The Shrew's Dinomeetay ideas: 2011

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Dating and Marriage!

Dating and marriage for me is probably the same as everywhere else here in Utah, particularly Utah Valley. But you still see allot of different relationship situations. The divorce rate is high, just like every where else. Along with the many divorcements, you also see many families with parents who get through their issues and live in a loving friendship. There are allot of huge families as well, go figure. And yes, some polygamists, but not many. For dating, you see allot of "girl friend boy friend" relationships along with just good friends. For me, I have good guy friends.

I don't go to group dances or hang out at somebodies house with a member of the opposite sex there (not including fathers or brothers) til I'm 14 years old. Then I don't date until I'm 16 years old, and even then, I avoid "girl friend/ boy friend" relationships during high school. I'm not exactly 16 yet, not for another 2.5 months. So I haven't dated yet. But I have one older sibling who has. When he first turned 16, he went on a date almost every week and a different girl at least every other time. But he refrained from getting into a serious relationship, he had other priorities. But I have a friend who started dating when she was 15 and a half. When she turned 16, she had a boy friend just like that. So like I said, you see a good amount of variety.

Seeing as I am not married yet, I don't have any experiences to share (at the moment), but I know many people who have had or is having a divorce. The rates are high, not the highest I don't think, but they are high. You see allot of couples who have problems and either can't, or choose not to fix them. I also know many people (my parents for one, my grandparents for two) who have been able to get through hard times and their marriage survives!

We do have allot of HUGE families. Huge can be anywhere from 5-15 kids (15 isn't that popular unless you adopt and have biological children). And apparently there are polygamists here, but they are very rare and I don't think many of them live in Utah valley.

Dating and marriage in Utah is a bit different from other states, there are allot of people who have the same standards/rules such as not dating until you're 16, or not having a boy friend girl friend relationship during high school and there are many people as well who don't have those rules, but may have some slightly different rules. As I have said before, there is variety, even in Utah.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

ANTHROPOLOGY READING

Ethnocentrism is the belief that one's group, or culture is superior to everybody else's. One believes that their way is the only way. Cultural Relativism is where you think that everybody should and does understand the same beliefs, no matter what culture.

The two stories that we read had examples of the two words that were defined earlier. In the story Shakespeare in the Bush, the anthropologist experience cultural relativism and ethnocentrism. When the anthropologist tried to share the story of Hamlet by William Shakespeare, she thought that the elders would understand it for the most part, a few little details might have to be explained. She believed that motives and personalities are all the same all over the world. However, it turned out that the elders thought that too with their way of living. And it really changed her thought pattern.
While she read "Hamlet", the elders said that she was wrong. Ghosts didn't exist, it must have been an omen, or that water is good, you can only drown if your are bewitched. There are countless examples of the elders telling her she was wrong and she didn't know how it was done, how they thought they knew the true meaning of it because they were smarter. "Of course the king would have many wives, why would he have only one?" These are all examples of Ethnocentrism and cultural relativism.

In "Eating Christmas in the Kalahari" the anthropologist thought that he was above others because of his culture (being willing to share, plus making a huge deal out of it). He was starting to feel prideful and supirior compared to all of the vilage people. They taught him a huge lesson and humbled him. He learned to be humble when they cut open the ox, saw inches of fat on it, and called it a bag of bones. He learned that all cultures are different, but that doesn't make them better than eachother, just different. Their culture shouldn't be judged on how rich they are, or how socially high they are. They were able to come up with a tradition of keeping everybody humble. This story had alot of ethnocentrism on the anthropologists part.