Conclusion

In conclusion, as we could see (if you kept reading all the posts) we could learned that anthropology is an awesome topic which covers a lot of different topics. Because it studied the life, evolution, and everything related with humans it is a great experience to learn so much about all of it. During this time writing in the blog we talk about different tribes and their different cultures, about what they do to survive and what are their rituals and beliefs. Also we talk about priests and doctors. About how they could influence good or wrong in our loves. Homosexuality from the anthropologist point of view, how homosexuality can be a remedy for overpopulation and can help in a future.

These few months have been great. Not only I have the chance to create my own blog about a great topic like Anthropology, but I had the chance to express myself trough a topic that I love and of course help people know and learn about different things related to anthropology.

The Solution to a Better World

Some people believe that to start the school day with prayer will create an aura of order among the students.  Having prayer will instill moral values in children. School reinforces the values children learn at home and in the community. Prayer will also enable kids to understand their classmates better, which would cut down on bullying. Others thinks, prayer would provide an awakening to the problems with drugs, immorality, and violence. I believe that with prayer in school a lot of problems would not be such a big issue in society today. Even though prayer is not allowed in the classroom, there are religious activities that the government does allow. 

When the school prayer was banned, the government eliminated more than just praying in the classroom, they got rid of same religious activities as well. Some people don’t want prayers in the classroom or in your area of work because they feel that it is harmful. When prayer is said in the classroom or in your area of work, those who do not want to pray would be able to leave. By excusing themselves they risk later being harassed by students or co-workers. 

I'm in favor for prayer in schools and in your area of work, but will make a conscious effect to understand why someone might be opposed to the idea. I believe that what is taught about religion to a child should remain with the parents and family. There are many people that believe prayer does not belong in the schools or in your work area, because it violates the separation of church and state.The US Department of Justice prohibits discrimination based on religion, so why we encourage religious discrimination in school or at work?

Freedom of religion and separation of church and state make prayer in school or in any other places a difficult subject. We must make sure that everyone has the right to free religion and still not crossing the line of church and state which is very important. There is a conflict between government and religion that has sparked in debate. The result indices that The Supreme Court has not as some people assume prohibited prayer in school or in public area. It is not unconstitutional for people or students to pray in public area. What is unconstitutional is to sponsor or encourage prayer in public school or public authorities.This is an extremely important issue, which should be openly discussed not for the sake of argument, but to honestly discuss the positive effect. I come from a school where praying was part of our curriculum, and I really believe that prayer can help us in our behavior and most important it can bring respect for the individual.

Our children are too young to make moral decisions and must be taught the proper and respectful way to behave, not only to parents, but to teachers, authorities and in social setting. If we begin to see the discipline, we can say that it has all but disappeared in our society. This is why prayer is so important. Prayer teaches thankfulness to a creator and inferring that people are morally accountable to God and to all other people as well for personal behavior. I hope that in some way we all get together as a society and begin to see that we need to ask for help so that our society, could decline the degrading behaviors that has developed since we as a society have witness violent criminal, seriously depressed and mentally scarred people who used guns to slaughter friends, family and innocent people, in cold blood. Together we can reach a solution: "Ask and it shall be given, you seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you."  (Matthew 7.7)

Women's Right of Equality

Through the time we have seen women’s capacity to do the same things that men do, that is why this discrimination should stop, women have already proven what they can do and that they are more of what men think of them. Why women should not work? Some people are stuck in the past, when men had to hunt animals and bring them home for the family to eat, while women take care of their children as they wait for their husbands. That situation, where men think women are not capable of doing certain things, such as work is really archaic. Not only women can be capable of doing the same things as men, like working, they can also deal with taking care of family and be very successful doing it. Women should not be treated as less than men because they are so capable of doing what they propose to do just as men do.                                                                                                            Some cultures, such as in India, women have been categorized as less than men. Not only they are to stay in their house and not show themselves too much to the other men, they are considered

“property” of the husband. Starting they cannot show all their bodies, they are completely hiding their bodies, including their hair because it is meant to be shown just to the husband.  Furthermore if, and I say if because it is really a minimum rate, a woman looses her virginity before marriage there is a highly opportunity that no man will accept her, because a woman should be pure to her husband, on the other hand men can get married three times. Seen these points, we can observed the injustice society commits when it comes to women. Society has been objectifying women and treating them as “things” labeled “Property of…” making them feel as less than men. Where they have to live by their rules, were they are submissive to their dominating husbands who can punish them if they “misbehave”.  Sure India is much more complicated than other countries because of the fear women feel, but equality of gender should start rising in these places so they all become equally successful and contribute the same in life.

Sexism might be a complicated topic. People might think it is right that women should behave and be submissive to their husbands that the purpose of women in life is to take care of the children and to pleasure their husbands, to keep them happy. But why not evolve? We cannot stay stuck in the same idiotic thought. Women first of all should be given the right to choose how they want to live their lives and with who (in India). Also, men should stop objectifying and thinking of women as a submissive wife, as a personal slave. Sexism needs to stop, women through the time have proven they can be the same as men, they can do the same things and be equally successful as them, that is why society should start respecting them and believing in the equality of gender, because if men can sure women can make it too.

Gender Roles... From the Eye of the Beholder

As people we assume that the fact of be a man or a woman make us different. Society predict someone abilities, interest, capacities and activities that the person can perform by knowing the sex. We think that we almost can know everything about a person based on the gender. Also, often if we know the sex, we limit the capacities of a person.

A few days ago I read a internet page that says “Women “Take Care,” Men “Take Charge:””. Many times when you ask a person to describe a woman they visualized her like fashion, clean, fragile, and emotional person. People identify woman with activities like take care of the house and people, cleaning, go shopping, take care of her beauty and make charitable. On the other hand if you ask to describe a man they surely describe him like strong, outgoing, unfeeling and lead person.  So if you mention activities that are related with risk, have control, strength and dirt, people immediately assume that man performs these things.

            Most of the stereotypes we use to differentiate women of man are inculcate by a chauvinistic society. These societies have the fault that this thought still present at this time. All this thought became from generation to generations. It begins with the fact that parents teach their son to play sports and play with cars, and teach their daughter to play with dolls and practice ballet. At this time the children learn to differentiate girls thing of boys things. Sometimes the parent even scolds the boy if he plays with a doll, and this make him reject “girls things” or vice versa.

            At this time many things change about the women roles in the society. Time ago women can’t go study, work neither have the chance to participate in politics. Time pass and the women got tired to be illiterate, uneducated and stay in the house. Women began to reveal and prove that they can do whatever the men do. Now at this generation the woman are treated with the same privileges than man. Also, are more the women that are study than men. So who knows and with time the roles invert completely (because in some cases already is in this way) the men stay in home and the women go out for work and make money for the family sustention.

To conclude, society stereotype people by their sex. When the truth is that knowing someone’s sex may tell us a lot about him or her biologically but it tells us very little about him or her in other ways. Knowing someone is a woman does not tell us that she is a good chef neither a good professional. Knowing someone is a man tells us nothing about his sports achievements neither his emotional problems. All of us are the person we are because of our experiences and cultural formation. The different things that define us as person, professional, athlete or students are independent of our gender.

Tribes and their Rituals

Though the years there have been discovered thousands of different tribes. Not only these tribes differ  in location and language, they also differ in their ritual and beliefs. Even though a lot of tribes have disappear because of colonizers and their impositions there still a large quantity of unique and awesome tribes that people should learn about. It is very interesting to learn about different tribes so we could know what are their different rituals, clothing, paintings, and more, and of course learning the meaning for them. It is important for the world to keep these tribes growing and do not extinct them, such like in the past.

Some of the most interesting tribes I have found are the Kayan Lahwi tribe and the Mursi tribe . The Kayan tribe, also known as Bwe people, located in Northern Thailand. These group of people are identified because the women use rings in the neck (brass neck coils), which symbolize beauty. The women who use this neck rings are known as giraffe women to tourists. At five years the girls start using the rings and through the years the coil is replaced by a longer one, compressing the collar bone to the rib cage (not elongating the neck per se). Usually Kayan women do not remove the coil, only to replace it with a new one. The muscles atrophy, the collarbone bruises and get discolored, so women prefer to wear them always. Also, when interviewed, they said "after using it for ten years continuously, it feels like an integral part of the body".

The second tribe that caught my attention is the Mursi tribe. This tribe is located in Ethiopia and have a population of 7,500 habitants. They are considered to be agro-pastoralists and belief that there is a major force who controls everything, which they call Tumwi. This force is found n the sky, but can manifest as a rainbow, bird, basically through nature. They believe that the priests are the ones that communicates them with God. Some of the rites they undergo are the insertion of lip plates in women. Girls' lower lips are pierced at 15 and a large pottery or wooden disc, or plate is inserted. These are worn by unmarried women to dance, and by occasions they attract tourists and they earn some extra money. Males of the tribe perform a ceremonial dueling, male violence, to mark their identity.

As we can see tribes can be a really interesting topic of study. Seeing how they live and how different each one of these tribes act can be an awesome thing to research. Knowing about these different tribes and how their cultures work, how their beliefs difference from ours, what they belief is "beautiful" toward what we belief is beautiful can be a great thing to study in the different cultures. But even though with a lot of differences we are still, in some point the same, humans.

References:
Kayan people
Mursi people

Health Professionals: Creating Conscience

Medicine practicers can be called egoist and interested because they work for the money, to get rich. I am not saying that all doctors are the same, there are some that are like that and are just interested in the fame and money gained. I plan to study medicine in the future but I don't I thinks I do it for the money, I mean the money is necessary to survive and have a live, so I am not saying I will not need or want the money. The money is an essential thing to survive in this world, and the humans as  selfish people is really necessary for everything. On the other side I want to become a doctor to help people get better. In my case I want to become a pediatric oncologist.

When we start to watch how people, in this case specifically doctors, choose in what they want to specialize we observe that they choose specializations, not more easy, but a little less complicated such as cardiology, gynecology, orthodontics, and others. As selfish people of course people search for what is more easy and gives more money, less for more, but what people do not understand is that there are a lot of health professionals that already practice all that and that we need more people to study other and new specializations to help in the future. In my case as I said, I want to become a pediatric oncologist. I know that being a oncologist is one of the most difficult and frustrating specializations of medicine, because in much cases you would not be able to save the patient. Even worst being a pediatric oncologist is more saddest because these are kids that are starting their life and you maybe could not save them.

I want to become a pediatric oncologist not for the fact that I will win a lot of money, it is because I would do everything that is in my hands to help the little kids that came to me almost dying and deserve to live a long life, and one without suffering or pain. From the point of view of an anthropologist I can say that people is supposed to be selfish, I mean they want what is best for themselves and their progeny and family, because their genes are what matters. But what would it be life if you just focus in yours and not everybody in the world? I believe is very important to keep helping one another so we can create a better future, without little kids suffering when they are just starting to live.

Priests: Save Role Models?

In a study made at the University of Puerto Rico at Cayey in January to May 2014, in my Anthropology class (ATRO3005) we were given the task to interview  a person from a social group and make an ethnography. By making this interview we are supposed to generalize about the population of Priests in Puerto Rico and the United States. In my case I chose a Priest or the ministers of divine cult and and specially in the major cult act, the sacrifice. They are the ones the serve as intermediaries between men and God, divinity. I mean Priests, according to the christian law are in charge to carry out God's service.  During the interview I ask him about different topics such as: How did the idea of becoming a priest came to mind? About the priestly pathway, the CVII, and finally about the church crisis. 

Some of his answers were that the idea of being a priest came because he had a lot of influence his uncle and two brothers were in the same path, so he felt the necessity of becoming a priests to keep going on. When he told us about the priestly pathway he started at 12 years in the School of Priests in Spain. Also he talk about how he made two bachelors degrees and how he went in missions to different places, one of them being Colombia where he was in charge of teaching in a school and where he help construct streets and houses for the poor people. He also talk to me about the votes he had to made to becoming a priest. The three votes he had to profess were: obedience, poverty and chastity in order to become a priests. When I asked him if sometimes he doubt that that was the best decision he has made, he answered yes, sometimes he doubt because maybe he was a selfish person and wanted to have a kid in the past, but then remembered why made it and feels better, because he is serving God and following his rules. 

In conclusion, when I finish my investigation work, or ethnography, I could observe how the life of the priests is a one where they need to follow some strict rules. And a breach can be the end of their path as Priests. I could see how oaths are the base of everything. I mean, priests make the oath of chastity where it is prohibited to have sexual relations with anyone. We could see how that has affect so much the title of some priests, there had been found so much cases of pedophilia something that leads them to the exile of these people from Church, removing them the privilege of being Priests. Even though that is happening we can not generalize, these group of persons had started to fall and had some problems because of others, something that is not fair because it is not a collective thought, it is individual and what some made does not mean is going to be made by others.