Just as the summer foliage began to show in all it’s glory, a group of guests descended upon the pond. In a house on a hill, embanked along the waters edge, lived four roommates. That summer was their first together, and they enjoyed the surrounding land encompassed by trees. The sound of the nearby waterfall and the birds singing their songs set a peaceful tone in this special place. One day, the landlord’s daughter came home to visit, having lived in South America for six years. With her, she brought her troupe, a group of Colombians who were both her…
Tag: anthropology
The Purpose Behind AnthroPerspectives
AnthroPerspectives has been a long time coming. With a lifelong connection to reading and writing, my relationship to the human story has always felt like a part of me. During my childhood, I was an avid reader. Book after book, I delved into the lives of young girls from around the world who were experiencing such different realities, cultures and experiences. I was always infatuated by the individual’s story, and have not gone through a phase in my life where I wasn’t using writing as a tool for reflection, imagination or understanding. The seeds of this blog were planted even…
How Humans Use Language to Create Meaning
Throughout history, humankind has used oral communication as a method for passing on traditions, rules, and inherited knowledge. From its origins, we have been using language to understand our surroundings and to create shared meaning around our experience of life. The ability to tell stories has helped us to define our world, and create ritual, belief, and society. We continue to do so every time we communicate. Through the use of narrative, we determine our perspective, and shape our life’s outcome. What is it about language that makes it such a powerful tool in shaping our experience as human beings?…
Examining Social Justice Part 2: Methods for Engagement
“Unless we engage in these and other conscious acts of reflection and re-education, we easily repeat the process with our children. We teach what we were taught. The unexamined prejudices of the parents are passed on to the children. It is not our fault, but it is our responsibility to interrupt this cycle” -Tatum Social Justice methods are a tool for reflection, to learn about how we are engaging each other, and to consider how our preconceived notions can lead to uninformed or accidental mistreatment of people. Contrary to this purpose, many have begun to see it as an infringement…
Research and Story Telling in Brittany, France
This past May, my undergraduate professor and mentor invited me to join her for an ethnographic research project in Brittany, France. Before we left, I didn’t know what to expect. My professor told me we would be doing research on small dairy farmers in France and that I would help her as a translator. As we got closer to our departure, she gave me a little more information, her goals and some interview questions. I began to read some literature on dairy farming and food systems, and learned a bit about French cheese varieties. Yet, I still had no clue…
Why anthropology?
Why anthropology? It’s just another social science. Why pay attention? The majority of people hear the word anthropology and know that it is somehow synonymous with culture. What is culture? It is a tool that shapes human behavior. It informs and creates our norms, patterns of thought and perceptions of reality. “There is a tendency for us to think that what we know, what we perceive, is solely a function of two things: our cognitive tools–our senses–and the physical reality that provides the stimuli for the senses. What we fail to realize, what we find difficult to admit…
My story: Growing up in a Fundamental Baptist Church
Recently I had the opportunity to go on to a good friends podcast and talk about my background growing up in a fundamentalist baptist church. The discussion got intense. Often we take for granted how differently we each grow up and how subcultures that we are a part of can have their own norms and values, giving the person within that culture an experience of culture shock when they move into new cultural dynamics and experiences as they grow up. Before joining this church I was raised as a “normal” kid, although by anti-establishment hippy parents who taught us to…
A first look at perspective
Any journey toward understanding ourselves or others begins with perspective. It seems simple. It’s just a word that implies subjectivity. What’s the big deal? I would say that perspective defines many crucial aspects of what it means to be, think, act, and interact as humans. It has the power to either create barriers or pathways to understanding each other. If we want to engage ourselves and others on discussions about humanity and society, we must first find ways to unpack what our perspectives are, how they came to be, and in what ways they inform our relationships with other people.…