After reading Chapter Seven which focused on Fieldwork and Ethnography we were presented with several hypothetical questions. They are as follows: If you had the time and resources necessary to travel anywhere in the world where would you go? What would you study? How would you try to accomplish the work? And why would this be worth doing? After much thought, I know that I could have chosen anything, anywhere in the world however, I choose something closer to home that I would want to do as my first ethnographic research project. I find the daily lives of the Amish community in Lawrence County, Indiana most interesting and fascinating and would like to understand more completely as an ethnographic research project. For two years, while commuting to work in Lawrence County Indiana, I would see the Amish traveling in horse and buggy along the side of the highway. I would wonder to myself, “What would it be like to live that lifestyle”?
My first task before beginning my ethnographic research would be to contact the Amish community that I would want to research and then do some preliminary background research that includes accessing a library, internet, folklore journals and databases. (Sims 205) From this preliminary research I can accomplish two things, one is to use this information to gain access to the group and create a good rapport and the other is I would be able to develop good open ended question to ask my consultants for my fieldwork research. (Sims 221, 209) In addition, from my research I would learn to pay close attention to social faux pas, making culturally insensitive comments, or acting inappropriately. (Sims 221) I am also considered and outsider and that can affect my position with the Amish people. (Sims 219) Basically, we play by their rules not ours. (Sims 224) Once a good rapport has been achieved, it is important to prepare a written release form that is a record of the consultants’ permission and any special conditions. Both observer and consultant must sign the release form. (Sims 207) Using my five senses, memory, tape recorder, video recorder, pens, paper and pencil these are some of the most important research tools that I can have with me when doing my fieldwork research. (Sims 206) I would choose the participant-observer approach to research the daily lives of the Amish community. I would really want to experience what it would be like to be a member of the Amish community as opposed to just using an observation method. I would interact with members and spend time with and in the community. (Sims 220) By doing “in the moment” fieldwork and recording what happened via video, photograph or precise notes. I would write down observations, thoughts and ideas, and explain what is going on and do follow up interviews. (Sims 211) When all fieldwork is completed, transcribing and transcripts of taped material is a necessary part of the fieldwork research. (Sims 216) The transcripts serve as a written record that includes the informal, friendly tone of the interview conversation. (Sims 217) When all the transcribing is complete further interviews will be conducted, and notes will be organized, and I will use other researchers’ fieldwork research to compare and contrast observations. (Sims 218)
I know that there are thousands upon thousands of types of folklore culture that I could have observed and researched. However, the text states “folklorists don’t necessarily have to go far away to gather information”. For two years I commuted to work in Mitchell, Indiana in Lawrence County. I would always see the Amish traveling in their horse and buggy along the side of the highway. I would wonder to myself “what would it be like to live that life style”. As a folklorist, being able to document the daily lifestyle of an Amish community; would be worth doing because it would help me and the world better understand the daily lifestyles of the Amish community and create a better understanding of their values and beliefs in comparison to the rest of the world.
This Post is in response to Chapter 7 Reflection Question.
Works Cited
Sims, Martha and Martine Stephens. Living Folklore an Introduction to the Study of People and Their Traditions. Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press, 2005.
Saturday, December 8, 2007
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Mendhi Rites of Passage Party
For the Extra Credit Group I choose to review a documentary film titled “The Painted Bride”. This film details the importance of mendhi body painting; a type of intricate floral design, using a henna paste that is painted on the hands and feet of soon to be brides. The film especially focuses on Pakistani immigrant Shenaz Hooda, a mendhi artist, and how she retains her Pakistani heritage through her desire to perform mendhi body painting on other Pakistani immigrant women, but also to keep that tradition going as she shows her art to elementary students. I will focus on how this tradition of a mendhi party is a particular type of ritual, more specifically a rites of passage ritual.
Rites of passage mark notable dates or stages in a persons’ life. (Sims 110) The mendhi party is kind of similar to an American wedding shower. In The Painted Bride the mendhi party takes place two to three days prior to a woman’s wedding day. This event is attended mostly by women, all in traditional Pakistani outfits. However, men play a particular role in this film towards the end of this event. The party begins with the preparation of the henna paste; which consists of crushed up henna leaves that Ms. Hooda gets from family members in India , clove oil, lemon, tea water, and sugar which is in turn soaked for a couple of hours. Ms. Hooda states “in the olden times henna was done with a pen like tool and that used to take longer, now she uses a cake decorating method”. Once the henna paste is ready to apply, all the women begin to sign songs. The songs that the women sign are songs that tease and make fun of the bride and the bride’s future in-laws. The purpose of the songs is to ease the bride’s nerves about her approaching wedding day. The songs are accompanied by drum beats and hand clapping. Ms. Hooda states in the film “the purpose of painting the hands and feet in intricate floral and leaf designs is because the hands are the first thing that comes in contact between a husband and wife. Also painting your hands and feet becomes more colorful.” When applying the henna design Ms. Hooda will hide a letter in the design with the purpose being, if the husband can find the letter the wife must obey her husband, if he cannot find the letter, then the husband has to obey the wife. In addition, Ms. Hooda will also apply henna designs on all the women attending the Mendhi Party. This leads to the reason why, towards the end of this ritual, the men are present at this event. With all of the women’s hands painted they cannot make or serve the food, therefore the men’s jobs is to prepare and serve the meal.
The text states “most rituals are stylized, highly conceptualized, deeply symbolic activities that enable groups to acknowledge, exemplify and or act out certain traditional ideas, values and belief. (Sims 95) All of these types of folklore from the verbal folklore of singing songs, the customary folklore of dancing and clapping, to the material folklore of the traditional clothing and the art of mendhi body adornment. All of these types of folklore come together to create the ritual known as rites of passage. (Sims 95) Although this ritual has become more Americanized, it’s still important to the participants. (Sims 96)
This posting is for the Extra Credit Group-Documentary Film Review.
Dargan, Amanda and Susan Slyomovics dir. The Painted Bride. 1990. 1 Dec. 2007
http://www/folkstreams. net/video/painted_bride
Sims, Martha and Martine Stephens. Living Folklore an Introduction to the Study of People and Their Traditions. Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press, 2005.
Rites of passage mark notable dates or stages in a persons’ life. (Sims 110) The mendhi party is kind of similar to an American wedding shower. In The Painted Bride the mendhi party takes place two to three days prior to a woman’s wedding day. This event is attended mostly by women, all in traditional Pakistani outfits. However, men play a particular role in this film towards the end of this event. The party begins with the preparation of the henna paste; which consists of crushed up henna leaves that Ms. Hooda gets from family members in India , clove oil, lemon, tea water, and sugar which is in turn soaked for a couple of hours. Ms. Hooda states “in the olden times henna was done with a pen like tool and that used to take longer, now she uses a cake decorating method”. Once the henna paste is ready to apply, all the women begin to sign songs. The songs that the women sign are songs that tease and make fun of the bride and the bride’s future in-laws. The purpose of the songs is to ease the bride’s nerves about her approaching wedding day. The songs are accompanied by drum beats and hand clapping. Ms. Hooda states in the film “the purpose of painting the hands and feet in intricate floral and leaf designs is because the hands are the first thing that comes in contact between a husband and wife. Also painting your hands and feet becomes more colorful.” When applying the henna design Ms. Hooda will hide a letter in the design with the purpose being, if the husband can find the letter the wife must obey her husband, if he cannot find the letter, then the husband has to obey the wife. In addition, Ms. Hooda will also apply henna designs on all the women attending the Mendhi Party. This leads to the reason why, towards the end of this ritual, the men are present at this event. With all of the women’s hands painted they cannot make or serve the food, therefore the men’s jobs is to prepare and serve the meal.
The text states “most rituals are stylized, highly conceptualized, deeply symbolic activities that enable groups to acknowledge, exemplify and or act out certain traditional ideas, values and belief. (Sims 95) All of these types of folklore from the verbal folklore of singing songs, the customary folklore of dancing and clapping, to the material folklore of the traditional clothing and the art of mendhi body adornment. All of these types of folklore come together to create the ritual known as rites of passage. (Sims 95) Although this ritual has become more Americanized, it’s still important to the participants. (Sims 96)
This posting is for the Extra Credit Group-Documentary Film Review.
Dargan, Amanda and Susan Slyomovics dir. The Painted Bride. 1990. 1 Dec. 2007
http://www/folkstreams. net/video/painted_bride
Sims, Martha and Martine Stephens. Living Folklore an Introduction to the Study of People and Their Traditions. Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press, 2005.
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Pitfalls of Psychoanalytic Interpretative Folklore
The text presented several theoretical or interpretive approaches to the study of folklore. I found the example presented in the text of the psychoanalytic interpretation of calling on Bloody Mary the most compelling. Based on mine and my daughters past experiences of calling on “Bloody Mary”, I found many similarities between the text and our recollections of this verbal text performed by pre-teen girls. However, I do not necessarily agree that this particular ritual has something to do with the onset of the first menses. (Sims 188)
I found that in comparing mine and my daughters recollection of calling on “Bloody Mary” paralleled that of the basic components of the ritual presented in the text. They are as follows;
Occurred before we were twelve years old
Several young girls participated
Took place in a darkened bathroom
Involved chanting of “Bloody Mary”
Tried to find the figure or face of “Bloody Mary” in a darkened mirror
I asked my daughter why her and her friends performed this ritual. She said they did it because they wanted to be frightened. In my recollection of this particular event I would have to agree with the same conclusion as my daughter. I performed that ritual because it was scary. I asked my daughter if she thought performing this ritual had any other particular meaning to her other that just being scared. She said “no”. The text states that “many rituals are infused with a sense of seriousness and deliberateness, and some are less serious, existing as much for entertainment as for any other purpose, they are all typically important to the participants”. (Sims 96) I would have to conclude that calling on “Bloody Mary” is for entertainment purposes and doing this ritual is important to the participants which include seven to twelve year old girls. After informing my daughter that the psychoanalytic interpretations of calling on Bloody Mary was a ritual related to prepubescent, menstruation anxiety her and I both concluded that, that was not what was going on in our heads when we were performing this ritual. We both agreed that we just did it to be scared.
The psychoanalytic interpretative theory to folklore has several pitfalls as the text states. One pitfall states “that this theory assumes it is possible for a researcher to determine what’s going on in the minds of other people. (Sims 191) I noticed in the text that that there were not any views or opinions from seven to twelve year old girls supporting the folklorists’ interpretations and analyses of calling on “Bloody Mary. Upon further reading in the text, I discovered I preferred the folklorists’ approach of reciprocal ethnography. Incorporating the views, observations and commentary of the folk group members is included in the interpretation of folklore, (Sims 196) instead of, symbolic metaphors, or "mind reading" used in psychoanalytic interpretative theory.
This Post is in response to Chapter 6 Reflection Question.
Works Cited
Sims, Martha and Martine Stephens. Living Folklore an Introduction to the Study of People and Their Traditions. Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press, 2005.
I found that in comparing mine and my daughters recollection of calling on “Bloody Mary” paralleled that of the basic components of the ritual presented in the text. They are as follows;
Occurred before we were twelve years old
Several young girls participated
Took place in a darkened bathroom
Involved chanting of “Bloody Mary”
Tried to find the figure or face of “Bloody Mary” in a darkened mirror
I asked my daughter why her and her friends performed this ritual. She said they did it because they wanted to be frightened. In my recollection of this particular event I would have to agree with the same conclusion as my daughter. I performed that ritual because it was scary. I asked my daughter if she thought performing this ritual had any other particular meaning to her other that just being scared. She said “no”. The text states that “many rituals are infused with a sense of seriousness and deliberateness, and some are less serious, existing as much for entertainment as for any other purpose, they are all typically important to the participants”. (Sims 96) I would have to conclude that calling on “Bloody Mary” is for entertainment purposes and doing this ritual is important to the participants which include seven to twelve year old girls. After informing my daughter that the psychoanalytic interpretations of calling on Bloody Mary was a ritual related to prepubescent, menstruation anxiety her and I both concluded that, that was not what was going on in our heads when we were performing this ritual. We both agreed that we just did it to be scared.
The psychoanalytic interpretative theory to folklore has several pitfalls as the text states. One pitfall states “that this theory assumes it is possible for a researcher to determine what’s going on in the minds of other people. (Sims 191) I noticed in the text that that there were not any views or opinions from seven to twelve year old girls supporting the folklorists’ interpretations and analyses of calling on “Bloody Mary. Upon further reading in the text, I discovered I preferred the folklorists’ approach of reciprocal ethnography. Incorporating the views, observations and commentary of the folk group members is included in the interpretation of folklore, (Sims 196) instead of, symbolic metaphors, or "mind reading" used in psychoanalytic interpretative theory.
This Post is in response to Chapter 6 Reflection Question.
Works Cited
Sims, Martha and Martine Stephens. Living Folklore an Introduction to the Study of People and Their Traditions. Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press, 2005.
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