Symbolic anthropology

Secularization refers to the transformation of a society from close identification with religious values toward non-religious values. It refers to the belief that as societies progress, particularly through modernization and rationalization, religion loses its authority in all aspects of social life and governance. Stark provides many pieces of evidence that disagree with the theory of secularization. He believes that secularization is an exaggeration that has been passed over the years - a…

According to the American Anthropological Association, anthropology is “the study of what makes us human” (2016). Unsurprisingly, there are many ways in which anthropologists have attempted to do so and have broken anthropology into four subfields; Archeology, Biological Anthropology, Cultural Anthropology, and Linguistic Anthropology. The father of American anthropology, Franz Boas, introduced this four-field tradition through the amassing of holistic data collection through fieldwork…

The feminist perspective on anthropology has, like in numerous other disciplines, run ‘parallel’ to the subject. The attempt to shift the paradigms has created some tension between the ideas of the feminist perspective and the existing archetypes of anthropology. However, feminist thinking in anthropology has reshaped the study of gender and has become somewhat accepted by mainstream social anthropologists. In this essay my aim is to explore the ways in which male-bias has been allowed to occur…

field of anthropology, there are two main theoretical perspectives that anthropologists tend to fall into: the idealist and the materialist. The idealists view human beliefs, ideas and values as the most important feature of shaping culture. The materialists, rather than focus on ideas and beliefs of individuals, focus on more material aspects of shaping culture; like advancements in technology and structure. Anthropologists with an idealist perspective consider the study of anthropology…

It is difficult to judge different societies because what might be the norm in emic perspective, can be seen as strange from an etic perspective. Ponijao was cleaned by his mother saliva and Bayarjargal had his face washed by his mother’s breast milk. These might seem as strange acts from a western perspective. On the other hand, they are considered normal in an emic perspective. The film rarely shows any clear interaction of the father in the Mongolian sitting also, but it shows prominent…

After reading all four articles, I found Sharon Kaufman and Emily Wentzell’s to be the most intriguing arguments because they challenged my own surface level understanding of the issues they presented in a deeper context. I thought Kaufman’s article on “Medicare, Ethics, and Reflexive Longevity” provided a compelling argument on how “medicine materializes and problematizes time” (210, 2011). In a society where the prevalence of aging and the culturally and structurally “appropriate” treatment…

archaeology through the use of one central theme: the home. Moore does not simply describe different excavations, he discusses the journey of the human experience expressed by archaeological dwellings and artifacts. The Prehistory of Home supplements Anthropology 145, World Prehistory, by discussing the development of human society through the examination of the home. The central purpose of this course is to observe the development of human society and culture from the time of hunter-gatherers…

DOING ETHNOMUSICOLOGY REFLECTION In this reflective essay, I intend to broadly outline a range of pertinent questions, issues and methodologies in ethnomusicology, and their relevance across the disciplines. The seminars were guided more in a way of deep contemplation on global concerns and musical customs rather than hypothesis driven inquiries, introducing us to a vast array of literature in a highly interactive and interdisciplinary environment. I made some rousing discoveries in my assigned…

For instance, in the first video culture and anthropology, the author stated our personality is shaped in early childhood by observation. Furthermore, while watching Alejandro Mamani: A case study in culture and personality, Alejandro’s temperament toward the evil spirits was something he had learned from the generation before him, who as he mentioned also went to the cliffs. In Umanitoba’s online book of anthropology, the author implies that “The replacement of genetic transmission…

Racial categories should have no role in healthcare and research. First of all, race deters health care research because it adds an unnecessary element in the study. Including race distracts researchers and may cause miscalculations. This is because “both historical evidence and contemporary genetic research suggest that ‘racial profiling’ in medicine can lead to serious medical errors” (Rondini et al. 2007: pg. 1423). Not to mention, “mounting evidence indicates that the race of patients can…