One-hour observation

    

    Observation is an act or instance of noticing and perceiving. On the 19^th of September I woke up early in the morning to visit the Swayambhunath which is also know as the monkey temple form my anthropology observation assignment. I chose this place, as me being Buddhist I have so much love for it. It is one of the most religious and holy places in Nepal. It is considered as world heritage sight under unesco. It is close by my house but I have to climb 365 steps to reach the temple.

        
     As I climbed all those steps I was so tired and decided to sit down. I took out my notebook and a pen and started jotting down all the things I observed. What I have noticed at first is any one who enters the temple is happy and overjoyed to reach at the top of the temple. The temple is situated on top of the hill it has a peaceful and holy environment. There were so many people taking rounds of the stupa chanting Buddhist prayers, many of them are exercising and mediating. I could see the entire Kathmandu form here it was looking so beautiful. Monkeys were everywhere either jumping up and down, playing and some were in search of food. There was even a monkey who was getting chased by a black dog. People were staring at me and making a confused expression.  A man came and sat beside me stared at me for a while and asked me If I was Chinese when I replied no I am Nepali he was surprised, he then started asking lots of questions I was quite annoyed but replied to all his questions. At the end he handshake with me and asked my number which I obviously dint give. A Nepali soldier came followed by a group of people who were wearing complete white clothes. The group consisted of male and female, they had come here to exercise. As I started moving around to observe more things. There was a long line of people carrying offerings, waiting for turn to enter the temple and get blessed, there was this puja going in front of the temple I always imagine or saw pandits (Hindu priest) wearing orange clothes, different types of tika on their forehead but this pandits was so different he had worn ray ban shades and normal clothes I was quite surprised looking at him.
     
       The antique shops were just opening, while shops where we get butter lamps and offerings open early in the morning. Butter lamps are the product, which is the most sold and bought. There was this group of singers they even play instruments and sing every morning in swayambhu I don’t understand what they sing but I think most probably its in newari language. I saw a lot of tourist but most of them were Chinese. They had come along with a tourist guide. The guide was explaining the history and aspect of this place.  The famous drink of this place is divya ras, which a lot of people drink. It is good for our health. Even though it is such religious place teenagers come on dates or bunk school I could see lots of pairs dating and school students just chilling around. The most beautiful moment in this observation is when this young girl came and started feeding pigeons the pigeons came flying to the ground, there were people coming with bags full of bananas and fruits as they were walking around the stupa they were feeding the monkeys. The monkeys here in swayambhu are considered holy. There were lots of people gathered around an artificial pond, they had coins in their hands, which there were which they were trying to put inside a pot. There is a saying that if the coins go inside our wishes are fulfilled. 

                                                                                                                                           

As this was my second observation I think I have done it better. I have enjoyed doing it. Even though I had been to Swayambhunath several times I had never really observed it properly. Most importantly what I have learnt form both the observation is that we never observe things properly but when we do we can learn things quicker and get a better   understanding.

 

SURAT AL- MURSALAT (The Emissaries, Winds Sent Forth) 

   

As this is the first time reading the Quran it was a good experience. I have chose to read Al- mursalat, which is the 77th chapter, and there are 50 verses. I liked this chapter, as it was easy to understand and was so meaningful. It talks about a day when Allah will send his messenger to let us know that there will be a day of judgment and that no one can run away form it. The good ones who obey Allah's teaching will be rewarded and blessed but the ones who disobey will be punished for all the sins they have committed. It has been also mentioned that if the ones who commit the sin will ask for forgiveness Allah will surely forgive them and tell them follow the right path and not commit sins.

    What I like most about this chapter is that its common to all the other culture which also teaches us no to disobey god. It also shows us that god loves us so much that even if we commit sins he forgives us and gives us a second chance.

SMALL PLACES, LARGE ISSUES

                                        COMPARISON AND CONTEXT ANSWERS 

-The common concern that the entire anthropology share is that anthropology tries to study or find out that all cultures have something in common and that all should be treated equally. 

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 (pg.7)

- In this line Eriksen says that even though culture relativism is one of the most important thing in anthropology and all the anthropologist says us to follow it. It is quite hard to follow and to always have a positive mind towards other cultures.

Warn against the application of a shared, universal scale to be used in the evaluation of every society(pg.6)

 -As each culture has something important to them which other cultures might not find important.Everyones choices are different and they must be understood in their own terms.As being an anthropology student I do agree with this line as I feel that no one should be judged because of their culture.Even thought some thing is not important to us that does not give us the right to judge others in any way.

Kelly gurung 
Sca 
Vincent Giannotti
10th september, 2014 


                                                   DEFINITIONS(anthropological terms)


EMIC: It is the study of culture done form  the person that participates in the culture being studied.

ETIC: It is the study of culture form the person that does not participate in the culture being studied 

AGENCY:It is the concept  that each human individual within a culture has the ability to determine and choose by free will.

STRUCTURE: It believes individual are set into social agreements which limit the choices and opportunities. 

HOLISM: It is the idea that all the properties of the given system cannot be determined or explained by it components alone. Instead the system as a whole determines how the parts behave.

Kelly gurung

SCA- 1^ST YEAR

Vincent Giannotti

8^th September 2014

10 MINUTES OBSERVATION

I Kelly gurung had chose to observe Tsering paldon lama while she was shopping for 10 minutes and these are the things I have noticed.

On 6^th of September Saturday we decided to go for shopping. As we entered a shop the surrounding was quite silent and there was a soft music playing .The walls were painted with different colors so the shop was looking quite bright .The shop was quite big with lots of clothes. There were no customers in the shop but there were two sales women.  I started my phones stopwatch and started to observe. I decide to follow her and stay close to her so it would be easier for me to observe her. Tsering first went to the section where there were dresses. She started looking at each dress carefully and also touched it to check its material .Her face expression completely changed when she saw pretty black dress with white flowers prints on it, she started to say oh my god this is so cute.  She then started looking at other clothes also. I was following her everywhere and stayed close to her. As I observed carefully I could  clearly see that she was very choosey and picky about clothes. She was more attracted to colorful clothes, which had different kinds of print.  She also preferred lose and comfortable clothes rather than tight fitting clothes. She picked all the clothes she liked and tried it in front of a big mirror and asked us for advice too.

As she tired the clothes her face expression changed every time she tired  something on when she thought t it was good she was happy and gave a big smile and when she dint like it she showed a lazy and bored face or started to laugh and say this look’s so funny. The other people involved in my observation were two sales woman and Aayushma .Tsering was kind and soft spoken with the saleswoman as they were helping her. At last she finally picked a dress, which was black in color and was really happy and I stopped my stopwatch. What I noticed most importantly is that Tsering really enjoys to shop and has a good choice of clothes.

As I was doing the observation I really enjoyed it as I had never done it before. Basically I chose to observe Tsering as she is one of my close friend and shopping because its one of our favorite thing to do. What I learnt form from this observation is that observing a person is very important as by observing a person we can come to know the person better and learn their behaviors too. Next time if I would get a chance to observe some one again I think I would be more focused, take more notes and observe an unknown person as  think it would be more challenging and fun. 

Tsering felt quite wired at first but after some time she liked being observed as she felt like a very important person. She told me that I had done a good job observing her as I did it carefully. She was really happy to be observed by me.

CULTURAL RELATIVISM AND UNIVERSAL HUMAN RIGHTS – Carolyn fluehr –Lobban

 

2. Central quotation:

Select a quotation, which in your view sums up the key point/s of the text. Copy it accurately and give the page reference. Explain, briefly, why this quote is so important for an understanding of the article/extract.

“ what a member 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 Page 1 

- In my opinion this quote is trying to say that as there are so many culture in the world and each of them are different form one another we tend to find other cultures very strange .It is important too understand this quote as it is what the author trying to teach us not to judge any culture as no culture is bad it is just how we see it .

3. Argument:

Summarize the basic argument of the article/extract

The basic argument of the article is mainly about culture relativism, how people view different culture in different ways. I think that it mainly focusing on women.  As people have strong belief in culture I feel that  women are ones  facing many difficulties. There are many examples given in the article about women being dominated. The Islamic philosophers and political activists deny that a woman can be a head of family or state. As the anthropologist shares her research on Sudan, one of the African countries where the practice of female circumcision is widespread. How the culture forces ever women to be circumcised other wise the wont be respected.

4. Counter-argument:

Provide a reasoned criticism or counter argument you may wish to make.

- Firstly after reading this article It has given me a new perspective about culture. I had never herd about how women were circumcised in Africa. Even though we  have studied and learnt about cultural relativism  but if a culture bring harm to an anyone it should not be left. After a woman is circumcised  she faces many problems like infections and facing extreme pain while giving birth and sexual intercourse because of  it  so we should try to stop it .

5. Experiential connection:

Anything in your own experience, which supports or challenges the argument.

No, I haven’t had any experience which supports or challenges the argument.

6. Implications:

Suppose the argument is right. So what? What difference does it make? Why does it matter?

-For me this article is right and it has given a better understanding about how anthropologist work (they observe , record but do not evaluate of other peoples custom and values ).It has changed my perspective towards viewing culture .