Sunday 23 May 2010

lecture is over for the term
two days of presentations next week.
teacher is using funny language.
unprofessional cursing, slurs against women, overweight, anorexia, bulimia, christians.
the opposite of culturally sensitive.
agressive tone.  destroying the learning atmosphere.

it makes me uncomfortable.
as the learning curve hits a plateau . . . i realize i find a lot of what gets lumped under the term "anthropology" interesting, especially the attempted non-racist anthropologies.  but the academic bickering tiresome and the exoticizing of other cultures i see to be ethically fraught.  the thin veneer of non-racism to me barely conceals an academic affluent narcissism, which can whitewash the present and the past, and essentialize the other, in a myth of identity.
in the following excerpts, i find interesting the word "disentangle." so telling.  as anthropology seeks to disentangle itself from  . . .
i wonder they could not find a better word.
i think the word anthropology is too poisoned as i read this
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_racism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_anthropology

i think of ethnology and ethnography as archaic words, which no longer sound fair.  they sound tyrannical, and eurocentric, exoticizing otherness.
i am terrified if i mention the word anthropology, my truly educated friends might associate me with anthropology's racist past.  i am sorry it has taken me this long (january to may) to figure this out.  how embarrassing!

using any of these ethno-words also makes me uncomfortable.  i do not like the divisiveness, the essentializing.

if my teacher were not so seething with so much hostility, i might get a better impression.  but know i think anthropology needs a new name and a new mission and to divorce itself from its scary past.

why terms anthropology and ethnography creep me out:

from
http://science.jrank.org/pages/7673/Ethnicity-Race-in-Anthropology.html


Such a nuanced view of ethnicity has not always been the norm in anthropology or in
social science. A central story of ethnicity in anthropology is its labored disentanglement from now discredited biological and evolutionary notions of "race," ideas that continue to contribute to the general public's conceptualization of the "ethnic" as a physically distinct type of person.
In the mid-nineteenth century the terms ethnic and racial first came into common use, employed by pre-and post-Darwinian scientists, and later anthropologists, to construct human racial and cultural taxonomies. As the social corollary of race, "ethnic" (ethnicity as a unique term does not emerge in the United States until the 1950s) initially served to reinscribe physical notions of racial, and in some cases national, identity onto groups of people often naively assumed to have a shared cultural, historical, or even evolutionary past. 
Likewise, until ethnicity's emergence in the 1960s and 1970s as a term describing more fluid social processes of identity formation, social scientists used ethnic to describe a natural or fixed category of person. In the United States, especially during the intense debate over Eastern European and Mediterranean immigration in the early portion of the twentieth century, an "ethnic" was a person of a marked, lower, category, opposed to a bourgeois white identity. Ethnics, in this context, became lower-class whites, Jews, and nonwhite, colonized, or indigenous peoples.
Such a nuanced view of ethnicity has not always been the norm in anthropology or insocial science. A central story of ethnicity in anthropology is its labored disentanglement from now discredited biological and evolution
...greater anthropological use of the term ethnic group coincided with a general repudiation of biological determinism and racism within the social sciences as a whole, as well as with a particularly anthropological recognition of the emergence of anticolonial nationalism outside the First World. Specifically, anthropologists replaced tribe or tribalism with ethnic group, especially when describing African migrants to colonial urban centers. Still, all these early uses of the term ethnic in anthropology imply a bounded set of cultural traits, historical commonalities, or mental similarities between people of the same ethnic group, even if they later became delinked from physical or racial characteristics.
Read more: Ethnicity and Race in Anthropology - Franz Boas, Ethnicity, And Contemporary Physical Anthropology: Continuing Tensions, Cultural Fundamentalism And Instrumental Ethnicities http://science.jrank.org/pages/7673/Ethnicity-Race-in-Anthropology.html#ixzz0ol6Q2Ej3

Friday 7 May 2010

to broadcast or not to broadcast . . .

see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_Intelligence_Surveillance_Act
of watergate era situations . . .

and recall that ezra pound, anti-semitic poet, spent years in an asylum for treasonous broadcasting.

i argue that the digital age gives a heightened level of free speech to those who seek it . . .
nut that nonetheless the utilization of it to harass or abuse is disgusting .. . .

as for fearlessness . . .
and activism for those disenfranchised by blindness and dyslexia and geography and economics . . .

i wrote this letter two months ago in a fit of optimism about technology and LACC and disabled student outreach and accessibility activism.
the idea was to record and broadcast classes for alternative learning strategies.
i refer to the american foundation for the blind endorsement of the google books project for text to speech and braille reader access.

i wrote the founders of bambuser to thank them for their hard work and to let them know that our economically challenged school really appreciates the free technology!

susan matranga was initially supportive, but then backed off and told me not to write her.
eckford also told me he had no time.
kendell told me he had no time.
somebody should care about tech.  its 2010, right?
hello? LACC?

my 2-18-10 letter:

thank you for all your hard work and for inspiring your students---i don't know if you understand the magnitude of our thankfulness--

please only read this if you are not tired overwhelmed

i meant to write you b4 about it---
but now i can---

now if or if not it transpires

nonetheless i think it would be a great idea
to at least audio document lecture and load onto a free mp3 sharing portal
(with yr participation, and not covertly)

the trend with all the best schools is this digitization---and democratization of what would be a very pricey experience--

so i can hear anthropology from oxford, or listen to stanford law, yale law,science everything, climate change, even conservative think tanks, on Itunes U.

whatever you may think of Apples hegemonic dominance strategies---it holds amazing potential cognitive wealth for educationally disenfranchised persons.


http://www.apple.com/support/itunes_u/


also--and sublimely attractive is live streaming tech---which if the wifi is strong enough, an excellent easy stream can go thru a laptop with cam----

i have watched tech lectures in swedish from this amazing swedish start-up bambuser
the idea being free info to anyone internationally---

super easy to start a channel and the embed code could go in the anthro club blog.
or we could do the same with club---
even if no one caught on initially---the connectivity---or utilization as a study tool could really help people with bad eyes, attention issues etc

it would help to bring LACC up to date tech wise and reach into the ether realm---pertaining to eco crises, literacy--


http://bambuser.com/


now if all this remains conceptual as far as your personal involvement---i completely respect this, and perhaps share your concerns regarding image, ubiquity, and even the legal or professional implications.

one need not necessarily participate in an OPEN DATA movement to become aware of its potential---and web traces can be annoying to erase . . .

the audio file format may be an amazing compromise especially given the fact of some kinds of learning "disabilities" which preference audio versus literary communique.
for instance, my best friend with dyslexia would love your lecture if it were as easy as sending a link.

or my mother in oregon would love it too.

i am extremely inspired by a lecture on itunes U from new york law discussing implications for the google books settlement in terms of using text to speech recognitions and braille reader accessibility for the blind---in the sense that the google books settlement--- which is an overt disruption of copyright norms---or intellectual property interests---
defeats academic elitism---
as a former victim of overpriced edu---this i think, is such a wonderful trend---

and most importantly, the dearth of quality intellectual experience is such that i feel that we---your students---are absolutely starving for this information----

and to share it one day, or maybe now---might be a profound gift, or sacrifice---with humanitarian aim---not to be overly utopic---
and as the preference is yours
i just thought it might be at least flattering to run it by you
and it would be as easy as a laptop running a silent audio recorder---or all the latest ipods have this feature now too---

but then again a unique experience might be better with less tech---

well thanks again, and syllabus please?
thanks for letting me in the class
mary eng
this is my letter to bartelt, attempting to enlist his support on 2-25-10:



http://bambuser.com/channel/anthropologylacc/broadcast/585577

don't bother reading unless you want to---merely more polemic!

if it helps too, i might take a minute in class to elaborate on a legal basis for it, the benefits of the experiment, the company and alternatives, and inform students:there must be consent in a sense.also re: not cutting it for the film, its rather unlikely the MPAA will come after me or LACC re:copyright----but this law is being rewritten and unwritten as we speak and digital anarchists have the social good of literacy and communication at heart.

another student and i were talking about a proposal for a real IP law class or series for all the creatives---the deficiency of modernity is glaring . . .

prof at google books hearings said smthg quite poignant re: copyright in EU being natural rts theory, and in US actually being social good theory based---and so here it will evolve

actually the director of OSS (for:blind, dyslex etc) is quite interested---and i spoke to eckford and guerrero who were warm and want to stay informed of our progress, perhaps meet. they enjoy itunes U and tried to start something similar a while back.

the new tech just makes it way too easy!
i wish i had the same for some of my old profs----!  i am literally begging old friends to utilize the tech to provide readings or discussion groups---challenging content and information---i would love to hear them read their papers or speak outside of the predictable.


edu a right not a privelege in sweden---and the copyriot movement in force

susan b. matranga  at office of special services (re:disabilities)
is happy about the idea for it
and possible expansions
they used to have a budget for student notetakers for the blind etc but now nothing----
the digital options now are beautiful in terms of audio archive etc mp3s
and the cloud

i was thinking of a site eventually that could link to future multimedia
or the blog embed
and make a new interp of ADA
a more radical equality

bambuser is a pretty cool company 

with wifi expansion this could be in many classes theoretically

i ran around sniffing info on who would be interested in helping
one fellow ESL's evan kendall said "i don't know why you care, usually only people care if they have smthng at stake."
i replied---cognition communication technology learning.   by something i think he meant money, not cognitive wealth or communication.

its very international---and really quite normal all of the sudden.

bambuser was utilized during the pirate bay trial for commentary for the IFPI's prosecution last feb.

itunes university has a lot of functionality but would require more IT plus i like free open style better.

plus funny also USC film school fighting copyright for film editing classes---where what is possible now in a classroom has not relevance to the old laws

here is from the google books hearing

http://www.resourceshelf.com/2010/02/22/transcript-to-thursdays-fairness-hearing-in-google-book-search-case-now-online/

from
MR. MTIMA: May it please the Court. I'm Lateef
 Mtima. I'm the director of the Institute for Intellectual
 Property and Social Justice. I'm also a professor of law at
 the Howard University School of Law. I'd like to thank the
 Court for this opportunity to address

Finally, however, it is the fact that
 many governmental and even scholarly institutions have been
 slow to recognize the digital divide as a problem of copyright
 social utility that brings us to where we are today. Now that
 the meaningful mechanism for bridging this divide has been
 presented to the private sector, further delay is unfair to the
 digitally disenfranchised who have been overlooked for almost a
 quarter of a century.
 Now we recognize that the proposed settlement will not
 cure all of the deficiencies of the digital divide, but to
 those who say that this will provide only trivial improvement,
 we humbly suggest that they may be unfamiliar with what the
 disenfranchised can do with only a little

Thursday 6 May 2010

BROADCASTS BLOCKED
INTERNET DOWN IN THE OLD LIFE SCIENCE BUILDING
lead counter is a proposition 65
environmental violation


5-6-10

Medical anthropology

bring a guest as a part of presentation!!!!
presentation now optional!!!!

blogging not recommended as field notebook for privacy and rapport reasons.
anthro is being chased out of anthropology

and replaced by critical theory
cultural geography

past
eugenics
colonialism
militarism
department of defense supported anthropology
or CIA

how can modern anthropology distinguish itself from its colonialist past?????

when I asked whether or not the implicit gender bias of “anthro” pology is ever questioned, teacher cleverly tried to point towards the distinction between

anthropos---which he asserts is gender neutral yes
Greek anthrōpos ‘human being.’

and andros---which is male

in distinction
andro- (usu. andr- before a vowel)
combining form
man (as opposed to woman) : androcentric | androgenize.


I think my point resides in the phoeneme, in a linguistic sense of original root “sounds,” a point too subtle for this class

book:

spirit catch me and I fall down

how can the modern anthropologist repair the damage to anthropology done by

qualitative
social circumstances

standard biomedical concepts.

Class cannot be broadcast anymore.

I requested again today.
The lecture is quite good and dense.
I cannot type fast enough.

Quite impressed that teacher is now blocking his internet to deter us from broadcasting lecture, blogging the notes, or looking things up like the

books:

the serpent and the rainbow

the spirit catches me and I fall down

or a more complicated history of the andro/anthro phoeneme split

I realized that the 4-16-10 lecture was indeed quite good as I listened to it last night on bambuser.com
the linguistic gripe with “show your tits” does not nullify the fact that the lecture was quite dense and articulate.

If a dialogue were permitted regarding language, then anger would need not affect the IT options for students.

Language imperialism forces one language on a people, and tells them they cannot speak a certain way.
Because I request more respect for women and have been told “you have no case” now the students and public are deprived of brian bartelt's great lecture.

I hope he tightens up his act, and gets to a university that forces him to be tech-friendly, like stanford.
It would be mandatory itunes university lectures.
I don't think he could get by with cursing and saying “tits and ass,” but once this part is deleted the overall content is quite good.

Biochemical effects on mind/body

as with verbal abuse

methodologies

elizabeth said the “silent scream” day was unnecessary.
Teacher walked out of class to vent his fury in a silent scream.
It was I think bc a student was late.

I thought it was funny, bc I don't get angry so easily, and don't understand people who do.
It seemed very dramatic.
I thought it was funny and I made a little video immediately afterward.
It is on youtube.

Camaroon healing
70% effective

bigtime cultural relativism
wonder about PTSD

a better way to describe PTSD

the impasse
possession

reflexology

adversarial distinction btw conventional and traditional medicine
does away with
and does away with artificial adversarial distinction

1. homeostatic
2. treatment healing
3. mind-body system
4. spiritual healing

insular dwarfism
insular

treatment healing
mind/body system
darwinian medicine

proximate v. evolutionary

spiritual healing v. evolutionary

internal equilibrium maintained by internal processes

healers look at bloodwork too bc they want to see the
biomedical . . . too

anthropo: outside the box???
via scott clapson . . .

bb: conspiratorial

“right-wing nutjobs” would love a video of teach he guesses

I say that is why it is
fearless
its not the fifties anymore

re: videos

homeostasis |ˌhōmēəˈstāsis|
noun ( pl. -ses |-sēz|)
the tendency toward a relatively stable equilibrium between interdependent elements, esp. as maintained by physiological processes.




allopathy |əˈläpəθē|
noun
the treatment of disease by conventional means, i.e., with drugs having opposite effects to the symptoms. Often contrasted with homeopathy .

After an hour in the classroom
I can smell the smog intensify
not sure if it is the AC or the bad air from outside now smelling ultra-petrofuely
why morning clarity is so precious, before the smog takes off in los angeles

bless the night, a time when traffic, and smog subsides

Point contra bashing biomed

Darwinian medicine
looks at adaptive significance of disease

natural selection
disease cravings
for fat
heart attacks

nephew lizard hunt story
re growing back tail
not finger

put stem cell researchers out of work
exquisite

fever kills pathogens
do not take fever medicine
it will kill the bugs

do not try this with a young child.

Reminds me of the vegan parents who were serving

iron deficiency
protects against infection
appetite loss

prescribe iron
you get more sick

bacteria feed off iron
brain produces chem reducing reduces iron

iron suplementation will increase illness

70% doctors do not know this 2005

so the stereotype
arcane:

bloodletting
actually had a good effect

morning sickness protects the fetus
in the sixties morning sickness medication would promote deformities

body rejects food to protect fetus
double rate miscarriage
birth defects

biomedicine does have its limits

standing birth
birth no drugs

cold steel surgical room

C-section

infant mortality
high due to prenatal care

overstandardization

chemotherapy

what was the alternative radon . . .

See full size image


so the cultural sensitivity or linguistic "know how" is what teaching is all about eh?
a few ideas from the student perspective:

#1 don't get school sued
#2 don't get fired
#3 don't get kids blogging things on ratemyprofesors.com etc.
#4 don't get recorded saying stupid things
#5 don't write creepy emails to students defining/defending the word "tit"

Wednesday 5 May 2010

in view of the chicken disembowelment video we watched tuesday 5-4-10, is it possible to support animal cruelty, but not equality for women?

and if so . . .
well actually i think he is trying to be nicer to olivia since i wrote this letter.
sadly rick ayala missed the "tits and ass" outburst.   so did elizabeth, who thinks the class should be more "Socratic," by that meaning with more dialogue and less dogmatism.

that i agree with a lot of the content, doesn't make the dogmatic style less noteworthy.
but of course i don't support animal cruelty or verbal harassment of women on campus, or in their email box for that matter.

found the old library dictionary to cite the word tits as "usually considered vulgar."
and by vulgar, i think vulgate, as in the language of the people, common, unrefined.
it is not such an offensive thing to call it vulgar.
and by antiquated, i meant coming from a time and place where it was socially acceptable to speak of women as material things.

the men of the future will respect women very much and value their ideas.
if they complain about vulgar epithets, they will not be told, "you have no case."
the men of the future will be profoundly respectful to women, possibly even to animals and the earth.
and possibly to themselves.

to defend animal cruelty, by implying that critiquing it risks racism, or calling africa "primitive" glosses over . . .
he was less dismissive of olivia when she brought up hervegan perspective.
but he did seem to try to lump her into this "belief system" subculture, with this, but you are a vegan, and believe blahblahblah.
it is often about tone.
then seamus speaks and his tone improves.
he says, "how astute."
i speak and he says, "let's not wig anyone out" and "you have no case."
hmmm.

when someone told me class made him uncomfortable, i told him teach is in pain.
that is why he is sharing his chicken torture videos with us.

in the documentary where they throw a live chicken into the fire, it was odd to notice how teacher smiled, as everyone winced.

as though he enjoyed freaking us out with the cruelty.

so we all have our fetishes, eh . . .
cancer anyone???? in cooked meat????
yum.

here is a little chemistry lesson for those of you that still eat meat apropos what bartelt termed "cowschwitz," i.e. american factory farming:



Heterocyclic Amines in Cooked Meats
Research has shown that cooking certain meats at high temperatures creates chemicals that are not present in uncooked meats. A few of these chemicals may increase cancer risk. For example, heterocyclic amines (HCAs) are the carcinogenic chemicals formed from the cooking of muscle meats such as beef, pork, fowl, and fish. HCAs form when amino acids (the building blocks of proteins) and creatine (a chemical found in muscles) react at high cooking temperatures. Researchers have identified 17 different HCAs resulting from the cooking of muscle meats that may pose human cancer risk.
Research conducted by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) as well as by Japanese and European scientists indicates that heterocyclic amines are created within muscle meats during most types of high temperature cooking.
Recent studies have further evaluated the relationship associated with methods of cooking meat and the development of specific types of cancer. One study conducted by researchers from NCI's Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics found a link between individuals with stomach cancer and the consumption of cooked meats. The researchers assessed the diets and cooking habits of 176 people diagnosed with stomach cancer and 503 people without cancer. The researchers found that those who ate their beef medium-well or well-done had more than three times the risk of stomach cancer than those who ate their beef rare or medium-rare. They also found that people who ate beef four or more times a week had more than twice the risk of stomach cancer than those consuming beef less frequently. Additional studies have shown that an increased risk of developing colorectalpancreatic, and breastcancer is associated with high intakes of well-done, fried, or barbequed meats.
Four factors influence HCA formation: type of food, cooking method, temperature, and time. HCAs are found in cooked muscle meats; other sources of protein (milk, eggs, tofu, and organ meats such as liver) have very little or no HCA content naturally or when cooked. Temperature is the most important factor in the formation of HCAs. Frying, broiling, and barbecuing produce the largest amounts of HCAs because the meats are cooked at very high temperatures. One study conducted by researchers showed a threefold increase in the content of HCAs when the cooking temperature was increased from 200° to 250°C (392° to 482°F). Oven roasting and baking are done at lower temperatures, so lower levels of HCAs are likely to form, however, gravy made from meat drippings does contain substantial amounts of HCAs. Stewing, boiling, or poaching are done at or below 100°C (212°F); cooking at this low temperature creates negligible amounts of the chemicals. Foods cooked a long time (“well-done” instead of “medium”) by other methods will also form slightly more of the chemicals.
Meats that are partially cooked in the microwave oven before cooking by other methods also have lower levels of HCAs. Studies have shown that microwaving meat prior to cooking helps to decrease mutagens by removing the precursors. Meats that were microwaved for 2 minutes prior to cooking had a 90-percent decrease in HCA content. In addition, if the liquid that forms during microwaving is poured off before further cooking, the final quantity of HCAs is reduced.
One study has evaluated the content of HCAs in fast food restaurants. After evaluating five kinds of meat products from various fast food restaurant chains, the study concluded that there were low levels of HCAs found in fast food meat products due to factors such as cooking temperature and time. The study suggested that greater exposure to HCAs stems from home cooking and cooking in non-fast-food restaurants where food may be cooked to order and where a larger amount of meat is consumed.
Studies are being conducted to assess the amount of HCAs in the average American diet, but at present the maximum daily intake of HCAs in food has not been established. At the moment, no Federal agency monitors the HCA content of cooked meats (how much a person could be eating), there is no good measure of how much HCAs would have to be eaten to increase cancer risk, and there are no guidelines concerning consumption of foods with HCAs. Further research is needed before such recommendations can be made.
However, concerned individuals can reduce their exposure to HCAs by varying methods of cooking meats; microwaving meats more often, especially before frying, broiling, or barbecuing; and refraining from making gravy from meat drippings.


this was from a letter to bartelt 4-23-10:


you should take yr job seriously bc you are great and you should take women seriously too, and not be mean to them when they speak up in class.  i mean olivia too should be treated with respect.

you should be a fighter for women bc we need people like you
my own little world view has a lot of love for ahimsa
and when negative words are uttered it does violence on par with real violence
women should not be reduced to material utilitarian things---not even as a joke of solidarity with the heteronormative world
or judged for their lack of femininity or phenotype.

its unfair.

and heterosexist normatization of the class isn't fair too.
you dont know who has run in with homophobia all their life and then they are supposed to be lumped into "real woman" or "real man"
i dont believe in any of this
or asked what women want in a man,as you asked a gal in bio this, i was a bit shocked at the presumptuousness.
if you asked me you might have got an earful.

nobody should be hit over the head with their paper, as well, even as a joke.  he looked so submissive and dismayed.  it was after midterm.
i know they are working you too much.  i'm so sorry.
but it would be better to call off class than say messed up stuff.
that's not funny.
it could hurt someone.

Tuesday 4 May 2010

no more broadcasts y'all due to the fact that i asked for more respectful terminology regarding the female anatomy!!!!

evidently . . . nothing is too evident actually.
my class time anxiety has simmered down, and teach seems to be trying to be nicer.

so voila!

ah well!
this email is a koan inside of a riddle inside of a blog so you see . . .
a few classmates have discussed whether women are treated fairly in class.
one guy said that when Dr. says things abrasive about women, the girls in the class look down or away.
another girl said she tries not to make a comment, bc she doesn't want to be put down.
anyway,  who has this much energy to have opinions and words anymore?

as with all learning curves, the plateaus can be a drag . . .
in defense i don't believe i called teach a fascist, but said the tone can be fascistic, which is quite a lot better i think.
i think all of us if we are lucky to be passionate about something etc might be a bit overbearing at times . . . .


Fri, April 16, 2010 12:53:04 PM
RE: the t&a video response
Mary,

With all due respect, you are completely out of line.  In no way can my class be described as "vulgar and antiquated."  I take offense at this gross misrepresentation.  Before you levy such a charge against me, I strongly suggest you think hard about what you are saying.  You will see that you have no case.

I take pedagogy seriously.  I take accusations like this seriously.  In no way do i think this a laughing matter.

Finally, before you make a mountain out of a mole-hill, perhaps you need to revisit the entomology of the word "tit."  It derives from teat, meaning nipple, and can be pronounced as tit or teet.  Both men and women have them, as do the cows on the farm on which I grew up.

I also do not appreciate your calling me a fascist.  These are serious charges/accusations and I will not stand by and let a student throw such accusations my way - especially when they are completely unwarranted.  I always welcome questions and discussion.  In fact, I go out of my way to facilitate that.

I tried to accommodate you and your desire to video my lectures.  However, these base-less accusations have left me with no choice but to forbid all filming and taping of my lectures, as my academic freedom is now at stake.  I will make a formal announcement in class next week.

-Dr. Bartelt 

Thursday 22 April 2010

4-22-10

Sociolinguistics
pidgin dialect
colonialism
diffusion

creole language
no longer a dialect
linguistic relativity

american standard english


john bah stanford
apartments for rent in bay area

try midwest dialect
call back in afrc am vernac
then latino

proved discrimination
racism in chicago

bush years
dumbed down

popular
hide edu

voice recognition technology
grants in silicon valley

did not recognize the southern dialect
computers recognize lang

language imperialism

camaroon
signs at uni
say
NO PIDGIN

endangered languages
enviro crisis

species irreplacable
speaker dies

1996
oakland school board declared ebonics the official language of african-americans

caused a big debate

sociological issues


teaching ebonics
argue
inhibits higher education

disadvantaged by linguistic prejudice

religion
next week
camaroon week
films speaker
viktor turner ritual analysis

types of rituals
sybols
break down into
convoluted

witchcraft
divination—central focus of research
represents foundation of the african world view
deeper realities than what the eye sees
find what is the cause of what afflicts
how to divine answers to exam

liminality
characterizes---the liminal stage a transitory stage---the diviner will be in the liminal state existing
btw every day life and the mystical world

binary divination systems— yes no cowrie shells twigs cola shells
direction points two sides

basket divination
assembly things—takes 20 years---key, piece of glass shake basket, certain things come up
refers to event in the world---every object

open ended divination systems

spirit medium
sorcery
shamanism

get rid of bush
need a personal object relating to him

western views of
witchcraft tend to be psychologizing phenomenon

world religions
witchcraft is real

concept of witchcraft occurs in the context in which supernatural powers are said to influence society
understood in personal

break free from your illusions
break free
break free remix

prior to capitalist expansion

as inequality arose
the more witchcraft grows
fears beliefs

deaths attriuted to witchcraft
second leading cause of death next to HIV

harry potter
age
magic
sorcery
witchcraft more broad encompasses majic and sorcery

kyon kyofushu
njemte
keyoi
juju

good bad

sorcery---the anti-social employment of mystical powers

NYONGO
zombie worker cult---wealth gained by various means

shamanism—a technique

shamans
35000 caves in france shamanic
shamanism is a technique of ecstasy
achieve ecstatic trance
to achieve the state
it involves mind training

teaches unity of all things
shamanism

western culture doesn't get it
some without any psychotropic substances
in africa

from ayahuasca culture
amazing to look at a culture w/ strong tradtion of


newer shamans
get express shot to upper levels of consciousness
thru drugs

africa mysticism already there

Thursday 15 April 2010

visual anthropology coming soon to LACC
still photography submit
excellent
use in presentation

day of silence
for GLBT oppression

denim day rape film
contest
short
make it and submit

worried the iceland volcano will mess up
and airport moratorium
euro and UK travel to coachella

now today
religion

syncretic nature of voodoo and catholicism
western and african cultures colliding in haiti
belief system

religious phenomemen
broken down to symbols
acc to viktor turnerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Turner

symbols rituals and action
symbols are storehouses of information
symbology

def of ritual

ceremony
do not confuse with ritual
what is diff?

lucrezia borgia sarah bradford
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucrezia_Borgia

olivia is reading this.
http://books.google.com/books?id=wohoAAAAMAAJ&q=lucretia+borgia+bradford&dq=lucretia+borgia+bradford&ei=GD_HS-eOMIHMlQTp_cS4Bw&cd=1

eric is reading this
http://books.google.com/books?id=cvwn6JDrTeoC&q=huxley+seeing&dq=huxley+seeing&ei=Qz_HS5q_J4SEkASo_8WqBw&cd=2

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

cool huxley and jung both are july 26 leos!!!!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Jung

rites of passage
social status change
rite of passage
rituals
rites

separation

separated fm former status
transitional
stage
the liminal----stage of transition
what is up is down
what is down is up


final stage is incorporation
incorporated

into new phase of life in
newly acquired state of life


ritual performances involving manip of symbols that refer to relig beliefs

teacher never set foot in a church until africa

amish documentary
the devil

funeral

burial is the liminal
also the wake

rituals of affliction

eg malevolent spirits
like an illness afflicted

blood rituals
holds information
water holds information
a great conductor

words emotion and energy can affect the molecular structure of water
imagine blood
words very powerful

blood connects to the ancestors
why bushfowl
cheaper than a goat

birthday
rt of passage


chicken dog goat

in nigeria
acc to the type of illness one mightneed a higher animal
a water buffalo

rts of affliction

how do we know that the bad spirit went inside the fowl
a lot of rituals
at anthills

or spiderholes
tarantula holes
analogy based

chicken bath
cleansed with the chicken
so no one can curse you---the beak
then eat the chicken

ritual
then the members of the society
eat it


the chicken absorbed the negativity
heterocylic amines

a few
society of loom

twins ggod material for a healer
mengele

twins in subsaharan africa
mystical ritual immediate to make sure they dont become witches

specialize in epilepsy
seizures
loom
eat chicken
protected
if someone else ate the chicken whoa!

young age a calling
get lost in the forest
then comes back
been with the spirits

healers transfer
david nchinda
son of most pwrful healer in oku
wanted to be an acctant
dad called him back fm university

transfers all healing to you
dad fm deathbed.
we will meet david nchinda
next week

he can recognize
herbs due to visions and his father speaks to him
combines herbs to treat affliction

third type
rites of reversal
halloween
celebrates a rite of reversal
liminal
characterizes the whole thing
death not discussed in our society

other cultures have a relationship with death

halloween our day to celebrate death
what we fear most
classic rite of reversal

in america
we cannot go to neighbors
this is the only day possible
to discuss
they give food

favorite day
dias de los muertos
all saints day

is it a rite of reversal
with the aztec influences
the jubilance is joyful relation w/death
not a rite of reversal to people with a relation with death

but for us yes maybe

western v. indig death view
we are linear they are cyclic
dichotomy

re relation with food
turned over to specialists

indig navaho
dont call professionals
we do it ourselves

blame the french
for meat's euphemization

home birth
mellow empowered
sweeping and doing dishes until
birth
not fearful empowered
water broke they
came in ten minutes
urgency

justifies the staff and hospital machine

induced
you were off by an hour
anatomy question
western v. indig. where do eastern traditions fit????

rep an interesting mix of the two.
pockets of western influence

capital
linear
dominate nature
china?

asia an anomoly
yet say in japan

shinto
hong kong
very modern
yet in touch with traditions
south aerica cent america and africa
extensive field work
not in asia

mardi gras
journal! get ethnography going guys!!!

Tuesday 13 April 2010

animal sacrifice to invoke the spirit world
social control
relationship btw
cath
syncretic relig
saints incorporated into the practice
originally done to outlaw

gods
interesting things about the catholicism
most ameneable to incorp nonwestern relig
bc of
focus on ritual

africa
 the catholic chchs allow the indig religion to synthesize

much more respectful
re ?sufi also synthetic


people's reactions
benin west africa
colonialism slave trade

film notes

deutsche bank sponsored namaqua herrera genocide and carl jung redbook expo at the hammer
horrors of passage
voodoo sustained

slave ship

espanola
old name for haiti
where voodoo took root
rebellion

18 yr reign of terror v. french brutality
voodoo panic
news reached paris

voodoo priestess

zombie
perpetual purgatory

nerve poison
form
fish

individuals nailed into coffin

rolled down hill into abyss in barrel with nailspikes inside

zombies haitian versioon of empty ghost phys there but empty of what makes a human
perpetual purgatory

social sanction
analygous to electric chair

voodoo invoked by haitian leaders
francois duvalier
exploited by leaders
embedded int the ordinary religious life
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/François_Duvalier
interp
religious phenomemon
western parameters

relision
anthro approach
exocticization of african traditions
justifies third world subordination

we think in west
entrenched
we are at the vanguard of the modern
modern and tradition
divides what is rational and mystical

existing theotretical frameworks
fetishism
3fold schemes
intellectual evolutionism
armchair anthro
magic---trad subsahar
religious explic
science

let us reflect

magic religion science
we are all prods of west world views
dualities
logic
scient meth
why?
industrilism
linear time
west wld view
blatant contradiction
magic and sci based on natural law
implicit contradiction

history of this thought first
schools of thought
colonizing

functionalism
religion is a reflex of the social order
phenomenological
rel as a phenomen of the people

focus on  symbols and rituals
viktor turner
rituals storehouses of symbols


theological approach
flawed
comparative approach
more impt
not enough time
any would take a comparative approach

taken apart from culturak approach

we christianize them

working def of relig

treat as etwas not sharply defined
class of metaphorical stmts.

consider religion as an exploratory view of the world

no surplus value

quote
william james
treat relig sentiment
for many sentiments
contains nothing  of psychological
relig fear
relig love
no one elementary emo
but a storehouse of relig emotions
no specific

postmodern
philosophical approach
relig not a phenomem
must take into acct culture itself

scietif
and mystic
are theoret schemes
both deserve respect
19602s berkely
psychadelic anthro
anthro of transpers
or of consciousness
maps
maria dobka del rios
old guard never took it
ayuasca

wade phillips
serpent and the rainbow
book
film 1st 20 min
zombies

stephen rea
power of voodoo
pasadena

Tuesday 6 April 2010

historical perspective

prim to complex---avoid this

political
complex state society
sustainability
in no way

1. informal leadership---inuit, eskimo

foraging
leader with no authority
non-sedentary ie nomadic

about humans
lets not speak of alpha male

2. Band-level  org
kin
family
no special status for leader
influence ability
non-sedentary ie nomadic

3. tribe
leaders on a part time basis
no permanent leader
loyalty there---no need to exert force
usually avoided


big man larger than life
achieved status (diff than ascribed status)
can be challenged by other aspiring big men

big woman society

4. chiefdom
fixed rank
fixed succession
powr
highrank

primogeniture
orig first seeds of class consciousness
arose aristoi
high class
and the lower commoners, common folk

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

division of society

5. confederacy
league of five nations
the iroquois
inspired our nation-style

fledgling us colonies so impressed they imitated and came up with colonies
stole articles of confederation from them
nothing united the colonies
allowed to keep autonomy

6. state
social stratification full blown
caste system
class
kinship consciousness---superceded by kinship
rest assured we have a class/caste
 system too
not just india

crypto-class system

resources not open to all
dreaded bureaucracy
control of resources orig
chiefdom and states
diff

we pay taxes
instead of tribute
police military courts

typology of political systems
either

egalitarian--high status as peeps capable of filling them
open to all
informal bands and tribes
substantivist economics--reciprocity, redistribution

ranked--economy--stratified redistribution

stratified system characterized---not = access
achievment or by birth
caste
patriarchal
exclude women from participation

why are things unequal
why patriarchal?
why state retrogressive?


states wit little or no military, have more women in power, prominent role in govt


the more militarized the more shut out women are from politics
costa rica
india has a lot of high ranking

peace keeping forces of women to dissolve war---scott speaks--
margaret thatcher anomoly

diff btw empire and state

empire
globalization
favorite topic

Saturday 3 April 2010

try a listen to C is for culture
about google books
from new york law
an anthropologist of book culture speaks, and someone speaks of cyber punk (anthropology)
http://nyls.mediasite.com/mediasite/SilverlightPlayer/Default.aspx?peid=4f3acab65b424c17b0eeb26ec8be6bc2

Wednesday 24 March 2010

myth markets
and cultural activism
still fascinated by circuit of culture

http://www.emorymi.com/holt.shtml
re building of iconic brands

as brands cultivate group identities or impersonate activisms
or condescend ethnographically in ill-formed ad campaigns .  . .

alternate ethnographies:
hasidic jewish angelenos
LACC students' digital divide compared to stanford//or university digital divides generally
people who believe in copyright
people with disabilities on campus

academic administrative culture mechanisms of information distribution/firewalls
marital rape protection law and whether anyone knows about it and what they think of it
smog and smog devotees, why people stay in heinously polluted areas, what motivates them, is it a worthy sacrifice of health
bronchitis in los angelelenos---severity, prevelence and experience, coping mechanisms

identity celebrity democratized
via social nets
exploitation of egotism as diversionary
yet empowering
identity myth and myths

http://www.emorymi.com/holt.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circuit_of_culture
new culture theory