LS SITHOLE

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L SITHOLE

Beliefs on our ethnic group

16 May 2024, 03:36 Publicly Viewable

One of the important observation from the anthropological readings is that we all view the world on how it is shaped through our cultural backgrounds and lived experiences. The teachings or beliefs that have been central to shaping my own worldview from my upbringing in my Zulu ethnic group.

 

The first endogenous belief in my ethnic group, Zulu specifically is that we appease and call upon our ancestors. We believe that they live spiritually with us, in a sense that in everything we do we consult with the, we have to appease to them and talk with them spiritually, for example when one of a family member bought a new car or house, we pour it with (Amabobo) for protection and guidance. Growing up in a praying household it means in everything we do, whether we bath, we eat or sleeping and waking up we pray always to the one above us, our lord and savior (Unkulunkulu). we practice both spiritual belief and Christianity because we also go to church on Sunday. When there's a ceremony whether its a wedding or funeral we belief that we have to recite our clan names, call out o them. Another belief is that no Zulu women is supposed to eat cow meat and head , only men eat it.

 

The second deeply practiced belief till this day is about filial piety meaning showing respect to elders and obedience to one's parent. When asking questions or disobeying or starring at an elder it is considered as being disrespectful in my family. As a child, i was expected to differ to my parent's authority on most matters, i should bow down my head and not look them in their straight eyes. This belief made me to be groomed up to this day because i get to learn with that and apply it in my daily life and even my whole entire life. Even that you are not supposed to tell an elder that he/she s lying when she/he tells about something and you are against that is considered as an offence and means you swear an elder. 

 

This exercises showed how important our backgrounds shape our worldview or our reality as we grow up. It showed some of my own learning, such as perhaps placing to much emphasis on ability over worldview skills. More in general it supports the core Anthropological insight that subjecting our own beliefs to check is very important for understanding ourselves and others.

Reflection on networks

7 Apr 2024, 22:44 Publicly Viewable

These are the true networks that i exist in, i live in a 5 sharing unit with my Resmates, who are also my friends , i clean around the house in exchange of taking and using their cleaning essentials. In cleaning around the unit in exchange of using their cleaning essentials this type of exchange is cultural exchange i use my skills in cleaning around the unit and these are my Resmates, somehow are my friends and the exchange of reciprocity is balanced.

Angel and Zinhle sometimes cook, taking turns in exchange of me buying the groceries and the ingredients needed for the meal, including dishing out and washing dishes. Angel and Zinhle are using cultural capital because they are using their skills according to what they know and me offering groceries its economic capital and the exchange of reciprocity it is balanced. a month later changes ocurred ,Angel and Zinhle started to cook for themselves and cooked for myself also. Bought my own groceries and cooked , prepared a meal for myself. 

When I'm home i would wash my brother's car 2x in a week and in exchange of money and he would give me end of the week. Washing my brother's car that is cultural capital and in exchange of reciprocity it is generalized with kinship structural part of the family. Going back to the residential i had lost my student card and could not gain access to the campus without my student card and i asked the security guard to let me in because i lost my student card  and did not have my phone with me therefore i could not even show my POR to him and he let me in. This is social capital because i know the security and he was able to let me in by the entrance gate and helped me to make a new one and in exchange of reciprocity it is generalized in non-kinship. Two weeks back i borrowed a certain amount of cash from my friend so i can do my hair and she offered to do my hair without charging me any amount of money. That is cultural exchange with skills that she had, she did my, also borrowed some cash from my resmate and she lent me and did what i needed to do with the money after a few days i returned back the money from the person i borrowed it from.

On Monday after class at the campus me and my classmates we sat together and ate lunch, one of my classmate named Bridget bought us lunch, that includes rolls, fries and cooldrink and some snacks on the side and we decided we gonna take turns and that is referred as economic capital, her buying us food is economic capital, having access to financial resources and it is associated with giving, returning and receiving. On Friday evening my friend Sebabatso called me and said we going out for dinner date. When we got to the mall we ordered food and she paid for the bill. The next day i took her out on an ice-cream date and that is economic capital and the exchange of reciprocity is generalized with kinship structural with giving and returning countless times. 

 

Othering on the human society

9 Mar 2024, 01:07 Publicly Viewable

I used to believe that people live according to their ethnicity ,for instance I believed  Africans they practice tradition , culture barriers like appeasing to the ancestors which is what we call Ukuphahla. But yet learned that people do create difference in Presenting ethnicity.                                                                                                                                                                                                                STREREOTYPING                                                                                                                                                Here the characters of Chimanda Ngozi Adichie who is an African from Eastern Nigeria. They drank a lot of ginger beer because the characters in the British books drank ginger beer. Never mind not knowing what ginger beer was after many years she would have a desperate desire to taste ginger beer. American roommate asking where she had learned to speak English so well, confused to say that Nigeria happened to have English as its official language . Roommate asked if she could listen to what she called tribal music( Tape of the Mariah Carey). Not knowing how to use stove. Writers were expected to have had a really unhappy childhoods to be successful, she began to think how could she invent horrible things her parents did to her. This creates Stereotype in terms of language whereby the American roommate asked if where did she learn to speak English so well because of the though to say Eastern Nigerians don't know how to speak English, even the use of stove, thinking they cook with fire.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         OTHERING

 It's quite evident that the aid not coming from Western to Africa but from the Western world. Africa is poor and dying and merely surviving on the mercy of the west. Why is it that 5,000 units of their currency is worth one unit of your currency, when they are the ones with actual gold reserve. It's quite evident that the aid is in fact not coming from the West to Africa but from Africa to the Western  world. This creates distortion in a way that the West sees the Africa as poor and dying and it's merely surviving on the West. This is what happens in the human world , in the world we have created that in evolution the fittest survives and that's what is evolutionism.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     EXOTICIZATION

Always uses the word `Africa or Darkness` people means Africans who are not black enough while `The people` means black Africans. Naked warriors , loyal servants and seers. The starving African who wanders the refugee camp nearly naked and waits for benevolence of the west. Her children have flies on the eyelids and pot bellies and her breasts are flat and empty. Then there's a motherly woman who has a rolling laugh and who is concerned for your wellbeing. Her children are delinquent. Bad western characters may include children of Tory cabinet ministries, Afrikaners, employees of the world bank when talking about exploitation by foreigners.