Balinese Cockfight Summary

Although the Kayapo and rubber trappers in the Seringal Bom Futuro area exhibit similarities in their struggle for status, they are ethnically and cultural divided. Unlike the Kayapo, rubber tappers are not united by their ethnical background but rather a way of survival. As a tribe of indigenous people, the Kayapo live in “large autonomous villages scattered on both sides of the Xingu River” (Turner 140). Surrounded by tropical rainforest and grassland,

The perception of foreign cultures can at times be quite peculiar. The article “Eating Christmas in Kalahari” by Richard Borshay Lee, foretells a classic example of cross culture misunderstanding when people from different cultures operate in a culturally unfamiliar environment. Richard Lee, a social anthropologist, explains what he learned living with the !Kung Bushmen, a South African tribe, for three years. This Gemeinschaft community of hunters-gatherers worked together to teach the anthropologist something important to their people, even though he was unaware of their intentions in the beginning.

The, “Sorrow of the Lonely and the Burning of the Dancers”, is a ethnography written by anthropologist Edward Schieffelin, derived from his fieldwork with the Kaluli people of Papua New Guinea. The main focus of the book of the book is how many of the fundamental notions that are implicit in Kaluli culture are found in the Gisaro ceremony, which Schieffelin uses as, “a lens through which to view some of the fundamental issues of Kaluli life and society” (p1).

He describes the beauty of the Masin’s environment including spectacular beaches, sea, and rainforest. Chapter one highlights subsequent chapters; for example, Chapter 6, which explores the Maisin’s efforts to conserve the rainforests and beauty that surrounds them. The first edition of this book ended with the 2002 campaign in which Maisin’s prevented logging on their lands. This current version extends to on-going threats of logging, mining and climate change. Barker’s fieldwork spans three decades and depicts what he learned about Maisin culture, values, spiritual ways and transitions over time. A brief history (p.23-30), covers events before and after independence of Papua New Guinea in 1975.

In the third grade, I remember bringing noodles to lunch, and all of my white classmates looking at me strangely. Little did I know, Americans did not bring noodles to lunch, but rather simpler things, such as peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and lunchables. Although my introduction to the western culture was nothing as close to the Ibo people’s introduction to the western culture, it is clear that different cultures often have a hard time understanding the customs of another culture. Okonkwo’s response to new western influences spreading through his clan depicts how the introduction of different cultures can lead to disagreement because of contrasting religious values and customs.

The author’s purpose in writing this article was not to show the “Nacirema” as an example of how extreme human behavior can become, but how an outside perspective can affect your perception of an alien culture. If one were to look at the “Nacirema’s” cultural behaviors regarding physical appearance and health without any insight or knowledge of the specific beliefs or values of that culture, they might seem bizarre and even incomprehensible. By showing behaviors and “rituals” performed by this unknown tribe, Miner allowed others to see that the way studies were representing distinctive cultures was narrowminded and defective. Without the proper comprehension of the basis of any society, huge cultural misunderstandings could occur. Of

As a result, Gross’ article has shown that bimaadiziwin is a unifying concept in the Anishinaabe religion. For how much information this board topic portrays, Gross does an exceptional job at presenting how there is continuity in Anishinaabe world view, and demonstrating how bimaadiziwin served as a unifying concept of traditional Anishinaabe religion. Gross gives the readers a very informative understanding about the Anishinaabe religion and the meaning of bimaadiziwin. Not only did he do an exceptional job at explaining this, he did an outstanding job at discussing details about the topic such as the teaching of bimaadiziwin as a foundation of human relations with nature, how story telling is a good way of moral teachings and ways to recover the downfall of the

“Ancestral lines” by John Barker is a book about the anthropologist’s experience in the Uiaku village located in Papua New Guinea. In the first chapter, Barker tells his readers briefly about him and his education, his and his wife’s experience with the Maisin community, and talks in great detail about the Maisin and their culture in the Uiaku village.

Clifford Geertz explains his interpretive approach to anthropology as a more progressive and all encompassing alternative to the commonly understood methods of comparative anthropology. Before Geertz’s suggested approach, only the comparative method of anthropology was used, which focuses on behaviors and traits present in a community and monitors the extent to which these cultural attributes manifested. The comparative method demanded cultures to conform to Western understandings of culture. There was no consideration of the limitations placed on anthropologists due to their own cultural understanding. The biggest problem with the comparative method of anthropology is that it tends to misinterpret and misrepresent cultures. Geertz’s interpretative

Clifford Geertz’s essay “Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight” analyzes the meaning of cockfighting in Balinese culture. He argues that the significance of such tradition extends further than simply the monetary value that it brings to the participants, or the temporary joy and pride that the owner and his kinsmen enjoy. It represents masculinity, personal network, and, most importantly, status. Different outcomes of a cockfighting match bring either elevation or degradation of one’s status. In order to maintain his position in the hierarchical society, one is willing to work with everyone that share his belief, which is to win. As a result, people, and their statuses and faiths, are tied together in one unity, and their social hierarchy

When answering the question “What is the “function” of the cockfight, if not to reproduce Balinese social structure?” The first thing that must be done is to first to understand what Geertz’s believed cockfight means in the Balinese culture. The next is how this does this go with “structural-functionalism”. Then lastly contrasting Geertz’s argument using the information that Evans-Pritchard gives us with his work “Nuer”. These will help with deconstructing and then answering the question.

Cultural imperialism, in a form of New York’s World Expo in 1964, stands on the background of this part of the story. A young Javanese dancer, Sardono W. Kusumo was a member of the Indonesian dancer contingent for the expo. Extending his stay in the city that had become an adopted home or, depending on your viewpoint, a thrift store of world culture, there he met another young Indonesian, just a couple years his senior, an emerging poet cum theatre artist by the name of Rendra. The following six-months of his informal residency would be brief and memorable for Sardono and its significance to Indonesian performance field would continue to resonate until a few decades later.

Their efforts are what has ensured the survival of their traditions, and though they have fought valiantly, they are still working each day to keep their cultural traditions alive. I have chosen this group for this paper because they caught my interest and after the module Four Discussion I realized the depth and many efforts that the Ainu have taken to preserve their culture and though they haven’t given up, they have suffered immensely. This realization is what led me to want to research deeper on the Ainu’s journey of cultural survival and the effects they have felt from their strained circumstance.

Deep Play: “Notes on the Balinese Cockfight” is an article written by Clifford Geertz that discusses how the Balinese cockfight serves as a cultural text as well as defining the real meaning of being Balinese. Geertz and his wife, who are anthropologists, were highly interested in studying cockfighting after their experience in traveling to a Balinese village. Cockfighting is an illegal popular sport in Bali where two cocks are placed in a small ring by their handlers and fight each other. “Cocks armed with steel spurs sharp enough to cut off a finger or run a hole through a foot were running wildly around,” (Geertz 415). This quote in Geertz’s article explains why cockfighting

The Kaluli are a small clan of indigenous people who live in the rain forests in the Southern Highlands of the Great Papuan Plateau found in Papua New Guinea. The Kaluli people’s residency includes up to twenty longhouses each with about fifteen families in them, numbering roughly to about sixty to ninety people in each longhouse. The Kaluli culture does not involve any ranked social structure or individuals with hierarchical authority over others, however relies on strong egalitarian and equal values. The purpose of this of this paper is to highlight the Kaluli people’s identity, their unique upbringing and their struggles faced by missionization. This text will first identify how Kaluli children, both male and female are socialized and encultured in different ways through the mother enforcing certain traits, attitudes, behaviors, traditions and work ethics. Secondly this text will consider how missionization, i.e. the communication of other cultures and the indoctrination of Christianity by missionaries has disrupted the Kaluli’s sense of place. It will focus on the introduction of European-based time, the introduction and demise of some types of languages and the ownership of land and identity. Thirdly this paper will discuss how the enculturation of Kaluli children differs from more civilized enculturation of children and possible reasons for this