BigManWeek+10

n chapter 11, the idea of the names of some relations have multiple meanings such as the word aunt could describe four different people. Then the word, in Chile, //tia // which translates to aunt, is used not only as the English definition of aunt but as a reference to female friends of their parents, or host mother. Does the fact that more potential people fall under the category of //tia // make the society more open to accepting others as a sort of pseudo family and make them feel closer? In a sense does the language a certain society speak determine the openness of whom they consider “family”?

The recent storm has set me thinking.

It seems strange sometimes, being in college away from all the family members you used to see every day. It makes me think back to Babies, where some parents would leave their kids alone, and others would play with them and give them attention all the time. I also think about how certain birds literally leave their eggs in another bird's nest to hatch, and don't play any part in raising them. Humans are somewhat the same, I feel. With all those parents who send their kid off to boarding school, there are others who'd prefer home-schooling. Some people, after going to college, may never go back home.

I also wonder about relationships and what they mean. What comes with the <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">title "boyfriend" or "girlfriend?" In some societies, these classifications <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">don't exist, and even amongst our own, our views are different. What <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">determines the relationship between two people? Even in one society, is the <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">connotation different between members of that society? Can you even begin to <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">classify all the multitudes of possible relationships into different terms <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">when there are so many events that may happen between people and so many <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">different trees of causalities?

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">Does the very presence of the "third sex" in other cultures reinforce the concept that everyone must fit into ONE of these options, rather than exhibiting a fluid gender expression? Even though the recognition of the third group by those identifying with gender-normative roles allows the marginalized to find an identity, can this third category be seen as an attempt to enforce the same social restrictions that created the disconnect between groups in the first place? How is acknowledging the fact that these people are "different" but then forcing their "differences" under one distinct label any better than forcing them to comply with "normal" societal roles in the first place? Does the validation of your "otherness" through means of a label make up for the fact that you are being forced into another role? As humans, are we more comfortable having clear delineations for even those things that we know are only considered abnormal because we are always in search of control even over those things that may outside of our constricted worldviews?

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">Considerably biased, I know. While being able to check a box on an identification form may give a sense of communal belonging, it serves as a clear representation that society demands that our "otherness" be neatly contained in a small box with big bow and be thrown under the umbrella of "different" <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;"> <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;"> http://www.annefaustosterling.com/welcome/ http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.soc.29.010202.100054

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">After reading the chapter of the text on kinship one particular aspect stuck <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">out for me. That was the very brief section on American College Student <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">Friendship and Friendliness. As someone who is part of a fraternity in <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">college, I think that the bonds go past what is described in the text as <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">"normal friendliness." I am curious if there have been anthropological <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">studies done on kinship and friendship around college Greeks who consider <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">their brothers and sisters closer to them than just friends?

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1525/jlin.2001.11.1.101/abstract http://newsfromlastthursday.com/archives/152