Constructing Realities Flashcards
Worldview
An encompassing picture of reality based on shared cultural assumptions about how the world works
Ritual
A dramatic rendering or social portrayal of meanings shared by a specific body of people in a way that makes them seem correct and proper
Symbolic Action
The activities – including ritual, myth, art, dance, and music – that dramatically depict the meanings shared by a specific body of people
Totemism
The use of a symbol, generally an animal or plant, as a physical representation for a group, generally a clan
“Body Ritual among the Nacirema” - Horace Miner (1956)
“The fundamental belief underlying the whole system appears to be that the human body is ugly and that its natural tendency is to debility and disease… Every household has one or more shrines devoted to this purpose. The more powerful individuals in the society have several shrines in their houses… Most houses are of wattle and daub construction, but the shrine rooms of the more wealthy are walled with stone. Poorer families imitate the rich by applying pottery plaques to their shrine walls.”
Metaphor
Figures of speech in which linguistic expressions are taken from one area of experience and applied to another.”
Domain of experience
An area of human experience (e.g. business, war, science, family life) from which people borrow meaning to apply to other areas.”
Key Metaphor
A term to identify metaphors that dominate the meanings that people in a specific culture attribute to their experience
Witchcraft:
refers to the belief that an individual (the witch) has the ability to cause harm to others through the manipulation of powerful substances
Magic
: refers to the manipulation of words or substances to influence spiritual beings for good or evil purposes
Key Scenarios
Dominant stories or myths that portray the values and beliefs of a specific society (Robbins et al., 2017)
The Way We Live
Our relationship to natural world determines our worldview and rituals
Normative practices are a result of worldview
What are your beliefs about consuming and/or using plants an animals?
These beliefs must be shared to constitute a worldview
Indigenous worldviews around the world
Often seek balance between humans and the rest of the physical world
Reciprocity between humans and physical world
Western/European/Settler worldviews
Often view humans as dominating and ruling over the physical world
Less reciprocity and balance
INDIGENOUS WORLD VIEW
Dene Tha of Northern Canada
Reciprocal giving between humans and plants and animals
Placing tobacco at the bottom of the tree or where the plant grew to show respect and thank the plant for its healing powers
INDIGENOUS WORLD VIEW
Maori of New Zealand
Humans are on the same level of power as the rest of the natural world
The sea, winds, forests, plats, animals, and humans are all offspring of Sky Father and Mother Earth
WESTERN WORLD VIEW
Hunting practices
Hunting as a sport
Killing big game
Hunting for fun instead of only for practical purposes
WESTERN WORLD VIEW
Food waste
Seeing plants as here only to sustain human life
Throwing away “waste” instead of finding a use for everything
Lots of food waste not seen as a huge problem
WESTERN WORLD VIEW
Mining
Assumption that minerals or gems are there for our consumption
Destroying the earth to get resources for human development
Time
Commodification of time
Comparison of time to money
Time can be wasted or saved
Everything is scheduled and carefully timed
Liminality
The space in between
Example: sitting on a windowsill, and therefore being both inside and outside at the same time
North America Teenagers
Specific space between childhood and adulthood
Expectations of rebellion and experimentation
Not treated like adults or children
Seen as a passage into adulthood
Thunder Rides a Black
Coming-of-age/puberty ritual for girls of the Mescalero Apache tribe
Language shapes our reality
Time can be wasted or saved
Disease is fought off by our immune systems
Language can also alter the physical world
Joining two people in marriage – “I now pronounce you…”
In some cultures, speaking of disease is seen as causing that disease to become physically real
Colonization
Colonization brought the genocide of Indigenous worldviews around the world
Forced shift from traditional to Western worldviews
Outlawing rituals and symbolic action
Outlawing language use
Syncretism
The combination of old beliefs or religions and the new ones that are introduced by colonization
Reclamation
Reclaiming belief systems, practices, and languages that have been appropriated or removed by colonization
Revitalization
Attempting to construct a more satisfying culture
Bringing new life to belief systems, practices, and languages by bringing them back into practice and teaching them
