Category: Anthropology

We have spent the semester viewing a series of films from an anthropological perspective and
discussing how films can be used in the study of culture. Your final writing assignment for this semester
is to write a three to four-page paper in which you explain the importance of film for the field of
anthropology.
Why is film an important medium for anthropology? What are some of the ways in which anthropology
can use film in the study of society and culture? In what ways is film a valuable resource for the study of
society and culture?
In addressing this topic refer to at least three of the films we have watched this semester in order to
illustrate and re-enforce your ideas, and draw on at least three of the course readings you’ve done as
well.
Create a well-organized and carefully argued essay in which you state what you believe the important
connections between film and the anthropological study of society and culture to be.
Please follow the writing format instructions in the syllabus in the section on Students’ Written Work,
and submit your paper through Blackboard as a word.doc or a pdf as you’ve done for the other
assignments.  

What to do:
Please read the article Nacirema & and post if you are familiar the Nacirema but please do not mention who they are if you are familiar with them and also comment on one ritual of the Nacirema that you find strange.

In a 2 to 3 page essay, discuss why and how Cultural relativism is a very important concept in Cultural Anthropology. In doing so, please do the following:
a)  Define cultural relativism and explain why it is important to anthropologists.
b)  Give at least two examples from the readings that describe cultural practices and/or beliefs that required
you to take a culturally relativistic point of view and explain why they did so.
c)  Discuss your own thoughts about cultural relativism. Some questions to think about in doing so: Do you
think it is a valid point of view? Did it pose difficulties for you? Did learning about it change the way you think about people and cultures who are different from you and your culture?

The essay should have:
a) focus and clarity of the language used represent your claim; 
b) the degree to which your discussion utilizes assigned text materials to illustrate and develup a response to each question
-(When referring to the texts), give page numbers in parentheses- no need to quote extensively.  -NEVER assume that the illustrative passage you have chosen speaks “for itself.” Rather, having cited your text as grounds for your discussion, explain the connection to the claim(s) by explaining the usefulness of the text-specific example(s). 
c ) the extent to which your discussion is convincing as a point of view. 
Essay: There are four “universal compensations” that societies provide their members, provided on the basis of what those members do (their roles) or see themselves as being (their
identities): 
-power (the capacity to make things happen in one’s own or others’ interest); 
-property (tangible elements of value within a culture): 
-prestige (status, either marked by title or by reputation); and, 
-pleasure (aspects of well-being, either physical or metaphysical). 
Using one of the ethnographies read since the mid-term, demonstrate how at least TWO of these compensations operate in one society. Provide careful consideration and specific empirical evidence of ethnographic detail, from your chosen text, in
order to be convincing as to the importance of the TWO compensations you have chosen. 
Compensation use: Prestige and Power.  from the book: Gilbert Herdt. TheSambia: Ritual, Sexuality and Change ni Papa New Guinea.  

I really need someone with strong paper writing skills with expertise in history and/or anthropology!
Write a minimum five-page double-spaced paper about the history of cannibalism in Fiji. The page count does not include the cover page and references section.
Look into the religious and/or cultural rituals behind the cannibalism, what tribes were doing it, the hierarchical dynamics, the weapons used, tactics used, etc. Include the typical who, what, when, where and how. Also include how it ended with European Chrsitian missionaries coming in and spreading Christianity. There is a superstition about “curse islands”, because of the cannibalization of a Christian priest. You could talk a bit about that as well.
It must be in APA format.
This is an anthropology class that specializes in cannibalism, so it is perfectly okay if everything is detailed and graphic. I will provide you with sources later, but feel free to add more sources, as needed for you.

Read the article and watch the Kim’s then answer the following questions.The article and the films provide a number of case studies which you should draw upon to answer the prompt.
(1) How does globalization, poverty and trans-border migration create the opportunity for a 21st century version of slavery? Why does migration represent a form of vulnerability for domestic workers? (Draw on examples from the films and readings)
(2) What does human servitude look like in Niger? How does it differ from other examples you encountered in this Unit? (For example, house slavery in France, debt bondage in India, child soldiers, children in the sex industry in Cambodia, sex trafficking in Moldova.)
(3) Commodification of individuals: Given that people can be bought and sold as objects in a labor market or as sexually trafficked commodities, do you think that historical ideas of ownership and property should be used as a legal criteria for defining modern slavery? What other features of slavery might you identify as key features of slavery given the case studies and articles you have read? You may wish to reflect (as Orlando Patterson does) on how professional athletes are bought and sold as objects, and yet are not slaves. Does “ownership” constitute a key feature of slavery?
VIDEOS:
Slavery: Thought it no longer existed? (1hr 48min)

People In Niger Are Still Born Into Slavery (19min)

I choose Judaism – “Essentials of Faith: Judaism” 
3.  Research your chosen religion through the library or through valid web sources.  
4.  In a short paper discuss the history of this religion, its major tenets, and the location(s) of its followers.
5.  Using two examples from the film and/or from other (documented) sources explain the diversity that exists within this religion.

Assignment Instructions:
As you read the course materials this week be sure to take notes on what you study. 
Keep notes on your impressions and record your personal definition of Cultural Anthropology.
Learners should keep notes over four different days, label those four different days, and each of the four entries should be two-to-three complete, substantial paragraphs in length.
Exemplar: Field Notes Exemplar.docx Download Field Notes Exemplar.docx  (SEE ATTACHED FILE)
This week you learned about field notes in Chapter 3 of the eText. Field notes can be formal or informal. For this assignment, you will take informal field notes, much like a personal journal, on your impressions of what you learned in the Week 1 module materials. 
Submit your “field notes”. You may hand write them or type them in a Word document with a .doc or .docx document file extension. If you hand write your notes, make sure they are legible. Scan them and submit them as a .pdf file extension document.
Use correct grammar, punctuation, and complete sentences in your field notes. 
Be sure to review the grading rubric before you submit your assignment to make sure you are including all the required elements.

expand on my prompt. 1.    
Consider
the framing statement from the first day of class: Human beings are a “semiotic
species.” We’ve been able to explore this from several angles. Think about some
of what makes us different from other animals by comparing and contrasting what
Vervet monkeys tend to do with their alarm calls with what human beings tend to
do with memes. Where possible, draw on the theoretical concepts offered in this
class as part of this comparative exercise.

Watch the video “The Ultimate Cash Crop: Your Children (Affluenza)” (1997) (below) and answer the questions.
Affluenza will expose you to the problem of overconsumption and its effects on the society and the environment. This video takes a hard, sometimes humorous look at the American passion for shopping, and how it leads to debt and stress for families, communities, the nation and the world. It also explores the strategies used by marketers to sell products to young people. It ultimately reveals the forces that have dramatically transformed us from a nation that prized thriftiness — with strong beliefs in “plain living and high thinking” — into the ultimate consumer society.
Succinctly answer the following questions in paragraph form:
1. What is Affluenza? Why is it perceived as a problem? 2. Symptom: Shopping Fever: In what sense is shopping therapy?
3. Symptom: Stress: Why does the consumer lifestyle tend to lead to a stressful life? 4. Symptom: Material Boys and Girls: Why are children so materialistic? 5. Symptom: A Rash of Bankruptcies: Credit cards—buy now, pay later: US 4% savings rate vs. Japanese 16%; more bankruptcies than college graduations. Why are these stats important?
6. Symptom: Social Scars: Explain how widening gap between rich and poor feeds consumerism and makes materialism an ideal of good life.
7. Symptom: Global Infection: how does globalization contribute to consumerism and what would be the environmental consequences of a global consumption boom?
video link provided here only use this source for doing this assignment.