18. Women in West Africa vol. 2

Universal Power by Desirée Delgado licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 Generic (I wanted to stick to this image)


I left the most exciting part to latter posts! Have a look at this! I couldn't believe what I was reading... This is from the same article as the one in my 11th post.

"In many West African chiefdoms and states, women themselves could pay bride price and "marry" other women." (p. 233)

Amazing isn't it? It continues:

"A female husband builds a house for her "wife" and arranges for a male consort to get her pregnant. By taking a wife, a woman assumes the status of head of household. By paying bridewealth for several such "wives", an ambitious West African woman could become the "father" of many children, establish control over a busy compound, and become rich and powerful." (p. 233)

Now do you still think power belongs only to men?

Harris, M. & Johnson, O. (2000). Cultural Anthropology. (Location not known): Ally and Bacon.
(the anthology doesn't indicate the location)

17. Peer Evaluation

The other presentation today was great fun. The quotation Emir told us from the film "International" and his approach to it was really funny, and seriously I'm not mocking anyone or anything - I really think it was great. Also, although they could have gone a bit further about the text, I was impressed by their emphasis on black & white. I wasn't able to think that much about racism and how it is linked to the author's personality. The "black and white blurring together" was an impressive scene showing signs of demand of equality. I think if they cover a bit more they can have a very successful film presentation. Go mates! =)

16. Self evaluation

Today it was our turn to make an oral presentation. As to talk about the text, it was a bullshit in my opinion but it also enabled us to talk much. TV and family are two concepts that you can talk forever, so although we are not native speakers it wasn't a big trouble talking. I think the presentation went well in general, the awareness that the text I was talking about was something I carefully read gave me great comfort. To talk about our negatives, I felt regretful as soon as I started to read a quatation out loud, asking myself, why didn't you put that in a slide, man? One other negative point was that I lacked eye contact with the students. There are many reasons behind this, and I am sure television is not one of them. Two main reasons were my lack of experience and the lack of interest of the audience. I witness this in my other classes: some teachers tend to be looking straight at the "best listener", and that was what I mostly did: looking at Sonja. I think mentioning things that are to improve is more important than writing positives, because there's no need to praise yourself, there's more we can take out of "constructive" warnings.

15. The reason of defeat in Vietnam

BrickArms Bazooka M9 prototype (left) by Dunchaser licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic


In "Tough Guise", the scene that I found particularly striking and shocking was the part about the Vietnam War. Although Katz tries to be a little away from politics and nation problems and just dabbles in them, the part about the Vietnam War was strong enough to make its mark on me. It is said that the USA lost the Vietnam War because it had lost its status of "superpower" and "hypermasculinity". Those critics state that the nation was "softer", a fag maybe, so couldn't show the required strength and hence were defeated. I don't have the detailed knowledge about this idea of lacking hypermasculinity as a reason of loss but I just can't believe it. Even if you forget about ethics just like some do, it is painful to see these statements. Neither the American nor the Vietnamese soldiers are toys.

14. Masculinity in Turkish Culture

I bet Turkish "tough guys" are the most interesting ones, and believe me it is not really a subjective claim. Wherever you go, you can easily differentiate Turkish people. I know whoever reads these sentences will nod with agreement and with a little smile =) Masculinity is constructed differently in our culture than of Americans. Becoming a Turkish "tough guy" doesn't require unbelievable muscle strength or body building. The most important point is to be brave to death, literally. If you get into big trouble because of your extreme bravery than you are considered hero by some. Also, it is vital not to obey anyone. You should never be sorry. Apologies or teardrops are not inside masculinity borders. If you want to be a so called tough guy, you should get really angry if a person hits his shoulder to yours. By the way, these all are very far away to my personality, but my observations assure what I'm writing is true. To go further, you can witness street fights and even deaths after a conflict started with a conversation like: "Why are you looking at me?!" -"Will I ask you where I'll look at?!" and I'm serious. People can shoot others because of wrong staring. Oh my god.

13. Becoming a Man

Well oiled civil rights by Kevitivity licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic

Katz's Tough Guise and the short story "The Man Who Was Almost a Man" have a very important point in common. A part was about young criminals, especially high school students who grew fear and shot students just like a terrorist. All the killer boys have one major thing in common - they didn't get enough respect, in other words, they weren't treated as men. So they wanted to have that extreme power in their hands with their guns. Now nobody would dare not to have the utmost respect for them. Dave in the short story is the same person. The mule I think is a complete symbol because the author didn't want to lead the story to killing people. Interesting to see how they are similar. More interesting to see how far a boy can go to be considered as a man. And the most interesting is that they don't understand that you never become a man if you seek that respect with those methods.

12. Slam Dunk Facial

throwdown with carmelo anthony 1 by Mr. Wright licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic

In "Tough Guise", there was a part about sports and masculinity. A highlight from Michael Jordan, a worldwide known legend of basketball, was chosen to support the idea that in the most popular basketball league NBA, one earns his popularity and respect by disrespecting another sportsman. In other words, if you soar to the hoop to dunk, and give so much strength to it that even the defending player loses his balance and kisses the floor then you are "the man". This is so popular in the NBA that there's a name exactly for this scene, a "facial". "In your face" they also say. The photograph is of Carmelo Anthony, who is about to "give a facial" to an Argentinian player. Katz was completely correct in his observations, I know it, as I often follow NBA. To support even more, a few days ago I watched "the best 10 dunks in November" in NBATV, and guess what? The best one was with the most humiliation. It really is great for the dunker, but what about the defender, and his self-esteem? Of course this has nothing to do with crimes or stuff, but still, it is a harmful damage to some, as if one steals the masculinity from another and adds it to himself.