Anth 1120 Review Questions and Answers latest 2023
1. Culture - The system of meanings about the nature of experience that are shared by a people and
... [Show More] passed from one generation to another, including the meanings that people give to things, events and activities, and people.
2. Ethnocentrism - The tendency to judge beliefs and behaviours of other cultures from the perspective of one's own culture. - IT IS THE ACT
3. Ethnocentric fallacy - The mistaken notion that the beliefs and behaviours of other cultures can be judged from the perspective of one's own culture.
- IT IS THE BELEIF
4. Relativism - attempt to understand the beliefs and behaviours of other cultures in terms of the culture in which they are found- IT IS THE ACT
5. Relativistic fallacy- The idea that it is impossible to make moral judgments about the beliefs and behaviours of members of other cultures.- IT IS THE BELIEF
6. Armchair anthropology- Approach to study of various societies- dominated in late 1800's; collect, study and analyze writings of missionaries, explorers and colonists- they made comparisons and generalizations about the ways of life of various groups.
7. Participant observation- element of fieldwork involves participating in daily tasks and observing interactions
8. Fieldwork- long- term interactions with group of people- involves living with people, observing and contributing to daily chores and task and conducting interviews- historically has been qualitative
9. Ethnographic method - The immersion of researchers in the lives and cultures of people they are trying to understand in order to comprehend the meanings these people ascribe to their experience.
10. Socio-cultural anthropology- approach that retains the British focus on social anth at the same time as it adds the American focus on culture to produce something slightly different from either one.
11. Applied anthropology- specializes in putting anthropological knowledge into practise outside academia, seek to explain diversity to help people understand one another better (i.e. Diff meanings to diff events leads to misunderstanding and conflict)
12. Identity- learned personal and social types of affiliation, including gender, sexuality, race, class, nationalism and ethnicity.
13. Enculturation- the process through which individuals learn identity.
Parental socialization, peer influence, mass media, gov't..
14. Egocentric view of the self - defines each person as a replica of all humanity, as the location of motivations and drives and as capable of acting independently of others.
15. Sociocentric view of the self- context-dependent view, self exists as an entity only within the concrete situations or roles occupied by the person.
16. Gender- culturally constructed ideals of behaviours, dress, occupations, roles and comportment for particular sexes.
17. Third gender-gender given to someone who does not fit within strictly masculine or feminine gender roles
18. Gender hierarchy- people are ranked above one another according to gender
19. Hegemonic masculinity- refers to ideals and norms of masculinity in a society, which are often privileged over others
20. Rite of passage- by Van Gennep, rituals that accompany changes in status such as boyhood to manhood...
21. World view- an encompassing picture of reality based on shared cultural assumptions about how the world works.
22. Metaphor- A figure of speech in which linguistic expressions are taken from one area of experience and applied to another.
23. 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.
24. Myth- A story or narrative that portrays the meanings people give to their experience.
25. Revitalization movements- suggested by Anthony Wallace, for attempts by a people to construct a more satisfying culture.
26. Syncretization- the combination of old beliefs or religions and new ones that are often introduced during colonization.
27. Creole- formation of slave societies in the Caribbean in which elements of African and European culture were merged
28. Ethnography-written description and analysis of a particular group of people based on fieldwork
29. Nation-state- political community that has clearly defined territorial boarders and centralized authority. the nation is an ‘imagined political community’; it is imagined as both inherently limited and sovereign (Benedict Anderson, “Imagined Communities”)
30. Nationalism-
the ‘world view’ of members of a nation-state
-nationalism describes (1) the belief in a national identity and emotional investments in that national identity, and (2) the actions that members of a nation take to achieve (or sustain) self- determination as a nation
31. Multiculturalism- Eva Mackey, Canadian policy where hyphenated cultures are described as being part of a cultural mosaic- contrast with
U.S melting pot.
Short Answer Questions:.
1. Identify and briefly explain two challenges in doing fieldwork.
Gaining Trust- in Balinese Cockfight people would ignore them and would not interact because they did not trust them, in the midst of a cockfight the anth's fled from the police, thus indicting them into the community
Or the natives behave and act differently around them Adapting to Values- anth's go through culture shock
Bias- bring their own beliefs and values, Ethnocentricism- or already be ethnocentric because you share some values- it takes an outsider to see yourself
Ethics- what you think is right vs what someone else thinks is right And Law- i.e. San Francisco study of drug dealers
Objective vs politically commited anthropology
Communication- differences in language and communication make it difficult for the parties to interact
Examples:
MAMA LOLA ETHNOGRAPHY: Risk of getting involved- loose distinction between Haitian and Vodou interacting with my own very diff blend of experience
Suspicion from Haitians because they don't trust her because of their previous experiences with Europeans
Could not observe, had to start practising with them
2. Identify and briefly explain two steps in the fieldwork process.
(a) Develop problem or question, what will you research?
(b) Funding & Permission (Ethics approval)
(c) Where are you going? Where to begin?
(d) Bring unaltered facts that affect fieldwork.
(e) Participant Observation
(f) Interpret/Decipher cultural differences.
3. Identify and briefly define two sub-disciplines of anthropology
Biological Anthropology- study evolution + human anatomy, fossils of human sp, look at common ancestors i.e. Forensic anthropology
Archaeology- study human history and artifacts, explore material remains and artifacts to find how people lived
Linguistic Anthropology- study relationship between language and culture, how language is used , where we come from, how we change, and how we communicate
Sociocultural Anthropologist: look at how society is structured, how cultural meaning is created- use fieldwork to get answers
4. Identify and briefly define two branches of socio-cultural anthropology.
Law and Society- Political Anthropology
• Inquires into context of enforceable norms
• Study legal issues, when people ask about power i.e. Who makes the rules, who can undo them, how are they normalized enforced and how are they morally justified
Political Ecology
• Combine concerns of ecology and a broadly defined political economy
• Challenge dominant explanations for enviro degradation and contesting some of the popular solutions to enviro problems
• Analyze the politics of enviro may uncover interests of powerful elites who direct questions away from their activities to less powerful people
Applied Anthropology- explain diversity and help people understand one another better to minimize misunderstanding and conflict
Medical Anthropology- experience, distribution, prevention and treatment of sickness
5. Provide two examples of jobs that an applied anthropologist might hold and briefly explain how these demonstrate ‘applied anthropology’.
Applied anthropology- put anthropological knowledge into practice outside of academia, a politically thinking anthropologist
• They provide insightful views that may help resolve conflict
• Social workers- for youth at risk, immigrants, urban poverty
• United Nations- understand how they can help, what values they must abide by
• Police- filling out reports, culture governs lives they need to be able to make decisions along with other law enforcement to determine intention- if based on values or criminal intent
• Medicine- have trouble explaining danger of STD’s
6. Why do anthropologists prefer to use the ethnographic method?
It involves a complete immersion into lives of people to attain a deeper level of understanding. - PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION
- The immersion of researchers in the lives and cultures of people they are trying to understand in order to comprehend the meanings these people ascribe to their experience.
- it beats armchair anthropology
Benefits of ethnography include:
1. Ethnography immerses the project team in participants’ lives and enables a relationship to develop with research participants over the period of study;
2. Ethnography provides a rich source of visual data and helps to reveal unarticulated needs;
3. Ethnography captures behaviour in the different contexts of everyday life;
4. Ethnography places a human face on data through real-life stories that teams can relate to and remember;
5. Ethnography provides understanding behind ‘statistics’;
6. Ethnography allows emotional behaviour to be captured;
7. By carrying out research in the everyday life environments of participants it helps to identify discrepancies between what people say they do and what they actually do.
7. What do naming practices in different societies reveal about their views of self?
• Intimate markers
• Differentiate individuals
• Reveal how people conceive themselves and their relations to others
In North America they are assigned at birth, and usually stay with us. - reps the self
• Universities-exchange first names, self independent of any group or past
• Business people- exchange first, last names and organization- linked to orgs
In Morocco - tell of town origin, names and associated names- linked to family and place of origin
In Britain- the Tsimshian people, depend on social position and they change it upon entering adulthood
8. What is the difference between the egocentric and sociocentric self?
Egocentric - defines each person as a replica of humanity, as the location of motivations and drives, and as capable of acting independently from others. i.e. In the US- being feminine, white, youthful is something people want to attain, at eating disorder clinics monitor their weight and have a "patient" progress
Sociocentric- a context dependent view of the self- exists as an entity only within the concrete situations or roles occupied by the person i.e. Tsimshian names linked to postion in society, there is no intrinsic self - not a kind generous person but someone who gives money to his friends.
9. What is the difference between a commodity and a gift?
Commodity- involve transfer of value and a counter-transfer - no long- standing relationship between gift giver and gift receiver - FOUND IN capitalist market-exchange systems
Gift- involves a relationship between two people - is sort of obligatory and is recipritory- is priceless and immaterial
In North America, idea of gifts as commodities
• Commodities are possessions as gifts
• "apparent" meaning is given to them
•
10. Provide 2 examples of how North Americans transform commodities into gifts.
North Americans wrap their gifts Go to stores, and buy specific gifts Given on particular holidays
11. Identify and briefly explain two key metaphors found in Canadian English language use.
Key Metaphors- specific to culture with experiences, what it means to be a part of that culture When arguing use conflict as metaphors. Connect to war
i.e. A battle of wits, she shot down my argument
Or economic exchange for time
i.e. Time is money
Key metaphors in North America - to war and economy Borrowing Meaning with Metaphors-
• Metaphors take language from one domain of experience and apply it to another domain
• By domain of experience we mean: business, war, science etc.
• People also attempt to understand their experiences by drawing on shared cultural assumptions- which create an encompassing picture of reality- called a world view
• METAPHORS HELP US UNDERSTAND THE ABSTRACT IN TERMS OF THE CONCRETE
Not just verbal devices to make language colourful but like theories, template that help us to understand one domain of experience in terms of another.
i.e. Arguments become wars, time becomes a commodity
Domains become key metaphors that give each culture a style or make it distinctive
12. Identify and briefly explain two key features or characteristics of rituals.
Rituals- dramatic rendering of meaning shared by a specific group of people in away that makes those meanings seem correct
• A ritual not only depicts a metaphor but teaches participants how to experience the world as if the forces, gods and spirits were truly real
• 3 key features of a metaphor
(a) dramatic rep -
(b) Provide participants with solutions to problems
(c) Symbolic rep of reality-
Seperation Liminality Reincorporation
Rituals mark rites of passage
Ritual portrays, reinforces and provides evidence for a particular world view.
Teaches about world depicted in metaphors and teaches us how to feel within the universe we create.
13. Provide one example illustrating the difference between Dene Tha and mainstream North American world-views.
Dene Tha - indigenous in Northern Alberta
• Speak about the land having power- inherent in plants, animal and other substances
• Impact human beings
• 2 diff land 1. land of living 2. plants, animals, dead ancestors - land
• Very respectful of all forms of life in both lands
• Reciprocity - hunts an animal must give spirits something back
• And must maintain all lands so animals can survive and grow (sim to Cree - hunting grounds are like gardens)
• How knowledge is communicated
In North American society, industrialized- move through same units, system and outcome in place. JK/SK/Gr1 move together from one grade to another.
Institutionalized educational structure- take children away from families and put in separate institutions
Dene Tha
Learn through direct experience, adult can't give verbal instructions child learns by observing and imitating
Only true knowledge is personal knowledge
Stories give knowledge, truth based on my experience, don't give direct instructions
Can gain knowledge through dreaming- dreaming can see links between different lands - so imp experience
i.e. Kinship society - will find spirit system - powerful ancestor figures.
If run by bureaucracy - like Aztec or Roman that universe is run by hierarchal gods- led by chief god
The Dene Tha and Christianity
• Live in social context that challenges their world view
• i.e. Schools, police station, church... Expected to absorb, but they do not accept some of our way
• Incorporate some in complementary fashion
• Aspects make sense when evaluated by a Dene Tha world view
• i.e. They make their own meanings, for them a rosary wards off Dene's who would harm them with their power, it provides protection
• They don't believe in Hell
14. Is Rastafarianism an example of syncretization? Why or why not?
Syncretization- is combination of old and new beliefs- new introduced during colonization
Rastafari in Jamaica
• 1834 slavery ended in British West Indies - 4 years of bondage system before ex-slaves could leave
• People in Jamaica left and got small plots of land to grow and sell their own produce
• Early 1900's United Fruit Company used these farmers as wage-labourers
• Undercutting of food prices, by 30's many lost their land, went to Kingston, no job so tried to survive
• Ras Tafari crowned emperor, was a symbol of hope and salvation for black people
• Returned African beliefs rejected Capitalists, when overthrown didn't matter bc system was so widespread
• Develop out of colonialism, out of experiences of poverty out of capitalist economy
• Revitalization movement
• Religion at 1930's - after slavery develop peasant economy - local rural small scale farmers trade among one another - rival of American United Fruit Company - large scale agriculturalist
• Someone made King- "filled Biblical prophecies"
• And music of Bob Marley
Take on some Christianity - but replace names with own deities
15. Is Vodou an example of creole culture? Why or why not?
Creole- formation of slave societies in the Caribbean in which elements of African and European cultures were merged, blended or combined into something uniquely Caribbean
• Vodou=new religion that emerged from social chaos and agony of Haiti's 18th century slave plantations blended several distinct African religions with French colonial Catholicism
• Healing is the heart of religions that African slaves bequeathed to their descendants and Alourdes's Vodou practise is no exception.
• Vodou Catholic spirits reign over one or another troublesome area of human endeavor and act as mediators between God (Bondye) and "the living"
• God is too busy to take care of them so the gods not specified as spirits or ancestors take care of them, Alourdes is the horse for the spirit on spirit "birthday parties"
• Saints not all good, have dark side, mirror the full range of possibilities inherent in the particular slice of life over which they preside
• Vodou spirits are larger than life but not other than life, Vodou is religion WITH MORTALITY
• Living and suffering are inseparable, Vodou is a system to minimize pain, avoid disaster...
Creole is synonymous with sycretization
3. Mama Lola-Introduction
1. Describe the altars in Mama Lola’s home. How are they examples of syncretization?
Places where offering are made to spirits, saints that they are worshipping, decorations
Candles, images, skulls, little knick-knacks, alcohol, stones in oil, cigarette packs, baskets with leaves
Colour lithographs of saints i.e.) Saint Patrick with snakes at his feet (serpent spirit)
Saint Gerard contemplating a skull (Gede, master of cemetery) - Vodou spirits Each has Catholic and African name i.e.) Mary is Ezili - love spirit
Church also has alter with religious objects and symbols
Syncretization - liquor, alcohol, coke, birthday cake, cigarettes
- found in Western Society
Transfer of monetary value - wealth, power - European values
16. How do some Vodou believers explain same-sex desire and/or transgendered behavior?
1. How do some Vodou practitioners explain same-sex desire and transgendered behaviors?
• The lwa (spirits), Ezili is responsible for making them this way- enters body of man and doesn't leave, or born this way
2. Does this mean Haitian society accepts gay, lesbian and transgendered people?
No, they are physically and verbally abused - accepted in Vodou but not in Haiti - but not singular - views are different
3. How does this film illustrate changes/challenges to Haitian worldviews on gender and sexuality?
• Is one of the worldviews - there is an explanation for gays, lesbians
• But very much impacted by missionaries, aid groups sponsored through Christian organizations- but also project to convert people
• People may not be as accepted there now
17. What is Benedict Anderson’s definition of the nation and what are two key features or characteristics of this definition?
the nation is an ‘imagined political community’; it is imagined as both inherently limited and sovereign (Benedict Anderson, “Imagined Communities”)
- every member of small community will not know anything about other members of their community i.e. Living in Nova Scotia, Nunavut- all think of themselves as Canadians - not based on face to face interaction - all feel a part of the large Canadian community- ... SO HOW DOES IT WORK?- imagined relationships, nations are one way to imagine relationships to each other
Imagined as limited, even the big ones- each has finite boundaries- beyond that is another nation (geographic borders)
Sovereign- part of nation is to believe you are free, freedom only tied only nation-state
Community- in nations despite the fact that there is inequality, hierarchy, exploitation... Those features exist... Always imagined as horizontal comrade-ship
Every one is Canadian in the same way- even when say it's imagined but very powerful imagining- we die, kill, sacrifice for nations.
18. Identify one category of ‘others’ in national identity narratives and briefly explain why they are important to these narratives
• People discriminated from the Canadian people i.e. indigenous people, immigrants, Americans
• Marginalized by people who think they are more like the "ingroup"
• Legitimizes their cause - this is what you want to be
• To define yourself you must define what you are not
• Develop solidarity of people inside that group
Longer Answer Questions:
1. Is the film “Cannibal Tours” an example of cultural relativism, ethnocentrism or both? Why?
Ethnocentricism- both the Indigenous group and the Westerners are not trying to understand one another
• The tribal people, talk about the great wealth and selfishness of the Westerners, how they don’t understand why they come
• The Westerners talk about how uncivilized, and poor they are and they have a backwards culture
Relativism- the film itself asks both groups what they think of each other, but they also ask them to explain how they are different, for the tribal people they ask about the meanings of the artifacts and their sacred temple. They also listen to the comments of the tourists and tell them that people here are satisfied with their lives.
2. Why do you think Horace Miner chose to write about “the Nacirema”?
To warn us of the dangers of ethnocentricism. Our own Western society was presented to us in a different way, the way an outsider would first see us. Without knowing we were given a chance to read the article without introducing bias. Upon find that Nacirema mirrors American, we would see that we judged ourselves without studying or looking at a it from an anthropological perspective.
3. Explain what Nancy Scheper Hughes means when she advocates for a ‘politically committed, morally engaged and ethically grounded anthropology’?
The personal story of her transformation ‘from “objective” anthropologist to politically and morally engaged companheira’ (410) is illuminating.
Volunteer in a poor favela in Brazil as a ‘politically committed community organiser’. Twenty years later she returned to the same favela, but this time as an anthropologist (and mother) to study infant mortality and chronic hunger
Rather than participate in community action focus on her research, but
“Why had I refused to work with them [as before]? Didn’t I care about them personally anymore, their lives, their suffering, their struggle?
Why was I so passive, so indifferent?”. She replied: “my work is different now. I cannot be an anthropologist and a companheira at the same
‘What is this anthropology to us anyway?’”
subsequent visits divided her time and loyalties between anthropology and political work in support of her friends and informants.
In the process she came to the realisation that the more she engagedwith the public world beyond the favela
• ‘the more my understandings of the community were enriched and
• my theoretical horizons were expanded’. Here she argues that politically engaged advocacy is not only morally correct, but theoretically valid and practically advantageous
Her engagement with extremes of violence, poverty and social exclusion in many countries led her to believe that “there was little virtue to false neutrality in the face of broad political and moral dramas of life and death, good and evil, that were being played out in the everyday lives of people.
…What makes anthropology and anthropologists exempt from the human responsibility to take an ethical (and political) stand on events we are privileged to witness?”
4. How might we view Canadian hockey as a ‘cultural text’?
Cultural text- is a way of thinking about a culture as a text of significant symbols- this means
• Words
• Gestures
• Drawings CARRY MEANING
• Natural objects
Meaning of hockey is tied to success- which is an abstract idea
Hockey is also a ritual- (create meaning) helps people adjust to sudden change by providing a way for players to gain status, achievement, and self-esteem.
• Learn limits of violence, people are punished for breaking the rules just like in real life
• Violence and competition are very important- but need to be controlled
• Rules that goven success in the rink govern those outside the rink
• Hard work, dedication, submission to authority and teamwork
• It is also unifying
5. According to Clifford Geertz, how might we think of the Balinese cockfight as a cultural text?
Rooster = masculinity, status and position - them winning a cockfight entitles them and raises their standing in society- this being said the outcome is not permanent- so don't really gain or loose status- so they don't translate to real life
Conflict resolution, peaceful communication
It tells them something real about their lives
In order to see it as a cultural text- is to understand the meaning of what is happening, and what that meaning tells you about the Balinese world view.
• Cocks represent men- or their owners, the fate of the cock in the ring is linked temporarily to the social fate of their owner , cock is also euphemism for penis
6. What does the video “Margaret Mead and Samoa” tell us about fieldwork?
(a) Depends on who you are talking to
(b) What is happening in the world around you 1925 vs. 1983
(c) who you are i.e. Gender- could open or close some doors
7. Identify two criticisms of applied anthropology. How might an applied anthropologist respond to these criticisms?
(a) Working with Big Organization Argument- working for "the man"
Response- this isn't the only way to conduct research, can work for NGO... most based on public interest- may work for local community or government does not have to be a business
(b) Never due to objective or pure research
Argument- how research is conduct- subject to bias because hired by group, so advocate and support it
(c) Atheoretical
Argument- doesn't add anything to theory of anthropology
Response- intense theoretical models put a theory of practise together and predict how much generated by research,
(d) Isn't Public enough
Argument- non involved in mainstream public decisions
nonacademic venues,
testifying at government hearings and commissions, consulting for organizations, acting as an expert witness,
and “being prepared to assume various ‘anthropologist no longer’ roles . . . including working in private firms, NGOs, or government agencies as well as in citizen activism, electoral campaigns, or political administrations”
8. Is gender a biological fact?
Gender is defined as a culturally constructed ideals of behavior, dress, occupations, roles and comportment for particular sexes
Therefore, gender is not a biological fact, while sex is.
IN North America, it is a biological fact upon birth, but we don’t have to conform
9. What do the Barbadian terms ‘queen’ and ‘gay’ tell us about gender and sexuality in Barbados?
Queens- effeminate homosexual men- dress and act like women (marginally acceptable, and relatively visible position)
Gay- denigrated and absent in this domain
Since the 1970s, homosexuality has been defined primarily upon the premise that gender and sexuality exist as two distinct, experiential categories.
Male homosexuality has been defined primarily in terms of sexual orientation; in terms of gender
Male homosexuals are normative masculine male-bodied individuals who are no different from their
heterosexual counterparts except for what they do in the bedroom
“Gay” has thus come to represent a gender normative sexual orientation; if an anatomically male individual desires another male but thinks of himself or acts like a woman, then he is no longer gay but transgender; in essence, his gendered desires trump his sexual ones in terms of placement in this (arbitrary) dual structure of gender and sexuality.
10. Are fa’afafine in Samoa an example of a society with a ‘third gender’ category? Why or why not?
Third Gender- given to someone who does not fit within strictly masculine or feminine gender roles in a given society
They are anatomically male but follow the social roles of females- fa'afafine.
11. Is Canada a society that recognizes a Third Gender? Why or Why not?
Canada does not officially recognize a third gender i.e. On passports howerver
it illegal to discriminate against gays in housing, public accommodation and employment
And same sex marriage is legal
12. Explain how one collective identity or social movement has been created through conflict and struggle.
Formation of id is a cultural process that involves the lived experiences and lived practices of people.
Collective struggle lead to collective action
People challenge the notion of fixed categories and boundaries
i.e. Aboriginal peoples of Canada, have different beliefs and different rights
13. What must anthropologists focus on when examining the formation of social movements, according to Clark’s research of CONAIE in Ecuador?
• Must understand political dynamics and how groups are associated with the state
• Action and Reaction- when Ecuador's elites estabished themselves and tried to civilize them they took adavantage to promote their own goals
• Studying interactions and growth of an indigenous voice in response to modernization by the elites
• Local leaders going global with NGO's to promote their cause- and how they built the confidence to express their own common id
• State of economic affairs- for example oil boom and then reduced spending on social programs
14. Why is gift-giving an important part of establishing identity?
Relationship btw gifts and id's
• Clarify Change to ID ie) becoming a doc- throw a party and get gifts
• Marcel Mouse
• Not gift itself- more imp relationship btw giver and reciever
• Act of reciprocity- creates tie with person who receives gift
• And obliges receiver to reciprocate
Ie) heirloom- contains information of kin Has history in it
Kula ring- pot latch
15. Why are zombie films good to think with?
• What does the zombie stand for- past experiences that come back to haunt us, something we have done wrong, teach us a lesson about past mistake
• Become after infection, fears about health and wellness - HIV/AIDS, SARS
• Relationship to technology by video games, t.v , entertain us into stupor
• Location of clip is grocery store, usually in stores, malls; represents us, lots of unnecessary stuff - comment on consumption - relentlessly being told to buy things
• Like zombies we keep consuming - we are a consumerist, capitalist society
• 'good to think with' symbolic relevance to culture
• Zombies to human experimentation
• Metaphor - stories about ourselves
• Ex. Friday 13, walk under a ladder, Santa Claus
16. According to Comaroff and Comaroff, what do increased reports of witchcraft and magic tell us about post-apartheid South Africa?
• The rise of the occult of witchcraft and magic in post-apartheid South Africa
• What does the existence of witchcraft and zombies tell us about post-apartheid South Africa?
• After 1994
• Older people getting wealthier, doesn't seem fair
• Myths brought to present
• Explain why some people are successful
• Poor young men make accusations and attack people who are more successful
People believe in something in order to explain basic phenomena
Symbolic actions such as rituals, myths, arts, stories and music play a role in organizing and making concrete a particular world view
In addition what we believe is due to our social, political and economic lives. "the magical allure of making money from nothing"
Tells us this is still a bad place for "blacks" to live in, they are the poor and live in poverty.
• Money and wealth is made attainable by means of witchcraft
• Because they make "monster-money" and because they get rid of the most successful people
17. How did the world view of Rastafarianism evolve in relation to social, economic and political conditions?
The formation of worldviews
The organization of our social economic and political lives influences what we believe and vice versa
• Develop out of colonialism, out of experiences of poverty out of capitalist economy
• Revitalization movement
• Religion at 1930's - after slavery develop peasant economy - local rural small scale farmers trade among one another - rival of American United Fruit Company - large scale agriculturalist
• Someone made King- "filled Biblical prophecies"
• 1834 slavery ended in British West Indies - 4 years of bondage system before ex-slaves could leave
• People in Jamaica left and got small plots of land to grow and sell their own produce
• Early 1900's United Fruit Company used these farmers as wage-labourers
• Undercutting of food prices, by 30's many lost their land, went to Kingston, no job so tried to survive
• Ras Tafari crowned emperor
• Was a symbol of hope and salvation for black people
• Returned African beliefs rejected Capitalists, when overthrown didn't matter bc system was so widespread
• Capital world called Babylon, they like Bob Marley
18. What are some of the key syncretic features of Vodou ?
Saints- spirits, ancestors.
Believe in God (Bondye) doesn't have time for people Not Perfect, but have a dark side
Spirits take care of them, but they must take care of them- mutualism
• Separate ceremonies to honor spirits and give sacrifices
• Family together - is Vodou
• Blend with Catholic religion
• Can possess or take over a persons body temporarily
• Combines medical, psychotherapist, social worker, priest
Places where offering are made to spirits, saints that they are worshipping, decorations Candles, images, skulls, little knick-knacks, alcohol, stones in oil, cigarette packs, baskets with leaves
Colour lithographs of saints i.e.) Saint Patrick with snakes at his feet (serpent spirit) Saint Gerard contemplating a skull (Gede, master of cemetery) - Vodou spirits Each has Catholic and African name i.e.) Mary is Ezili - love spirit
Church also has alter with religious objects and symbols
19. “Vodou altars are texts, there for the reading.” Explain.
Places where offering are made to spirits, saints that they are worshipping, decorations Candles, images, skulls, little knick-knacks, alcohol, stones in oil, cigarette packs, baskets with leaves
Colour lithographs of saints i.e.) Saint Patrick with snakes at his feet (serpent spirit) Saint Gerard contemplating a skull (Gede, master of cemetery) - Vodou spirits Each has Catholic and African name i.e.) Mary is Ezili - love spirit
Church also has alter with religious objects and symbols
20. Identify and briefly explain three factors that have contributed to the formation of national consciouness.
Lay bases for national consciousness
1. Unified fields of communication
2. Fixed languages
3. Created languages of power
21. According to Mackey, how does the Canadian nation-state manage internal difference?
• Talk about the LAND, nature based imagery, but combined with cultural pluralism - highlight Aboriginal people and multiculturalism
• Land is container where you see pluralism, are inclusionary, stories of history appear to be inclusionary - but it is a story allows limited forms of difference
• - but too much difference is a problem
• Canada is accepting, but complain about people creating conflict and complaining i.e. 1st Nation Protests, Quebec wants to separate
• We have problems with certain communities - but not as bad as US
sets up divide btw we and them
• So Canadians accept difference but in limited way
• Express frustration - about celebrating hyphenated cultures - fragmenting - people can't be just Canadian
• Cultural mosaic is a pile of rubble - limits of tolerance
and difference
• So unmarked core - is more marked WHITE CANADIAN IDENTITY
22. According to Mackey, what is the place of indigenous peoples in the national narrative of Canada?
• Historical Reenactment of war of 1812 - hardly any 1st nations people involved - but most historical notes say that they had a very central role - but only one woman who may be part Indian
• Otherwise complete absence of 1st nations
• Conversations with locals in towns - talk with organizers and participants
• Mostly white people - patterns emerge
• Canada is accepting, but complain about people creating conflict and complaining i.e. 1st Nation Protests, Quebec wants to separate
• We have problems with certain communities
- but not as bad as US
sets up divide btw we and them
• So Canadians accept difference but in limited way
• Express frustration - about celebrating hyphenated cultures - fragmenting - people can't be just Canadian
• Cultural mosaic is a pile of rubble - limits of tolerance and difference
• So unmarked core - is more marked WHITE
CANADIAN IDENTITY
• History of First Nations is different from Canada -
• start with Aboriginal Peoples - then by Level 3 - now it is Canadian history
• So Aboriginals outside Canadian history
• 1st nations featured at beginning of our story, may talk about conflict btw groups
• But presented at beginning
• Then disappear to Canada's present day
• Moves to harmony and cooperation
• Contemporary Canada with the odd Aboriginal - but they are not central to the story
• Unspoken parts of the story that museum does not focus - how take away their land, treaties written, how still conflict with Aboriginal groups
• Broken treaties
• Erases ongoing effects of colonization on Aboriginals and effect of violence
• No more presence today- don't acknowledge the exist today or social issues that they face today
- because of negligence of government
• Primarily European progress - how they mastered the land [Show Less]