In “eating Christmas in the Kalahari desert” by Richard Borshay Lee we get to experience a story about an upcoming anthropologist who is living with the! Kung Bushmen tribe. Lee is currently introducing and practicing ethnographic techniques on their lifestyle. The! Kung Bushmen tribe is considered not so different from the everyday human. They just have beliefs and morals they have to follow as being part of their tribe. Lee came to study the culture of these people but he didn’t know the importance of Christmas to them. As a way to repay them for teaching him about their culture, Lee decided to buy a beautiful ox to enjoy for the Christmas dinner. This ox was the most beautiful and delicious food he had seen. Too much surprise Lee’s thoughtfulness
In Christmas 1910, Robert Butler uses plot and character to reflect on the setting of the short story. The setting takes place in her third Christmas in the west river country, which is described as a bad, hopeless and depressing place. There is nothing there but flat lands everywhere. There is nothing better for Abigail to do to make her life better there, so she just has to do what her parents do. The areas around them are even desolated. Due to droughts, it makes South Dakota lonely and go through some hard times. The winter makes it hard for people to interact with other people. Abigail needs her own character, she wants attention from people that are not her family. The weather where they live is not your typical ideal weather, Abigail
Source one: In what ways does source one incorporate elements of spirituality and religion in the in Murri people’s preparation for christmas?
In the book “Sacred Rice” author and anthropologist Joanna Davidson delves into the life of Jola farmers in west Africa and explores how rice plays an important role in their lives. She uses storytelling, often personal in nature to demonstrate how rice plays a vital part not only in the gastronomical aspect in the lives of people in north-western Guinea-Bissau but also in their social, cultural, economic, religious and political aspects.
Marjorie Shostak, an anthropologist who had written this book had studies the !Kung tribe for two years. Shostak had spent the two years interviewing the women in the society. The !Kung tribe resided n the Dobe area of Northwest Botswana, that’s infused with a series of clicks, represented on paper by exclamation points and slashes. Shostak had studied that the people of the tribe relied mostly on nuts of the mongongo, which is from an indigenous tree that’s part of their diet.
They complained that there will not be enough meat to go around, men will fight over the food, and the celebration will be a disaster. Together, they planted enough fear in the mind of the anthropologist, that even though once he was convinced and proud of his pick, he started to worry that the ox was not good enough, and the celebration will be ruined. In the end, after the ox was slaughtered, it proved to be indeed a very meaty animal, with plenty of white layers of fat. The anthropologist discovered that Bushmen collectively played a joke on him. They all knew what a beautiful animal they were receiving, yet they all complained about it, calling it a "bag of bones". Only later did the anthropologist learned that it was the Bushmen's tradition to criticize, and they routinely did it to themselves. They did it to keep their arrogance in check, and their humility
“Araby” tells a story about a little boy’s romance and his disillusionment in the end. While people tend to focus on the ending of the story trying to find some clue from Araby the market alone, I believe there is another site that we should not forget—the room where the priest died. It seems Araby symbolizes the numb, dark adult world while the room is holy, romantic; but as I read more, I find they are quite the same. Comparing the two buildings, one of the hidden reasons for the boy’s anger dawned on me: he is deceived by both sites.
North Carolinians often associate Christmas time with pine trees, presents, and Santa Claus, but never stop to think about how other Christian cultures such as the African American ones in New Bern,Jamaica, and the Caribbean celebrate this time of year.The contrast between the African-American celebrations called Jonkonnu, and American Christmas celebrations is profound. The Jonkonnu celebrations occurs in tightly knitted communities that use music,dance, and songs to express their appreciation of one another instead of the tradition of gift-giving. Jonkonnu is an African-American Christmas celebration, which takes place in New Bern, but originated in Jamaica, and the Caribbean.
Nigel Barley’s The Innocent Anthropologist explores the lives and culture of the Cameroonian Dowayo tribe. The book follows Barley’s fieldwork gathered during his stay amongst the tribe, affording insight into their ceremonies, language, social norms, and beliefs. Barley’s book stands out in the highly personal tone with which he recounts his time spent with the Dowayo, acknowledging bureaucratic troubles and, oftentimes humorous, misunderstandings. With a translator, Barley embarks on his attempt to immerse himself into the culture of the Dowayo, not hesitating to participate in their festivals (to a certain degree) and incorporate himself in their daily lives. Barley regals the audience with the entire experience of his fieldwork in West Africa, making sure to include how more modern technological and political inventions, such as voting and refrigerators, are regarded by the Dowayo. Barley writes with emphasis on the difficulties of the language, which is tonal and consists of multiple dialects, the Dowayo’s fondness for
The Farming of Bones is not only an amazing work of literature, but a wonderful example of post-colonial literature. It has all the classic experiential images; dualism, confrontation, liberation, and identity.
Charles dickens classic novella “A Christmas Carol” endorses the notion that “Generosity involves more than the giving of money, it’s also about the giving of one's goodwill, compassion, sympathy, empathy and kindness. By taking his seemingly irredeemable protagonist Ebenezer Scrooge on a supernatural journey, Dickens’ intends to convey to all of society the importance of generosity. He proclaims that generosity of the spirit defines Christmas, and goes a large way towards defining true humanity for him as well.
Today it seems as though Christmas has fallen victim to materialism and commercialization. Rather than it being a time of loving and giving, it has become a stressful season of greed. Amidst all the hustle and bustle, it is important for us to recognize the true reason of the season, and celebrate in a fashion that exemplifies that reason.
Lee, Richard Borshay. “Eating Christmas in the Kalahari.” Natural History. December 1969. pp 11-15. Natural History Magazine, Inc. 1969.
African cuisine is divided into, North, West, Central Africa, Horn of Africa, South, and East Africa. The Northern area consists a lot of historical and political events, which can be traced back to Egyptian history. On the West side of Africa, they are heavier on the spices, starch food items, meats, and flavors. In Central Africa, the tradition of cooking their food remains untouched by influences from other cuisines. They like to eat game meats, such as crocodile, warthog, monkey, and antelope. The horn of Africa’s traditional dishes are more on stews served in flat like bread, known as injera. The South is also known as a rainbow cuisine because of its many influences from other countries. Milk is one of the most important ingredient of the South Africans. Then we have the East African cuisine changes from area to area around it.
The chef in the Indian family, Hassan Kadam, has certain ways to handle the food and present it. The Indian culture uses many herbs and spices which is how he finds the perfect taste in every dish. He strives to make every dish a warm and delightful feeling which is very important to Hassan’s culture. Most of the food he served had bread with it, mostly a certain type called naan. The families who were eating, use the bread as utensils because that is proper etiquette within their beliefs. They would also eat in certain orders in the ranking of the family No matter what food was made in the Indian kitchen, there was also something unique about the dish.
Christmas is a magical holiday and it is celebrated everywhere in the world by creating a fantasy scenery on the streets and in every shop and house. Around Christmas time, all the big cities in the world turn into a magical place, decorated with huge Christmas trees and with thousands of Christmas lights. But that is not all. In many cities around the world, no matter whether they are the capital city of a country or a small town, there are organized Christmas Markets every year. The Christmas markets fill the streets with a wonderful smell of traditional delicacies related to Christmas and so everybody is attracted to the markets by the wonderful, fantasy-like smell coming from there. In these markets, people can also find original, unique ideas to buy as gifts for their loved ones, as merchandisers usually sell hand-made items in these markets. And let’s not forget about the beautiful Christmas decorations, which you can also find at any of these markets.