Study Guide-Varieties of Human Experience | ANTH 160, Study notes of Introduction to Cultural Anthropology

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September 28, 2009: PACIFIC Medical Anthropology - Aleut Joints o Joints are important part of humans health and well-being o Death does not occur until all joints have fallen apart/no longer are connected o If a person is very important to society they will wrap the corpse to prolong their influence in society and vice versa with evil  If a person was exceptionally evil they will cut the joints away from the body instantly upon death - Ancient Greeks and the Humor o 4 humors: phlegm, blood, yellow bile, and black bile o Humans humor’s should always be in balance with each other, if the humans become unbalanced you will have a sick person o It is a belief of the Greek’s that the body heals itself  Vomiting is the body’s way of getting rid of excess yellow bile  A cold is the way of the body getting rid of excess phlegm o Humors also explain temperaments  Phlegmatic  Bilious or Choleric – yellow bile  Sanguinary – blood  Melancholic – black bile Rapa, French Polynesian - Rapa Medicine o Herbal preparation and massage (herbs are mixed with water) o Measured by knuckles (initi) of water on your index finger (container size doesn’t matter…always measured by knuckles) o Hot/Cold Theory: get sick by upsetting temperature balance of the body  Diseases are classified by hot and cold, as well are medicines o No specialist/ healers  every woman is a specialist: only she can administer her medicine or it will not work o Dreaming up a new medicine (typically occurs when someone is sick and typical medicine used does not work for that person) o Medicines are passed through generations from mother to daughter to granddaughter o Otu’I  Girl does not get period, develops severe pain throughout her lower abdomen up throughout her body  Fatal disease – considered a cold disease  Parallels the goat grease and wine bottles: same with blood that solidifies within the abdomen and can’t pass out of the body (just like goat grease solidifies and can’t pass out of the wine bottle)  Medicine (use a hot medicine): marie tutae moa (plant) – “chicken shit fern”  Make a tea out of this massage is downward on abs. of ill woman  How does medicine cure it? They say tea heats inside of woman’s body (aka got grease in a wine bottle)  Herb also used for abortions - Theories of Conception o Trobriand Islands: people unaware of males role in conception o John Huarte and Father-child link: inverse relationship between smart father and childs level of intelligence  Dumb men will focus more during sex making smarter children o Rapan Theory of Conception  American doctors agree with US way of conception – Rapans discredited American doctors  No ovaries, fallopian tubes…just a uterus (vaira’a tamari’i: storehouse of children) o Notion explains why women either menstruate or don’t  Conception mixture of semen and womb blood (2 liquids)  The opening and closing uterus and the fertile period o When uterus is sealed you will not be able to get pregnant o 4-5 days after menstruating is primes time to get pregnant October 7, 2009 PACIFIC Male and Female in New Guinea - Ritual elements in Polynesian religion  female o Are gods driven away or drawn to females? Gods are drawn to them in Polynesia - Menstruation huts – common practicing, not all women find it degrading - Important reason for debilitating women and dominating men is due to male feeling inadequate so they make themselves superior o Women mature naturally where as some societies believe men require culture interventions to mature  Male initiation rights from boys to men The Sambia (New Guinea) - Highlands, farming people, small villages, valleys/mountains, warfare - Value on masculinity: turn boys into adult male warriors o Girls are like soft-wood plants who mature faster than boys who are like hardwoods  Blood, soft, juicy = woman (blood, soft parts)  Dry, white, hard = male (bones, teeth) - All children imbued with female influence at birth o Fine for girls because you want girls to grow up to be women BUT femininity is destructive for males o Initiation: break ties with mother and turn boy into man o 2 parties with an establishment of differences (very crucial to Kaluli culture) o Creation Myth: human beings were created first, a wise man then divided up and established differences – made people into animals o Reciprocity happens after opposition  Negative reciprocity: death and revenge (no such thing as natural death)  Sei (witch) will come from 1 longhouse to another at night and harm the victim (no visible injury) and within a few days person will die  Seeking the witch: War party from longhouse of the victim will go find the witch in their longhouse and bash head in with long clubs  After witch is dead the fighting stops and they perform autopsy on witch to see if they were actually a witch  Condition of heart: low fat, firm, red – heart of a non-witch  If the person was a witch it was a justified killing ( a life for a life; Wel – what you do to me, I do to you  Su – raiding party needs to give gifts to longhouse community of the witch to smooth out differences  Heart was not a witch: raiders are at fault and one of them must die o Wel reciprocity – “witches” longhouse must kill a raider; goes back and forth, back and forth (blood feud)  Positive Reciprocity – marriage as a form of su exchange  Money and valuables as an exchange for a wife  With su, reciprocity is different from what I did to you  Wel: same reciprocity between two parties - Reciprocity of the Unseen World o Mirror image between human world and natural world (what birds and trees see is same as what we see when looking at them and each other) - Reciprocity of Appearance o Reciprocity of Interdependence: the mamul (spiritual beings) live on Mt. Bosavio as a reflection of human society o Counterpart of man = pig living on Mt. Bosavio (spiritual mamul pig)  Kill a pig = mamul man will die o Counterpart of woman = cassowarie birds (same thing as men and pigs) o Large deaths are explained by large number of deaths during festivals taking place (goes back and forth between the 2 societies) - Gisario and Opposition o Exchange between guests and hosts  Morning after longhouse bids gusts farewell with an exchange of gifts (su exchange)  Gifts from dancers – hosts for upsetting the host people  Wel Exchange: host village will eventually go to dancer village and dance for them - Analysis o Gisario reworks experience into a culturally meaningful form so they can cope o Experience of grief of a lost loved one  Songs generally about hosts places  Upsets hosts  Saddens hosts – remember time spent with deceased loved ones (they take retaliation against dancers through burning, yelling, etc) - Meaning and Order (SEE POWERPOINT SLIDE) October 19, 2009: Africa ISLAM LECTURE - Mohammed was born in 570 in Mecca o Born from Quraysh tribe and traces origins to Abraham o Made many trips with his uncle as a child to see mosque: 2 trips at winter and summer to Jerusalem and Silla - Married Khadja - 610 when Mohammed was 40 years old it is believed that Gabriel came to him in a revelation – beginning of the Koran o Started preaching in Mecca (connected to entire Arabia) - 1st people drawn to Mohammed’s preaching were poor people and slaves (they were drawn to his social, economic, spiritual message) o Faced hostility as message grew o Moved from Mecca to Medina (Jewish/Christian town) - 622: Year 1 in calendar; founded first Muslim community, first Islamic state in Medina - Mecca = social reform, Medina = political – about state and how to organize it o Sourate = chapters, verses (small) - Muslim community in Medina in 622 had a prophet: spiritual, political, military leaders - By time of Mohammed’s death all of Arabia was Muslim, 100 years after Muslims were in Spain, France, China, and Afghanistan - Only had daughters – succession question? He did have 2 grandsons – children of Fatima and Ali (uncle’s son) o Sons – Hasan and Hussein o Believed successor should be from Mohammed’s lineage but Abu Baca became his successor - Small group refused to acknowledge Abu Baca as successor, thought Ali should have been successor - 654: life became complicated; government of Silia o Mouawiya – governor of Syria who created a lot of strife for people o Hasan was not very political, took side of Mouawiya o Hussein wanted to be successor of prophet Mohamed - People of Iraq told him to come and they would rise against Mouawiya and so he moved from Medina to Iraq o In 680 was intercepted and killed by an army of Mouawiya; grandson of prophet was assassinated and killed o Created division: Shia – those who support Hussein (household of Mohammed) - Anyone can succeed Mohammed with certain qualities: male, intelligent, etc. o Shia believe follower must be from household of Mohammed - Consensus: Koran was a revelation from God to Mohammed and those are exact words God gave to Gabriel to give to Mohammed - 2md most important source: what Mohammed did and said, collected and called Hadith - Muslim Scholars: Ulema – those who are qualified to interpret the Koran - 4th Source: consensus, scholars agree if they don’t have a precedent for something - Overwhelming majority can’t understand the Koran, no longer majority Arab (little bit more than 10%) o 1.7 billion Muslim, very global community - Most stories in Koran you can find in the Bible and 1 point it was seen as Christian heresy o Subject to interpretation to those who live in specific places (depends on time and place) o There is no fixed meaning - Clifford Geeitz: Indonesia and Morocco (did study of 2 groups of Muslims) o Indonesia – 16th century through merchants vs Morocco 8th century contest o Indie culture 100% changed Muslim – very, very spiritual (about visions) o Morocco: ritualistic and dogmas; more Puritan (Berbers) - Twelvers (division and majority of Shia unit): believed 12th descendant of Hussein would return and become leader of the religion - Sunnia and Shia division started as political over succession but developed into theological division o Shia: leader should be from family of prophet, only 1 qualified (cannot commit a sin) o Sunni: political leader o Hadith (2nd source): is not object of consensus among Shia and Sunni – both divisions have their own Hadith of what Mohammed said and did  Succession addressed directly in both Hadith’s October 21, 2009 Africa Movie 1: Wodaabe (Niger) “People of the Taboo” - West Africa, very social and a very strict social code - 3 things treasured above all else: friendship, physical beauty and personal charm - Bad winter of 1985 almost erased entire population - Work of men and women kept separate o Women will not speak to first born - Sherpans (foothills of Himalayas, Buddhist) o Sherpa House: animals live on ground floor (coarse, physical) with humans on upper floor  When women give birth they do so on the ground floor o Sherpa Buddhist Temples  Lowest level (ground floor): gallery with wall paintings on outer walls, inner walls look upon statue of Buddha  Violent artwork  2nd level – library, monks spend time reading there and learning  Journey passing through levels on journey of enlightenment, overcome body and enrich the mind  Room of Srungma: death and destruction – still an obstacle that 1 must overcome (fear of death and destruction)  Ceiling: painting of Buddha in a very serene setting  Sexual position to demonstrate the unity of man and woman o Overcome threats that face us, as physical beings and (each level of temple) - Tibetan Mandala: Path to Enlightenment o Outer ring to the center = journey of enlightenment o 8 Rings of Death (outer rim): very violent and vicious  Material, physical, violent things o Ring of Fire – overcome fields of death, 1st way: purify yourself with fire o Adamantine Circle: diamonds (very hard) make yourself impermeable to influences from the outside; overcome and avoid distractions o Lotus Circle: Lotus plant doesn’t live in soil, roots are in water  detachment: detach self form physical world o Gate to the Palace: square palace, Bodhisattva at the center (achieved enlightenment like Buddha did) - Hinduism: Prakrti and Purusha (Sanskrit) o Prakrti: closely related to English word practice; journey  physicality of things (physical world) o Purusha: more spiritual, more dethatched, more impervious the closer you are to purusha o Ordinary course of events of world: movement from purusha to Prakrti (ideas  things) o What you want to do as a yogi: reverse ordinary movement; from Prakrti to purusha – the path to enlightenment (goal of yoga) o Yoga  Minimize distractions that infringe of meditation, get control of the body o Render citta (body) inactive: citta is what puts us in contact with the outside world; works with senses; decreases so you are impervious to outside world  Sensations no longer as sensitive o Control subconscious vasanas (mind): memories, recollection of memories of both present and previous life  Concentrate on 1 thing and block everything else (doesn’t matter what 1 thing is {tip of nose, breathing, mantra}) o Ultimate fundamental unity of the mind  Final transformation: merge with purusha as sate with NO attributes, pure being, pure nothing  Cannot describe purusha because it has no attributes at all  This is goal: all distinctions are dissolved and there is nothing November 2, 2009 Africa Chinese Thought: Confucianism and Taoism - Human behavior and the order of nature - Ancient Chinese Philosophy o Yin = cold, dark, wet, female, passive o Yang = hot, light, dry, male, active o 2 principles necessary for anything to happen - Yang Acts Upon Yin o A day or season of year (midnight – peak of yin, noon – peak of yang) (midwinter – max yin; spring, summer – yang) o Life cycle: infant = yin, grow, mature = yang…then age back into yin o Dynastic history = dynasty succession also follows yin and yang much life the life cycle o World historical cycle of 129,600 years o Degree of organization, entropy (growth of yin and diminishment of yang) - Confucianism (Confucius 551 – 479 BC) o Confucian Principles  Principles (from nature) as to how life should be conducted and tailor life to do so  Order human relations according to yin and yang, that is, to nature  Depending on relationship everyone is both yin and yang  Very important to know and recognize your place o A harmony of differences, everything is done properly  Experience the natural order of things o By living life properly you are integrating self into order of the universe, understand and conform to harmonies of differences - Taoism o Confucianism degenerates to “hollow show” (do what you have to do in order to get ahead, without understanding and appreciating the order of things) o Things are done very shallowly and without any sincerity o Lao Tse (ca. 400BC) o Taoist Principles  The world of concrete objects (similar to Hindu Prakrti)  Concrete things made up of molecules (building block of things)  More things than molecules  Elements are building blocks of molecules (less elements than molecules)  Simplify down to the fundamentals of nature - World of Attributes (the te) o Form, texture, color, weight, etc o Reduce down concrete objects to their attributes - The World of Pure Being (the tao) o 1 thing everything has in common: they exist, pure being o Uncarved block metaphor: sculptor can carve block into a million things but you cannot perceive anything when you look at the block itself o Differences disappear with tao (pure beings manifest no differences) - If you can move from concrete things to pure being you’ve reached enlightenment - The 1st step: be natural, simple, don’t worry about propriety, existence, the te - Final step: realize the tao November 4, 2009 AFRICA Zen Buddhism - “The Expert” by Nakashima Ton (story) o Characters: Chi Chang and Wei Fei (greatest archer ever) o Learned about making small things seem bigger, how to not blink for long periods of time o Ability to shoot 100 arrows into bulls eye o Chi Chang realized he would never be greatest if Wei Fei was still alive o Chi Chang and Wei Fei had a stand off and Wei Fei eventually won o Wei Fei sent Chi Chang out to look for Kan Ying (on top of a mountain) o Chi Chang became greatest archer of land after his visit to Kan Ying, even better than Wei Fei - Zen o Introduced from India to China in 527AD by Bodhidarama  Later monks exported it to Japan o Path to Enlightenment  Can’t reach enlightenment by thinking about it  Zen stresses doing, “going with the flow”; overcome the interruption  Abolish all interruption  Don’t concentrate, just let it go: high level of confidence required to just do without any mind dwelling - Understanding the Last Part of the Story o Duel with master Wei Fei (totally unconscious thinking) o Standing on ledge but Chi Chang is too afraid to do anything (absolutely massive interruption)