Mardi Gras

Did you know that Mardi Gras is still segregated in
some parts of the south? I was shocked. First of all I didn’t know that Mardi Gras
was elaborately celebrated anywhere else besides New Orleans. Living in
California, I have seen people wear a chain of beads to school sometime in February
in honor of Mardi Gras, but not an actual celebration.  Apparently people all over the south have
these celebrations. In Mobile, Alabama Mardi Gras is totally segregated. The White
people congregate at the white celebration and the Black people congregate at
the Black celebration.

I felt very uncomfortable watching this video. I
felt like the Black community was being held down and degraded. They say it is “separate,
but equal,” but it is actually separate, but NOT equal. The white people have
their parade first and the blacks do not attend. If they do, the little black
boys and girls do not get any beads or candy thrown to them. When the white
folk are done with their floats they have no purpose for them; they are “useless.”
They let the Black folk use their leftovers, but they have the audacity to
charge them for using them. It is not like the white group needs the money;
their celebration is more highly funded than the Black group.

The White people’s excuse is that they have been
doing it this way for hundreds of years, but we have done a lot of things as a
nation for hundreds of years and it definitely doesn’t make it right. They also
say that the Black community likes it that way, but from what I heard that is
not really true.

For the very first time, the Black king and queen
of Mardi Gras attended the White Ball, and in return the White king and queen attended
the Black ball. I got the impression that the Blacks had invited the White
royalty in the past, but they had never showed up. Personally I found this
situation very uncomfortable. I totally disapprove. Our traditions must evolve
along with our society or else they no longer fit. This situation no longer
fits. They should be integrated because it is not equal.

foodways

This week in my folklore class, we talked about foodways. Foodways refers to the study of eating habits and culinary practices of people. Every culture has its own way of eating, reasons for why they eat what they eat and its own meanings for food. Our food ties people together defining our social identities and social relationships. We watched a video hosted by Marcus Samuelson. The video focused on three cultures: Southern Carolinians eating a lot of rice, Native Americans living in northern Washington hunting whale, and Hawaiians eating poi.

            The people from South Carolina rely on rice. They saw it as a tradition that they loved; it brought the family together. However, they also saw it as a curse. Other children would make fun of them and they felt embarrassed by being defined as a rice eater. The Native Americans on the coast of Washington traditionally hunted whales to survive. In the 30s or 40s the whales were placed on the endangered species list. The people have respect for the animals and stopped hunting the whales. Recently the whales have made a comeback and have grown in numbers. The Native Americans got permission to be able to hunt whales in the traditional fashion. They use canoes and only paddle; they do not use any motors or advanced equipment. It took almost a year for them to be able to kill a whale, but when they did there was a huge celebration, they use the entire animal and it feeds them for a long time. As long as the people continue to use the traditional methods, I feel that they are not making a huge impact on the whale population. The last group that the video talks about is the people of Hawaii. Their traditional main staple food comes from the taro plant. They grind up the root and make a sticky mixture called poi which they ate at every meal. Today, people don’t eat as much poi as in the past, but it is still present at every luau and in the locals’ homes.
            I can see how the food of these cultures defines who they are. My family prides itself on being open minded and trying everything at least once. We make an event out of going to eat at new places.  My grandparents are Czech from Texas (there is a large population of Catholic Czechs in Texas). The foods that define them are biscuits and gravy, sauerkraut and kielbasa, and bacon. However, these are special when we have them.

Oral Narratives

Sorry this one is late, my computer was not working last night so I had to wait till I got to school today to paste it here

Oral Narratives

                This week in Anth. 3410, we learned about oral narratives. At first I thought I knew exactly what we were talking about; I didn’t. I thought that oral narratives were simply all spoken stories, but there is a lot more to it than that. There are four distinct types of oral narratives: Myths, Folktales, Legends, and Personal narratives.

                Myths are thought to be false, but actually by definition, myths are base on true stories and are believed to be real. Myths explain genesis or the origins of things. They explain why things are the way are in our world. They are usually associated with religious values or beliefs and are passed down through generations.

                 Folktales are sacred stories meant to entertain or instruct. They are set in the past and are passed down through generations. Folktales are “short little stories” that are accepted as false. They are just for fun.

                I thought legends required a hero, but they do not always. Legends are stories of events that actually occurred (large events that greatly impacted society) and the stories are passed down. Elders pass on the stories to warn or advise and the tale usually has a “moral to the story.” Legends are believable stories, but the question of whether the events actually occurred is debatable.

                Finally, personal narratives are the only type of oral narrative that is not passed down because personal narratives are unique stories that happened to the person telling the story, a first-person account. The story may reflect personal or community values. These stories are retold over and over by the same person.

                When I was a child, I remember listening to stories told by my mother or read from a book. I am now trying to figure out which story fits in which category. In class we talked about Noah’s Ark. Noah’s Ark is a myth; it is a religious story that explains a new beginning and drive certain values and beliefs. An example of a folktale may be jack and the beanstalk. This story is of course not true; nobody climbed a beanstalk to the clouds.

Blog #4

We have all heard the word dialect, but I never really knew the definition. This week in class we distinguished the difference between slang, accent, and dialect. Slang is usually informal, used by the younger generation and is temporary; it dies as the generation ages. Back in the 60s and 70s a popular slag word was "groovy;" people don't use that word today. (Every once in a while it slips out of my dad's mouth, but that is more to get a laugh.) Today people might say "sick" or "cool" to describe something they like. Slang focuses strictly on vocabulary; the grammar and pronunciation doesn't change. Accents and dialects tells people who you are and how you would like to be perceived. Accents are usually heard when a person is speaking a second language. The grammar and vocabulary is the same, the words are just pronounced differently. Everyone has an accent in someone's opinion; people who live in the south may feel that we have Californian accents. A dialect is a unique variety of a language that differs from the other varieties in regards to vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar. Everyone has a dialect. Dialects can be social (Ebonics is associated with the African-American population) or regional (Gullah in the south).

You never think that you have an accent or a dialect, but we all do. It may be easier to recognize that you use slang on a regular basis because it is cool and a conscious choice. We learn proper English in school, but we choose to insert slang in order to make ourselves look better or to fit into a group. Our own accent automatically comes out of our mouth and we may not even be able to pronounce the words differently. Some people who are learning a new language end up taking speech lessons in order to improve their accents. Everyone around us speaks our dialect. In our case we speak Californian. We may think that this is the right way to speak, but people from other parts of the country may think we sound funny. Even within California there are many dialects.

blog #3

This week we were introduced to rituals. “A ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value. It may be prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community. The term usually excludes actions which are arbitrarily chosen by the performers (Wiki).” Rituals symbolically communicate ideas and values to both participants and observers. In the documentary, “Guardians of the flutes,” the people of New Guinea have an unusual ritual. The young boys of age 7 to 10 must
be initiated into adulthood through a certain rite of passage ritual. The boys
are taken from their mothers permanently and are not allowed to return to the
village until they are ready for marriage. The boys are thrashed with sticks
and it is said that the pain lasts for hours. There are many practices
representing the female menstrual blood and it is important to cleanse the boys
of anything related to the women because it will make them weak. It seems that
the men are afraid of the women; they fear that women make them weak. The men
must defend their village and be on guard at all times from ambushing tribes. The
men must do everything they can possibly think of to keep them strong. The boys
cannot produce their own seamen; they must get that strength from the warriors.
The boys must suck the seamen from the warriors in order to be able to make it
themselves. Seamen represents strength. The boys eat seamen and the women eat
seamen so they can be strong. The boys must become warriors and the women must
have babies.


This was not the first time I
watched this video, so it was not as shocking for me. I have had a few years to
think about this concept. This video is what really got me interested in
Anthropology and why I am an Anth minor. The concept of removing yourself from
your own societal norms and beliefs and looking at a culture from their
perspective is a very noble ability. You really have to try to be open-minded.
I feel that some of the students in the class are not even trying to
understand. That is quite annoying. If you have grown up in that society then
it makes complete sense. This way has worked for thousands of years producing
unstoppable warriors.

blog #2: genre

There are three major genres when it comes to the study of
folklore. They are verbal folklore, material folklore, and customary folklore.
Before I started this course, I thought folklore was just stories written or
verbally passed down through generations. This breakdown of verbal, material
and customary makes the topic easier to understand; it also allows you to see
that folklore exists today in every person’s life.

Verbal folklore refers to spoken customs and traditions. Verbal
folklore can be apply to certain dialects, naming practices, traditional
phrases and sentences, jokes and stories, and folksongs to name a few. For example,
one topic we discussed in class is the fact that in California we call
Coca-Cola “soda” whereas in the south people call it “pop.” These differences
are region specific. One important aspect of verbal folklore, just like other
forms of folklore, is that they are learned informally from your family or
peers.

The next genre of folklore is material folklore; this refers
to material objects. These objects have a special meaning to the group of which
they are from. Architecture, food, and clothing are examples of material
folklore. Some foods are region specific. New Orleans is famous foe jambalaya, crawfish,
shrimp, gumbo, and other Cajon dishes; on the other hand San Francisco is
famous for Dungeness crab and chippino.

Customary folklore refers to shared and accepted customs or
behaviors. Shaking hands is a common way to greet someone in the United States,
but in Japan you would bow to someone. The signal “shaka” or “hang loose” has
an association to Hawaii, but it may mean something slightly different if used
here.

In my upcoming project for this course, I am focusing on
child folklore with an emphasis on material lore. My subjects will be my
nephews who are only two and not quite talking yet, I will not be able to
interview them, only observe and maybe participate as well. In our society,
children as young as two obtain an insane amount of material possessions. Most of
the items are unnecessary; when watching two two-year-olds play together they
almost always converge around the same object. This age is when you first learn
about sharing. You are able to see what meaning the objects have to the
children.