(Originally posted in June 2005) Well, crudpuppies. I’ve been so head-down in work and thesis writing that I realize I’ve let not one but two posting dates slip by me. I apologize; I’ll try to do better in the future. For now, please enjoy the following book review… while I go back to typing madly…
(Since I seem to be musing about honesty recently… a short college paper written in 1999 for a primate anthropology class. Enjoy!) A current ‘hot’ topic in primate studies today is the issue of infant killing. Our readings contain three articles on the subject. The first was the 1977 Hrdy article “Infanticide as a Primate…
Now that I think about it, I realize there was a constant emphasis of the Pharaoh — a symbol of rightness and order? — triumphing over entangled, combative animals. Do the raging animals symbolize the disorder and “unright” chaos of the assaulting foreigners? Further (in a personally exciting moment of inspiration) I wonder: does this…
For my birthday in October, my wonderful housemate took me to see the display on King Tutankhamen at the DeYoung Museum in San Francisco. It was, quite simply, amazing. Not only were the precious items quite breathtaking, but the information which accompanied the display was fascinating. There was some history on King Tut, including probable…
(Originally written some time in 1999 for an Independent Study anthropology class on various seminal works in the field) Roland Barthes’ exploration of the mythologizing characteristics of bourgeoisie society in France is an absorbing read. He starts out by investigating the possible mythical meanings of many of the conventionally accepted societal norms or rituals in…
I try not to write “hop on the bandwagon” postings about the current “hot” topic in the news. I like to have a bit of time to consider and reflect on issues and situations. Within that timeframe I frequently find that simply quietly helping however I can is all I wish to say on the…
This is an invite to the Open House being held for the Master’s program I’m in. It has been, quite frankly, life changing for me, so if you’re at all intrigued, please come out to hear more about it. Open House & Information Session Saturday, January 23, 2009 at 12:00 p.m. with Co-directors Judy Grahn…
Well, after giving it the old college try, I think posting former papers from college in this format is way too much bother! If I refer to them in future reviews or Firestarters, I’ll upload them here as single, very long pages, rather than a kabillion short blog entries. That being said, as promised, here…
Possible Solutions It is a simple but appealing answer to say all that needs to be done to solve the problems delineated and explored above is to restructure the societies in the readings. Were this to occur, then by definition women and minorities would not be repressed any longer, but would instead be hegemonically considered…
In yet another essay which discusses violence against women, Kumar notes that it is the deliberately poor definition of what constitutes rape and wife-beating that allows it to continue in India, despite laws forbidding it. She notes furthermore that women are often blamed for the attacks against them due to their “easy virtue” or due…