As individuals, we each go through different thing, we're raised in different households and are exposed to different settings. As people we're all taught various things and beliefs which help us become the people we are, they pave us into who and what we are later in life.

I am girl who grew up in a sotho-speaking household, raised by my pedi mother, tswana father and zulu grandmother. Both my parents and guardians fluently spoke Southern Sesotho, thus leading to me always saying i am sotho, rather than tswana. In my ethnic group and family there are several beliefs i have been taught.

The first belief is "ngoanana ha a je a eme ka maoto". This directly translates to "A girl doesn't eat while standing up". this belief has been instilled by me by my mother, my grandmothers and my great grandmother.  It is a figure of speech. The figurative meaning of this belief would be that if you eat while standing up as a girl, things wont go your way in life, nothing will ever go right. The literal meaning would be that as a girl, do not eat while standing up. While this belief is controversial, argumentative and hard to believe, it has become a part of my normalized behavior. It has become a part of my values as a person, because i now make sure that i always sit down before i eat something, no matter how small that thing is, i will sit down before i eat.

Another belief endogenous to my ethnic group would be that you don't enter the house with your back faced outside (normally) after dark. The meaning behind this belief would be that if you enter the house after dark normally, with your back outside, you are going to enter with dark spirits. In order to avoid this, you are to walk into the house in reverse, with your face facing outside. The reason for this is for one to be "face-to-face" with the dark spirits, which makes them less susceptible to enetering your home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BL Maphobela, 52853683

What is stereotyping? It is a widely held generalization that a large amount of people believe represent a particular type of person or thing. Throughout my introduction to the module of Social Anthropology, I have learnt that majority of my thoughts, assumptions and "beliefs" are stereotypical, which has led me to indirectly create "otherness". 

I had always been exposed to the stereotypical description and representation of African countries. From fifth grade history class, all that I have ever known and believed about African countries by the likes of Nigeria, Congo, etc, is that people form these countries are less privileged, have no water, violence is always occurring, etc. This created the idea that there could never be a "good" side to these African countries and that South Africa is the "better" African country of all countries in Africa, thus leading to the creation of "otherness"

I recently went on a cruise to Mozambique, landing on Pomene Island. Here, my stereotypical mindset was changed as well as proven wrong. I was influenced, from a very young age, by xenophobic and stereotypical people around me that "Mozambique is a dirty place, filled with unkind and rude people" and so I have always believed this. I was proven wrong when I was surrounded and spent time with people from Mozambique on the island of Pomene. I realised that Mozambique is not dirty and the people there are by far the nicest people that I have met.

I have been exposed to and followed through with normalised stereotypical behavior. I had never given myself an opportunity to question what i am folllowing and believing in. I had never allowed myself to see things for what and how they truly are and not for what and how pwople want me to see.