week 9 Flashcards
rites of passage and corporeal modifcations
Four Universal Rites of Passage
birth
death
coming of age
marriage
why do we mark a birth
- risk of death
- ceremonies reinforce the support of the immediate community of the parents
- improves social solidarity
- emphasizes support network
- El Salto del Colacho aka “the devil’s jump” to cleanse babies of “original sin” (contraception) and to protect from illness
- chrisitan baptism (drowning and rebirth ceremony)
To become full members of their society, adolescents must understand
1.) when childhood ends
2.) when adulthood begins
3.) what is expected from them by society
passage into adulthood/coming of age
typically marked by the onset of sexual maturity
defines by reaching a specific age or stage of development
t/f seclusion is an almost universal response to the onset of menstration in non-industrial societies
true
what are dysphoric rituals
modification/mutilation of body
ex.) sexual organs (circumcision, penile subincision)
frequently used to mark the transition to adulthood
what is it called when members of a group identify with one another as if they are kin
identity fusion
Initiation fits well with one of the
major hypotheses concerning the
nature of ______ namely,
that they are remnants of
religious rituals for affirming
membership of a social group.
Upper paleolithic rock art
Donna Winslow 1999. Rites of Passage and
Group Bonding in the Canadian Airborne.
Armed Forces & Society
1.) initiate’s identity is stripped, levelled into homogeneous group to suppress individuality
2.) enter liminal phase; events become parodies and inversions of real life. group bonding is reinforced and undergo similar processes of testing and humiliation
3.) initiates are reincorporated into group members of the regiment
Scarification, abraded skin, and open wounds
are used as
proximate hypothesis:
- rite of passage
- hardening/trauma
ultimate hypothesis:
- non-adaptive sexual selection
- susceptibility to infection by pathogens
- the extent to which male mutilations are expressed should correlate positively with pathogen prevalence
ritual slitting of the penis including urethrotomy
subincision
Power to
physically enforced.
(The police have the power to arrest you)
Power over
socially enforced.
(Your parents have the power to ground you)
There are three principal lines of archaeological
evidence for tattooing in ancient and pre-literate societies:
- Anthropomorphic art;
- Tattoo tools;
- Preserved human skin
how early do we think the practice of tattooing may have originated
upper paleolithic
less ambiguous facial tattoo evidence
- remains of a chinchorro man (south america)
- early fishing society of chile and southern peru (7000 and 1100 BC)
- sequence of dots on upper lip of male adult (2280 BC)
Ötzi “The Iceman”
- Found in 1991
- melting out of glacier
- between Austria and Italy
- Died in approximately 3250 BC
- 61 tattoo marks across his body
- The greatest concentration of markings is found on his legs
- treat rheumatic illness
t/f tattooing was strongly associated with magical practices and widely used as medicine
t
Polynesia role of the tattoo
- relates to stratification, mythology, and ideas about the sacred
- Status is not necessarily emboied in: tattooing creates and signifies difference (high or low) but is also a way of protecting the self and controlling the sacred
- high-status persons might have tattoos, but these were so powerful that in some contexts after death their skins had to be removed in order for them to safely enter the realm of the gods
European Tattooing 1800s
- In 1547, King Edward VI declared vagabonds
were to be branded ‘ V’ on the chest, fighters
(fraymakers) ‘ F’, and runaway slaves ‘ S’ on the
cheek or forehead. The law was repealed in
1550 - Convicts tried in London were branded on the
thumb with ‘ T’ for theft, ‘ F’ for felon or ‘M’ for
murder until the late 1700s - Between 1699 and 1707, convicts could also be
branded on the cheek. Prisoners transported
from Britain to Australian penal colonies
between 1787 and 1867 bore the tattoo “D,” for
deserter, on their foreheads or other marks
intended to signify disgrace and social
ostracism. - Branding was outlawed in 1829 but persisted in the British army until 1871.
Two myths concerning tattooing in nineteenth century Europe:
- that tattooing in Europe was imported, the result of encounters between explorers, merchants, and other European itinerants and the “primitive” peoples they met on their journeys
- the conviction, among Europeans, that tattooing was intrinsically bound up with deviance and criminality
the iconic dagger-through-the-heart tattoo,
indicates
betrayal in love, a broken heart, or
emotional sacrifice or suffering.
Prisoners’ tattoos functioned as a
passport, an autobiography, an index
of social standing, a uniform hung with
medals and ribbons, and also as a
political or emotional statemen
any initiate could ‘read’ a
fellow prisoner simply by witnessing
him or her undress.
the crucified Christ is a rank as
“a prince of thieves”
