1 hour observation.

                       1 hour observation

On the 19 of September I went to Thamel in front of Mandala Street to do my observation for an hour. The day had started with plenty of sunshine but by the afternoon the endless rain had gotten the day gloomy and dark. I had already seen things I had never noticed just the second I started my observation. The first thing I noticed was how there was a smaller rate of footfall due to the rain. My surrounding was chaotic, the streets were busy even though the evening had a smaller rate of footfall. Things I took notice of in my environment was how Thamel had more foreign flags than of Nepal itself. There was a Mexican Flag and Korean as well, even languages of various nation could be heard being spoken, Russian, Mandarin, Punjabi and French, these were a few languages I heard being spoken.

The street was filled with more foreigners than Nepali, people from different parts of the world could be seen here. Clicking pictures and looking amazed at how tiny a country could be. The tourists had shocked about the traffic and the endless sounds that came from just everywhere. There were sanragi, flute and various other instruments being sold and as well as being played for demonstration. While the traditional music was being played, a huge Hulux passed by, filled with teenage boys that played hip-hop music a bit loud even for Thamel. Another thing I took notice of was how a lot of Ricksha drivers were using whistling as an alternative for horn.

A bunch of  Sikh men passed by and the first thing I noticed was how they were all wearing the same t-shirt in different colours, they were loud and were cursing and laughing about something that they found a bit too hilarious. I also saw a Nepali man wearing a Sherwani with Dhaka Topi and a European man in clothes that were a cross of a sadhu and a monk, all this mixtures of clothing articles amazed me. Another thing I noticed about the clothing of people were how a Nepali woman was feeling really cold, she was wearing a thing fur jacket and the first thing that came to my mind were how the  foreigners were dressed in light clothing while most of the Nepali’s were wearing a light sweater or a jacket. This shows how weather can be a big part of culture and how weather can define lifestyle and behaviour of people. Another point I noticed about clothing was how much skin was being shown by people of different nations, foreigners however did show as much skin as a Nepali girl was. This made me think of how urbanization has taken place by which even the clothing preferences have changed.

This observation made me realize how many teens were smoking, also drinking. Even beggars of young ages were puffing packets with substance. In many countries underage drinking and usage of any illegal substance can lead to prison however the same isn’t followed in Nepal.

While I looked at different people, I noticed how varied even couples were. I wouldn’t say this is how majority is but from my observation, in that evening, I saw about 20-30 couples from which 18 were not Nepali. I also took notice how diverse the couples were, most of them were from different cultures.

While I was observing, a woman came up to me to ask about a location of a hotel, she said she wasn’t a local however, she was Nepali. I also noticed a group of 3 men, walking around the same street again and again. They probably lost their way because they looked confused. This situation made me think how people think they know the place they belong to but at times we aren’t any more different than a tourist. This shows how one adapts to the place and culture they live in, this shows cultural relativism is practiced even when it is unnoticed.

Through this observation I learned how little things matter though they may be unnoticed. The downfall was the curious and judgemental looks I got from people but this experience was very good.

quran

Quran Verse                                Al- buruj chapter85

                                  82:1

When the sky breaks apart

82:2

And when the stars fall, scattering,

82:3

And when the seas are erupted

82:4

And when the [contents of] graves are scattered,

82:5

A soul will [then] know what it has put forth and kept back.

82:6

O mankind, what has deceived you concerning your Lord, the Generous,

82:7

Who created you, proportioned you, and balanced you?

82:8

In whatever form He willed has He assembled you.

82:9

No! But you deny the Recompense.

82:10

And indeed, [appointed] over you are keepers,

82:11

Noble and recording;

82:12

They know whatever you do.

82:13

Indeed, the righteous will be in pleasure,

82:14

And indeed, the wicked will be in Hellfire.

82:15

They will [enter to] burn therein on the Day of Recompense,

82:16

And never therefrom will they be absent.

82:17

And what can make you know what is the Day of Recompense?

82:18

Then, what can make you know what is the Day of Recompense?

82:19

It is the Day when a soul will not possess for another soul [power to do] a thing; and the command, that Day, is [entirely] with Allah .

Al-Infitar, of the Quran, the holy book of Islam, contains 19 verses. Al-Buruj, which means The Cleaving in English is the 82 chapter. In this chapter, it is talked how one knows or realises what it has kept in and given to others only when they reach their grave. It tells us that how we deceive the greater force, the God and how it somehow does effect us. Through this chapter of Quran I have come to know that many people believe in after life and how sins that one does now can affect us later. In this chapter it tells us that the wrong doings of one can be avoided throughout their life however karma does catch up in the end. In the verse it is discussed how one’s wrong doing don’t only affect them but the people around them and how it also concern Allah and how concerning him is a sin after all. My understanding to this was the fact that one deceiving their maker will affect them in the times ahead and how they may face trouble. I was very touched by this verse of the Quran as it made me rethink how choices of people actions are so much more than just their will in many places. It has made me realise that one’s action, in many places is also determined by their culture, religion, the way they were brought up and that that their actions don’t only depend on them due to the fact that it affects more than just the individual.

SMALL PLACES, LARGE ISSUES question answers

    SMALL PLACES, LARGE ISSUES

   An Introduction to Social and

               Culture anthropology

Short answers:

1.     1)   What is the common “common concern” that all anthropologists share?

The common concern that Thomas Highland Eriksen believes that is common between all anthropologists is that they try to understand the connections within the societies and between societies.

2) What do you think Eriksen means when he says:"As an ethical principle, however, it is probably impossible in practice, since it seems to indicate that everything is as good as everything else, provided it makes sense in a particular society. It may ultimately lead to nihilism." p6

Eriksen through this quote is trying to say that cultural relativism may be ethically impossible to practice due to the simple fact that what makes sense in one society may not make sense in another, though if it is what a person wants they may not see consequences and react to it causing nihilism.

Paragraph response:

Eriksen says anthropologists, "warn against the application of a shared, universal scale to be used in the evaluation of every society." (p 6) Why is this the case? To what extend do you agree or disagree with the approach? Why?

In Eriksens book Small Places, Large Issues under which he has discussed topics like “the problem of ethnocentrism”. Ethnocentrism, this term means when one believes the culture they are a part of or are studying about is somehow superior to others. However to answer the question above, using the same shared and universal scale to evaluate every society is not correct. This is used in various times like GNP (gross national product), democratic rights, literacy rates and longevity. This is occurring due to simple facts that these things are to be compared between countries however, I disagree with it due to the simple fact that situations may arise where comparing the GNP between two countries isn’t practical. Lets take a hypotheses, one of the countries that are being compared isn’t allowed to eat beef where as one is, comparing these two countries in terms of this situation is not practical. However in a larger picture, a countries GNP may be low due to situations like the tertiary sector may be the sector which is more important to the country than the other two sectors however another country may have the primary sector as the most earning sector due to lower educations of citizens therefore it is simple that in most cases the tertiary sector earns much more than the primary earns lesser. So, how can we use universal scales and judge countries or compare countries? It is simply against cultural relativism. In Nepal we get a limited amount of electricity, we have our issues but we do go forward with our life yet in a perspective of another country we may be living the hard life in their eyes, the tribes of the Amazon forest may have minimal education yet does that mean they are any less intelligent than us or inferior to us in any way? O couse not. Situations like this need the use of holism where more than one segment of the situation is seen and then evaluated and ranking people isn’t what anthropology is about.

meanings of jargons in anthropology context

          meanings of jargons in anthropology context

emic: Emic in the anthropology context investigates how people think and perceive and categorize the world inn their perspective. It also shows how they imagine things and explain them.It tends to come from within the culture.
etic: Etic in the anthropology context is an account description of behaviour just like Emic. however in Etic account of description is believed to be neutral and can be applied to other culture instead of just one.
agency: Is the capacity of a human to act and work individually, it also involves making free and ones willing choices.
structure: Structure in anthropology debates the term agency. However, structure is how human culture must be understood in terms of their relationship  and how their decisions will and can affect others.
holism:  Holism means that one cannot determine anything with just a component of it, therefore one needs to take the entire system and analyse it and then determine how the little components are an important part.

          10 minute observation

In my anthropology class we had discussed about how anthropologist spend years observing people of a different place with different culture so they can do their study on them. Living with ones study for a period of time is called participant observation.

We were all given an assignment to do which was divided into two parts, part 1. Getting a written consent from our participant. For this I asked my mother to be my participant who I could observe. My mother was astonished and told me it scared her how someone would look at her for 10 minutes. However she did agree to be my participant. Part 2. Was observing the person, for which I choose the action to be cooking. On Sunday I observed my mother cooking a dinner for a little get together we had in our home.

The observation on Sunday started with my mother letting me know how much of a nuisance I was because due to my observation she was getting nervous and was afraid she would get something wrong with the dishes. Hence, I stayed at a distance while I did my work.

My mother was very determined to make food that was excellent. She took help from my maid for cutting and the rest was done by her. She looked patient yet the façade couldn’t cover up very second so once in a while when something wasn’t going as planned she got frustrated. She had a great co-ordination and was quick. She did various tasks at once like she was a machine, she was caught up in what she was doing and after a few minutes she didn’t know or seem to care who was looking or observing her. There was continuous noises of clinking and scrapping, sounds that were made from the utensils clashing the pots she used for the cooking, there was whistling of pressure cookers and commands being given by my mother to my maid. The kitchen was extremely hot and it almost felt like staying in a micro-oven, I couldn’t imagine how my mother was able to do any activity in that heat. Sizzling or vegetables in hot oil, the smell of spices and various food items, it was sad how I had to wait till I would be able eat all that was prepared.

While the observation lasted for 10 minutes, it felt short and I thought I still hadn’t gathered a lot of information. It was amazing how little details could be taken when one is actually paying attention to things others are doing. When I asked my mother about how she felt, she said the attention I paid actually scared her in the beginning yet after a while it didn’t seem to make a difference. When I shared my notes with her she was shocked I had the capacity to not move around and pay attention to one thing, she told me that a few things missing were how cooking and household chores and being a housewife looks easy but all that was a lie, to which I agreed to with no doubt. She being the house maker was just amazing at what she did and cooking was her favourite thing to do, she said it was less work and more hobby to her.

“CULTURAL RELATIVISM AND UNIVERSAL HUMAN RIGHTS

Summary of “CULTURAL RELATIVISM AND UNIVERSAL HUMAN RIGHTS” by Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban

“ members of one culture might view as strange and bizarre in another culture (for example, polygamy, body tattooing, or strict dietary laws) can be understood best within that culture's context. Theoretically, anthropologists always should be observers and recorders not evaluators of other peoples’ customs and values.” ; Page 1

The main argument of the article is that there are many cultures around the world and we should learn about them before judging them unless if there’s is something ethically wrong in their cultur . One culture varies greatly from another culture. There around thousands of cultures around the world. We don’t know about a lot of cultures. One person may only know about as much as a handful of cultures. And in every culture there might be things that may look weird to us. We can find many such examples every day. So before we judge any culture we should learn about them and know about the cultures ethics. Our culture creates viewpoints for us about different things. We see things differently than other peop ot be judging people . Instead we should try to learn about their cultures. In the given article we see that the western countries have been telling Islamic countries to implement women empowerment. But it is very hypocritical that Islamic countries have more number of female leaders than western countries. Islamic countries have given more power to women . It is true that we should respect all cultures and learn about them. But in some cultures, even our own cultures, there might be something that is morally wrong and absurd. Like female circumcision or killing someone is wrong no matter what. We should stop things like these. Even if we respect cultures we have to say le because of our culture. So, if we see anything that may seem wrong or unethical to us, we should n what is wrong and what is right.