Helmets on!For extra credit review all the blog entries I posted since the beginning of the semester (Jan 08). Check out other topics in the LABEL CLOUD above as well.
Review them and write a one page paper (double-spaced) or simply comment below regarding this post.
Share what you got from reviewing all this material. What you can learn from blogging on cultural anthropology and/or what you've been missing from not reading the blog and/or commenting during the course? How does blogging contribute to the learning process in a cultural anthropology course?
This was due by the last day of class. I have extended the deadline to Friday May 16th.
What do you think the image of the cat with a fruity helmut has to do with extra credit? Nothing. But it got your attention! Right?
DEADLINES
- Due Wed May 14th - 500 word essays (submit on Blackboard Discussion Board or paper copy to VC 4-280)
- Due Fri May 16th - Extra credit on blog (post a comment below after reviewing semester's posts)
- Due Tue May 20th - Final ethnography including consultant's editing and suggestions (submit as attachment on Blackboard Discussion Board)
Posts
4 comments:
There are so many things I learned form the blog, but to keep it within one page I will just mention a few specific ones.
I agree that Obama is expanding multiculturalism but it seems Obama is contradicting himself (in the April 6th speech) by first saying that it’s not a ‘race thing’ that white working-class do not want to vote for him, then he goes on to say that white working-class are skeptical about his pitch because he is a 46 year old black man. In his own words: “Part of them just doesn't buy it. And when it's delivered by -- it's true that when it's delivered by a 46-year-old black man named Barack Obama (laughter), then that adds another layer of skepticism (laughter).” To me this clearly makes it a ‘race thing’.
I never knew that Haitians and Dominicans don’t get along and the reason behind it seemed very interesting. Indeed, history can shed light to a lot of issues which otherwise may seem quite obscure.
Pangea day for me was a great peace of info. The concept to gather the people of the whole world and inspire and transform them is just fabulous. Movements like these truly have a potential to make our world a better place. I hope this movement continues to gain more media and coverage.
The most basic info of all was the difference between ‘sex’ and ‘gender’. It was interesting to know that most of us, including myself, did not know about the distinction between the 2 terms. The distinction between the terms was further exemplified by the in-class presentation on gender.
The TED talk about Global Health by Hans Roslin was also very engaging for me. It really clarified my knowledge about how the countries in the world have evolved over the years in aspects of health and economics. Professor Roslin made some great correlation between different variables such as the correlation between child survival and GDP per capita. He points out some very important facts through the help of great visual aid, one of them being – there is a tremendous variation within African countries in factors like GDP per capita, but people often treat them as equal when it comes to talking about development in that part of the world.
Overall, I think blogging is a great way to learn cultural anthropology. It enables students to speak out and share invaluable pieces of information in a casual setting as opposed to a formal classroom setting. The contribution of views and observations from students from so many different cultures just makes the experience so much more interesting. However, one thing I observed is that bloggers have to be careful in filtering out good information from the not-so-good information. A lot of time can be wasted by browsing through music videos and such that are not always educational.
Blogging can help you learn cultural anthropology because anthropology is topic where there really is no right or wrong answer. You learn from what people show you, I don’t think students like us have really seen much of this world except for Mohit with his travels. I don’t think many of us have any of our own ideas, therefore we can’t deny what one says because we don’t really know if they’re speaking the truth or not. So I think the best way to look at anthropology it is to get multiple opinions, ideas and views from all different kinds of people, from different kinds of cultures, religions, nationalities etc which can be found on the blogs as people comment certain topics. This way you will start to lose the narrow-minded view and start to widen your visions. People’s input on blogs gives you new realizations that sometimes one can not see on their own such as myself. Without Professor Gaunt’s ideas I would’ve been the same narrow-minded person I came into the class. She gave me many new realizations, “duh moments,” and “Oh, that’s so true I never looked at it that way” moments with her informative lectures that I probably can’t even count on my fingers and toes (which is a lot b/c we only met twice a week).
Looking over the blog, I noticed that most of the videos were shown in class and some were even posts from previous semester. I can click almost any interesting topic in the label cloud and recognize the topic mostly from group presentations. They were still interesting to review for the past hour or so. The video of the Dalit’s posted by Pedro still gets me the most, I cant believe stuff like this exists in the world today. The Shift 2.0 video was very informative on what’s going on with the world and changes. I don’t think missed anything from this semester on the blog looking over it, however there were some interesting posts such as the amount of NYU students willing to give up voting rights for an Ipod Touch, tuition, and a million dollars. Nevertheless, bloging and sharing opinions is an important part of learning anthropology as there is no right or wrong.
Alan Avenilov
Alan Avenilov
I felt that this blog was rather useful. Never before in any class have I used a blog in class, so it was a bit unique and different at first. But a lot of stuff was posted up here. I learned a lot from this blog, and it was nice to have each group put up their respective chapters so we were able to review it.
The "label cloud" was awesome. There were so many interesting videos and posts including ones from last semester.
I especially appreciated the youtube links. Youtube has never been used in any classes, nor has wikipedia. But i understand, since this is an anthropolgy course, youtube has become part of our culture. Whether the videos were dramatic or funny, some of them are unforgettable.
One such post that i would never forget was the one about the caste system, where they showed the horrible conditions the Untouchables lived in. They were poor, had nothing to eat (so they ate anything, including rats) and had the worst job in their system. The woman had to literally clean out the feces from every house every day, a cruel and nearly impossible job.
These youtube videos uncovered to us what happens outside the US. Most of us were born within the US, and don't realize what happens outside our country. These videos, i felt, helped me realize what happens around teh world.
Brian
Blogging is an innovative approach that helps students bring everything they have learned in class into the real world. It also brings the class together by allowing everyone another medium to participate through. Professors usually have a very hard time making their students realize how their subjects can be applied to the everyday life. Blogging eliminates this problem. With the blog, we were able to see how every chapter plays into our everyday life. Furthermore, it allows us to use and apply the terms that we learned.
Blogging also allows us show the rest of the class all the information we have found. For example, once we discuss topics such as gender I was able to show the class my new realizations from music videos on youtube. The professor also introduced us to many videos that presented fundamental topics discussed in class, which would not be able have known existed otherwise.
My favorite blog posts were those of TEDTalks. These videos blew me out of the water with their ideas. From something as simple as marketing Ethiopia’s commodities to uniting cultures by showing them videos of other cultures. After hearing a few ideas I fell in love with TEDTalks and all of their presentations. These new innovative goals are usually geared to globalization, which will eventually bring the world together.
Posting on the blog has also been a privilege. Had I had more blog experience, I’m sure my blogs would have been better, but I definitely made the attempt to make my blogs relevant and interesting. I especially liked the Def Poetry Jam, which touched on a lot of topics we discussed in class especially stereotypes and social constructs.
All in all my favorite video was that of King Corn and how it has manipulated our lives. This video and idea had such a great impact on me and made me realize a lot about our culture and our diet.
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