Post #15: Indigenous rights

Alright, so the two websites I chose from the list of indigenous rights organizations and projects were http://www.akha.org/ and http://www.iwant2gohome.org/.

Beginning with the first site, the organization is not run by indigenous peoples but is said to be a foundation that is "non religiously or politically affiliated, and is non-profit." The indigenous people are simply aided by the foundation, which builds wells and provides them with thousands of dollars worth of first aid medication. From what I read it appears this organization is strongly agains assimilation and or acculturation.The organization follows and states the following:

We work to protect Akha heritage, language, literature, culture and history. We work to protect the Akha right to choose. Their future should not be determined by people selling them out, exploiting them or taking away their children. This includes exploitation such as can be found in certain "eco-tourism" projects.

They represent the culture as valuable and strong, and although the Akha people are not directly involved in raising money, they do post articles written by the Akha people about their lives and their culture on the website. One article was about the healers and their culture, and how there is such thing as spirit women. Overall the website seems to strongly appreciate the culture of the Akha people.

The second website shows that the organization "First people of the Kalahari" is run by the indigenous people, the Bushmen of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, Botswana and is meant to find help in order for them to return home. The government forced the people of the Kalahari off their land and moved them into resettlement camps. As well it explains how they are no longer allowed to hunt and gather, and that if they are caught doing so they are tortured. The organization explains that they have a right to go back home and that in December 2006 the judges in Botswana courts ruled that their forced relocation is unlawful, and that they are now allowed to go home. The problem now is, they were not given any help on transportation back home, and so many of them have been unable to do so.

Their main mission is to raise money for transportation back home, as well as for regular supply of water for he game reserve because people are dying without water where they have been relocated.

The site represents the culture through accounts by the people of the Kalahari, where they mention that they live by hunting and gathering and how they believe they are made from the land they were taken from and made to survive on that land. However, overall the website does not give direct accounts of their culture, but instead direct accounts of how they were taken off the land, and how they feel about it.

Lastly, the picture is a collection of pictures of the indigenous people of the Kalahari found on the website.

Post #14: Globalized communities

I explored the CBC Digital Archives collection on A Lost Heritage: Canada's Residential Schools. I watched videos and listened to radio clips and learned that native children were taken from there homes to study English at residential schools (this includes native orphans). They were to be prepared to integrate in a white society. This is known as internally displaced persons (people who are forced to leave their home and community but who remain in the same country). As well the residential schools were examples of processes of acculturation which is "a form of cultural change in which a minority culture becomes more like the dominant culture". I would say they were strongly trying to push this process through. For example many residential schools would not allow native children to speak their languages during the 10 months which they spent living there. If they did speak it they were in some form punished, for example they would have adhesive placed on the mouth, needles through the mouth, meals were withheld or the strap across the backside or hand.

One of the videos labelled "Native leader charges church with abuse" states the goal of residential schools was assimilation, a goal which is quite clear seeing as native children were forced to "dress to act and to speak like white children. Practicing Native culture was severely punished."

In a sense I would say that Canada's aboriginal people can be considered a "displaced" population, since a large amount of them were taken and moved into larger towns and would return periodically into their homes or communities.

Personally, I think that the Truth and Reconciliation Comission can only do so much in redressing the problems created by these residential schools. The amount of harm that has been done to the Native Peoples of Canada goes much deeper now, as it has now also affected other generations. In order for Natives Peoples to heal it requires much commitment and the uniting of their own people. The Truth and Reconciliation Comission can provide culturally appropriate and safe settings for those who previously attended residential schools and their families and communities as they come forward to the Commission and they can raise awareness etc, etc, but the Native community has come to the point where suicide rates are the highest (almost 7 times the national average), the age group are adolescents. To redress this problem, means to seriously commit, and to find a way to fix the problem and it means commitment from the native communities, the government and the churches.

Videos and Radio Clips: http://archives.cbc.ca/society/native_issues/topics/692/

Post #13: Review of an ethnographic museum or art gallery

Today I checked out the following website: http://www.dream-catchers.org/. In this website the dream catcher is represented. The question is, is dream catcher a piece of art or is it and ethnographic object? Well, I would say it is an ethnographic object because it is made and used by man and is studied and documented by people to be interpreted for human culture. However the website states that "dream catchers are arts and crafts of the Native American people."

The dream catcher is traditional to the Native Americans. Its purpose is to protect the sleeping individual from "bad" or negative dreams, and allows the positive dreams to come through. These positive dreams slip through the hole in the center of the dream catcher, gliding down the feathers to the person sleeping below. The negative dreams get caught in the web and are destroyed by the rays of sunlight. The dream catcher has the element of the hoop, a tradition of the Native Americans which has the highest esteem symbolizing strength and unity.

I believe that the intended audience of this gallery is adults ranging from young to older. However I also think this gallery is intended for adults to learn about the dream catcher and then teach it to the younger children, because it includes a section on how to make dream catchers for kids.

Although all dream catcher look relatively the same, it seems that they can be made with slightly different objects. For example the feathers can now be "craft" feathers (so those that come in pink, green, yellow colors) and instead of using a wood that is bent into a circle a Styrofoam plate can be used...at least when making a dream catcher for children.

PICTURE:http://greenlanternpress.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/dreamcatcher-legend.jpg

Post #12: Communicatoin

Today's blog focus on communication, more specifically body modification and what it means in a Brazilian Canela Culture and in an American culture. For the Canela people of Brazil, modifying or adorning the body, "enhahnces appearance, signals changes in social identity and expresses culturally prescribed values. Men and women recieve different body modifications or "cosmetic treatments". For example, socially responsible men are expected to be open to listening to what the elders and chiefs have to say, but first they must have their ears opened physically and symbolically. This occurs between the ages of 10 and 15 in the shade outside their mothers house. Once their ears are pierced, the hair around their ears is cut and the rest is placed in a ponytail. THis is done by their uncle and a specialist in ear piercing. After a series of steps the boy is placed in a corner of his mothers house and follows dietary restrictions similar to those during a postpardum couvade. This is a symbol of maturation. As well the stretching of the ear lobes, is more appealing to women, and makes them more handsome to young women. The more women like them, the more they watch how they act, for example they would act less foolishly. A mans piercing then, "indicates that he is a tribesman of the highest caliber".

However it is important to recognize that nowadays amongst the Canela people this rarely occurs due to the fact that other Brazilians do not understand why they would do something that causes pain. I thought the following quote was extremely sad: ""Most Brazilians treat us like beasts, they call us "people who don't know." They don't understand why we would do something that causes pain in the ear, and so this practice then becomes ugly. It's primarily the word of the Brazilian people -- we listen to it very much. We have to change in such a way that the Brazilian people like us because if we don't, we will always live amidst violence. I believe this very strongly. "

In American culture, tattooing and piercing is open to virtually everyone. Piercings can vary on the body from the nose, navel, ears, eyebrows, lips etc. Tattooing aswell can vary around the body and in size. The site itself does not specify what age, sex, social group, group identity or even social status one has to be to get a "body modification". It is safe to say (as stated above) that it is open to everyone. When one is recieving that tattoo or body piercing it is done in the parlor either in the open where all other customers and staff can see or if one prefers more privacy, it can be done alone in a room. These tattoos and piercings express something different for everyone individually.

Post #11: Religion

Today I read about North American Shamanism. A shaman in tribal cultures is someone who sees in to the sacred world. They act out rituals, in order to heal themselves and others. I'd say this religion is a form of animism which is defined as "the belief in souls or "doubles" because they believe in animal spirits. In this religion they have something called a "medicine wheel" which is an "ancient way of creating a sacred space." each direction of the medicine wheel has an animal that lives there and "stands for one type of energy." For example the West may have a bear which represents healing power and the north may have a turtle representing grounding etc, etc. It is made by placing a small object representing an animal or its energy in each direction around a circle. The circle can be any size. The object may be a feather or a shell or even a special stone, as long as it has deep meaning. There is also an object placed in the center creating a "mini vortex of power" an creates a balance, where the four energies are acting at once. "The path of the feather" is basically when one follows an ancient spirit, to find the feather and its meaning. The ancient sprits will then tell you the story of "the path of the feather". These ancient spirits speak in "collective voice of ancient peoples." They are known as spirit guides, and are the "indder voices of the earth". The spirits appear to the shaman in visions and give them messages from the earth, coming with the "intention to communicate" and heal.

ARTICLE:http://www.pathofthefeather.com/pof3.htm PICTURE:http://www.sagegrovecoven.com/Portal/images/stories/medicinewheel.jpg

Post #10: Feminist anthropology as cultural critique

Out of the choices we had for this blog I chose to read about Womens Labour Activism. I read an article called: Hungering for Power: Borders and Contradiction in Indian Tea Plantations Womens Organizing as well as Womens Labour Activism in China. I found that both these articles contained defamiliarization. the first one I mentioned, i think, could be classified as defamiliarization by epistemological critique because the write goes "out to the periphery of the Euro-centric". The other article is, I demfamiliarization by cross-cultural juxtaposition because it matches "ethnography abroad with ethnography at home." THe writer compares womans labour activism in china to those of other female labour activism in other countries a few times. Both articles basically talk about the authority that men have and how women cannot move up the career chain. The writers both want the women of China and India (depending on the article) to gain female rights, and to stop the obvious gender inequalities. IT is clear that matriarchy is not found, but instead is dominated by patriarchal politics. ARTICLES: http://www.journals.uchicago.edu.proxy1.lib.umanitoba.ca/doi/full/10.1086/523820?prevSearch=%2528tea%2Bplantations%2529%2BAND%2B%255Bjournal%253A%2Bsigns%255D&searchHistoryKey= http://www.journals.uchicago.edu.proxy1.lib.umanitoba.ca/doi/full/10.1086/523821 PICTURE:http://deepaknegi.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Feminism1.jpg

Post #9: Social Groups and Social Stratification

According to http://www.csun.edu/~hcchs006/14.html which studied Latino street gangs, people join gangs because it provides a sense of family and group membeship by "furnishing friends and camaraderie to unloved and often unwanted youngsters". It provides there members with status, affiliation, belonging as well as provides "the necessay audience for deeds of bravado and for positioning and strutting". As well most of these gang members joined with the idea "if you cant beat em--join em" or because they were sick of having no money.

Latino street gangs are not an example of social stratification (hierarchical relationships between different groups as though they were arranged in layers or stara) . They are not like highly structured military formation, they do not hold regular meetings, and "the individuals who call the shots are not part of a chain of command".

When researching, the questionnaire that was done on each person interviewed was done in a naturalistic conversation and in a natural environment where friends and family would drop by and confirm the data given through conversation. AS well the researchers assured that they would engage in "chit chat" after the questionnaire to observe their behaviors, and spoke like they did, switching between English and Spanish if they did, or speaking only in English if thats how the participant spoke.

picture:http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://s.bebo.com/app-image/7924721556/5411656627/PROFILE/i.quizzaz.com/img/q/u/08/05/16/Latin_Kings2.jpg&imgrefurl=http://secure.bebo.com/Profile.jsp%3FMemberId%3D119364597&usg=__HG8u-tnPH-UMJAB_fRa2LDJDifo=&h=264&w=355&sz=19&hl=en&start=5&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=JpYwIsAHTvmZSM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=121&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dlatino%2Bstreet%2Bgangs%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26tbs%3Disch:1

Post #8 Perspectives on Polygamy

In my opinion, monogamy is the way to go. It allows for intimacy between two people, love, companionship, a best friend. Although I do not agree with polygamy, I did find it interesting to read about. On the following website: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09693a.htm I read that the main cause of polyandry (multiple men married to one woman) was the "scarcity of women" caused by Female infanticide, and "to the appropration of many women by polygamous chiefs and strong men in a tribe" as well as to the minimal amounts of food supply which made it alot harder for males of a family to support a family on their own. Nowadays polyandry is still found in the Aleutian Island, in Tibet, to mention a couple.
On the follwing wesite:http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=990DE4DE153BEF34BC4E52DFB667838F669FDE I read a little on the Mormon religion, the stated the following: "every man and every woman who opposed the revelation on polygamy would find themselves in darkness and withdrawn from the spirit of God until they sank down into hell". I personally believe polygamy should be illegal, but ideas such as the one stated above enforce the believers of the Mormon religion to continue in such acts. on the following website: http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9403E2DF1038E033A25756C0A9669D94659FD7CF, shows the opinion of Judge Lane, who states that a man who practices polygamy should not be a part of the jury, just as a man who has been involved in robbery should not be a part of a jury when judging a robbery.This opinion, much different from that of the Mormons makes polygamy sound like a horrifying crime.
This idea sort of agrees with the Christian belief (in the sense that they both agree it is wrong) stated in the follwing website: http://www.angelfire.com/journal/oneflesh/. This website contains a passasge from the bible "for this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife and they will become one flesh" NIV It states that the idea of polygamy branches from the emotional problems and damages we recieve during our childhood. We look for fullfillment in our adulthood.

picture: http://blogs.qc.cuny.edu/blogs/0209N2511/017/marriage_460x.jpg

Post #7: A little on HIV/AIDS

A disease such as AIDS is define as “a biological health problem that is objective and universal” (this definition is from the Cultural Anthropology textbook by Barbara Miller, Penny Van Esteik and John Van Esterik)

Data shows that aboriginal are being infected with HIV at a younger age than non aboriginal people. One the major causes or key “modes of transmission” is through the injection of drugs. Out of 16 244 cases of HIV, 509 were repoted to be aboriginal peoples. It is important to not that aboriginal peoples includes First Nations, Inuit and Metis. The Aboriginal peoples in Canada, over the last few years, are showing a steady rise in the proportion of reported AIDS and positive HIV tests.

The article states that these communities are affected by high rates of poverty, sexually transmitted infections and limited access to use of health care services. I would say that this is a form of structural suffering, since is it a human health problem caused by economic problems and poverty.

The number of cases related to injecting drug use has increased from 8.8% before 1992 to 30.1 % between the years of 1992-1996 and 54.1 between the years 1997-2002.

http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/publicat/epiu-aepi/epi_update_may_04/9-eng.php (article)
http://hiv-aids-poz.com/posters/HIV-Hands-Grabbing-T-Shirt-Design.gif (picture)

Post#6 Female Genital Mutilation

Today I read about female genital mutilation also known as female genital cutting (FGC), and I found myself cringing in my seat at the thought of the pain, and the torture. It is such disrespect and a violation of human rights, more specifically women and child rights.

To begin, there are four types of female circumcision. One of them being clitoridectomy which is partial or total removal of the clitoris and sometimes (this is rare) the removal of the fold of skin that surround ts the clitoris, this is known as the prepuce. Another type of circumcision is known as excision which is partial or total removal of the clitoris as well as the labia minora. As well there may be excision of the labia majora, which are the “lips” that surround the vagina. Another type of circumcision is called infibulations, which is narrowing the opening of the vagina through creating a covering seal. This seal is made by cutting and repositioning the inner or outer labia, where the clitoris may or may not be removed. Lastly there is also circumcision just known as “others” which involved pricking, piercing, scraping and pricking the genital area for non medical purposes.

This is most common in eastern, north-eastern and western regions of Africa as well Asian some countries in the Middle East and in Asia. This is also practiced by a few immigrant communities in North America as well as in Europe.

This article does not say that female genital mutilation is done on the onset of puberty but does state that it can take place from infancy to the age of 15. This is not to say that adult woman do not have this done to them also. Occasionally adult woman are also forced to undergo female genital mutilation.

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs241/en/

Post #5: Infant Mortality Rates

It turns out that Canada has a considerably high infant mortality rate of 5.6 out of every 1000 live births. Before discussing the main causes of these deaths, it is first noted that there are two terms for infant mortality. The first is neonatal death, which is the death of an infant under 28 days of age and the second is post-neonatal death, which is the death of an infant between 28 days and 1 year of age. The main causes of these deaths are respiratory distress syndrome, short gestation and low birth weight. These causes account for 62% of neonatal deaths. There are 2 leading causes of deth for post-nonatal death which are sudden infant syndom and congenital anomalies, which account for 26% and 23% of deaths respectively.
The rate of infant death is high compared to other regions such as Japan, Finland, Sweden, Switzerland, France and Denmark which have infancy deaths of 3.8, 4.0, 4.0, 4.7, 4.9, and 5.2 respectively. However Canada does have a lower infancy rate that New Zealand and the United States which has infancy death rates of 7.4 and 7.8 respectively. Thus in places like New Zealand, the United States and even Canada, serious problems are still present, one of them being low birth weight. Including live birth weights under 500 g changes the infant mortality rates, and so that also has to be taken into account. Including this or not including this will either increase or decrease and infant mortality rate and accounts for the variations in infant mortality analyses.
I thought it was especially interesting that Canada (aside from Japan) has had the highest decline in infant mortality rate, which has lowered from 27.3 per 1000 in 1960. This article had strictly quantitative data. It is also noted that this article does not talk about direct or indirect infanticide. If such things are done before 1 year of age, these also contribute to infant mortality rates, correct? I think it’s important to know if this is something done often and where in the world it takes place.

note: the article and picture are from the following site:
www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/publicat/meas-haut/mu_c_e.html

Post #4: Kuru

Kuru, is a prion disease, which has ultimately been determined to have been caused by cannibalism. This epidemic took place among the Fore people of Papua, New Guinea. Anthropological research was essential in the discovery of the causes of this disease because they aided in the discovery that cannibalism was the cause, as well learning about kuru also helped gain a vast amount of knowledge about prion diseaseses.

Kuru relates to mad cow disease or BSE in that they are both prion diseases. Prion diseases cause many different degenerative neurological diseases that may be “infectious, inherited or sporadic in origin”. The sporadic forms are caused by unknown forms, while the inherited forms are caused by mutations of the human PrP gene. Lastly the infectious forms are caused and transmitted through contact or consumption of tissues that have been previously infected. This then shows another similarity between mad cow disease and kuru. Kuru is transmitted through cannabilism, the consumption of infected human tissue. Meanwhile, mad cow disease is also transmitted through consumption of infected tissue, however through the tissue of cows.

When reading this article I realized that know reason as to why the Fore people of New Guinea took part in cannibalism was given. I would like to have been given some emic information, not just comparisons between Kuru and other prion diseases. I wonder if cannibalism to them is in someway a symbol? Does their action of cannibalism some how stand for something else? Is it a sprititual act? I think a little background information would have been more helpful in understanding the situation of the Fore people of New Guinea, although of course reading strictly about the Kuru disease was also very interesting.

Post #3 A bit on the economy of Mongolia

Mongolia today faces many economic challenges due to the growing economic difficulties in the USSR and its “ultimate break up”, causing all central Asian countries to change from centrally planned economies to free market societies. Due to this fact, many changes have occurred such as “privatization, price liberation and decentralization of decision making.” Mongolia, is one of the countries of all previous centrally planned economies to most quickly begin privatizing, beginning in 1991. They achieved almost full private ownership of livestock by the year 1993.

The article I read basically stated that livestock production is mainly dominated by private ownership ultimately causing changes in “labour demand and patterns of labour division” causing these countries to become “more free and self-oriented”. This entire reconstruction of the economy has caused the living standards of the people to decrease. Poverty and unemployment have become major problems in the society.

Mongolia practiced nomadic pastoralism (pastoralism is a mode of production which keeps domesticated animal herds, that are used as meat and milk for their diet) however now are transferred to permanent settlements, unfortunately bringing their nomadism to an end. From what I read it seems family farming (production is done to support the family as well as for producing goods for sale ) is taking place no instead of the nomadic pastoralism.