know how he’s expected to behave. Often the cultural traditions in one’s society teach a boy how to behave and how tough he should be and what his roles are to be. Many men, like my father who grew up in Africa, followed the traditional roles more closely than do men of later generations. For example, I was able to travel and see other cultures besides Africa and I was able to build a more individual opinion. I was able to learn what other cultures expect of a man and I could decide which of my traditional African roles were most important to me and which I want to hold on to. Sometimes it can be hard to hold on to your homeland values and beliefs and at the same time try to live in a new country with different values and a different society. Traveling has helped me to get a better education and to learn to speak different languages. I have learned to coherently speak English and have a good vocabulary because I have lived in the U.S.
Input #2
"Rose H"
Here is an interesting article on the Korean language.
http://en.epochtimes.com/n2/world/created-for-the-common-man-5329.html
The article talks about how the Korean language is the most logical
language in the world. Created by King Sejong the Great,
the Hangul language was used by the Koreans in the mid 1400's, after years of using Chinese characters. King Sejong had more of a modern day stance -- that there should be universal
literacy, wanted more education for his people, and encouraged women
to read. According to Chapter 5 in our book, there are still more than 860 million adults who cannot read and write.
The people of Korea, however, are still "benefitting from the king's
determination and self-sacrifice."
Input #3:
Here is an interesting review by Jacqueline Farrales.
Cross-Cultural Studies on Parent-Child Relationships
Cultural anthropology spans from human adaptation to various environments to religious, linguistic, and political views. These two articles that I have found relate to the social and cultural aspects of parenting. The first demonstrates a study of how mothers from various cultures (Thailand, China, the Philippines, Italy, India, and Kenya) discipline their children. It was found that mothers in Kenya are most likely to physically discipline their children. The research concluded that in all countries, the more physically disciplined a child was, the more aggressive a child would be. In addition, a child would experience higher anxiety rates. In the second article, cultural bias is recognized in research and studies on parenting. In the study, two female Chinese research assistants and two female European-American research assistants analyzed 755 minutes of a video that displayed first-generation Chinese immigrant families sharing a meal. The perceptions and bias of researchers are constantly questioned when cross-cultural researchers examine and evaluate human behavior.
In some of the Faces of Culture lessons we have viewed, child rearing and development within families has been discussed. Margaret Mead studied cross cultural patterns of child-rearing within Samoans. Samoan youths experience a less traumatic transition from childhood to adulthood because the Samoan culture is more open to birth, life, and death. Furthermore, Samoan adolescence was not marked by tension and rebellion as it is in the United States. Samoan children learn about sexuality naturally and share a casual relationship with their parents. Mead also studied gender roles of the inhabitants of New Guinea. She deemed that gender roles are learned during the process of enculturation. Other anthropologists, Child, I. L. and Whiting, J. W. M., focused on dependence training, where one depends on the domestic group and is expected to obey and deliver when assigned a task, and independence training, where child-rearing practices focus on self-sufficiency and personal achievement.
Bibliography
Society for Research in Child Development. "Spanking Leads To Child Aggression And Anxiety, Regardless Of Cultural Norm." ScienceDaily 14 November 2005. 16 May 2008 <http://www.sciencedaily.com¬ /releases/2005/11/051114110820.htm>.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. "Cultural Biases May Influence Parenting Studies, Scientist Finds." ScienceDaily 3 April 2008. 16 May 2008 <http://www.sciencedaily.com¬ /releases/2008/04/080403104346.htm>.
input #4:
Please read this interesting piece from Ky Liston
Cultural Significance of Leisure
With summer coming, many Americans are starting to plan vacations.
It’s the time to cease work and focus on leisure. How much time off
work do we have? That depends. According to “The Theory of the Leisure
Class” by Steven E. Landsburg,
http://www.slate.com/id/2161309/?GT1=9231, there is a gap developing along economic lines. But perhaps not the
type of gap you’d expect. Most people expect that the rich have more
time for leisure. This is no longer the case. Actually, the poor
currently tend to have more leisure time.
Perhaps this seems counter-intuitive, and perhaps not. After all,
the more we work the more money we make, and we have less free time.
Alternately, the less we work the less money we make, and we have more
free time. So when thinking about re-distribution of wealth, maybe we
should factor in leisure as an asset.
The textbook, Cultural Anthropology, the Human Challenge by Haviland,
Prins, Walrath, and McBride, touches on this briefly in chapter one.
Page 18 cites research comparing foragers to industrialized societies.
Surprisingly, the foragers spend significantly less time on subsistence
activities. This leaves them much more free time. But before we all
go out to the jungle and join a foraging tribe, consider just two
benefits of our industrial society. We spend some of that time on
sanitation: cooking and cleaning. We have access to a variety of foods at any
given time in the supermarket. Both of these greatly affect health and
quality of life. Would more free time really make us happier if it
meant the loss of so many other benefits?
This translates over to the article on the theory of leisure. Would
we rather be rich or have more time to do as we wish? Actually, if the
rich work more perhaps they’ve made their choice. And if the poor are
working less perhaps they’ve made their choice. Maybe this new leisure
gap is indicative of a value change in our culture.
Input #3
A Reviw from Bahar:
We donít hear much about Asian migration to the states
>because there is so much that they want to cover up
>and omit from us having knowledge in and knowing the
>truth. Unlike other immigrants from different
>countries, those who came from Asia were not allowed
>to become citizens. This was due to the "white-only"
>restriction of the 1790 Naturalization Law. Takaki
>gives detailed explanations of his own experience and
>personal recollection growing up and living in a world
>where most are not treated equally. Takaki described
>while he was attending school in the Midwest, students
>and professors would ask him how long he had been in
>America. They would ask his how he learned to speak
>English. Sometimes he would reply, "I was born in
>America, and my family has been here for three
>generations." This is all too common I sometimes find
>my self in the same type of scenario, when people ask
>me where I am from and when I respond from Afghanistan
>they are shocked because I am not dark and that I
>donít have an Indian accent. People are to judgmental
>and often very stereotypical. Without knowing the
>history and background we will never know who has
>contributed into making California for what it is or
>knowing why the United States is as accomplished as it
>is. Chinese Americans have contributed greatly to
>California's development. In the 1860s they
>constructed networks of irrigation channels and miles
>of levees, dikes, and ditches in the fertile San
>Joaquin and Sacramento River deltas. The Central
>Pacific Railroad employed 12,000 Chinese -- 90 percent
>of its entire work force. Takaki also described how
>the Chinese immigrants found ways to keep their
>traditions alive in the new country. On their New
>Year's Day, Chinese workers refrained from working in
>order to celebrate the coming of the New Year. They
>decorated their cottages with the traditional festival
>decorations, and continued to carry out normal
>rituals. I have been living in the United States for
>20 years and my parents instilled in us that no matter
>what we do we are Afghan and we have to participate in
>our own culture and traditions. This is something
>that I have found that keeps me grounded and gives me
>a sense of knowing whom I am. I would never want to
>change who I am just because where I am living or
>because I need fit in with society.
Input #5:
From: eleni.oneill
Summary paragraph, commentary analyzing the significance and relevance to our class:
This article is about the increasing incidence of evangelist missionaries targeting low income youth in Tibet rural areas.
I thought that this was a very interesting article. It discusses how Christian missionaries are increasingly targeting Tibetans who are vulnerable and who they know they can easily influence. They offer ìassistanceî to young people, particularly students who come to cities from rural areas. These young people are alone, lonely without their family, in need of personal and financial assistance. The missionaries prey on their loneliness and their need for help. They assist them without letting these young people know that their assistance is not free. Once the missionaries have gained acceptance by these young people, it becomes apparent that the assistance comes at a cost. They try to convert the Tibetans to Christianity and, once that is done, ask for their assistance in converting others and even go so far as to ask for help in translating Christian texts into Tibetan.
I though the most disturbing part of the article was the end, which reads, ìWhile many Tibetans perceive foreign Christian missionaries and the Chinese Authorities as having the common aim of reducing the influence of Buddhism on local people and society, and tacitly supporting each other in this endeavor, the missionary organizations themselves show a degree of uneasiness in their relationship with the government. However, they do openly mention that the influence of the Chinese Communist State over the years has in fact opened the way for future conversions.î
So, in other words, the Christians are content, if not happy, to continue to pursue goals that work both for them and for the continued suffocation of the Tibetan culture by the Chinese government. In the end, all these Christian missionaries and the Chinese government want is to convert the Tibetans away from their culture, belief system, and way of life. I find this distasteful in the extreme. As out text discusses many times over, no oneís culture is any less or more valuable than another one. It is unfair to go to someone elseís country and take advantage of their vulnerabilities to try to convert them to your own viewpoints.
This article is relevant to our class because our text and the programs are always mentioning how globalization continues to change every cultureís way of life, especially those of traditional societies. This is a pretty good example of that.
"The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain."
-- Kahlil Gibran
Input #6:
Jose Padilla writes:
I thought I'd share this interesting article about the Piraha tribe in
the Amazon. Enjoy!
http://www.metro.co.uk/news/world/article.html?in_article_id=221485&in_page_id=64
thank you Jose!
Input # 6
Haidi Luu
Extra Credit
Taboo (National Geographic Channel) – Extreme Rituals (aired 11/29)
The episode of Taboo-Extreme Rituals was focused on extreme rituals from around the world. One of the rituals was of young boys leaping off of towers to become a man. Every April, the people of the Pentecost Island in Vanuatu, greet the new yam harvest by leaping off a 70 feet tower made of tree limbs with their ankles bounded to the tower with tree vines. There are several platforms, or levels, to the tower, with the highest platform an initiation into adulthood. Every year, a new tower is built. This ritual is dangerous because injury or death could occur. It is also related to a popular activity in our culture, bungee jumping. Another ritual explained was about how young women in Cape Nelson, Papua New Guinea, would permanently tattoo their face to become a woman, be able to independently make her own decisions, and becomes ready for marriage. Although this ritual has been declining due to more young women having industrial jobs and not staying within their villages, it is still a practice that girls participate in and willingly endure weeks of pain. This episode of Taboo related to the section in Chapter 13 (Spirituality, Religion, and the Supernatural) regarding rites of passages. The boys of the Pentecost Island and girls of Cape Nelson must prove their courage to become adults. The village of Cape Nelson was also a matrilineal society, which was discussed in Chapter 10 (Kinship and Descent). In Chapter 9 (Sex, Marriage, and Family), there was a brief discussion about how the Trobriand men and women would decorate their face and body to look as attractive as possible when they wanted to attract sexual partners. Although the tattooing ritual of Cape Nelson wasn’t to attract sexual partners, it was somewhat similar in that it was an indication that a woman was able to choose who she wanted to marry.
Thank you Haidi
From Carmen Wong. Enjoy!
I recently came upon this article on cave art and I found it pretty interesting.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/30/AR2008063002363.html
Discovered in France, these cave paintings dating over 17,000 years were opened to the public. Unfortunately, this led to damaging levels of carbon dioxide and fungus growth. Later, scientists unsuccessfully tried to rid of the fungus and new problems started to arise. I thought this was interesting because we just learned about how art is universal in cultures. Also, I am amazed at all the work that is going through to preserve the cave paintings.
Thanks everyone for your input.
Arianne
ANNUAL EDITIONS ON RESERVE
The following are call numbers for the extra-credit
readings available
on the reserve shelf in the Library. For your
convenience the articles
are cross-referenced.
Anthropology 89/90: Annual Editions
GN 325 .A53 89/90
Anthropology 2
Contains:
*Doing Fieldwork Among the Yanamamo
Anthropology 90/91: Annual Editions
GN 325 .A53 90/91
Anthropology 2
Contains:
*Doing Fieldwork..., and Appearance and Reality...
Anthropology 91/92: Annual Editions
GN 325 .A53 91/92
Anthropology 2
Contains:
*as above
Anthropology 92/93: Annual Editions
GN 325 .A53 92/93
Anthropology 2
Contains:
*All six assigned articles
Anthropology 93/94: Annual Editions
GN 325 .A53 93/94
Anthropology 2
Contains:
*all six assigned articles
Anthropology 94/95: Annual Editions
GN 325 .A53 94/95
Anthropology 2
Contains:
*all six assigned articles
Anthropology 95/96: Annual Editions
GN 325 .A53 95/96
Anthropology 2
Contains:
*All six assigned articles
Anthropology 96/97: Annual Editions
GN 325 .A53 96/97
Anthropology 2
*All
Anthropology 97/98: Annual Editions
GN 325. A53 1997/98
Anthropology 2
Contains
*All
Anthropology 98/03: Annual Editions
GN 325. A53 1998/04
Anthropology 2
Contains:
*All
Cultural Anthropology (9th edition)
Haviland, William A.
GN 315 .H3 1987
Anthropology 2
Cultural Anthropology (10th edition)
Haviland, William A.
GN 315 .H3 2002
Anthropology 2
Study Guide for the Telecourse "Faces of
Culture" (8th edition)
Searles, Richard T. and Lee, Valerie L.
pb ISHA 1
ANTHROPOLOGY 2 - Cultural Anthropology
Arianne Ishaya
With an opportunity to do a take home exam and the extra credit assignments, your success in this course is guaranteed.
Best,
Arianne
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