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Chapter 13 Fieldwork

I interviewed one of my patients, im a CNA, her name is mrs. Livia Ricci, she is 87 years young and she came to America from San Vito Lo Capo, Sicily, Italy in the 1940 with her mother and 2 siblings. She was the youngest of her mother’s 3 kids, and was only 8 years old when a friend of her father’s sent for them to come to America. She says they came to America so her family would be together and to have a better life, as well as to get away from the on going war that was happening in Europe. She say she doesn’t remember much from Italy, besides the fact that they lived close to the beach and everyday her and siblings would go to the beach and play in the water. She remembers that when they got to America, they headed to Chicago from New York after making it through Ellis Island. They experienced a lot of hate from people native to Chicago, she remembers when her older brother, Luca, getting beaten badly for sticking up for his twin sister Lucia after she was getting harassed by the local boys. This happened frequently according to Mrs. Ricci, and after the 5th time resulted in her older brother getting arrested her father decided to move to their family Philadelphia in 1948. She says that when they got to Philadelphia things were better, since they decided to live in south Philadelphia which had a large Italian population but her father had to make a career change and went from having a successful bakery in Chicago to making shoes in a local shoe shop. Being around other Italians made Mrs. Ricci’s transition into American lifestyle more easy. However, 6 months after moving to Philadelphia, while she was volunteering at a hospital she experienced extreme teasing from the local non Italian girls for her accent, which caused her to talk very little or not at all.

She says growing in America wasnt like what she thought it would be, she says her father would talk about how great america was in his letters he would send them and when they all reunited together in America. She say she remembers having this picture of people in America being wealthy and not having to worry about when the next time they would eat, but after 2 years living here that picture faded away to reveal the harsh reality how hard life in America could be.

#msuanthropology #anthropology

[smallfrymesha]

Personally, I wouldn’t be able to live off of $2 dollars because being a girl, I would need personal items that cost much more then they should. As for everything else, i still wouldn’t be able to afford good food and warm clothes with only $2 dollars a day. Even though they are necessities, they both range in prices and would ultimately cost a lost of money.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/jul/04/the-return-of-marxism

The article above specks on the return of marxism in today’s area. The article talks about how instead of bourgeoisie getting rid of capitalism, it’s actually trying to keep it alive. The article then goes on to mention that while workers in China are overworked and under paid, China it’s self still continues to make money while America is bankrupt.

https://newrepublic.com/article/158349/searching-consolation-max-webers-work-ethic

The article above goes into detail about Webers theory in social class. The author of the article mentions how Americans were victims of this theory during the start of the pandemic. Americans had not choice but to work and if some people had to participate in the nation wide quarantine, they were then felt with a sense of guilt because they weren’t working to survive anymore.

#anthropology #msuanthropology

[smallfrymesha]

Ok so, i did my immediate family. As you can see my family is very big and i have a lot of cousins, unfortunately one of cousins did pass away a year ago due to suicide, so the family was really affected by it. On my dad side i have two older sisters, i dont really talk to them though. This is just a small look at my family, its way bigger then just this little portion. I also wanna state that family doesn’t stop with blood, it can also be other people in your life that you consider family like very close friends. My brother, who is marked on the chart as “adopted” is actually just my best friend but regardless he’s my brother.

#anthropology #msuanthropology

[smallfrymesha]

Chapter 7 Fieldwork: Cartoon Commercials and the Construction of Gender

After watching a 5 minute commercial compilation of toys from the early and mid-2000’s, which was very nostalgic for me, they aimed 6 of the commercials towards girls. The toys were always dolls, some were customizable some weren’t, the backgrounds in these commercials were colorful or had many variations of “girl” colors like pink or purple. The music would either be upbeat and would describe the toy and what it could do or had some Pop music instrumental in the background.

These commercials were: Betty Spaghetti, Star Splash Barbie, American Girl doll, FurReal Friends Puppies, Polly Pocket, and LaLaLoopsy

For the boys, it aimed 3 of the commercials in the compilation at boys. One commercial was for a toy dart gun, the other was for a beyblade, and the last one was for legos that were specifically themed around the sport of soccer. The colors that were used in these commercials were mostly “boy” colors like blues, reds, and greens. The music was always fast rock or action music.

These commercials were: Nerf Tech Target, Beyblade BlizzardBowl, and Lego Soccer.

Within this specific commercial compilation, there were 3 gender neutral commercials. These commercials had both genders in them, were colorful but had a main background color of white. The music was upbeat and always about the toy itself.

These commercials were: Orbeez Magic Maker, Play-Doh Pizza shop, and Zhu Zhu Pets.

Personally, I believe that we as a society create and continue to uphold gender roles. We make and expect boys to do more physical activities like cut the grass, take out the trash, skateboard, climb trees, etc. whereas for girls we expect them to be closed in and do things that will “help” them in the future like play with dolls, use a play “kitchen”, play salon/ hairdresser with their friends, etc. The phrase “boys will be boys'' is used to excuse the actions of boys and lets boys and young men know that what they do is normal. Running and getting a cut on your elbow or knee isn’t just a boy thing, it happens to girls too but if a boy scrapes his knee or elbow its “boys will be boys'' if the same thing happens to girls its “honey shouldn't be running you have to be more careful”. As humans, we have emotions and if we get hurt, we may express said emotions, but when you have the phrase “boys will be boys” in your mind you expect boys not to cry or show any emotion when they’re hurt physically or emotionally. If they cry it's “stop being a sissy”, “your acting like a girl” or “stop crying like a girl” when you say this to boys you’re telling them not to express their emotions which is not healthy.

#anthropology #msuanthropology

[smallfrymesha]

Chapter 6 field work

My family has lived in America for a very long time. My ancestors were African slaves, so my family is like many other African American families within America.

I do know that my great grandfather’s family and my great grandmother’s family were both share croppers in the south. My great grandfather is from Palm Beach, Florida, and my great grandmother is from Savannah, Georgia. My great-grandparents worked as hard as they could to provide a their children and grandchildren with good lives, they weren’t exactly trying to live out the “American Dream” but they were trying to live comfortable lives.

#anthropology #msuanthropology

[smallfrymesha]

CH. 5 Fieldwork: How Race Is Constructed Around The World

Microaggressions. 

Microaggressions are brief everyday interactions that exhibit hostile, derogatory or negative attitudes towards a stigmatized or marginalized group of people.  Take the Hair Brush scene from The Hate You Give. 

In the scene we see the main character, Star, pretend to attack her friend, Hailey, with a hairbrush after she states that Kahlil, Star’s deceased best friend, would have been killed in the streets regardless if he was killed by a cop or not and then tries to justify her words saying that the hairbrush Kahlil had was/looked like a weapon according to the police. I classify this as a microaggression because of the attitude Hailey gives Star around the issue. From her telling Star to “get over it.”, stating that he would have been killed anyway, and when she stated that the hairbrush in question looked like a weapon. These translate into microaggressions because while Hailey isn't being blatantly racist, her attitude towards the issue shows her hostile and negative views towards Khalil and people like him. She really makes this clear when she says that Star is “different” from “other black people”. 

Jim Crow 

Jim Crow was a set of laws that were implemented after the U.S. Civil War to enforce segregation legally. 

As stated, Jim Crow laws enforced segregation throughout the United States, but primarily the south. Most of these laws were similar: the separate white people from black people, but these laws varied by state. For example, in Alabama it was illegal for a person or corporation to require any white female nurse to nurse in wards or rooms in hospitals, either public or private, in which they placed negro men. And in Maryland, Interracial marriages between a white person and a black person were prohibited and would void. 

White Supremacy

White Supremacy is the belief that white people are biologically different from and superior to people of other races. There have been many conversations about white supremacy that have been talked about since the current president of our country, Donald J. Trump, wouldn't condemn white supremacy and instead said “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by.”. Besides that, many white supermacist rally together to spread their ideals. 

Miscegenation 

Miscegenation is a demeaning historical term for interracial marriage. In Brazil, it’s population of Europeans, Africans, and indigenous people had a long history of interracial marriage and mixing. Most of portugese men who stayed in Brazil ended up marrying the natives and Africans that were there. Before 1967, interracial marriage wasn't legal in all 50 states of the United States, but after the Supreme Court decision of Loving v. Virginia, where a black woman, Milred Loving, and her husband, a white man by the name of Richard loving were sent to jail for one year because they were an interracial married couple. After appealing to the U.S. Supreme court, it was decreed that all state anti-miscegenation laws unconstitutional.

Institutional Racism

Institutional Racism is racism that is embedded as a “normal” practice within society or an organization. We can see this as discrimination within the criminal justice system, employment, housing, health care, etc. one powerful example of this can be seen in the health care system. In many hospitals and clinics within the United States, black people are greatly discriminated against. Most instances being their pain not being taken seriously, resulting in death of black patients.

Hypodescent 

Hypo descent is the regard of some races or ethnic groups of people as dominant or superior and others as subordinate or inferior. This mindset was very prevalent in the Jim Crow era, back then if a person had “one drop of black blood” that person would be considered full black even if they were mixed race.

#msuanthropology #anthropology #makinganunfamiliarfamiliar

[smallfrymesha]

Chapter 4 Fieldwork

1. Record how many men and women are in the class. Keep a tally of how many times men speak (or post comments) and how many times women speak or post comments. Who speaks more often?

I chose to look at my theater 101 class for this specific fieldwork assignment. There are 10 boys and 15 girls in the class, a total of 25 students in the class. While there are less boys, they are the first ones to say good morning and answers questions. The girls responses, on the other hand, are delayed by a few seconds.

2. Record the average of how long people speak or the average length of their comments. Record the average of the number of words they use. If they are written comments, you can copy and paste them into a document and count them after class.

When responding to questions, girls usually talk for 10 to 30 seconds while the boys take less time or don’t respond at all. The average number of words spoken is around 15 to 25 but again it does depend on what is being asked.

3. What are differences in body language, eye contact, and style of speaking between the men and women?

when the girls speak they speak with confidence like they know what they’re talking about and if they dont know, they dont make it apparent. The when the boys talk they dont seem to have has much confidence and sometimes even speak as if they’re asking a question.

4. Do the men or the women keep their cameras on more?

Within the class, there are at least 2 to 3 cameras on. One being a boy and ther other 2 being girls. The rest of the class usually has their cameras off.

5. Is the instructor a man or woman? How do they encourage or discourage communication? Consider their body language and gaze.

My instructor for theater is a women and recently she’s been urging for more people to speak uo during class. She uses humor to do so and doesnt put specific people in the spot.

6. Does the instructor’s gender seem to influence the way they interact with the class? If so, how?

I feel like the gender of the instructor doesnt influence the way they interact with the class. Everyone teacher is a person and every person is different so how they instruct usually comes from how they are as a person.

#msuanthropology #anthropology

[smallfrymesha]

Chapter 3 Fieldwork

1. What location did you choose? What drew you to it? Describe what you found.

The location I picked is a local park in the Germantown section of Philadelphia, Where I live, that's called Vernon park. I picked this place because even though it's off of an avenue, it's relatively quiet and there is an annual music festival that happens in the park during the weeks in the summer. There are many places around the park, but what I looked at specifically within and around the park is:

The black writers museum urban affairs coalition (found within the middle of the park), a retirement home, gas station, and a church on the north-eastern side of the park, on the western side of the park, there is a local bar that serves crabs, on the south-western side there is a dental office and a shoe repair shop.

2. What did you notice in your observations that you’ve never noticed before?

What I noticed about the park is that one path that travels through the park goes towards a parking lot that's used by the church.

3. What is absent that you might have expected to find?

What I expected to find was more play areas for the children that go to the park with their families, and more picnic tables.

4. Can you determine any ways in which this space has been impacted by COVID-19

I feel like this space wasn't greatly affected by Covid since it's a great gigantic space that's outdoors. The only thing that could be affected the most would be the summer weekend music festival. Because of social distancing and quarantine in Philadelphia not being lifted until this past June, people couldn't come out to hear the music.

#anthropology #msuanthropology

[smallfrymesha]

Fieldwork #2: The Culture of Consumerism

While doing this fieldwork assignment, I've learned that most of the things I have are only for me to have. I don't use them as much as I should, which is a waste of money. All of my needs are essential for me to live comfortably. All of my wants added up together comes up to $3,802 dollars. while my needs add up to $1,639 dollars. that's a $2,163 difference. I've realized that I spend A LOT of money of things I either don't need or don't use daily. I've also realized that I have a lot of privilege being an American, other countries don't have the luxuries we have or have the necessities a human need/may own.

#msuanthropology #anthropology

[smallfrymesha]

Fieldwork #1: Making a can of Coke unfamiliar.

The History Of The Mirror

We have used mirrors since the mid-1830s. They were first created in Germany by a chemist, Justus Von Liebig, who developed the process of applying a thin layer of metallic silver to one side of a pane of clear glass. Before mirrors became a thing, people had to see their reflection in a pool of water. The other option was to use melting sheets of ice and finely polished stones or crystals. It wasn’t until the use of metals being smelted and polished could people see a clear and bright reflection of themselves. 

While the history of mirrors is relatively young, people have been using reflective surfaces made of polished obsidian since as far back as 4000 BCE. evidence of mirrors being used for grooming dates back to the 5th century BCE, we can see this in those elegant Greek pots that show the greek gazing into hand mirrors. They made those mirrors from polished metal disks and attached to handles, however, these mirrors didn’t contain glass. The first mirrors made of glass, dating back to the 3rd century AD, had small metal surfaces with glass coverings. However, these were used mostly for jewelry rather than a grooming tool. They mostly made the first mirrors and things alike in ancient Europe and the middle east, people in central and south America would use the polished stones as mirrors, while in China and India, mirrors were made from bronze. 

where were mirrors made/Manufactured?

In modern times, manufacturing companies make mirrors. One of the first companies being The Saint-Gobain Factory, founded in France by the royal initiative. Today we have companies like ATI Decorative Laminates, Kaston Fixtures & Design Group, ect. These companies make mirrors and other furniture for residential, commercial, and institutional markets.

what Impact does mirrors have in my life?

In my day-to-day life, I mostly use mirrors to check my outfit, making sure everything is neat and put together the way I imagined it. I also use it while doing my hair to make sure my parts are straight if im braiding or twisting it or to make sure I don't burn myself if im straightening or curling it. I wouldn't say that mirrors have affected my life since they’ve been around since 1835, however, there are multiple mirrors in my house which is a convenience for my family because we won't have to share one mirror in the bathroom. As for society during that era mirrors improved the lies of many people giving them a better reflection of themselves to help them do things such as apply makeup, do their hair, or just look at themselves.

Who are the people directly involved in the manufacturing of mirrors? What's life like for them?

One company that manufactures mirrors today, ATG: All Team Glass, has the latest technology, tools, and machinery to maintain their high standards of quality glass and mirror fabrication. Life for the faculty at ATG, comprise working with CNC Machines, drilling equipment, and computerized production systems capable of helping them make the most precise cuts. Their shop uses the latest technology and highly experienced personnel who have been working in the glass and mirror field for years. 

#mirror #anthropology #msuanthropology #makinganunfamiliarfamiliar