You hear a lot about “Marxism” these days. Mostly as a scare word. The big bad Socialism coming to ruin your good, American, life just like the Communist Red Scare of the 1950s. Problem is, almost no one talking about Marxism in the news right now is using the term even remotely correctly. So, what…Continue reading Anthro Mini-Lecture: Marxism, A Shareable Social Media Essay
Category: Gods and Monsters
Anthro Mini-Lecture: Angels, Demons, and Absolutism
So, I’m taking some time to develop my upcoming Anthropology of Religion syllabus a bit more and it has me thinking about my “Genesis as Myth” unit. More specifically, about my lecture-discussion on the development of (absolute) monotheism in Christianity. Although most people now take it for granted, one of the strangest developments in the…Continue reading Anthro Mini-Lecture: Angels, Demons, and Absolutism
Anthro Mini-Lecture: Yeti or Not! Here We Come!
Daniel C. Taylor begins his book “Yeti: The Ecology of a Mystery” with a story about footprints. More specifically, he begins with an account of the pseudoscientification of animal prints (usually snow leopard or bear) in the Himalayas into the now well-worn tales of the abominable snowman said to haunt the reaches of Mt. Everest…Continue reading Anthro Mini-Lecture: Yeti or Not! Here We Come!
Anthro Mini-Lecture: When the Ancient World is Really Victorian
Do you, like me, feel there’s something important missing from these ideas on Myth & Religion? Several things, I think. Can you help me name them? Can you say how you feel reading these words? I am fascinated, yet feel like something’s been taken from me. A little girl kinda feeling. “The world is full…Continue reading Anthro Mini-Lecture: When the Ancient World is Really Victorian
Anthro Mini-Lecture: Moral Relativity versus Cultural Relativity
Recently, I was reading the comments section on an article by the Washington Post about the practice of chhaupadi in Nepal. To offer a brief bit of background, chhaupadi is the practice of sequestering menstruating women in makeshift outdoor sheds, cattle barns, or huts beyond the main courtyard in the belief that their monthly blood…Continue reading Anthro Mini-Lecture: Moral Relativity versus Cultural Relativity
Anthro Mini-Lecture: The Universal Subordination of Women
Within academic Feminist theory there lies a deeply troubling question: Why are women universally subordinated? Of course, the nature of this question in many ways presupposes the kinds of answers we should expect. However, while this does not completely devalue either the question or the analysis, we should evaluate the principal premise because it is…Continue reading Anthro Mini-Lecture: The Universal Subordination of Women
Anthro Mini-Lecture: Religion and Violence (By way of the Crusades)
The Crusades are one of the most commonly cited examples of religious conflict. Even today, the Crusades still metaphorically stand in for any number of religiously-tinged battles, conversion endeavors, or various other political fall-out (I’m looking at you CNN). They are also often held up as evidence of the latent violence existing within religion itself…Continue reading Anthro Mini-Lecture: Religion and Violence (By way of the Crusades)
Anthro Mini-Lecture: Female Circumcision and the Role of Global Feminism
In most modern-day Feminist circles, opposing the practice of female circumcision is a given. To oppose female circumcision, or female genital mutilation (FGM) as the practice is more often called, is to oppose the very definition of gendered oppression and the restriction of female sexuality under patriarchal rule. These views tend to go against the…Continue reading Anthro Mini-Lecture: Female Circumcision and the Role of Global Feminism