Art in Culture

Rock Art

Banksy – Street Art

Just Seeds – Subversive/Political Art

We Shall Remain: Video

Here’s a link to the film After the Mayflower, if you want to watch the rest of it:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/weshallremain/the_films/episode_1_trailer

Dork Shorts- Brittany Dulyea

 Muslims and Hindus in western India have been performing a tradition for more than five hundred years in which they throw newborn babies off of a tall building in order to improve their health. This action is believed to strengthen the children, give them good luck well into adulthood as well as give them courage and intelligence. The babies are thrown off of the roof of a 50 ft building and onto a sheet which is held up by spectators below. It is a religious tradition for couples who are blessed with a child after taking a vow at the Baba Sheikh Umar Saheb Dargah, or temple. It takes place at the shrine in Sholapur, in the state of Maharashtra and also in other parts of the country on special days. The participants do not believe this will harm the babies and have no physical recordable evidence of injury of any infant after the event. It has been argued that the harsh landing could potentially cause brain damage, but no evidence has been provided. Many people follow this ritual and say that it is a family tradition that does no harm, while many others believe that traditions such as this should be banned by the government. Thousands of families participate in this ritual, many traveling far distances in order to be able to do so. As of now, the state administration has chosen not to interfere in the tradition; however it does provide police enforcement during the ceremony in order to be sure the infants are protected.

Sources:

http://www.itv.com/News/Articles/Devotees-drop-babies-50ft-for-luck-28483519.html

http://www.breitbart.tv/good-luck-babies-children-dropped-50-feet-from-tower-in-indian-ritual/

http://www.vagabondish.com/8-bizarre-rituals-world/

 

Video: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=8ed_1209300037

Religion & Spirituality

http://www.mapsorama.com/maps/world/map_world_religions.gif

World Mapper

Mary’s City of David

Buddhist Mandala

Navajo Sandpainting

India — The Broken People

I know we have already discussed India’s Caste System but we are discussing it in my World Geography class presently and Prof. Douglas showed this video in class which I thought was interesting and worth sharing. There are three parts to the entire video.

GMOs

Social Stratification

Tangier Island Loves ESPN

I saw this commercial over the weekend! Made me think of our language section again!!

Reciprocity, trade and exchange

Here are some links about some of the cultural practices we have discussed:

Kula Ring

Potlatch

Stereotypes

Since some of you are looking at stereotyping and group identity perceptions, I thought you might find these maps of European stereotypes of other European countries interesting.