9 25 2012 Remember Culture is PERVASIVE o 4 examples Thought Perception Personality Gender o key term enculturation Culture and Thought read article online Culture and Perception Sapir Whorf Hypothesis the language you speak affects how you perceive reality i e Eskimos and snow o o criticism o language perception perception language language perception Culture and Personality molded by upbringing American children brought up independent assertive self reliant Asian children brought up to value family community respect for authority holistic views etc Ruth Benedict first studies with this researched Japan during WWII Kamikaze pilots vs high regard for life beauty in Japanese culture Culture and Gender sex is what you re born with gender is what social role you re given Margaret Mead early female cultural anthropologist Language and Gender online clips gender assignment 9 27 2012 Religion beliefs and behaviors that mobilize supernatural powers Components of Religion supernatural beings powers myths rituals sometimes skilled individuals animism idea that there are supernatural spirits that reside in different parts of nature in reference to supernatural powers beings i e Tibetan Buddhism animatism idea that there is voice or power that is all around us and animates the world in which we live i e Tongans believed in something like this myths can be about supernatural powers or beings values that the religion holds etc o can be told orally or written rituals maintain a relationship with the supernatural religion in action rituals are repetitive with profound sacred meanings associated with the activity skilled individuals rabbis priests ministers act as intermediary between supernatural and believers assisting by translation messages etc o only present in societies that are NOT egalitarian hunter gatherer Functions of Religion Psychological what it does for individuals o explaining the unknown explaining what happens after death dreams reduces anxiety offers comfort Social what it does for groups o provides a moral code provides a source of rewards punishment for breaking moral code transfers decision making to another entity can unify people religion legitimizes the power hierarchy Religion and Change examples o revitalization movement religious charasmatic leader takes command in times of social unrest in promise of revitalizing or renewing the way of life for a disenfranchised group of people Jim Jones and Peoples Temples o syncretism example Tibetan Buddhism outside religion brought in by others like missionaries and they are partially successful developing a sort of combination religion How Religion Affects Believers provides you with a worldview framework for interpreting everything you experience see etc and the world around you cosmology religion providing you with a map of the universe and your place in the universe o component of worldview Tibetan Buddhism Tibetan beliefs China example of syncretism Buddhist beliefs and traditional Tibet is to the right and slightly above India to the left of had subsistence farming simple tools animal labor limited amount of usable land for farming o major crops were barley wheat rye also had pastoralism as subsistence practice o pastoralism subsistence practice that involves herding of domesticated animals o complementary to farming Buddhism o based on Eightfold Path moral code o wheel of life reincarnation actually a hierarchy o karma o mantras Tibetan Beliefs o Animism spirits living in lakes mountains etc and people must do things to make them happy o Tibet right now is a province of China o in 1959 there was a revolt for independence from China failed and many left and live in India following the Dalai Lama 10 02 2012 Read Chapter 9 in Essays for next class Start closet globalization exericise Death and Culture Funerals are connected to family and kinship religion o o subsistence o o status o gender o age o circumstances of death Funerals are for the o corpse what do you do with the physical body o deceased soul transition of soul from living to afterworld o mourners Two terms o 1 rite of passage a public ceremony that declares the transition of someone from one phase of life to the next baptism confirmation marriage bar mitzvahs funerals etc often with religious aspects o 2 liminal a stage in between two phases of life commonly the proper ceremony must be performed so that the person in the liminal phase may move on to the next phase Tongan funerals o social occasions o the more highly ranked the individual the more costly the funeral o socializing and gift giving reinforces the social connections among the survivors Death in Britain o before the 19th century person died at home body was taken care of by midwives funeral organized by family survivors did not show huge amounts of grief death part of everyday life o during 19th century people started dying in hospitals attended by doctors and nurses specialists are taking over the roles during the funeral process that were formerly for the family undertakers coffin builders etc o expected to display huge amounts of grief o post World War 1 further specialization wills autopsies technology etc impossible to show enormous displays of grief stiff upper lip o Tana Toraja o located in Indonesia just north of Australia shaped like upside down horseshoe o well known for residential architecture o intensive agriculture invest more labor per unit of land assisted by domesticated animals sculpted the land to create large rice paddies traditionally part of a market economy o o bilateral descent live in extended families o traditionally were extremely stratified with a huge hierarchical system comprised a kingdom before European contact traditional Torajan religion was a form of animism o o needed to have proper funeral rites over an extended amount of time even after the funeral o multi stage funerals individual not considered to be fully dead until the funeral has been completed offered dead food water talked to them more prosperous the person the longer the funeral may take because of need to gather resources made effigies of deceased move deceased to burial ground and to ultimate resting place of effigy and body through series of processions bodies deposited in limestone caves families must periodically return to cave and tend the grave to keep spirits happy o young Torajans are beginning to leave their homes to work elsewhere o around 70 are now Christians but funerals are still held in