Tupinambas In Anthropology

The Huichol Indians are an indigenous group that lives “in the Sierra Madre Mountains of northwestern Mexico” (Woolcott). The Huichol religion is an animistic religion. According to Dr. Pamela Lindell, animistic religions are “religions that believe that all of nature – humans, animals, plants, rocks, the ocean, etc. - is animated by spirits and souls” (“Professor’s Notes 2” 3). To better understand the Huichol Indians and their religion, this paper examines Huichol myth, symbolism, rituals, religious specialists, and deities from various anthropological perspectives.

Ancient artifacts are the symbols of human civilization. All of them are priceless and cannot be measured by currency value. Repatriate is a controversial problem because of the various reasons. For instance, the aggressor took all of the captures back to their home countries and showed them to the public, during the war. Voyagers took other countries’ artifact to prove they had been in that place. Archeologists, anthropologists, and scientists took the antiquities back to their university for research. Politicians used the regulation to move away a relic as decrease the power of a competitor. Thieves had stolen someone’s important items or expensive objects in a tomb in order to sell to the private collectors. It can’t be right to steal the items that belong to other people. When the owner found out the items were stolen, and then they hoped they could get them back. That was how repatriated started. Some antiquities were transported to the country that they do not belong to. Thus, there are some people think those ancient artifacts should be returned to the original country because it involves moral issues. However, some people think they shouldn’t be returned because they are the spoils of the wars. Most antiquities were looted from other places, which are showed in the museum. So which countries do they belong to? However, In my opinion, museums don’t have to return the antiquities to the original

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.

When most western people think about Native American or African religions there is a certain stigma that comes with the topic. This is in part because there is a lot of misinformation in the world about Native American and African religions. When most westerners think of African religions they think of voodoo and black magic. Likewise, the view of Native American religions is still looked at through the lens of the pilgrims who wrote about Native Americans as being savages and less than human. These stereotypes were all formed from a lack of accurate information. African and Native American religions are very similar. It is difficult to find a lot of accurate information on African and Native American indigenous religions because of the lack of written history but there is a lot of oral history that has been passed down from generation to generation. From this information, it is clear that Native American and African religions have many more similarities than they do differences. Three of these similarities will be discussed in this paper. The first topic of discussion is the similarity between African and Native American people when it comes to their perception of the spirit world. Following this topic are the similarities between Native American and African views on the afterlife and finally, the diversity of beliefs within African and Native American religions.

Museums are filled with unique,historical artifacts that are precious to our history throughout the world. These “traveling exhibits” give people around the world an opportunity to see how our ancestors lived in many different regions of the world. Many artifacts are far away from their country of origin 7.In the articles “Bring Them Home”and “Museums Preserve the Cultures of the World,” people argue that museums should return certain artifacts to its original country, while others believes it’s only right to keep them considering the originating country rightfully sold those artifacts.In my opinion, countries should bring some artifacts back to their originating country.

These issues with museums and other institutions has led many tribes to not only protest these collections and demand the most sacred items back, but to also develop their own institution that not only tell the real story of their people from a non scientific point of view, but also show the proper resect for the sacred and religious artifacts. Religious sights and objects are a piece of many different groups culture, many of which require a certain level of respect. Within the United States Native American groups are reclaiming these objects for their own

Choose one of the main lwa discussed by Karen McCarthy Brown and discuss its Vodou theology – that is, its sacred persona, mythic biography, special powers, specific characteristics, ritual practice, and so forth. Situate this lwa in relation to his or her Black Atlantic history in Haiti and beyond. In what ways does the imagery associated with this lwa reflect the confluence of both history and mythology – in other words, what is this law’s mythistory? Then examine the place of this lwa within Mama Lola’s religious practice: what role does it play in her life? How does she relate to and serve this lwa? Has the role of the lwa changed in her experience over time, and if so, how?

"Body Ritual Among the Nacirema" is significant as it establishes the issue of representation in ethnography. The purpose of the article is to raise the question of how can we study a different culture from the outside and how can we understand our own culture from within. Culture can be defined in many ways, Tylor (1871) stated that culture is; “…that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.” Therefore, the article presents the topic of cultural relativism, arguing that there is no impartial viewpoint from which to assess cultures, that every culture should be interpreted and understood from the

Now he has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one.-we have fallen apart” (176). The white man used his owns customs and religion to turn the clan of Umuofia against each other as they began to doubt what they truly believe in. As the colonizers continued to defy and tell the clan members that their customs were wrong, slowly but surely people started to listen to them, leaving their own ways behind them. A similar scenario occurs in Dakotah 38 as the Natives presumptuously cling to the colonizers’ ideas. “They tell us we are the Dakotah and we say ok, we are the Dakotah. They tell us we are the Sioux and we say ok, we are the Sioux. They don’t understand or care who we really are.” The Natives of the Dakotah take what is given to them by the colonizers because of the authority that they won over them. With this, over time many parts of a culture is lost and forgotten because of the brainwashing and cultural wipe of the white men. While these Natives are suppressed by the overwhelming oppression of the whites, others are still sticking to their beliefs. “What did I tell you? Enough with that talk of yours, we speak English here” (Rabbit-Proof Fence). One of the

These rituals are preformed either in private or headed by a Medicine man, a spiritual leader, at shrines in houses equipped with many charms, powders, and herbs. Personal rites can be relatively harmless though the men and woman partake in a bit of the extreme. Men will frequently scrap at and lacerate their face with sharp instruments and woman will bake their heads in ovens based on the phases of the moon. Also, the Nacirema partake in mouth-rites wherein once or twice a year, they would visit a medicine man and the medicine men would use their sets of augers, probes, and prods to expand or create holes in the teeth to be filled with magical materials. These are all what equate to ritual torture and self mutilation. These people willingly take part in these rites that provide them with nothing but pain and from the outside looking in, seems like a largely masochistic people that has developed or elected sadistic specialists. This is all the more shocking when considering how large a part of their culture rituals are. In the book it is mentions how the children of this tribe sometimes denounce these rituals and especially the head temple of the medicine men, the Latipso, because it is where “people go to die.” It says they believe this because they are not yet indoctrinated in this culture, with the word

Native American religion has become a commodity due to the fact that Neo-Shamans are more focused on giving a presentation and making a profit rather than the spiritual aspects of Native American religion. According to Cohen, “It is my belief that Westernized religion in general has become a commodity almost ad hoc in North America. It is a potential money making industry, and anyone can take part”. She

While the Native Americans and the Africans inhabited two different continents, their belief system has a plethora of similarities pertaining to their core values. The basis of their religion also, in some ways, epitomizes modern day religion such as rites of passage. Their differences are shallow in context when it comes to what they view as sacred and holy and including religious rituals that are performed for a specific reason or transformation. Both Native American and African mythologies center around the ideology of harmony, balance, and cyclical nature of all beings through animistic symbolization. To a certain degree, all outsiders or nonnatives who study the belief systems of indigenous religions have found that indigenous religion is more than just a religion or belief system but rather an inherent way of living. To name or label indigenous beliefs as “religion” or any other is to have a bias based on our own views of transformation and ultimacy.

The issue of artifacts that have been taken from their original homes has started some global debate. Some may say that the artifacts need to be returned to their place of origin or who found them. They may also say that there are laws saying that the artifacts should be returned. Others may say that no matter who the objects belong to the artifacts should remain in museums around the world. Artifacts should not be returned to their nations of origins.

For us to properly learn about culture, we must understand the meaning of cultural relativism and ethnocentrism. The two concepts challenge one another. Reading the article, we must pull away from our ethnocentric views and think critically about the Nacirema people's. However, the description of the culture creates an ideology that is hard to agree with. For example, the Nacirema peoples take part in a rite that involves hog hairs and magical powders. The Nacirema rituals do sound strange and displeasing but, we have to learn to recognize our ethnocentric judgments.

Elizar was a student studying the Talmud, with hopes of one day studying the Cabbala. He trusted and loved God. When he was imprisoned, he witnessed many deaths and atrocities. After seeing so many horrible things, Wiesel began to question how his God, whom he respected, could allow this to happen. It was an absolute