Shift Happens 2.0 Video viewed by 5 million + Remix

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMcfrLYDm2U

An official update to the original "Shift Happens" video from Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod, this June 2007 update includes new and updated statistics, thought-provoking questions and a fresh design. For more information, or to join the conversation, please visit http://shifthappens.wikispaces.com -- Content by Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod, design and development by XPLANE.

Check out this REMIX of Shift Happens 2.0 which is esp. compelling to students and teachers in US.

Last Call for You To Blog by Mon Dec 17th

I said AMNESTY ends this Thursday, but I will extend it to Monday December 17th. By posting 6 (six) responses to six different posts (either the original post or a comment by another student), you will fulfill your requirement to post on this blog for the semester.

I see all the posts (the program sends them to my email). I will not reply. This is a space for dialogue among you all and the blog will continue next term. So feel free to come visit.

BEFORE YOU POST, CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING:

Which, do you think, is more powerful?

1. Reading the posts below and sharing whether you think it's right or wrong, or
2. Reading the posts and considering what etic (or scientist's) view of the subject you can discover

Which is more useful to the other readers of a blog about anthropology?

1. Sharing your view based on emic (insider) experience, sharing a firsthand account, or etic (scientist's) interpretations, or
2. Sharing your personal opinion without asking if it has any bearing on the new insights and knowledge you gained from the Kottak chapters, our discussions or your newfound power as an experienced "mini" ethnographer.
   

You be the judge and let that inform your responses as you read back over the posts below.

In the upper right column of the blog,
you can click the arrow next to the dates
under BLOG ARCHIVE to view the previous topics.

NYU Students Would Trade the Right to Vote for an Ipod Touch or Full Tuition

Tuesday in class, Stephen Seymour (4:10 section) showed me a set of statistics on a study done at NYU that appeared in an issue of THE ECONOMIST. It said something like students at NYU were surveyed and would give up their right to vote for a year in exchange for an iPod touch and they'd give up their right to vote forever for free tuition (a free ride). I was stunned.

What's interesting is to compare and contrast the November 22nd print version that appeared in The Economist (very short):

For sale
A poll of New York University students revealed that 20% would give up their vote in the next election for an iPod and two-thirds would do so for a year's college tuition. Half would renounce their vote permanently for $1m.

with the longer version dated November 14th that appeared in The Politico:

...66 percent said they'd forfeit their vote for a free ride to NYU. And half said they'd give up the right to vote forever for $1 million.

But they also overwhelmingly lauded the importance of voting.

Ninety percent of the students who said they'd give up their vote for the money also said they consider voting "very important" or "somewhat important"; only 10 percent said it was "not important."

Also, 70.5 percent said they believe that one vote can make a difference — including 70 percent of the students who said they'd give up their vote for free tuition.

The class — "Foundations of Journalism," taught by journalism department chairwoman Brooke Kroeger — polled more than 3,000 undergraduates between Oct. 24 and 26 to assess student attitudes toward voting.

Which version says more and what difference does it make to the reader? How might the shorter or longer version be better or worse for cultural perceptions of college students? In what way does each contribute to stratification along class lines and to concerns about wealth, power and prestige in the U.S.?

Taimoor's Rap

Ok here's the situation.That girl right there just gave her explanation.Now its upto me to tell you how,The different band societies work now.Ranging from thirty to fifty people,With no individual property ownership,These nomadic populations of food collectorsBased their bands on blood and kinship.They place high values on sharing and reciprocity.Probably the oldest because they're associated with forging technology.They handle their disputes with direct negotiation,So they can get along well with the population.Highly egalitarian, they had few differences of wealth,And took care of each other in really bad health.The people in the bands had little role specialization,Just like the fact that they had the same traditions.And because of the same traditions they had the same culture.And that same culture incorporated their good future.And then there was this band who spoke its own language.But it didn't matter to them as they all understood about it.And all the band members were independent of each other,So they could live in peace and harmony with their prodigal brother.And lastly there was this man from Kalahari.He was the headman of the tribe Ju/'hari.He carried his load on his own two shoulders,And its not because his heart wasn't colder.It just wasn't his culture to take favors,No matter how hard were his endeavors.His leadership role was very informal.It stemmed not from spiritual or physical powerbut based on his wisdom and being novel.So for all you people from distant landsI give you ma' brother Nick, i hope you understand....

Helping De-Worm Haiti's Children

How is it that Aaron Jackson, like Paul Farmer, is willing to pursue what seems impossible and make it look possible? How does traveling (as Jackson and Farmer did--fieldwork of a sort) a catalyst to change? How might your experience in the "field" with your mini-ethnography change you?

"CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute" -- hosted by CNN's Anderson Cooper with Christiane Amanpour -- honors the most outstanding viewer-nominated CNN Heroes as chosen by a blue-ribbon panel of world leaders and luminaries."

• In Depth: CNN Heroes

"These are some of the people among us who look around and see a world of possibility and hope. While they see people and places in need, they also see that their personal power can quietly accomplish remarkable things."

Medical Marvel: Aaron Jackson helps to provide de-worming medicine to Haitian children

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/living/2007/09/11/heroes.aaron.jackson.cnn

Hans Rosling: New insights on poverty and life around the world

Another Ted Talk video!


What point is Professor Gosling making with his finale? Does it work? Why or why not? And for whom might it work? Why or why not?

Le Grand Content - How, why and what is life? An Ethnographic inquiry

I found this on http://www.ethnography.com/category/blogging-gems/. While at first it seems absurd and humorous, there is something dead on and thought-provoking about this animated video. This is a great little short film by Clemens Kogler.

From the YouTube description
Le Grand Content examines the omnipresent Powerpoint-culture in search for its philosophical potential. Intersections and diagrams are assembled to form a grand ‘association-chain-massacre’. which challenges itself to answer all questions of the universe and some more. Of course, it totally fails this assignment, but in its failure it still manages to produce some magical nuance and shades between the great topics death, cable tv, emotions and hamsters.

Desi Salons

The topic of the mini-ethnography that I am working on is about Indian Salon’s. My ethnography does not deal with a specific salon, but, the entire group of “desi” salons located in New York and how they exist in a diverse culture and help globalize. I used the term “Desi” Salons because “Desi” is a slang word that stands for the South-Asian community and a South Asian person will be fully aware of the existence of a desi salon in the area, while the same salon might seem like a just another salon to a pedestrian on the sidewalks of NYC. There are numerous salons in NYC, but nobody thinks of a salon based on a specific cultural background. These salons are separated from the usually salons because they use certain techniques that is only known to the South-Asian community and is popular amongst the South Asian public. For instance let us take an example of Henna Tattoos. Henna tattoos have been a part of the Indian culture since centuries, but, now it is becoming more popular worldwide. There are certain designs that are classified as traditional and the artists who know this can only be found in the “desi” salons in New York. Threading has been one of the famous techniques of eyebrow hair removal and in recent years and more people are becoming familiar to it. The ethnography will deal with who first started the Indian techniques in the United States and how it speeded out.

Chap 11 The Modern World System

DID YOU ALREADY READ CHAPTER 11?

• Show your comprehension and apply the new anthropological terms in a thoughtful response.
• Cite pages of the terms you discuss and write ideas in your own words (avoid quoting).
• Your post will count in the AMNESTY period as extra credit towards your blog/blackboard grade.
• If you continue through December consistently, you could make up all the points you missed.

I want to offer some contemporary issues about the world system that are relevant to your future as prospective elites. Read the entire post and then respond to one of the two (2) questions posed below. Reading at least 5 other comments will augment the thinking in your post.

On page 237, Kottak states:

The modern world system is cross-cut by collective identities based on ethnicity, religion, and nationality (Shannon 1996). Class conflicts tend to occur within nations, and nationalism has prevented global class solidarity, particularly of proletarians....The current world stratification system features substantial contrast between both capitalists and workers in the core nations and workers on the periphery.

In 1999, the proletariat from around the world banded together in Seattle at the international meeting of the World Trade Organization (the WTO).


World Trade Organization(WTO) the truth

Where we are today: For a glimpse of how intertwined the US economy is with other countries including core, periphery and semiperiphery nations take a look at this Fact Sheet on the WTO from the Office of the United States Trade Representive. The two page document shows the results of cases filed against other countries and the results of cases filed against the U.S. regarding free trade agreements.

QUESTION #1: Given the stratification of classes within the US and the seeming separation of those in the US from the working classes in other nations, how might global class solidarity become a reality given new technologies, new classes of US educated international students, and the desire to resist global corporate power? How might anthropological methods assist us in learning solutions that benefit everyone involved?

In a journal article published in Human Organization by Weaver, Thomas Summer 2001 we get an interesting analysis of how the modern world system works:

The world economy is made up of "commodity chains"-forward and backward connections in the processing of a commodity within and across these regions. These commodity chains encompass the exploitation of raw materials, labor, its reproduction, levels of processing, transportation, and consumption. The capitalist world-system in this context forces unequal exchange that simultaneously promotes core development and peripheral poverty and dependence (Grimes 2000:34). The collaboration of elite classes between and within core and periphery supports this transformation [italics added for emphasis].

QUESTION #2: First, determine if the country in which you were born is a core, periphery or semiperiphery nation and according to what source? As a prospective "collaborator," as a future member of the elite class, what do you imagine you will do about the "unequal exchange" between the elite and the proletarian classes? How might anthropological methods assist us in learning solutions that benefit everyone involved?

Remember: The impossible is possible. Think Paul Farmer. Think William McDonough (Ted Talkster architect who is building new cities in China). “The impossible - what nobody can do until somebody does” Could you be that somebody in your small or large way? Will you?

Do you believe in magic? - David Blaine's Magic

Chap 10-Religion: How do superstitions work as a form of social control?

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)?

Common Superstitions

* 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

Chapter 9: Gender

Each person found ways of expressing gender roles or stereotypes:

This video shows typical stereotypes:

Here are two different societies and how they work:

The Irish Society:

• The role of men is to complete tasks that involve fixing and lifting things and are usually more of a disciplinarian to their children than their mother.
• Women are more likely to take up chores such as cooking and are usually more affectionate to their children than their father.
• However, there seems to be less of an opportunity for women to advance in the workforce when compared to the United States.
• The media portray all Irish men as alcoholics who come home after a night at the bar to abuse their wives.

The Dominican Society:

• The Dominican culture is more acceptance of a patriarchy system.
• Men are usually viewed to tend to public matter of working, politics and social events.
• Women are inferior in those aspects and are responsible for extra domestic activities.
• All women does is cook, clean, attend their sons and cater to her husband when he comes home.
• When going out, men are the ones who drive, chose the venue and had control over all household activities and decisions.
• Society views men control normal, the husband would be viewed as less of a man and criticized in the community.
• Along with sexual behaviors, society allows men to have more than one partner; in some instances it is praised.
• Yet if a female was to have more than one partner she is instantly a hoe.
• Most Latin cultures view men superior over women socially, politically and economically.

Here are pictures from Senegal:

All cultures are different, view the culture you came from and share how different your culture is. Also think about this, what is the difference between gender stereotypes and gender roles?

What is the difference between a myth and a legend?

In the academic fields of mythology, mythography, or folkloristics, a myth (mythos) is a sacred story concerning the origins of the world or how the world and the creatures in it came to have their present form. The active beings in myths are generally gods and heroes. Myths often are said to take place before recorded history begins. In saying that a myth is a sacred narrative, what is meant is that a myth is believed to be true by people who attach religious or spiritual significance to it. Use of the term by scholars does not imply that the narrative is either true or false. See also legend and tale.
A myth in popular use is something that is widely believed to be false. This usage, which is often pejorative, arose from labeling the religious myths and beliefs of other cultures as being incorrect, but it has spread to cover non-religious beliefs as well. Because of this usage, many people take offense when the religious narratives they believe to be true are called myths (see Religion and mythology for more information). This usage is frequently confused with fiction, legend, fairy tale, folklore, fable, and urban legend, each of which has a distinct meaning in academia.
Urban myth is an alternate (not academic) term for urban legend

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myths

Many urban legends are framed as complete stories, with plot and characters. Urban legends often resemble a proper joke, especially in the manner of transmission, but are much darker in tone and theme.
The compelling appeal of a typical urban legend are its elements of mystery, horror, fear or humor. Many urban legends are presented as warnings or cautionary tales, while others might be more aptly called "widely dispersed misinformation", such as the erroneous belief that a college student will automatically pass all courses in a semester if one's roommate commits suicide.[1] While such "facts" may not have the narrative elements of traditional urban legend, they are nevertheless conveyed from person to person with the typical elements of horror, humor or caution.
Much like some folk tales of old, there are urban legends dealing with unexplained phenomena such as phantom apparitions.

Many urban legends depict horrific crimes, contaminated foods or other situations which, if true, might affect a lot of people. Anyone believing such stories might feel compelled to warn loved ones.
A person might also pass on non cautionary information simply because it is funny or interesting. Many urban legends are essentially extended jokes, told as if they were true events. In some cases they may have originated as pure jokes, personalized by a subsequent teller to add point and force. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_legend


Myths are traditional stories occurring in a timeless past. They involve supernatural elements and are beyond the frontiers of logic. Long ago, when our ancestors heard the sound of thunder and saw lightening, they were frightened because they could not understand why these things happened. In order to understand these and other natural events, they created stories. The stories were handed down from generation to generation all around the world. Although myths are not based on objective truth, they reflect both universal worries and the worries of specific cultures. On the other hand, legends, however, are stories about real people who are famous for doing something brave or extraordinary. Every time the story was told, it became more exaggerated and so it is now difficult to tell how much of the story is really true. One myth shared by Domicans and Puerto Ricans is that of a ghost called cuco. Ususally children are told to scare them into behaving. The coqui is a Puerto Rican legend which has been spread in many parts of the world. Coqui are real, similar to frogs. Many have blamed the coqui for dead sheep and other strange deaths which has not beeen proven to be true but stories are exaggerated as imes goes on.

Anthropology in Street Fighting

Chapter 8: Families, Kinship, and Marriage

What is the perfect Family?

Here is an experiment. What characters do you think make up the perfect family? Gather a group of people and have them create their ideal family, there is no limit on how many people there can be in the family.


Is this how your family looks?
In American society, a high value is placed on family life.
Americans believe there is a special bond between parent and child,
grandparent and grandchild, and this creates a unique atmosphere,
which allows for certain behaviors and disallows for others.

For example, within a family, in the comfort of a home, one may feel free to be
more laid-back at the dinner table. One may be permitted to put their
elbows on the table, talk with one’s mouth full or watch TV while one eats.
Conversations can be held about things which would not be polite to say in
public. There is an understanding that it's alright to be yourself when
you're with family. These types of behaviors are tolerated because of the
closeness of the family atmosphere. But is this the only version or behaviors of a family?

Can a family consist of two parents of the same sex, or of different
ethnic backgrounds? Can family be made up of two parents who are
divorced, and remarried to new spouses? Can families be extended beyond
the nuclear family and have aunts, uncles, and cousins in the same house. How
and why are these families? They are not made up of a mother and father and
two children? Why is it illegal to have more than one wife or husband in most
states, and does the government have the power to determine that marriage
or a family can only be between men and women and not two partners of the same sex?

Chapter 8 – Families, Kinship, and Marriage

Posted by ANT1001 4:10 section (Aditi, Adiba, Fahim, and Marija)

We learned about nuclear families in this chapter. It is said that a person lives in at least two nuclear families during his or her lifetime. An American would be surprised to know that how many countries still live in extended family. I [Adiba??] remember living in an extended family when I was in India. Everyone member from the patrilineal side of the family lives in the same house and all the children in the house live as siblings, there are no cousins, its just a one big family. This type of living can be classified as an extended patrilocality.

Talking about the divorce rates in recent years, they have soared unbelievably. It is not only in Canada and the United States that these numbers have gone up, but, also in other nations which are becoming westernized. As a result of these divorces the number of single parents has gone up. There are still debates going on in the eastern world if this right or wrong. It is one of the favorite topics with that psychologists in the East discuss.

Another interesting topic that was discussed in this chapter was about descent and lineages or clans. I belong to a patrilocal culture and it was interesting to know from my fellow group members about the matrilocality descent lineage in their culture. The most interesting topic in the chapter was marriage. I could personally relate to this topic because it mentioned about the complicated marriage system that exists in India. Being a witness to endogamy and caste system, this section of the chapter made the most sense to me. Dowry and plural marriages have also been discussed in this chapter. Dowry has existed in the South Asian community since the civilization started. It still exits. Even though there are oppositions to it, but, still one can hear cases of suicide or murder due to dowry and bride wealth quiet often in India. The question that arises in relation to this chapter is, due to westernization of the world, many cultures are loosing their form of institution of marriage, kinship and parenting, is this the right way to go and what should North America adopt from other cultures in order to drop the soaring divorce rates?

Video on kinship and marriage-
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3590143710531876202&q=family+and+kinship&total=25&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=2
Funny Video of comedian Russell Peters speaking on relationship between immigrant parents and their kids-
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Nn5jlrxcpkI

MODERN TRIBALISM (Chap 7 Political Systems)

TRIBALISM IN OUR MODERN WORLD:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5XusQuHiJE
When reading the chapter on political systems we realized that the word “tribe” is not a word of past but is still present in our modern society. In the tribal system there were “village heads” and “big men,” who had control over the population but didn’t have the authority to enforce rules. The village head and the big man are still present in our society. Men of wealth who demonstrate hard work and potential become leaders in our modern society. Often these people aspire masses by their intellect, actions, but most importantly their wealth. The big men of our modern society could be the owners of corporations that control the world and influence the political decisions. These people posses a great amount of wealth that allows them to use it to lobby the politicians and create changes in the system that benefit them.

Here is a short video about this:
WHO OWNS AMERICA?
In this video George Carlin talks about politics and the effect of "big men" - the “owners” of America on our society. In this case the big men are the corporation owners who influence the politics and basically run the country even though they are not put in power by people.
http://www.youtube.com/v/9KVTfcAyYGg

How is tribal culture still present in our society? We can see the evidence of modern tribalism in our culture every day. People often try to differentiate themselves from one another and they form groups that share similarities with the old tribes that existed in the past. An example of this would be the street gangs. In such gang there is always a leader who is respected by the gang members. This gang leader would be a modern type of a village head. We all in some way participate in some kind of a tribal life.

MODERN TRIBALISAM
This short clip illustrates the importance tribalism in our modern world.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5XusQuHiJE

Greatest force in nations, markets, business: TRIBALISM
http://www.youtube.com/v/HzKOu0UKCL4

What is the reason that people start to come back to tribalism? Many believe that the reason for the rediscovery of tribalism is descending in education and cultural intelligence. People lose the connection with the world and what is happening around them, they become apathetic and try to find their way through life in some kind of modern tribalism. What do you think about this? Is it necessarily a bad thing?

Questions to consider for this chapter:
Has the mankind start descending back to tribalism because of decline in education and cultural intelligence?

Is tribalism still prevalent in our modern lives? How is tribal life in the past similar to the life in our today’s society?

Chapter 6: Making A Living (2:30 Group B) A Bit Late

Some say that "survival of the fittest" was the only method that overpopulation influenced the determination to survive. In this situation, social anthropolists can say that there are other adaptive strategies. These methods include foraging (hunting and gathering), horticulture (uncultivated plots), agriculture (intensive land and labor use), and pastoralism (care for herds of domesticated animals). Industrialization is included amongst the strategies but more related to another topic in the study of Anthropology.

Before food manufacturing was initiated, foraging seemed to be the only method that was common amongst cultures. According to the "Worldwide Distribution of Recent Hunters-Gatherers" map (110), foraging was heavily employed in the Northwestern parts of America and the Southern parts of Asia. Food production was not utilized very much because of the natural resources and animal life provided in the economy.

Horticulture and Agriculture are two opposites that attract...get it? They attract people who live on farms and raise herds of domesticated animals. Horticulturalists usually leave a plot fallow for several years, for they believe this will increase the production of vegetables. Burning down forests is a destructive method; however, will eliminate insects and fertilized land will remain.

Agriculture, on the other hand, requires intensive harvesting and continuous labor. Agriculturalists also use irrigating (water) and terracing (hillside) methods.Pastoralism is a cultivation method that requires a passive mode of production. Pastoralists exchange goods with plant cultivators in which both parties benefit off of two adaptive starategies.

Being that the societies are all non-industrial, some would wonder why do so many methods for survival exist. In later societies, which were still non-industrial, a friendship mode of production arose; meaning that people gained foods and resoures through friends as opposed to clerks that sell good and resources around the way. Its not "what you know", but rather "who you know!"

Scarcity, lack of goods, was an unfortunate route to people who didnt know the ones selling the goods and resources. This forced people to search for the resources on their own. I guess Darwin was leading to a more common idea about "survival of the fittest"...it's everywhere!

The question of the week for all you Blogthropolists is...If you lived 10,000 years ago, who would you rather be...a Horticulturist or an Agriculturalist?

Nick's Rap on Political Systems (Chap 7)

Many years ago Elma Service was born.....Poly organo was finally formed......That means political organization......Four types of levels covered the nations.......You had the bands, the tribes, the chiefdoms, and the state......Sayin' which ones best would start a debate......I'm only rappin' to layout the facts.....And get your brain cruisin' on the educated tracks......The man in charge of the tribe was the village head......But they didn't always listen to what he said....The big man was the boss of New Guinea......He was also known as tonowi.......Regulator of regional organization.....Expansion in the scale of Sociopolitical Regulation

Techniques of Good Ethnography - from Wikipedia

Here are some forms you will find useful for your project. This info is also available for downloading on the Blackboard site: ETHNOGRAPHY WORKSHEETS
Includes: Interview checklist, Interview Report Form, and That's a Good Question.

Techniques

1. Direct, first-hand observation of daily behavior. This can include participant observation.
2. Conversation with different levels of formality. This can involve small talk to long interviews.
3. The genealogical method. This is a set of procedures by which ethnographers discover and record connections of kinship, descent and marriage using diagrams and symbols.
4. Detailed work with key consultants about particular areas of community life.
5. In-depth interviewing.
6. Discovery of local beliefs and perceptions.
7. Problem-oriented research.
8. Longitudinal research. This is continuous long-term study of an area or site.
9. Team research.
10. Case studies

Not all of these techniques are used by ethnographers, but interviews and participant observation are the most widely used

Photo of Bronisław Malinowski.

Malinowski articulated the practice of participant observation and ethnography with his book Argonauts of the Western Pacific (1922). It was later revealed in his posthumous diaries that he himself had not followed his own innovative technique. He made up many of his reports and kept himself separated from the people he studied. His student E. E. Evans-Pritchard actually took his teacher's practice to heart in The Nuer (1940). This text became a model for ethnography to come.

Political Systems - Boxer Muhammad Ali & Comedian George Carlin resist the Big Men

This segment of a 2007 ESPN documentary video about Muhammad Ali brings the issues in Chap 7 of the Kottak into the present.

"Ali's 65" debuts Jan. 3, 2007 on ESPN
Ali's 65, produced by Televersemedia, a Stamford, Connecticut production company, is a one-hour special that will explore the impact and true meaning of Muhammad Ali's life, exploring why there had never been an athlete like Ali before and why there will likely never be anyone like him again. Ali's 65 captures never before told stories of "The Greatest" from Spike Lee, George Foreman, Lennox Lewis, Ali's brother Rahman Ali, and in his final interview, Ed Bradley. For more information, please visit www.televersemedia.com

The 2:30 section shared a great video remix of a George Carlin's HBO Special called 'This Life is Worth Losing'.



Wikipedia's biography of Carlin states:

Grammy-winning American stand-up comedian, actor, and author.

Carlin is especially noted for his political and black humor and his observations on language, psychology, and religion along with many taboo subjects. In fact, Carlin and his "Seven Dirty Words" comedy routine were central to the 1978 U.S. Supreme Court case F.C.C. v. Pacifica Foundation, in which a narrow 5-4 decision by the justices affirmed the government's right to regulate Carlin's act on the public airwaves.

A good cultural anthropologist, an ethnographer who does their job well, always does a "background check" so to speak, on things they present publicly. I request we all be good ethnographers and do our scholarly homework on anything we present to the class and briefly contextualize the facts (For instance, "This is a YouTube video remix of comedian George Carlin, known for his black humor, speaking about the "Big Men" of corporate America"....etc.)

Here is the remix of a segment from his HBO special shown with graphics signifying all the corporate brands of the "owners of America" -- the BIG MEN. Great example of how the polities described in the chapter are present in our state polity.

The group in the 2:30 section will post their videos soon. Prof. G

Chapter 7 Poltical Systems

Chapter 7 dicusses about Political Systems and how they affect everyday life. Anthropologist use a sociopolitical typology to classify societies. These titles include the following: bands, tribes, chiefdoms, or states. Foragers use a band- oragnized approach. Bandleaders could not enforce laws or punishments and were first among equals. In horiculture villages leaders have limited power so they lead by persuassion and example. age and gender can also have an effect on politics. Males are seen as the warriors and have to earn movement in grades. The state is made up of many communites and is based on a centural government and social stratification. Chiefdoms are similar to states but lack stratificatio. Like bands and tribes, chiefdoms are organized by kinship, marriage, and descent. According to Weber, the three dimensions of stratification: wealth, power, and prestige. A socioeconomic stratum encompasses people of all ages and sexes. Population control, judiciary, enforcement, and fiscal are systems found in all states. A ruling system or government regulates the state.

One interesting subject we learned in reading this Chapter was about the Inuit. The male role in society took a great affect on prestige. Similar to today, most disputes were over women. Since no government existed rivals challegned each other to a song battle. This is similar to rap in today's world in which songs are made about other rappers in defense of one's self. We also found it interesting that thefts were uncommon. Every man took care of himself and there was no notion of private ownership. Americans pride themselves on competion. If there was no government, as memebers of the class do you feel Americans could handle situations in a justified way as the Inuits did? On the other hand, why do people feel the need to result to competition as a means of just getting by? Power and competion play a major factor in our everyday lives. As citizens and avergae students do you think this can ever change?

This is another video about the Inuits in Chapter 7. We tried to delete the previous post but are unsure if it worked. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mz9-e8h2Zo8. Being a band/ community in northern Canada, the Inuits are effected by globalwarming. This people are threatended by assimilation. The food production is deteriorating as a reault of globalwarming since the Inuits are interconnected with the enviornment around them. As memebers of the American community, do you feel that it is just to so call "upgrade" people and force them to live industrialized? If not, what can we do as human beings to help or change the future of our world?

TED Talks, McDonough and Political Systems for Change

A student in the 2:30 section asked if you all could access all the TED Talks videos. Of course you can. Now when I mention things in class, it's your opportunity to find them yourselves. Be hungry. Make a note and GOOGLE it later. In any case, here is the link to all the videos. TED TALK VIDEOS. I love the great graphics and image design, not to mention the edutainment and graphics within the talks themselves!

NOTE: If you missed class, you must watch the following video shown on Thursday Oct 11. Others can also watch it again to question and analyze his points and project.

William McDonough: The wisdom of designing Cradle to Cradle
Architect and designer William McDonough asks what our buildings and products would look like if designers took into account "All children, all species, for all time." A tireless proponent of absolute sustainability (with a deadpan sense of humor), he explains his philosophy of "cradle to cradle" design, which bridge the needs of ecology and economics.


QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER: What kind of political structures have humans practiced in the past that would assist us in facilitating McDonough notion of "absolute sustainability"? How does the chapter on POLITICAL SYSTEMS (Chap 7 in Kottak) provide insights into not simply our past but perhaps what 's possible in the future of absolute sustainability? What can you imagine the future looks like as a political system for absolute sustainability?

Chapter 7 Political Systems Overview:
This chapter discusses political organization in bands, tribes, chiefdoms, and states, as well as some of the social and economic features commonly found in these types of societies.

Sustainable Agriculture: Curing America's Eating Disorder

Chapter 6 - Making a Living

Since the beginning of human life on earth there has always been a need for making a living. Until 10,000 years ago man survived by utilizing the adaptive strategy of foraging, where people wandered around the earth searching for provisions of any kind. Because of this dependency upon nature to provide for their needs, it led naturally to the next step of human procurement: cultivation.

Two types of cultivation developed; horticulture and agriculture, both of which still exists today in industrial and non-industrial societies. Horticulture or "shifting cultivation" is the simpler of the two methods and utilizes a "slash and burn" technique for land clearing. The land is used to the point of soil exhaustion at which the family simply moves on to another plot of land. Agriculture, the more complex of the two, involves the use of modern machinery, irrigation, and mass manpower to cultivate a single plot of land continuously. Because of this, families can now have a permanent home and a more stable lifestyle.

As societies began to modernize, a new means of procurement was introduced and today's economic system was born. The purpose of this economic system was to optimize the means of production. In other words, to take into account the land, territory, labor and technology needed in order to produce a product and optimize that process.

Time has changed the way people go about making a living in terms of food production. With the information from chapter six and your own personal knowledge or experience, compare and contrast the means of producing food through cultivation (either horticulture or agriculture) or within our current economic system. Make a choice on which you would personally like to see our society gravitate towards and tell us why you would like to see this change made.

For example would you prefer to be part of an industrialized economic system that utilizes of machinery and technology? This allows for effective mass production but on the other hand this also forces the worker as an individual to live in a more rigid work routine. Due to the concept of specialization a person would have the responsibility of just one simple task which he/she must perform all day.

Article on Dying Languages in NYTimes Sep 19, 2007

Languages Die, but Not Their Last Words

Chris Rainier/National Geographic

Charlie Muldunga, right, the last known speaker of Amurdag, with two researchers who are making a record of dying languages, K. David Harrison, left, and Gregory D. S. Anderson.

By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD

Published in NYTimes: September 19, 2007

Of the estimated 7,000 languages spoken in the world today, linguists say, nearly half are in danger of extinction and likely to disappear in this century. In fact, one falls out of use about every two weeks.

Chapter 5 – Language and Communication

Many of us do not realize how the development of language has actually affected not only our world and culture, but more specifically shaped our ideas. Since the development of language around 5000BC the human race gained a new form of expression that each culture developed into its own unique form.

What we as a group decided we should further examine is the Sapirwhorf hypothesis. This states that different languages produce different ways of thinking. Therefore each language should have certain aspects that wouldn’t translate into another or wouldn’t convey the same meaning, so consider…

Take an idea like freedom or slavery and questioning the fact of whether these things would exist without the actual word (Freedom) existing. (Let’s say a totalitarian government in America takes control and decides to remove the words rebellion, disloyalty, traitor, coup, and revolution or there exists a culture without these words, would these ideas still exist for the people without language to express them?) After you have responded to this question, then try to think of some words in your language that would be hard to translate and explain why. (If you only speak English, consider English words that would be hard to express in another language.)

Here are some interesting, perhaps even funny videos that could aid you in your thinking process about language.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHQ2756cyD8

George Carlin explains how perception changes with words, but the overall idea or fact is the same.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h67k9eEw9AY

TED TALK: Debunking third-world myths with the best stats you've ever seen

Thursday September 27th, in our Introduction to Cultural Anthro at Baruch College, we watched a TED TALK video (Technology Entertainment and Design) of Hans Gosling Debunking third-world myths with the best stats you've ever seen.

In the video he uses the acronym "OECD" that stands for:
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, an international organization of those developed countries that accept the principles of representative democracy and a free market economy. For more see, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OECD. Here's the video for those who missed class Thursday.


After the 4:05 section, one student asked a great question, which went over my head at the time. Gosling is debunking third-world myths but after viewing the video, the student said, they are still considered third-world myths after viewing the video. Gosling doesn't ask us to stop using "third world". I explained his intention but I had an epiphany about his question just after the student left class. We think we are trying to change things (change "third-world" to ???). But this video is about attacking people's PERCEPTIONS. Perceptions are the front-line of sustaining "social constructs" and this is why the study of cultural anthropology can be so meaningful with its emic and etic perspectives on the so-called Third World or on those who led us to using those terms in the first place (precursors to OECD??).

What do you think is the power of the video? What does it attack in your own preconceptions of the world not just the "third world"?

What is the role of the "teacher" (an acscribed status)?

In the second section of ANT1001 on Thu Sep 27th, we talked about the role of the teacher after someone shared that in their high school class there was a teacher who NEVER taught. This was brought up as an idea for group leadership in our discussions.

The teacher this student had made the students run discussions of assigned books and everything the entire class. Someone reacted saying "but then they are not doing their job!" I asked what is their job. The student said "to teach!"

After class I happen to seredipitously run across this on the web:

Awakener Award
for Innovative Leadership in Education
http://foundationforlearning.org/#awakeneraward


I am not a teacher, but an awakener.
-- Robert Frost


Interested in a world where teachers are awakeners? A world in which teacher is a title of honor given to someone around whom people open their eyes and see?

Many teachers already are awakeners. The work of the Foundation for Learning is to sing their praises, to foster the environments in which they emerge, and to put a spotlight on innovative teaching.

The Foundation for Learning is accepting nominations for the Awakener Award for innovative leadership in education. We are looking specifically for people whose innovations have spread beyond a single classroom, a single school, or a single school district.

Send your nominations to nominate@foundationforlearning.org or participate in the community discussions on this site.

The first recipient of the Awakener Award is Linda Inlay of River School in Napa, California, for her work on the Implicit Curriculum.

Blog's Up!

Guys & Dolls,

First time blogging, so fire away with any comments or criticisms! I'd love the input!

What shall we discuss? Let's get some q's up here and start talking!

.:duncan:.