BigManWeek+8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yjmnE1VwoA http://freepussyriot.org/ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/16/pussy-riot-prison_n_1971069.html

Thinking back on the Muslim Woman article and the video of the church group, I was considering the interactions of the culture and religion of a region. Could religious groups themselves be considered their own culture or just a facet of a larger culture? Also, to what extent does religion customarily shape the culture of a region and culture affect the religion, especially adolescents?

The video that we watched in class kept pointing out how the tribal leaders

had been raised to the status of Noble or Savoir by the global media.

However, the tribal leaders could not live up to the starry eyed visions the

world had for them. Because of their clothes and wild lip plates, they were

stereotyped as Indians and to many people that label carries an idea of

simpleness and lack of technology. However, the idea could not last and that

created a terrible situation for the tribes.

My question this week is about how the media affects the world. People are

always saying that the media should be unbiased but yet in this movie and the

articles about Muslim women the media only gives the view they want the world

to have. The view that the world has is often quite different from what the

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">subject of the story has. So how does the media affect how different cultures

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">see one another? <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">=== <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">After reading Chapter 9, I am curious as to whether anthropologists have <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">studied or do study the politics of a democracy and how power comes into play <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">when different political parties are competing to be elected by the people. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">If the people have the power of electing the officials who are given power, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">who actually has the power?

http://www.colbertnation.com/

http://www.culanth.org/?q=node/322

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">In Azande witchcraft, a distinct line exists between misfortune attributed to witchcraft and the misfortune that occurs due to personal ineptitude. Schultz and Lavenda state in Chapter 8, "Suppose I am an incompetent potter and my pots break while I am firing them. I may claim that witchcraft caused them to break, but everyone will laugh at me because they know I lack skill." This idea that one's action's have the potential to lead to suffering is a concept that Westerners can at least appreciate, if not actually live their lives by. Historically, we separate tragedy into categories that determine our empathetic reaction. The more senseless and seemingly inexplicable misfortunes evoke a dramatically heightened response of empathy for the "victim" as compared to those instances in which a tragedy occurred as a direct result of the victim's own choices. Take for example the occurrence of DWI related injuries and casualties. We rarely see a community rally around an injured perpetrator in the same manner that they would support an injured "innocent bystander". Is this difference in regard indicative of a societal value placed on personal responsibility or is it instead a mere attempt to exercise whatever small sense of control and understanding we have over those tragic and inexplicable instances of human suffering that we are constantly surrounded by? Is it possible to identify with witchcraft practitioners in the shared quest to give explanation to the occurrence of human suffering? <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;"> http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1556-3537.2011.01049.x/abstract

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">My question this week is about the Peruvian rondas near the end of chapter 9. What are the implications of an impromptu justice system like the rondas, it seems like they have served their initial purpose but have they had more negative consequences, small town corruption, conflict with existing laws, etc?

http://www.orinstarn.com/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ausangate http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-shows/other-shows/videos/beyond-survival-qoyllur-riti-festival.htm

http://der.org/films/ausangate.html

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">So I took it upon myself to watch the rest of the DMT video, and I came to a <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">realization. We were talking about worldviews, but what would you define as a <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">world? When you're on DMT, your "world" becomes the new universe that is <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">created inside your head that your consciousness travels through. Could it be <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">said, then, that the Amazonians and those who used DMT have extremely <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">different worldviews than those who don't use the drug, simply because the <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">world they see is one that doesn't exist to the rest of us? How does that <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">shape their culture to live in what is potentially an entirely different <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">universe?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXFAqQ06L3g&feature=rellist&playnext=1&list=PLF754FE1CB5CCDFEE

http://www.shamanic-extracts.com/xcart/shamanic-products/yanomami-yopo-snuff.html

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">I was quite disappointed by the conclusion of the film Amazon Journal. It <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">came across as if the Kayapo and the Yanomani "won" the battle for the <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">control of the land that they were settled on. The way I see it is, they <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">ended up selling off strands to miners in the end anyways, so who was the <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">true victor? The two native tribes both recieved control, but the goal to <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">save the rainforest, and their homeland was not completely fallen through. If <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">the press and pressure from the media were not involved in the entire <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">situation how would the dispute between the miners and the Kayapo and <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">Yanomani have played out? Would it have been like the beginning of the film <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">with Yanomani begging for food, or would it have resulted in a more <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">traditional way of the natives living? <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">=== <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">While watching the video on the Amazon I had a major question raised. If people <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">are so bothered by the 'Indians' selling their lands to survive why don't they make <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">it law that they can't sell the lands they are given by the government? I personally <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">don't think it's a problem, but if you do it is not the fault of the people who are given <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">the land by the government. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">===

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">In Geoffrey O'Connor's film, Amazon Journal, the Brazilian government wanted to build <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">many dams on rivers in the land where the Yanomami people lived. After almost two decades <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">of campaigning and informing the world about the protection of the rainforests, Chief Raoni <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">finally won the victory in stopping these government projects. However, did the Brazilian <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">government stop these projects because they actually cared about the tribes or protecting <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">the rainforest? Or were they just concerned about their public image and reputation? On <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">the topic of power, it was amazing to see how these tribes were able to get their voice heard <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">and change the government's actions. However, was this result only a short term solution? <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">Did this victory actually give these tribes a bigger voice in other political and environmental <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">situations in the long term? Does the "power" of power expire over time?

http://amazonwatch.org/work/chevron http://www.culturalsurvival.org/

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">I found it interesting that the Amazonian Indians were hit hard by the <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">diseases that the gold miners carried, in much the same way Native American's <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">were killed by the diseases the settlers brought over from Europe.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">It seems like diseases could be studied and tracked in their movements in <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">much the same way anthropologists track the movement and merging of cultures. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">I searched a little on the internet and found there are some studies on the <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">geographical migration of disease, but none on its interplay with the <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">clashing of cultures, like the miners and the Amazonian Indians. Is it <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">possible to use records of historical disease outbreaks to track the <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">movements and interactions of different cultures and vice versa?

http://anthroniche.com/darkness-in-el-dorado/

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">As I was reflecting on power, “the ability to transform a given situation,” I began to wonder if power was similar to free will. Is having the power to alter a specific situation the same thing as a person exercising their “free will” to ensure a desirable outcome? I quote free will because as I use it I am reminded of the term “the tyranny of fashion” from the Muslim women piece and it makes me wonder if free will even exists? Are external influences the components of one’s free will? Is it possible to truly act under ones complete own freewill?

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">Thanks and happy Thursday! http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/freewill/

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

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">In chapter 9, the use of power in society is used to create a sense of order and equality, like in the case of the Guatemala Civil War and the rural justice groups, rondas campesinas, however, it seems to have the opposite effect. In the case of the Guatemalan Civil War, “The postwar period ushered in ‘famine brought about by droughts and declining coffee prices, as well as an sharp increase in street crimes”. On the other hand, in the case of the shamans of the Huichol Indians and the Big Man, their so called power does not bring about disorder. I was wondering why the use of power sometimes has the opposite effect of what it is trying to achieve, but, in the case of stateless societies order are seeming to be naturally established.