Ethnography

[comments in brackets explain the thinking behind decisions made outside of group discussion]

Setting--subtropical area

• seasonal changes in day length and weather [support festivals celebrating these changes, for example longer days at sowing time, shorter at harvest]
• plenty of rivers and streams provide water--don't have to search for water, no intensive irrigation needed

Social—Largely egalitarian society

• Elders giving deference, but no more power than any other individuals
• Gender equality
• Men and women share tasks and responsibilities, and receive wealth and prestige equally
• Gender differentiation of roles only for certain rituals
• No class system
• Members live in small village—maintain ties to other villages with trade, marriage, and hosting ritual events [We’re “hosting” people with our ritual, so I thought it would make sense to include a precedent for that.]
• Kinship
• Bilineal kinship reckoning (determine kinship through both the lines of both parents)
• Marriages exogamous from lineage
• May marry individual from own or other village, as long as outside of kinship group
• Neolocal—married couples start own household
• Elders are taken care of by their children and entire village
• Decisions which affect the family made via discussion with all (adult) members

Political—No formal leadership

• Decisions which affect the entire village are made by all adults together
• Meetings—various options are debated
• All village members have a chance to speak
• Elders maintain order
• Decisions made when all are in agreement
• Major conflicts solved by community in above manner
• When agreement is not attained/minority is very unsatisfied, dissenters free to leave and join another village or form a new one and maintain friendly relations

Cultural

• Animistic belief system with emphasis on the importance of Light [I capitalized it because of the importance of it to agriculture and the idea of being one with it…sort of like it’s a spirit or personified a little?]
• World full of spirits, working in harmony
• Light is of central importance because of its central role in agriculture
• Like shiny objects that reflect/create Light
• With age, an individual becomes closer to joining/returning to/becoming the Light [wasn’t sure exactly what the concept was there, thought it was one of the three, or maybe all three]
• Death joins the individual to the Light and the continuous cycle of the world
• The dead are buried with seeds as a way to maintain the circle of life, with new life coming from death [going off our burial discussion in the stairwell]
• Ancestral spirits are reincarnated in new babies and continue on the path to enLightenment [We talked about reincarnation, and I put in the path to enlightenment thing as a way to explain or expand it...the only other explanation I could come up with was a fixed number of souls in the universe, which seems a little less like our hippy-ish society. ]
• Music
• Bells and chimes are sacred instruments
• Reflect Light using sound [this came up in discussion once, and I liked it a lot]
• Used to accompany actions in some rituals
• Other instruments and voice—used for entertainment, both at work and leisure
• Dance—used for ritual and entertainment [kinda made it up, but figured we should talk about it, since it’s in the ritual]
• Specific dances used in ritual activities, often as a way to teach younger members
• Villagers often enjoy dancing to music at celebratory gatherings
• Visual art forms—often incorporate abstract designs
• Body adornment (discussed below)
• Ceramics
• Metalwork
• Basketry

Economic—Primary means of production is agriculture, with some trading

• Communal fields where crops are grown
• Ritually planted by women and harvested by the men
• Tended by children and young adults
• Basketry, Ceramics, metalwork, and trading
• Begin training part-time upon marriage, leave the fields after birth of first child
• Exports surplus crops, ceramics, metal crafts
• Import crops if needed, other regional styles of ceramics, raw metals, and mirrors
• Child care and resource distribution by the elders
• After the birth of first grandchild
• Watch small children in the village
• Supervise work in the fields—organize efforts so the entire field is taken care of
• Organize collection of crops and trade goods as well as redistribution
• Food and trade goods distributed evenly among villagers
• Wealth—mirrors and metal ornaments convey the idea of Light and wealth
• Because these items are distributed among all villagers every time they are brought to the village, individuals acquire wealth over time.

D. Art and performance

D. Art and performance
1. How is art used by your people? Address such things as dress for special occasions, make up, assemblage in context of such, performance art, etc.
- Art is mainly either functional or wearable
- Baskets (how are we planning to make these?). Strictly functional, but can be adorned with sacred materials when being used for important events.
- Ceramic arts are very important in our culture. Objects include: musical bells, vessels for pouring, storage, etc. Bells are important during the planting festival.
- Raw metals and mirrors are traded from neighboring people
- Metals are worked into jewelry. Jewelry is worn daily, but elaborated for special occasions. Metals are also used to create percussive instruments.
- Mirrors are worn on headdresses by the women. Men generally sew mirrors into their clothing, or wear strung around the neck (women also do this but to a lesser extent). The sound of the glass clinking also plays an important role. Mirrors are collected throughout life, and after death they are dispersed to the grandchildren of the deceased.
- Clothing: Light colored plant based fabric. Both men and women wear loose fitting pants, and a simple shirt. Cleaner, higher-quality fabric is worn on special occasions. The body is imitating ray of light, and thus the body itself is secondary to the light-reflecting accoutrements worn.
- Make-Up: Rare, but on special occasions such as the seed planting festival or the harvesting festival, gold body paint is smeared over the shoulders in a streaked “five ray pattern”

2. Meaning and symbolism: Do various aspects of dress and adornment have special meanings for your group?
- Everything relates back to veneration of the sun. The sun is valued for its creative power. The concept of the sun reaching out to the entire world is also important. This society puts emphasis on “oneness” with everything: nature, other people, etc.
- Mirrors reflect the sunlight, and are thus believed to harness the spiritual power of the sun. They are extremely sacred and valuable, and a person with a large collection is considered very rich, both monetarily and spiritually. Mirrors are often used as currency.
- Metals are also prized for their shine and reflective powers. They are not as important as mirrors.
- Sound: The ringing of bells is said to purify the atmosphere to allow the sunlight to flow more freely and increase its creativity. When bells are rung at planting, the sunlight is able to reach the newly planted seeds.
- Harvest Festival: This is the men’s festival in the fall. Festivities include a competition amongst the young men for an elaborate mirror pendant. It is an honor to wear this pendant, which is said to hold a great deal of spiritual power. The winner of the competition is entrusted with its care for the next year.

Context of the Body Art

What is the event or the context of the body art you are showcasing?

A.      Is it the royal paraphernalia of the leadership caste? No

B.      Is it costumes and insignia worn in rites of passage? Yes

a.       We are focused on emulating light and recognizing the beauty and importance of the sun. The context of our body art is used to represent the sun and symbolize our need for it, as our society’s fragile state rests in the hands of a light source to provide nutrients our plants need to grow, and for us to thrive. While we have more special costumes to emulate light that are only worn during festivals, our daily body art serves as an everyday reminder of the importance of light in our society.

C.      Is it for an entertainment troupe? No

D.      What does it mean?

a.       Our clothes are architecturally designed with the goal of the wearer’s to feel as ephemeral and light as a ray of light. Most of our clothes are either white or neutral tones, which is fitting as lighter hues of color tend to reflect light. As emulators of light, we do so by portraying an outward glow, such as a ray of light.

b. We also try to emulate sunlight by accessorizing with mirrors or other metallic substances that can reflect light. Mirrors are indicative of both wealth and age. As you age, you gain more mirrors and are able to have more reflective surfaces to reflect light. Mirrors are quite sacred in our society, as they are the best reflective materials, but we also like many metals too, such as gold, silver, and copper.

c. We also adorn ourselves with shimmery makeup and bronze or gold paint to further reflect light from our bodies and to achieve a glowing effect.

Have any other synonyms for "emulate", :)? I (of course!) can add on more once we have started the costume designs, but this is what I can muster up right now.

THIS PERFORMANCE

· Who is honored? It is a way for us to honor the person from the society who has died while simultaneously drawing attention to the coming of the spring and growing season

·         Who are the players? Women of all ages. 

·         How are they dressed? To be determined (?) … gold/earth tone outfits with gold/metallic/mirror accessories. Each woman wears a headdress made of mirrors with the length and amount of mirrors corresponding to the woman’s age

·         What is the intent of this performance? to honor the deceased member of the society and show her becoming one again with the elements. It also provides an opportunity for the younger members of the culture to learn how to make the seed bombs that are used in the ceremony

Notes from Class Today (3.24.11)

Written Component of Project (Book)


Writers (deadline for all writers done= March 30,2011)
1. Answer each question of your section.
2. Writers: Gabrielle, Kristina, Rebecca, Kaitlyn, Caitlyn 

Photographers: Sarah/Rachel

Graphic Designer: Aliana

Master editor: Olivia


Friday, April 1 (all materials needed written on blog, comments on written posts for book)

Ethnogrophy

Hi All,

I think we should divide up to write our ethnography. Since Art History majors probably have the most experience in this sort of thing, I think we should divide that up among the art historians in the group, and leave the more artistic duties to our art majors. According to the syllabus we have to come up with:

A.  Acknowledgements
B.  Ethnography:
   1. Identification: Who are you? What is the name of your planet, your people? Setting - where is your location?  Is it a city, a space ship, a forest on the planet? 
   2. Organization: What is the basic social organization? Who is the leader? What are the roles of men and women in this organization? 
C. Context of the body art
   1. What is the event or the context of the body art you are showcasing? Is it the royal paraphernalia of the leadership caste? Is it costumes and insignia worn in rites of passage? Is it for an entertainment troupe? What does it mean?
D. Art and performance
   1. How is art used by your people? Address such things as dress for special occasions, make up, assemblage in context of such, performance art, etc. 
   2. Meaning and symbolism:  Do various aspects of dress and adornment have special meanings for your group? 
E. This performance
   1. Who is honored? Who are the players? How are they dressed? What is the intent of this performance?
   2. Photographs of the performance and discussion in text as well as in captions.
 
IV. Appendices as appropriate

V. Index

We should have one person assigned to each letter (except A, which can be a group effort), and then each writer would keep track of their own index and bibliography, which can be organized at the end. Somebody should also be assigned to edit the whole thing to make sure it is cohesive (that can be the same person who puts the index together at the end).
Even if we decide to do a video, we should still divide up and write each piece so that filming will go quickly and smoothly.

We should also come up with a deadline that the papers need to be written by. If its due on April 14, the individual pieces should be finished by April 7. That way, we have a full week to either put a video or a paper together, and do the finishing touches on our art forms.


If you are an art history major, or feel that you have stronger paper writing skills than art ability, please post your name. Once we have everyone who will be putting together information for our ethnography, we can have a meeting and decide on specific duties.

-Katlyn

Notes from Class Today (3.3.11)

Notes from today. They are kind of scattered, but it's all I have. If there are any questions, let me know, :).

Questions about our Society

What is our name?

How did we start?

What do we do?

Where are we at?

Kinship/ relationships (Age)?

Main festival (Festival of Light… we can work on the title)

Logistics/ Roles (not quite complete and can be changed!)

Supplies

Headdresses

Pants

Bells

            Rhonda can make bells! (have an estimate by end of spring break)

            [We should get] Belly dancing bells!

Dancing

Aliana

Kristina

Kaitlyn

Caitlyn

Rachel

Rebecca

Assignment

Rebecca: sewing

Caitlyn: sewing

Rachel: has sewing machine

Giang: sewing

Rhonda: ceramic bells

Headdresses

Kristina

Gabrielle

Olivia

Alliana

Kaitlyn

Narrator: multiple narrators

Ritual (WHAT ARE WE DOING?)

~birth of new year, new harvest, new seeds

~natural harmony of our society

            ~is some difference in ages and what you wear/do, but then

~use of age in our society? (significant? Want to include?)

~talk about significance about props

            ~bells

                        ~different size bells: different sizes, different sounds

                        ~different bells with people sitting down,

            ~seed bombs: gift of life, plan to give to others,

           

~possible setting? Natural setting?

~how about this is the final day of a longer ritual?

            ~have making of seed bombs as part of ritual during week

            ~finale! (like climax of a movie!)

~costumes

            ~wear part of costume for each day of the ritual

            ~on final day: wear entire costume, entire paint

~performance

~make a path?

~procession?

            ~young girls make path, dance down to our final destination

            ~carry seed bombs in cool vessel/basket

            ~It’s like a wedding [procession]!

~designate a final packaging place by putting a tarp down

~packaging seedbombs:

            ~linen: (dyeing it?)

            ~put a note on it

~incense

            ~contribute to senses for ritual (This would be olfactory.)

~We are doing a documentary for our paper. Yaay film, :D.

I was really inspired by the Kathakali lecture, and I think it would be pretty cool to incorporate ideas from Kathakali (mainly the awesome dancing!) into our ritual.

• As we were considering dancing to be incorporated into our ritual, what if the people dancing in our society were doing a dance to commemorate the beginning of spring/ beginning of days with more light? Or they could be reancting (through interpretive dance!) the act of making seed bombs? The dancers could be telling a story, and we could have a sopaanam if we wish who could narrate the story for us.
• Also, in terms of our entire ritual, we're having a dance (with bells?) as well as a seed-bomb making plant party, correct? To add more meaning to our ritual, why don't we subdivide each part of our ritual into certain age groups?
• For instance, the dancers who are acting out our ritual can be younger women in our society, while the people are making the seed-bombs are primarily older women. We can thus allude while women of all ages can participate in this ritual, different parts of our ritual are designated for different ages, and when you mature, you're allowed to take on a different role in the ritual (in this case, move from a dancer acting out the ritual and I suppose playing the bells to a seed-bomb maker making seeds for harvest.) Also, since we want to make this ritual a inclusive/participatory ritual, we can grab people from the audience to dance with us and say that because these people are new to our society that they must first start off as a dancer.

Just a few thoughts to help us explain our ritual better, :D.