"I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing. I think it is much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers that might be wrong" (Richard Feynman)
Watch one or all three of the videos. One is an excellent ethnographic short of Cargo cults. The second is on Rastafarianism. The third is a dialogue between a Catholic priest and a Brahmin priest of Hinduism.
Cargo cults are compared to the cult of Jesus in this 6:03" segment:
This features a man from a community of Rastafarians, who have settled in the small southern Ethiopian town of Shashamene (3:01"):
This is a fascinating dialogue between a French Roman Catholic official (it seems) and a Hindu official or Brahmin priest.
POST A COMMENT: Decided to give you a bit more direction for the comment here. PICK ONE QUESTION TO COMMENT ON.
Q#1: After viewing the video on either Cargo Cults, Rastafarianism, or the dialogue between the Catholic Priest and the Brahmin priest, how does the example you chose to watch highlight
the social constructed nature of religion as well as
how our view of others is a manifestation of our own grinding and their reaction one cultural constructed by theirs.
If you are unsure of the culture of Cargo cults, see Kottak Mirror for Humanity, p. 195 again.
Q#2: How has the world capitalist economy of core and periphery stratification of nations perhaps contributed to the spread and formation of religions like Rastafarianism and Cargo cults?
PLEASE WATCH the following clips (30 mins total) from the BBC documentary Racism: A History
NEW FEATURE: Indicate your reaction to the post at the bottom near the comment button.
1) Racism a History - The Colour of Money Part 1/6
2) Racism a History - The Colour of Money Part 2/6
3) Racism a History - The Colour of Money Part 3/6
PS: Remember this from early in the class. Puts religion and other concepts we studied in perspective as if now a retrospective of what you've now learned:
BONUS: "What we are" Dance Monkeys Dance by Ernest Cline - www.ernestcline.com
I invite you each week to post a comment about the readings or about questions that you find yourself asking about cultural anthropology or our class discussions. Anything is possible to discuss as long as you can make it relevant to the group. No talking to yourself out loud, so to speak. Speak to forwarding the action of our shared community of knowledge. Thanks, Prof. G
Some key ideas to discuss in Chapter 2: ethics, ethnographic practices, etc.
INTRODUCING TED TALKS: Anthropologist Wade Davis muses on the worldwide web of belief and ritual that makes us human. He shares breathtaking photos and stories of the Elder Brothers, a group of Sierra Nevada indians whose spiritual practice holds the world in balance. A National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, Wade Davis travels the globe to live alongside indigenous people, and document their cultural practices in books, photographs, and film.
In this TED Talk video Julia Sweeney talks about her transition in understanding religion from the time she turned 7 till now. Towards the end however she stresses the fact that no matter what religion, ultimately some of the ideals that they are based on sound ludicrous. For example, the story of God impregnating the Virgin Mary without the use of intercourse, and giving birth to the son of God. I may believe in this, however pretend you as an intellectual of 18+ never heard the story before. Would you not think of the story as just a myth? Is it another form of Social Control in that as child you were influenced to believe this and ultimately think it to be true? Do we choose to believe in it now because it works? Or do we just have nothing else to believe in?
This week in Thursday, November 6, 2008, our group will discuss religion in a variety of different ways. We want to show how different every religion is and how others use ethnocentrism, believing that their religion is better than other religions. Before class, we want everyone to think about their own religions, if you have one, and what kind of practices your religion performs. Think about whether or not other people from other religions will criticize them. On thursday, Jiaying will discuss family culture on the Chinese New Year. She will explain the process of how they worship the Gods, as well as bring some of the materials used to worship gods. This will allow us to understand some aspect of the Chinese religion. Ivana will speak about her Christian Evangelic religion in her home town in Serbia. Her town is separated by an invisible line, dividing the homes of the Christian Evangelics on one side and the Catholics on the other side. This will show how religion can separate people and even cause conflicts.
The picture on the left is the Catholic church on one side of the town, while the picture on the right is the Christian Evangelic church, located on the opposite side of the town.
Eun Ji will be discussing religion in South Korea. Almost 46% of the South Koreans express no religious preference. Of the religious people, 29% are Christian, 23% are Buddhist and 3% have other religious beliefs. Christianity is the biggest religion in South Korea. Christianity in South Korea has a relatively short history, but after a difficult beginning, it has seen significant growth and success. South Korea has different kind of denominations, for example, Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptism and Full gospel. Although Presbyterian is the most well-known, there are more followers for Full gospel so here is a clip on full gospel. Yoido Ful Gospel Church
This is a video of worship in full Gospel Churches in South Korea.
Christian Music Video Body Worship Dance - Worthy Is The Lamb
Tanzina will show some interesting videos on taboos in religion.
Found a great story below about Hinduism that shows how the religious emic view is cultural integrated with other values of Indian society/culture. It comes from on Mike Wesch's Wiki under the topic of Religion + the Supernatural He writes: " Religion responds to BIG QUESTIONS: Why death? Why life?"
"The world is much more than what meets the eyes. We experience great sorrows - and great elation. We experience death - We fall in love - and sometimes we have what for lack of a better word we might call "the religious experience" --- all of these experiences are beyond words. And then there is the world itself."
"Where did it come from? It too is beyond words. You can say it is the Big Bang - but what was before that - You can say it was God, Allah, Spiderwoman of the Hopi, Afek of the Nekalimin, any number of thousands of Gods that Humans put their faith in ... but is that just a word we place on something unexplainable?"
"Ultimately the ground of our being is a mystery - as humans we name it by many names ... You have probably heard of several religions - Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam ... there are in fact no less than 5000 religions. Each one as adamant as the others that they have the right answer in their pocket. Great diversity - yet remarkably similar as well. How do we explain this diversity?"
"Worldwide we find that religion expresses, explains, and legitimizes cultural practices, values, and the socio-political order" (Wesch).
INDIA - HINDUISM ... INDRA'S LESSON
"There is a wonderful story in one of the Upanishads about the god Indra. Now, it happened at this time that a great monster had enclosed all the waters of the earth, so there was a terrible drought, and the world was in a very bad condition. It took Indra quite a while to realize that he had a box of thunderbolts and that all he had to do was drop a thunderbolt on the monster and blow him up. When he did that, the waters flowed, and the world was refreshed, and Indra said, "What a great boy am I."
So, thinking, "What a great boy am I," Indra goes up to the cosmic mountain, which is the central mountain of the world, and decides to build a palace worthy of such as he. The main carpenter of the gods goes to work on it, and in very quick order he gets the palace into pretty good condition. But every time Indra comes to inspect it, he has bigger ideas about how splendid and grandiose the palace should be. Finally, the carpenter says, "My god, we are both immortal, and there is no end to his desires. I am caught for eternity." So he goes to Brahma, the creator god, and complain.Brahma sits on a lotus, the symbol of divine energy and divine grace. The lotus grows from the navel of Vishnu, who is the sleeping god, whose dream is the universe. So the carpenter comes to the edge of the great pond of the universe and tells his story to Brahma. Brahma says, "You go home. I will fix this up." Brahma gets off his lotus and kneels down to address sleeping Vishnu. Vishnu just makes a gesture and says something like, "Listen, fly, something is going to happen." {CLICK ON THE PHOTO FOR INFO ABOUT IT}
Next morning, at the gate of the palace that is being built, there appears a beautiful blue boy with a lot of children around him, just admiring his beauty. The porter at the gate of the new palace goes running to Indra, and Indra says, "Well, bring in the boy." The boy is brought in, and Indra, the king god, sitting on his throne, says, "Young man, welcome. And what brings you to my palace?" "Well," says the boy with a voice like thunder rolling on the horizon, "I have been told that you are building such a palace as no Indra before you ever built." And Indra says, "Indras before me, young man- what are you talking about?"The boy says, "Indras before you. I have seen them come and go, come and go. Just think, Vishnu sleeps in the cosmic ocean, and the lotus of the universe grows from his navel. On the lotus sits Brahma, the creator. Brahma opens his eyes, and a world comes into being, governed by an Indra. Brahma closes his eyes, and a world goes out of being. The life of a Brahma is 432,000 years. When he dies, the lotus goes back, and another lotus is formed, and another Brahma. Then think of the galaxies beyond galaxies in infinite space, each a lotus, with a Brahma sitting on it, opening his eyes, closing his eyes. And Indras? There may be wise men in your court who would volunteer to count the drops of water in the oceans or the grains of sand on the beaches, but no one would count those Brahmin, let alone those Indras."
While the boy was talking, an army of ants parades across the floor. The boy laughs when he sees them, and Indra's hair stands on end, and he says to the boy, "Why do you laugh?" The boy answers, "Don't ask unless you are willing to be hurt." Indra says, "I ask. Teach." (That, by the way, is a good Oriental idea: you don't teach until you are asked. You don't force your mission down people's throats.) And so the boy points to the ants and says, "Former Indras all.Through many lifetimes they rise from the lowest conditions to the highest illumination. And then they drop their thunderbolt on a monster, and they think, 'What a good boy am I.' And down they go again."
This story illustrates some core values of Hinduism:
Cycles - Reincarnation
Each person has their place (Caste)
Subdue individuality - Be humble. These are the Virtues.
I love Kanye West but it wasn't until today's class that I realized all his religious references.
Jesus Walks *Basically the Whole Song
Can't Tell Me Nothing *I had a dream I could buy my way to heaven When I awoke I spent that on a necklace I told God I'd be back in a second Man, it's so hard not to act reckless To whom much is given, much is tested
Never let me down *Let it been known that God's penmanship has been signed with a language called love That's why my breath is felt by the deaf And why my words are heard and confined to the ears of the blind I, too, dream in color and in rhyme So I guess I'm one of a kind in a full house Cuz whenever I open my heart, my soul, or my mouth A touch of God reigns out ((MANA ANYONE?!))
The Shakers, a Protestant religious denomination officially called The United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, originated in Manchester, England in 1772, have only 4 surviving members in Maine today. This means they are practically extinct as a culture -- a perfect example of ethnocide. Why are they nearly extinct? Because they believe in celibacy. Yet they have survived through proselytizing and adopting orphans. What a contrast to the nuclear family in America, what a different relationship to gender organization they have and what a religion (one that teaches ideas that have a negative impact on their "genetic fitness" as Philosopher Dan Dennett said of the Shakers--see his Ted Talk "Ants, terrorism, and the awesome power of memes" http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/116 .)
The name "Shakers," originally pejorative, was derived from the term "Shaking Quakers" and was applied as a mocking description of their rituals of trembling, shouting, dancing, shaking, singing, and glossolalia (speaking in strange and unknown languages). They were taught that their demonstrations of shaking and trembling were caused by sin being purged from the body by the power of the Holy Spirit, purifying the worshipper. Often when they sing their "Shaker songs" they stomp insistently through the performance to perhaps shake out sin.
Regarding gender organization, villages are divided into groups or "families". Each house is divided so that men and women do everything separately. They use different staircases and doors, and sit on opposite sides of the room.
Though nearly extinct as a culture, many Americans are very familiar with Shaker furniture. From Wikipedia: "One of the major attributes of the Shakers was to build. This combined with their dedication to hard work and perfection has resulted in a unique range of architecture, furniture and handicraft styles. They relied on their own skills and natural resources for all these as well as for providing for their family. Shakers designed their furniture with care, believing that making something well was in itself, "an act of prayer." They never fashioned items with elaborate details or extra decorations, but only made things for their intended uses. The ladder-back chair was a popular piece of furniture. Shaker craftsmen made most things out of pine or other inexpensive woods and hence their furniture was light in color and weight."
In Chapter 10 on Religion (Kottak, Mirror for Humanity), the notion of witch hunts is raised as a powerful means of social control "creating a climate of danger and insecurity that affects everyone, not just the people who are likely targets." These accusations are often targeted towards the socially marginal and the anomalous (those who deviate from the norm) as a "leveling mechanism" bringing them back in line with the status quo. See Big Religion Chart for broader view of religion.
You might be interested in seeing a real-life crucifixion in contemporary Phillipines for a man who made an oath to be cruxified to save his daughter. This video is provided by National Geographic.
How might common superstitions work as a form of social control, as leveling mechanisms where social differences stand out? Which individuals or groups in our society might be affected by these superstitions (Remember the experiment 3rd grade teacher Jane Elliot did with the brown and blue eyes)?
* Friday the thirteenth is an unlucky day * If you walk under a ladder, you will have bad luck * To break a mirror will bring you seven years bad luck * To open an umbrella in the house is to bring bad luck * Step on a crack, break your mother's back * If you blow out all of the candles on your birthday cake with the first breath you will get whatever you wish for * An itchy palm means money will come your way * A beginner will always have good luck: beginner's luck * Crossing your fingers helps to avoid bad luck and helps a wish come true * After receiving a container of food, the container should never be returned empty * A sailor wearing an earring cannot drown * To find a penny heads up, brings good luck * To make a happy marriage, the bride must wear: something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue * Washing a car will bring rain * You must get out of bed on the same side you got in on or you will have bad luck
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