Indigenous Rights

Comparing Indigenous Rights Corporations

1. Inuit Circumpolar Council (Canada) (link)

2. Pauktuutit: Inuit Women of Canada (link)

I chose these two Corporations because they are both run for/by Inuit peoples of Canada. One main difference between them is that Pauktuutit is an organization specifically for Inuit women, while the Inuit Circumpolar Council (Canada) represents all of the Inuit people of Canada. Another difference is that the Inuit Circumpolar Council (Canada) represents the Inuit people on an international level, while Pauktuutit is an organization that serves the Inuit women of Canada, on a more personal level, providing needed resources and support.

Pauktuutit

"Pauktuutit fosters greater awareness of the needs of Inuit women, advocates for equity and social improvements, and encourages their participation in the community, regional and national life of Canada. Pauktuutit leads and supports Canadian Inuit women in policy development and community projects in all areas of interest to them, for the social, cultural, political and economic betterment of the women, their families and communities." - Aim of the organization, from home page of their website

The organizations website is filled with resources freely available for anyone with access to the internet. Some of their projects include awareness about issues of abuse (and what to do if you are being abused), early childhood development, economic development, the environment, fetal alcohol syndrome disorder, traditional knowledge and intellectual property rights, teen pregnancy, tobacco reduction, sexual health, and youth rights and issues (see full list here). Each of these projects are targeted specifically for Inuit women, and are not only culturally appropriate, but lack the patriarchal tone that many Western run projects exemplify (even if unintentionally). They are also projects that target the needs of those who they are aimed at... which makes the most sense, since the corporation is run by Inuit women (see list of board of directors, board members, and staff here), so they know what issues need to be addressed.

This organization is an example of gender and development, women helping women make a difference in their communities.

Inuit Circumpolar Council (Canada)

This is one branch of an multinational council, also involving Greenland, Russia, and Alaska. The main objective of this council is to represent the Inuit people of Canada in international discussions (view full list of aims and objectives here). The Inuit Circumpolar Council Executive Council is populated by Inuit people of the 4 countries represented (see executive council bios here), as is the Canadian Board of Directors (see listing here). They help guide international discussions about aid/development projects involving Inuit peoples to ensure a sociocultural fit, making sure that all projects are designed to take local culture into account. This is especially true for environmental projects, such as Arctic land and marine resources management (see link, ninth clause).

Their initiatives include research about Environmental and Sustainable Development, assisting other indigenous peoples with International Development projects, work with the United Nations on Human Rights and Indigenous rights, developing Communication tools for communities, contributing to the development/solution of Cultural and Social Issues, and the establishment of Inuit Schools within the Circumpolar region. See full listing of programs and initiatives, available through this link.

Both of these organizations promote Inuit culture as distinct and indigenous to Canada and the circumpolar region. They both uphold the historic culture of the Inuit, but also show the desire to bring the Inuit people into modern (Western) society through their projects. Or perhaps their initiatives (like the establishment of western style schools and health care programs) signify the need to mend the crumpled relationship between Western culture and Inuit culture. This seems to be an effect of globalization, but not in a confrontational or destructive way... more like hybridization, Inuit culture coming alongside Western culture to create a new kind of Inuit culture (although this just seems like a way for Western culture to win out yet again...).

One thing that I've noticed through this topic (though it is pretty obvious), is that if a group of people form organizations or boards or councils to represent themselves, then they are different from the people around them... they constitute either a separate culture or a sub-culture. It is usually minorities that need this kind of representation, a group of people with the "same" identity to communicate with the majority. So then by this "definition" every council/board/organization represents a culture or mindset that is different from those around them... is this a fair statement? Or is it a gross oversimplification of what is really going on?

Either way, once an organization/council/board has been put together, then those of the majority will see them as "the" other, as a collective whole. If taken to its extremes this can produce an "othering" effect in discussion (us vs. them) leading to prejudice and even ethnocide (or genocide, heaven forbid). But if understood as a group wanting to be represented fairly, this kind of organization is beneficial, providing the majority with a window into the thoughts of the minority (kind of like a group of cultural brokers).

key concepts used: gender and development, sociocultural fit, hybridization

Globalized Communities

China Youth Development Foundation


"The China Youth Development Foundation is a non-profit social organization with a legal status independent of the government founded by the All-China Youth Federation in March 1989." (Visit their website at http://124.42.15.179/gb/english/index.htm to view the quote directly)

This foundation calls for social reform in the realm of early childhood education. Their aim is to educate their children, all across China, in hope to help them "prepare to meet the challenges of [a] changing global society." (Quote found here)
They have partners from several international corporations, such as Motorola, Coca-cola, Nokia, and Lucent (see full listing here), indicating their desire to apply globalization (process of intensified global interconnectedness and movement of goods, information, and people) to early childhood education.

Chris Park, the President of Lucent Technologies Foundation had this to say about the program:

"Education is the key toward helping young people reach their highest potential and to become engaged citizens and productive members of the workforce and society."

As the President of a technologies company (one among several that sponsor the China Youth Development Foundation) it makes sense that he believes early formal education is the key for society... call me a critic, but doesn't that propel his company further? Doesn't globalization of this sort (introducing generations of children to new ideas and quite possibly technology) promise the spread of the technological "culture"? I just want to make it clear though, that I'm not saying this is a bad thing, I actually do agree with giving all children access to education, especially because it doesn't look like globalization has any desire to slow down.

This organization is seeking the financial aid of global corporations who have the capacity for large investments to finance the opening of Primary schools across China (including many municipalities in rural areas). For example, Motorola has donated RBM 24 million to the foundation, which facilitated the opening of 50 schools (10 000 children able to attend),* and Coca-cola has donated $3 million (USD) to facilitate the opening of 51 schools and books to 100 rural libraries. They also sponsored an endowment fund to help promising high school students (in financial disadvantage) further their education.**

I assume that the hope of this foundation is that as these children grow up and enter the adult world, that their education will enable them to enter a work force that will support the countries economy. This most likely would involve internal migration (population movement within state boundaries) from rural to urban centers (push-pull theory), or even the creation of new urban centers. If the children being educated in these school continue to thrive in their education (which is what most Westerners would hope for, do you think it could be different for non-Western ideals?), then their rural homes/villages will not give them the opportunities they need and they will migrate into the city.



Photographs used (click on title for link to original source)
1. Chapter of Desire
(In this photo, the photographer has captured a look of hunger, and through it's use on this website I think that we as observers are supposed to understand that it's a hunger for learning... that this child wants to learn and participate in the growing global community... it's a good thought, an inspiring message, but is that really what the child desires?)
2. Chapter of Hope
(I'm assuming that this is a group of children who have been promised a school. The message I think is being conveyed is that because of the promised school, this group of village children will be able to grow up with a chance at a better future. Is that necessarily true?)
3. Chapter of Love
(These children are... working on homework? Is that the love part? They've been given the chance to learn, the corporations who've sponsored them have shown them love through their donations of millions of dollars? Sorry for being so negative. This is actually an awesome photo with awesome promise. It shows that children ARE being given that chance to succeed in a globalized society.)

Despite my apparent criticism of the project and it's motives, I actually do think that it's a good thing, that children do deserve the chance to learn and thrive in any situation they choose, whether urban or rural.

key concepts used: globalization, internal migration, push-pull theory

*see http://124.42.15.179/gb/english/pro-moto.htm
**see http://124.42.15.179/gb/english/pro-coca.htm

Review of an Ethnographic museum or art gallery

Museum of the Red River

This museum (an institution that collects, preserves, interprets, and displays objects on a regular basis) in Idabel, Oklahoma has a collection of Native American artifacts from the Red River region in the United States. Most of their pieces are beautiful pottery jars, bowls, and bottles, with a few other items, such as intricately beaded moccasins, a beaded cradle, and a pair of shell pendants (view collection here).

Many (if not all) of the pieces found at this museum would be considered folk art by most people (in Western cultures). This is in contrast to what Western cultures call fine art (a product created by a formally schooled artist, made for sale on a market, associated with a particular artist, its uniqueness valued, and not made primarily for use, but for the sake of being art). The characteristics of folk art are that it is created by an artist who is not formally trained, it is not created for a market, the artist is anonymous and does not sign or individually claim the piece, and it is made for everyday use (such as food gathering, processing, or storage, for rituals or for war, as examples). I would definitely say that the pieces found at the Museum of the Red River would be found in the "folk art" category, as most are pottery vessels, made for "everyday use" (though do we really know what they were used for???). See photographs above.

These pieces are presented as being authentic, as they are presented alongside an historical overview of the area and people groups, the Choctaw and Caddo (see full articles on the History and Chronology of the Choctaw and The Caddo). The museum holds pieces that I would consider both art and ethnographic objects, as they fulfill the "definition" of art, but are also of interest to anthropologists to understand the cultures that they come from.

key concepts used: museum, folk art, fine art

*all information from http://www.museumoftheredriver.org/index.html

**photograph on left from http://www.museumoftheredriver.org/images/bead_mocc_tn.jpg

***photograph on right from http://www.museumoftheredriver.org/images/acom_jar_tn.jpg

Communication

Wampum

Above is a photograph (found here) of a Native American wampum. A wampum is a shell-beaded fabric. The beads are made from the inner layers of Atlantic whelks and Atlantic clam, aka quahog. They are carved out into rectangular pieces, drilled through to make a hole, and then rounded smooth on sandstone.* The wampum "recorded agreements, with the purple color predominant if the agreement was considered more important, serious, or sad."*

These bead woven belts were used to record agreements and treaties*, and often among Aboriginal communication, if such a message was not accompanied by a wampum, the message was not taken seriously.**

I do think that these belts were/are a form of communication (the conveying of meaningful messages from one person to another). They were most definitely used to convey meaningful messages, and were a physical representation of those messages as well. To call the wampum a language (a form of communication that is a systematic set of learned and shared symbols and signs shared among a group and passed on from generation to generation) would be a little far fetched though. Yes the wampum contained symbols and were passed on from generation to generation, but I don't get the impression from the websites that they were systematically using the same symbols to represent specific words/concepts. It seems that these messages were made plain by the whole "picture" on the wampum, plus the story of the message itself.

I would also venture to say that the wampum is also art (the application of imagination, skill, and style to matter, movement, and sound that goes beyond what is purely practical). There is definitely skill and imagination that went into the creation of those belts. My argument is that all art is communication in some way, and these beautiful beaded belts are no exception.

The more purple on the wampum, the more serious, sad, and important the message (my guess is because the pu

rple beads were more rare, probably harder to find an abundance of deep purple shells than to find white shells). Often men or whole tribes/bands were represented by men figures with

crosses as heads (and sometimes with an upside-down triangular torso), though sometimes simple rectangles would represent tribes/bands. There is one wampum (the covenant chain, pictured to the left, photo found here) in which "each figure holds a ends of a wampum chain or belt representing the promise of an unbreakable alliance."*

key concepts used: language, communication, art

*info/quotes from http://www.kstrom.net/isk/art/beads/wampum.html

**info from http://library.thinkquest.org/TQ0312452/wampum1.htm

Religion

"Heaven's Gate" Movement

The "Heaven's Gate" movement was a religious sect (in the absence of a better descriptive word) whose myth (narrative with a plot that involves the supernaturals, a fundamental story that forms worldview) vaguely resembled that of Christianity... but with some very prominent differences.

The main beliefs of the movement were that human bodies are containers for souls and that Jesus' body was inhabited by the soul of a member of the Kingdom of Heaven at his baptism (found in Luke 3:22), and that "the sole task that was given to this member from the Kingdom of Heaven was to offer the way leading to membership into the Kingdom of Heaven to those who recognized Him for who He was and chose to follow Him."* They seem to have thought that the man Jesus at his baptism was "upgraded" or something, from human to "Level Above Human," and that because of this metamorphic transition he "was qualified to take others through that same discipline and transition."*

Though their website is difficult to understand (the grammar isn't exactly the best or easiest to follow), I think that they believed that since Jesus' death there were other humans that had been "upgraded" to "Level Above Human" able to train and disciple new believers. The writer of the website, Do, claimed to be "The Present Representative."

The movement began in the 1970's, with a group of people identified as the UFO cult, and resurfaced in the 1990's when they began to spread their message once again. They wrote books and articles to try and gather more people to their movement. In 1994 a group of followers sold all they had and went on a cross country "tour" to gather people, "holding free public meetings from coast to coast for 9 months." In 1995 they submitted their final plea to the people of the world on the World Wide Web, hoping that the broader public audience would hear their message, and prepared to leave the earth for "home." ** (this timeline was put together in April of 1996)

Their doctrine (direct and formalized statements about religious beliefs), can be found on their website under Last Chance to Advance Beyond Human. These seem to have been the three most general and dominant features of their beliefs:

• The Earth's present "civilization" is about to be recycled - "spaded under" - in order that the planet might be refurbished. The human "weeds" have taken over the garden and disturbed its usefulness beyond repair.
• The human kingdom was designed (created) as a stepping stone between the animal kingdom and the Evolutionary Kingdom Level Above Human (the true Kingdom of God).
• It is the soul that can progress from the human kingdom to the Kingdom Level Above Human. Both kingdom levels have their own unique physical "containers" (bodies) for the souls that reside in that kingdom level. ***

The followers of this movement believed that real suicide was "to turn against the Next Level when it is being offered,"**** and that deciding with ones own freewill to leave this earth was to accept the "Next Level." On March 26, 1997, when the comet Hale-Bopp was at it's brightest, a group of 39 followers of Heaven's Gate committed suicide^ to finally enter into "The Next Level."

The following video is from March 19, 1997. It is the movements leader and some followers explaining why they were going to do what they did. One week after this tape was filmed, they were dead.

(Video from YouTube - heaven's gate)

While this can be categorized under Religion for the purposes of this blog, I don't think that this movement can be really considered a religion of a culture... I think it created (or targeted) a sub-culture. Most (if not all) of the followers of this movement were Caucasian Americans, and they formed their own community through these beliefs. I almost wonder if this signifies a need that each of the members felt before this movement started... perhaps American culture was not satisfying for them, and they clung to something that would satisfy.

It's interesting/sad/odd from an anthropological point of view, because this group of people, this culture, only lasted about 20 years. So where does that put it? Would it be considered a distinct culture/sub-culture, or simply a fad?

I honestly don't know how to react to something like this, the whole thing is a science fiction novel come to life...

Maybe that's apart of it. Question: do you think that people can be influenced by media genres to the point of radical belief and life changing decisions? And can that alter sub-cultures? Or what about larger context cultures?

key concepts used: myth, doctrine

*information and quotes from http://www.psywww.com/psyrelig/hg/intro.htm

**information and quotes from http://www.psywww.com/psyrelig/hg/ovrview.htm

*** taken directly from http://www.psywww.com/psyrelig/hg/lastchnc.htm

****http://www.psywww.com/psyrelig/hg/letter.htm

^ Wikipedia entry, Heaven's Gate (religious group)

Feminist Anthropology as Cultural Critique

Women in Refugee Camps

Imagine being forced from your home because of war, finding your way to a different country, and having to live in a camp with thousands of other people in your situation. The photo on the left illustrates a small part of that struggle. Women, children, even whole families, forced to survive on pitiful resources. Often times women and children are forced to trade sex for food and supplies.*

I read two articles about women in refugee camps. The first was Living on the Edges: Afghan Women and Refugee Camp Management in Pakistan by Saba Gul Khattak (link), and the second was Abuse of Power: Sexual Exploitation of Refugee Women and Girls by Elizabeth G. Ferris (link).

Marcus and Fischer wrote about interpretive ethnography that can serve as a "cultural critique" by using two different techniques, defamiliarization by epistemological critique (going to places where conditions are supposed to be unfamiliar and revising the way we normally think so that we can better understand what is exotica, and then bringing that information back into common thought and worldview) or defamiliarization by cross-cultural juxtaposition (the comparison of an unfamiliar culture with the familiar culture, and using the unfamiliar to critique the familiar).

Both of the texts that I read seem to have been approaching defamiliarization by epistemological critique, by taking the perspective from within the camps.

In Living on the Edges the author writes about how male dominated authority was harming the female occupants through their "male-centered" mentality. The refugee registration used in Pakistan for Afghan refugees was based on families, therefore women certain women had a difficult time being recognized and allowed into the camps (unmarried women not in the care of their fathers, widowed women, women without brothers). The author writes that "often widows were forced to remarry,"** in order to have access to a camp. This is an obvious consequence of male dominated authority that doesn't take women's status seriously. It's not that they even had another category for widows or single women, but they didn't seem to think of the possibility of women entering the camp without a male head of household. Then once families found themselves in the camp, women were confined and unable to leave the camp, while the men were sent for training to fight Russian forces, so as to allow the men assurance that their women wouldn't be able to come into any contact with other men. This inability to leave the camp resulted in women being unable to work or have any access to a livelihood. In addition, many women in the refugee camps suffered from depression and trauma, but the health clinics that did exist wouldn't "provide any counseling services simply because women's primary role was conceived in terms of reproduction; they were not thought of as human beings in need of psychological support."**

In Abuse of Power, the author describes the sexual exploitation of women and children in refugee camps by "humanitarian workers who are charged with protecting and assisting refugees and the displaced."* She shows how young women especially are having to trade sex for food and material supplies, and not being able to do anything about it because those who abuse them are in positions of power over them. One girl-mother from Guinea reported, "If I tell you the name of the NGO worker I have to have sex with, he will get fired, and then how will I feed my child and myself?"* An adolescent in Liberia said, "It's difficult to escape the trap of those (NGO) people; they use the food as bait to get you to [have] sex with them."*

In both of these articles, there is an amount of defamiliarization, but it's mostly just from the descriptions of the situations the women find themselves in in the refugee camps, a situation so far from what is familiar to many Canadian-born Canadians.

Both authors are calling for social change. Elizabeth G. Ferris (Abuse of Power) is calling for change in the policies of humanitarian groups, an accountability for each worker to end the sexual abuse they have been oppressing the women and children of refugee camps in Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone. Her call for this change is explicit. She says that, "as long as humanitarian workers control access to the necessities of life, they will be in a position where the abuse of their power is not only possible but likely. As long as the international humanitarian community is not able to mobilize sufficient resources for the people entrusted to its care, young girls will trade sex for a handful of peanuts."* Her work

Saba Gul Khattak (Living on the Edge) is calling for the recognition of women's needs in refugee camps, their need to be able to support themselves, and to have access to psychological care, and their need for status as individuals as opposed to just a reproductive figure (more of an implicit message).

While both of these articles were upsetting, Abuse of Power: Sexual Exploitation of Refugee Women and Girls broke my heart. I was horrified to read that the sexual exploitation occurring in refugee camps was at the hands of those who were supposed to be bringing aid. That abuse of power is completely unacceptable and makes me sick. Those people who have dedicated their lives to bringing aid to others in need should do so for the good of the people they aid, not for personal gain... and yet that's what is happening in some places. I wonder if all the screening processes that volunteer and humanitarian organizations have here in Canada are making a difference in this situation? To be involved with a project like those described in the articles (through a Canadian agency), each person involved must undergo background checks and child protection training... you'd think that would weed out people likely to sexually abuse... and maybe it does. The article says that "most of the nongovernmental organization (NGO) and UN humanitarian workers who were named by the children as abusers were national rather than expatriate staff."* Perhaps the kind training and background checks are different for each country, allowing some people easier access to these situations.

key concepts used: authority, power

* info/quotes from http://www.journals.uchicago.edu.proxy1.lib.umanitoba.ca/doi/full/10.1086/510338

** info/quotes from

http://www.journals.uchicago.edu.proxy1.lib.umanitoba.ca/doi/full/10.1086/510158

Photo on left from

http://www.wunrn.com/news/2008/02_08/02_11_08/021108_kurdish_files/image001.jpg

Photo on right from http://www.lovehealingafrica.com/Love_Healing_Africa/Meet_the_Women_files/IMG_0381.jpg

Social Groups and Social Stratification

Jade Dragon Tattoo and Body Piercing

Jade Dragon is a Tattoo shop in Chicago, and they do all sorts of tattoos and body piercing. They are extremely professional, and have 22 world class tattoo artists (see http://jadedragontattoo.com/jade/26_Fact.html). They are just one example of the expanding tattoo market in North America. By browsing their website and other sites online I have been exploring this aspect of culture.

Tattoos have become a popular form of self expression these days, and it's actually hard to go a day without seeing someone sporting ink somewhere on their body. While being tattooed isn't a norm (generally agreed-upon standard for how people should behave, usually unwritten and learned unconsciously) yet, it seems to be going in that direction. Several decades ago this was not the case, and those with tattoos were seen as deviant and even dangerous... tattoos were the realm of sailors and gang members, forming a stereotype that still lingers today. I recently read an article written by someone who is tattooed, and they commented on how people look at them differently because of the tattoos, but how they want the tattooed community, which is more similar to a secondary group (people who identify with each other on the basis of having a tattoo, but who may never meet or interact) than anything else, to work at breaking that stereotype (link to article here http://tattoo.about.com/cs/articles/a/break_stereotyp.htm).

It has mostly been within the past few generations that tattooing has gained popular support in North American culture, and according to one article, "the market demographics for tattoo services are now skewed heavily toward mainstream customers. Tattooing today is the sixth-fastest-growing retail business in the United States. The single fastest growing demographic group seeking tattoo services is, to the surprise of many, middle-class suburban women."*

Some tattoo facts:

- The main age bracket of those with tattoos is between 18 and 40 **

- Men are slightly more likely to have tattoos (15% vs. 13%) **

- Tattoos are now more popular in the mainstream market, no longer a specialized, or "rebellious" crowd*

- In many cultures tattoos are used ritually, for rites of passage, decorations for bravery, marks of fertility, marks of status (wether slave or chief), or as a religious marker. ***

While I don't have a tattoo right now, I can definitely see myself getting one, and I think that as my generation ages that tattoos will become more and more accepted. I don't think that there will be such a stigma attached to tattoos for much longer, because at the rate that people are getting tattooed, there won't be too many people without them! In our society I don't think that tattoos have as much ritual symbolism as in some other cultures, but there is symbolic meaning for many people. I know people who say that every tattoo must have a story attached to it, and that it must mean something... but others just get tattoos for aesthetic reasons as well. Tattoo use is as diverse as the people who sport them.

key concepts used: norm, secondary group

* quote/info from http://www.tattooartist.com/history.html

** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tattoo#Prevalence

*** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tattoo#Purposes

Perspectives on Polygamy

Polygamy

Through my searching online about polygamy (the marriage of more than one spouse at a time), I found that on many chat sites the discussions involve people either worried about the legitimacy of a situation involving extra spouses, or telling stories about their own experiences with polygamy. In one "thread" a woman writes about being married to a man who was already married... and how the first wife "made life a living hell for [her] husband and (...) children" (link). Obviously this wasn't a mutual decision, or even something the first wife had consented to reluctantly. That's got to be the first thing, if polygamy (when I use the word polygamy from now on, I mean polygyny - one man being married to more than one woman at once) were to be legalized in Canada, each wife must consent. In an initial marriage both partners must consent, so why in a second/additional wedding would one spouse not have the option to NOT consent? Perhaps this makes sense in an extreme patrilineal (where descent and inheritance are passed on through the paternal, fathers, side) or patriarchal (system where men are the authority and have the most power) society, where the man has the control and vested interest... Then of course it would be up to him to decide who he marries (however that makes me squirm).

But in Canada, and other countries where there has been efforts made to bring equality to men and women in all areas of life, this wouldn't make sense. Perhaps with the consent of each adult, but even then, one man with many wives... seems to me like he would have a lot of power and control. In some extreme cases this just seems to get out of control. Bountiful B.C. is a town inhabited by a Mormon community, and some of the men in the town are reported to have 26 wives (link). They say it's a religious custom, a way for them to attain godhood, but my question is this: is it at the expense of the women? Would these same men agree to a polyandrous (one woman married to more than one man at once) marriage? This arrangement would give the woman the power.

In a country like Canada, if polygamy were to be legalized, both polygyny AND polyandry would have to be legalized. I'm just now wondering what kind of havoc that would wreck on our current legal structures... And how would that change Canadian culture? With the amount of immigrants entering this country each year, I would assume that there are polygamous relationships happening, even if not legalized. Would the introduction of legal polygamy really change much? Or would all the marital affairs just come out into the public eye? Because even among Canadian citizens (recent and multigenerational) there are people engaging in multiple partnered relationships.

An example of this happening elsewhere can be found here. An Algerian-born man, naturalized in France by marriage to a French woman, was accused of polygamy in France, and he claimed to have not been breaking the law because his other relationships were affairs, 14 children from mistresses. The court wanted to strip him of his nationality, but he countered them saying, "If one can be stripped of one’s French nationality for having mistresses, then many Frenchmen could lose theirs."*

Whether or not this instance was really made into a big deal because of the polygamy charge, or if it was for other reasons (another article about this man talks about the coinciding debate about Muslim women's veils, and how his wife was caught driving with the veil on and refused to remove it - see article here), we can see how the idea of multiple spouses has caused an upheaval.

Should this be legalized in Canada? If it was up to me, no. I wouldn't like the idea of sharing my husband... or having more than one for that matter! I just think that in our culture, that it would only breed jealousy... like affairs do now. A culture doesn't change overnight, does it?

key concepts used: polygamy, polygyny, patrilineal, patriarchal, polyandry

*Quote from http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2010/0611/1224272268011.html

Non-Western Medicine

UNICEF and Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting

Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) is a procedure that is practiced in many African countries, and involves the excision of all or part of the clitoris or labia, and sometimes the stitching together of the vaginal entry. This procedure is excruciatingly painful, and can lead to shock, urine retention, ulceration of the genitals, blood-poisoning, infertility, and obstructed labour (Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting: 2005 Statistical Exploration by UNICEF).

UNICEF has been involved with this issue for quite a while "working closely with it's partners around the world in the campaign for the abandonment of FGM/C everywhere within a generation." *

They are working with representatives from several African countries and several more religious leaders to discuss measures against FGM/C. These discussions have been successful, and in Niger FGM has been abandoned in 5 districts. In 2003 the government passed a law that will impose fines and jail time for those conducting FGM/C. **

Even though UNICEF and other organizations are doing many things to end this procedure, it still persists in many places. Some people think that it is a good thing for women, that it brings them success (see quote at www.unicef.org/inforbycountry/niger_49292.html).

Others think that it was in line with their religious dictates and that it is a good way, and a good custom, to purify girls before their marriage (see link).

I think that this is a horrifying custom, and I don't understand how generations of women could impose it on their daughters after experiencing it themselves. Even now in Western societies, with Western biomedicines the health risks are too great for people to continue to do this to young girls.

key concepts used: female genital cutting, Western biomedicine

* quote found here

** www.unicef.org/protection/index_25032.html

Gender and Identity

Foundation for Psychocultural Research

I took a little bit of a jaunt around the website for the Foundation for Psychocultural Research (found here), and found out that most of their events (conferences and workshops) are dealing with the idea of the interaction of culture and trauma. The list of conferences and workshops is as follows:

- Culture and brain interactions

- Post traumatic stress disorder

- Post traumatic stress disorder: Biological, Clinical and Cultural Approaches to Trauma's Effects

- Trauma and Early Relational Experiences, Social Contexts, and Developmental Trajectories

- Psychological Trauma: Integrating Biological, Clinical, and Sociocultural Approaches to Trauma's Effects

- 4 Dimensions of Childhood: Brain, Mind, Culture, and Time

- Culture, Brain, and Emotion

- Seven Dimensions of Emotion

- Culture, Brain, and Psychopathology

- Critical Neuroscience: Challenging Reductionism in Psychiatry and Social Neuroscience

- Cultural and Biological Contexts of Psychiatric Disorder: Implications for Diagnosis and Treatment

Psychological anthropologists study ethnopsychology (the study of how various cultures define and create personality, identity, and mental health).

These anthropologists aim to discover how a person's culture shapes how they think and react to situations. I find it interesting that trauma is so big of a topic on this website. Now that I think about it more, I think that it makes a lot of sense, we deal with life according to the enculturation (the process of transmitting culture to infants and other new members of society through both informal and formal processes) we received as children.

We are in a time where many professionals or aid workers go to foreign countries during times of crisis, either to help in relief work, or to help deal with the human trauma that results from crisis/disaster. In these cases, the people they encounter, interact with, and help are usually from a different culture. It's so important for these workers to understand how to relate to the people they aim to help, and how to understand what they're seeing (in speech, actions, and non-verbal cues) in terms of reactions to crisis.

key concepts used: ethnopsychology, enculturation

*Logo found here

World Population and Fertility

Infertility in the United States

Infertility (the inability to reproduce) has always carried a stigma in American culture, and historically women have usually been the ones blamed for it. In Colonial America the Biblical mandate to increase and multiply was taken very seriously, and to be barren was evidence of God's dark judgement according to some Puritan preachers. Other opinions were that infertility was a test of faith or that God had a different purpose of those unable to conceive.

"Childlessness brought an air of suspicion on someone in the colonial period. If a couple was childless, generally the woman was considered to blame. It's interesting to note that those people who were accused of witchcraft were much more likely to be childless." - Elaine Tyler May of the University of Minnesota. **

In the 1800's infertility was linked to menstrual disorders, and women were given elixirs and dietary schemes to "cure" these disorders. During the Civil War doctors who specialized in the new field of gynecology started to focus on surgical treatments to enable couples to conceive. At this point, families were smaller and women were more limited to their homes. Children were the purpose of family life (especially in the middle and upper classes), and women unable to have children were scorned or pitied.

After the Civil War birth rates plummeted (difficult economic times, more women were unmarried, etc...), and by 1873 education was blamed for infertility. Edward H. Clarke wrote a book called, "Sex in Education, or A Fair Chance for Our Girls," which accused education as the culprit for female sterility by forming women with "monstrous brains and puny bodies."**

And then during the time of WWII, reproduction turned into an act of national service. In 1944 the first in vitro fertilization was done in a lab. Popular ideas were beginning to change. As new reproductive technologies were developed, people began to see infertility, no longer as a moral problem, but a biological/scientific problem that could be controlled/resolved.

• In 1953 Good Housekeeping magazine published an article that presented "infertility as a scourge that science would soon vanquish."
• During the 1960's-70's there was a lull in the social pressure to reproduce and simultaneously America saw the rise of the sexual revolution and the development of an effective birth control pill.
• 1981 - the first in vitro baby was born

Currently, most Americans (81%) still view children as the prime goal of family, and infertility is still a difficult stigma.

I believe that Canada's history has been much the same as that of our American neighbours when it comes to infertility. Perhaps the harsh religious condemnation of infertile women was less severe in Canada, but as our country was also founded on Christian principles, I wouldn't be surprised to hear these same accusations.

My opinion is that Canadian culture and habits are generally similar to American culture and habits, and therefore ideologies about family/(un)fertility are also generally similar. Plus, Canada went through the same eras and scientific discovery as America, so biological understanding would have progressed in much the same way.

key concepts used: new reproductive technologies, fertility,

* photo found here

** Quotes and information found here

Consumption and Exhange

Food, Power, and Globalization in Samoa

Jim Bindon, and anthropologist from the University of Alabama wrote an article about the effect of globalization (regional economies, societies, and cultures becoming integrated through a global network of communication, transportation, and trade) on Samoan diet and health. His findings detail how the introduction of imported foods and a resulted shift in power have resulted in a "subsequent epidemic of obesity among Samoans."*

Before the Samoans had contact with Europeans they survived by fishing and farming. Power was held by the chiefs, which was "validated and emphasized by food production, preparation, and eating"* within the village. Samoans had direct entitlement (culturally defined right to provide for one's life needs directly), and only relied on the other village members.

In the 19th century, traders brought in new foods, and "food preferences and practices began to change and the beginnings of globalization laid the roots for the corruption of the relationship between food and power."* Tinned meats, fish, and flour were brought in by the Europeans, and adapted into the diets of Samoans. This propelled the people to abandon traditional ways, and as they developed a dependance on imported foods they also became unwilling to resume their traditional ways. No longer did they have direct entitlement, but they moved into the realm of indirect entitlement (relying on exchanging something in order to obtain that which is needed for survival) and a monetized economy (using money for exchange, as opposed to other goods).

With all this new food calorie intake decreased, but so did their need for as many calories, and they ended up consuming far more calories than they needed, resulting in obesity.

With the increasing globalization, there was also a shift in power and status, as education became more highly valued. This also moved reliance from family production of foods (no more time to grow produce, raise animals, or hunt), to reliance on markets and fast food, also increasing caloric intake.

I find this interesting, because it wasn't just the change in diet that influenced the food traditions of a culture, but the change in diet transformed a culture completely. It shows just how the meddling of one group of people really does have a profound effect on those they come into contact with (especially Western culture, because of it's apparent persistence and ethnocentric ideas).

* Bindon's article can be found at http://www.as.ua.edu/ant/bindon/Food%20and%20Power%20in%20Samoa.pdf

key concepts used: direct entitlement, indirect entitlement, monetized economy

photo found at http://www.enabler.demon.co.uk/roast-pig.jpg

Economies and Their Modes of Production

The aims of this project are to bring awareness to the realities of product production (making goods or money), consumption (using up goods or money), and disposal. They focus on "systems of production and consumption - in particular the harmful environmental and social impacts of current modes of producing, consuming and disposing of material goods."* The founder, Annie Leonard, aimed to reveal the "hidden environmental and social consequences of America's love affair with its stuff."*

The aims of this project are now being seen and heard around the world. There are school curriculums being developed (the information is already being used in classrooms), and "action guides" have been developed for people of faith (which can be downloaded from their website http://storyofstuff.force.com/curricula ). Many different kinds of people are getting involved with this project, including business people, public health workers, social justice activists, authors, humanitarians, etc... This project is calling out to all of humanity (or at least those of us with access to the resource of the internet) to take better care of the environment through a revamp of our consumer culture... This is something that I find important, yet I don't involve myself as much as I should. Just recently I started to work at a restaurant that is making efforts to be more conscious of their waste. We use only compostable "to-go" containers and discontinued a buffet option because of the amount of wasted food. Another reason that this project is interesting to me is because the consumer culture of North America bothers me, so I'm glad someone is speaking up in a way that makes sense.

I think that cultural anthropologists would be interested in this project because so many of the processes involved with consumerism affect whole cultures. Our textbook talks some about how capitalism shifted entire people groups from one mode of economy to another, changing how they did life... and that hasn't stopped. In the video, Annie Leonard talks about how American companies send a lot of the ugly side of production to "third world" countries, disrupting the lives of entire people groups. I think that perhaps cultural anthropologists would also be interested in how Western culture receives this project, how/if it changes anything in our consumerist culture.

I was shocked by this quote, and I wanted to share it. Annie Leonard reads it out in the video, and the impact is undeniable:

"Our enormously productive economy... demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction, our ego satisfaction, in consumption... We need things consumed, burned up, replaced and discarded at an ever-accelerating rate." - Victor Lebow (1955)

To view the Story of Stuff video, go to storyofstuff.org and click on "watch now" under the title "The Story of Stuff with Annie Leonard."

key concepts used: production, consumption

*www.storyofstuff.org/about.php

Anthropological Methods...

Visual Anthropology...

This is a branch of anthropology that uses visual media and representation to describe, analyze, communicate, and interpret the behaviour of humankind. Visual anthropologists study these images "as artifacts of culture."*

Their research helps promote ethical standards in anthropological fieldwork in a couple of ways. First of all, the cultures that anthropologists study are given faces. This makes the people being studied more human. They become less of a statistic or description, and become more readily recognized as requiring the same standard of ethics as the people you encounter at home. Not only that, but a photograph or film act as permanent records concerning the treatment of those who are being studied. This can be seen as a type of accountability.

There is also some potential dangers of using visual medias to capture culture. We've all heard the expression, a picture's worth a thousand words... and really, it's up to the photographer what words he/she wants the photo to say. This can lead to the presentation of bias, not reality. We've all had the horrifying experience of seeing a photo of ourselves in an unexpected and unflattering pose... how much more terrible could it be for a culture that is relatively unknown to Westerners, to have the entirely wrong image of themselves portrayed through a single photograph. These kind of biases, misinterpretations, or mistakes, are entirely etic (a description reflecting the interpretations made by an outside observer), and function to reinforce the opinions of the photographer (or filmmaker), not the opinions of those within the culture (emic).

key concepts used: visual anthropology, etic, emic

* http://societyforvisualanthropology.org/?page_id=2

photo found at http://societyforvisualanthropology.org/sva_blog/wp-content/gallery/hennessy01/2-90240006.jpg

What Culture Means To Me: A Discovery

Growing up in a country with a Multicultural policy* has shaped me and my interest in the cultural differences of others. In elementary school we had a multicultural festival, where everyone brought foods from whatever country they claimed heritage from, and dressed in traditional clothes (if they had any). It was an interesting experience for me to have had at such a young age, and as I grew older I continued to appreciate different cultures. I developed an interest in world music, and ethnic foods, that I continue to enjoy. For a long time, my only experience with different cultures was at various pavilions during the annual cultural festival, Folklorama. A couple of years ago I decided to leave Winnipeg to find out who I was. I ended up in England, living in a house with almost 100 people from all over the world. I was taking a course with a Christian Missionary organization, and interacted daily with people from England, the United States, Egypt, Holland, South Africa, the Faore Islands, Korea, Argentina, and Canada. This confrontation of cultures opened my heart and I fell in love with the differences that made each of us unique... this wasn't automatic of course, there was an initial shock to my ethnocentric way of seeing the world (comparing other cultures and customs against my own, and perceiving them as weird or wrong), especially with British culture and customs. They drove on the "wrong" side of the road, ate the "wrong" kind of chips, had weird "off limit" words (who knew that a "fanny pack" could be such a problem in polite society, and I'm not referring to a fashion crime...). As time went on I grew to absolutely LOVE trading stories with the Americans about how we'd bungled up with how we spoke English.

In short, differences in culture became a way for me to learn more about who I was, and how to learn from people who came from a different point of view (worldview). Culture (learned behaviour and beliefs shared by a group of people) and customs are how people identify themselves with a particular group, whether that's ethnically or socially. That kind of self expression becomes precious to one who is searching for self definition and identity. Cultural holism is something that I'd love to look into further (seeing culture as an intimate interconnection of its parts), to better understand the cultures that have influenced me, and to see how I subscribe to my own cultural expectations.

key terms used: ethnocentrism, culture, holism

*For more information on Canada's Multicultural policy visit http://www.mta.ca/about_canada/multi/