Description
Answer the following two questions. EACH answer should be at least 250 words long, not including the words in the question.Anthropologists studying religions typically engage in various activities that fall under the umbrella of “participant observation” to understand how the religion is practiced and the importance of the religion in practitioners’ lives. For example, an anthropologist studying a Catholic church in Miami would probably attend masses, volunteer at church fundraisers, try to become friends with some church members, attend baptism and wedding rituals, speak frequently with the priests who work there, and read the church newsletters or web page. Briefly describe the 5 activities that Karen McCarthy-Brown engaged in as part of her participant observation in Brooklyn and Haiti that you believe had the most potential to contribute to an understanding of how the religion is practiced and its importance in practitioners’ lives. Also discuss why you chose these particular ones. Hint #1: I discuss what “participant observation” means to anthropologists in the “Chapter 1 Video Lecture.” The term is also discussed in Chapter 1 of the textbook. Hint #2: McCarthy-Brown mentions several of her participant observation activities in the Introduction chapter of Mama Lola. They are not all described in one place, so you will need to read the entire chapter to do well on this question.Chapter 2 of the textbook introduces the following concepts: worldview; folktales; legends; myths; social charter; apocalyptic myth; trickster myth; and monomyth. Use three of these concepts to analyze the story of Joseph Binbin Mauvant (given in Chapter 1 of Mama Lola). You may do so in positive, negative, or mixed terms — (for example: “this story is the perfect example of X, because…”, or “this story is clearly not an example of Y because…”, or “in some ways, this story fits the definition of Z because… but in other ways it does not because…”). Hint #1: Use the textbook definitions of these terms, which are OFTEN VERY DIFFERENT than many dictionary definitions (including ones on the internet.)NOTES: You do not need to include full citations for either the textbook or Mama Lola, but if you quote something, include a parenthetical cite like this: (Mama Lola, p. 14), or (textbook, 4th edition, p. 31), or (lecture, Module 1). You should not need to use any other source except the textbook, Mama Lola, and my lectures to answer these questions, but if you do, please cite them fully. You will be graded on your understanding of course materials.
