For example, consider the phenomenon of the evil eye. Among this rural Iranian community, the evil eye represented a kind of gaze that could be cast-sometimes intentionally and sometimes not -- that can cause harm to others. The evil eye is a common concept throughout the Middle East and in many other communities. In the modern world, most consider the evil eye to be little more the ridiculous superstition. However, for the women of Deh Koh, the evil is very real and affects their behavior and reactions to life events. Specifically, consider the matter of Simin's pregnancy. Once discovered, news of the upcoming birth spread rapidly throughout the community. The other women with whom Simin was close quickly presented her with all manner of charms and practices that they felt would best insure the health (and gender, for that matter) of the child. Simin's own mother "brought a bag with seeds of wild rue, a powerful agent against the evil eye, which she had bought on a pilgrimage to the south, where the plant grew" (Friedl 140). In this statement alone we see the power that a belief in the evil eye had on the behavior of these women. The...
Additionally, belief in the evil eye found Simin's mother purchasing an herbal remedy for it from far in the south. This woman was willing to spend what little money she had in addition to considerable time and effort to procure protection from the effects of the evil eye. In this culture, the evil eye obviously has a powerful influence on behavior.
Anthropology: The Fundamental Social Science Anthropology is, according the American Anthropological Association, "the study of humans, past and present" (AAA, 2011). Anthropology looks at what it means to be human; it is "a field of inquiry that studies human culture and evolutionary aspects of human biology, including cultural anthropology, archaeology, linguistics, and biological anthropology" (Jurmain, Kilgore, & Trevathan 2006: 6). It, therefore, is the fundamental social (and behavioral) science discipline that
Anthropology Career: Anthropology can broadly be defined as the study of humanity based on its evolutionary origins in the past millions of years and its current global diversity. Unlike other disciplines that focus on one or another aspect of humanity, anthropology focuses on how people plan their lives and relate to each other in interacting, interconnected groups or societies with similar beliefs and practices. Anthropologists share many interests with other disciplines
Religion is an inherent part or element of a culture or society, and this must be viewed in the context of the society/culture in which this religion developed and thrived. It must be considered that all religions give credit to humanity's existence through a certain god / goddess (or in the case of polytheistic religions, gods/goddesses). Differences across religions lie only on the traditions observed, roles assumed by each
Although the writer explained his honest opinion, he still showed respect to the people concerned and his reasons sound fair enough for the Yanomami and other indigenous people. The fourth letter indicated some direct criticisms to the AAA organization. The writer explained facts based from his study and in turn explained his comments and criticisms which are also based from factual information that he had researhed on. As compared to
Cultural Construction -- Fundamental beliefs, definitions, behaviors, and relationships that are attributable to social learning and culture-specific expectations rather than to biology. What is participant observation and what are the advantages of it (please use the virtual reality game (Second Life) as an example. Participant observation is a type of anthropological, sociological, and other research-based disciplines in which the researcher can become directly and intimately involved with specific populations of research subjects.
Anthropology, in the broadest sense of the term, is concerned with the whole history of mankind: man in the context of evolution. Yet this is a difficult position to take because being concerned with man as he occurs and as he has occurred means that the body and the soul must be taken into consideration together and the differences in man associated with time and location must be investigated. Still,
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