Seasons Greetings!

Cultural Anthropology is one of the largest subfields of our discipline, studying the ways of living, knowing and believing of people around the world. With that in mind, I thought a post about the origin of Christmas, which I personally celebrate, would probably be appropriate on a day like today......(forgive my cheekiness. It's Christmas.)

While I personally identify with no particular religion, I can say I personally believe in God (and honestly, Gods) even though I ascribe to no particular way of celebrating them, other than my own. Celebrating Christmas is something I have always done with my half Roman Catholic half Lutheran (and thus United) family, and it means a great deal to me personally - so how did it really start? What's the story of the origin of Christmas?

Christmas is the annual celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, observed worldwide by billions of people. Traditionally, Christmas is the first of the 12 days of Christmastide, which ends with Twelfth Night. It is also celebrated by non-Christians, having become a civil and commercial holiday in many countries - as well as an excuse to spoil your loved ones with gifts.

Jesus is believed to have been born between 7 and 2 BC, and the 4th century most churches in the West had placed that date on December 25th. It's possible that Christmas Day was chosen to be 9 months after Christ's conception, but there is also a connection to many polytheistic festivals such as Saturnalia, the Roman winter solstice celebration.

Today, Christmas comes with a group of older and modern traditions. Exchanging holiday cards, festooning houses and trees with Christmas lights and decorations  (I'll be honest, at my house we have one of those fantastic and somewhat obnoxious inflatable decorations, which features Santa in helicopter), 'Secret Santa' gift exchanges, and putting up and decorating Christmas trees (usually of the Pine or Spruce variety) are only some of the ways many people celebrate this day. The practice of decorating houses goes back to the 15th century, with ivy and bay branches being swagged about houses in London, England.

The White House Christmas Tree
Source: montrealgazette.com

The Christmas Tree is one of my personal favourites. In my family, we go to the farm we've gone to for about 20 years now, cut down our own tree, tie it down to our car, and bring it home to put up in a wrought iron tree stand that I could barely haul up from the basement as a child. Christmas trees started out as a pagan tradition stemming from the celebration of the Winter Solstice that was first adopted by Christians in Germany after Saint Boniface chopped down an Oak tree dedicated to Thor and declared that firs were more suitable reverent objects than oak trees. Firs point to heaven and have a triangular shape, symbolizing the Holy Trinity. From Germany the custom spread to Britain by Queen Charlotte, wife of George III. They became popular under the reign of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, and by the 1870s the custom was common in the United States. Sleighs, snowmen, candles, wreaths, nativity scenes, garlands, and Christmas Villages are also common decorations to see at Christmas.

Christmas also includes several mythical figures that bring gifts to children who have behaved well all year, that go by the names of Santa Claus, Father Christmas, Saint Nicolas, Chris Kringle, etc. Santa has names in most languages that celebrate the custom, and each "Santa figure" comes with its own backstory. Another common tradition is leaving a glass of milk, cookies for Santa, and carrots for the Reindeer beside the fireplace before a child goes to bed. Santa always appreciates a snack, and sure enough the food will be gone in the morning.

Christmas music and carols are also an important part of the season. Many have religious meaning, such as Hark the Herald Angels Sing or Away in a Manger. Still others are silly songs that celebrate the season itself, such as Jingle Bells or Deck the Halls.

These are some of the things that I celebrate and take part in at Christmas, what does your family do? Anyways, I'm off to drink a hot cider and open some presents. No matter what you do on December 25th, whether you celebrate Christmas or just head out to a movie, I wish you safe travels and good cheer this holiday season.

Happy Christmas, from Inside Anthropology.

Where Does Your Food Come From?

In March of 2013 Dylan Gordon was selected as one of the Top 25 Storytellers in the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC)’s “Storytellers: Research for a Better Life” contest. Dylan is a PhD candidate in Anthropology here at U of T, and I sat down with Dylan to record his 3-minute story on the Canadian wild food trade and to hear more about the Canadian wild food industry and how it works.

I confess, I had never heard of ‘wild food’ before. I have bought corn by the side of the road, purchased baskets of blueberries from kids emerging from the forest with blue stained fingertips and grubby clothes, and gawked at the price of fiddleheads during their short season at the grocery store. But the fact that there is an entire industry and movement surrounding the production of food that is ‘more organic than organic’ had never really occurred to me. I was not aware that foraged mushrooms from Canadian forests were being exported to places as far away as Japan.

Over the hour I spent with Dylan, we talked about the pickers and producers of the wild food industry, perceptions of wild food in popular media, and the global impact that wild food is having on the way we think about where our food comes from. Dylan spoke eloquently about some of the obstacles wild food producers are facing, from environmental pressures to economic ones.  You can listen to the full audio here on the blog, and please watch Dylan’s 3 minute story, “A Treasure Trove in the Canadian Wilderness” – its pure poetry and some great story telling. 

To hear my chat with Dylan, you can check out the audio file from this link!
Dylan Gordon on Wild Food

Futures of Anthropology Panel

So, how do I..... Find a job? Get into grad school? Get work postgrad?

Today I was at the Futures of Anthropology event! The panel included a number of grads and post-grad members of the Anthropology Department speaking about their experiences in the job world, both inside and outside the world of academia. Speakers from all areas of anthropology had come to talk about their experiences in the job market. It was then that I realised - I have no idea how to get a job in the field of Anthropology - no clue where to look, where to start - even what kinds of jobs are out there. So, over the next few weeks I'm going to try to find out. I'll be combing the resources here at U of T, looking to compile them into a series of handy guides - How to apply to grad school, how to find a job if you're an undergraduate, and how to find a job in a grad or post-grad position. On that note - If anyone knows of a resource or wants to submit a website, give an interview, or offer advice - please contact me! It would be great to turn this into a place where we can all come to offer our perspectives on what to do with our anthropology degrees.

What did I learn at the Futures of Anthropology discussion, you may ask? Well, a lot.

To start with, the job market might not be as bleak as it sometimes seems. According to the US Department of Labour, jobs in fields such as Anthropology and Archaeology are going to increase between 22 and 28 percent over the next few years.

So what are some of the options available? One of the more common ones is Cultural Resource Management (CRM). In Canada every development needs salvage archaeology done before building can go ahead - in order to preserve the past. Yes, there are ethical issues - developers want to develop, and it isn't necessarily the hallowed theoretical process we are all trained towards in university. There's also the divide between academia and contract archaeology, though hopefully that will narrow in future years. We have to realise that all archaeologists are equal, no matter what work they do - we are all looking for our origins.

Work for anthropologists can come from a variety of sources - health systems, intervention and community outreach, lab work, etc. Where you work is usually less important than the skills you use in the pursuit of Anthropology. Sometimes its more a matter of presenting oneself. Anthropologists have a great skill set that can be used in many capacities. Interpersonal skills through interviewing and ethnographic work, data collection, collation, and interpretation, critical thinking and analysis - these are all part of an Anthropologists toolkit. It might just be a matter of brushing up one's resume!

So maybe its not hopeless! Here I'll try my best to find the resources that are going to help us all find gainful employment, if only so we can keep doing what we love!

Keep reading,
j.

'Are Tattoos, Piercings and other Body Modifications Natural?' - MA/MSc Candidate Daniel Dick speaks at Got anthropology U of T

On October 23, Daniel Dick (Ma MSc Candidate) gave an exciting presentation for the first Got Anthropology? event at U of T. Got Anthropology? is a speaker series with the goal of bringing anthropological research to the greater community here at U of T.  They will select speakers representing different facets of anthropology to give talks on the 2nd last Wednesday of select months from October to April, making anthropology more accessible!

The subject of Daniel's talk was the many body modifications found in human society, both today and in the archaeological record. His presentation was structured around several key questions: Are body modifications natural? How diverse are they? What are body modifications? How old are they? Where do they come from? and finally, what do they mean?

Scarification
via janeenscharms.com

Throughout the course of the evening Daniel discussed piercings, tattoos, scarification, sub dermal implants, and extreme cases of body modification. Personally, I was enthralled. Beyond having simple ear lobe piercings, I have never considered alternate forms of body modification. However, I do know friends with elaborate piercings or personal tattoos. Sometimes its fun to fantasize about what kind of tattoo or piercing I would get - where would I put it? What would it be of? What part of my life would it represent? The anthropological significance is even more fascinating - Daniel brought issues of cultural appropriation to the forefront of his discussion, questioning whether or not the blending of traditional and religious styles of body modification that have great significance with mainstream culture is acceptable or not.

Pazyryk Ice Maiden
via elizabethtwist.blogspot.com

Some Interesting Facts About Body Modification:

• Bone, stone, glass, ivory, ceramic, and metal can all be used for piercings
• The oldies piercings date to 2500 BC and were found at the ancient site of Ur, near modern day Iraq
• Piercings show up in the archaeological record via their placement - if a metal ring lies next to the head of skeletal remains, there is a good chance it represents a pierced ear
• The modern tattoo pen was invented by Thomas Edison, while he was creating the Electric Pen
• The most famous example of ancient tattooing comes from the Pazyryck mummies found in Siberia. One of the most famous, the Ice Maiden, has tattoos dating from 2600 years ago.
• The Irezumi tattoo style is traditionally Japanese, and has become so associated with the Yakuza that many places of business ban customers with tattoos



"Hakuna Matata"
via fosterrachel.tumblr.com







• The tattoo commonly referred to as the symbol for 'Hakuna Matata' from Disney's The Lion King actually doesn't mean hakuna matata - Swahili is written in the Latin alphabet, like English. The symbol comes from the Korean comedy movie, 200 Pounds Beauty. 

Well - that's all for me today. Check back soon for our next post! I've included a link to the Go anthropology? Facebook page below!
got anthropology?

The Many Lives of Mina Primavera with Prof. Hendrik Van Gijseghem

On October 18th, I had the pleasure of speaking with Professor Hendrik Van Gijseghem (University of Montreal) about his work at Mina Primavera, a prehispanic hematite mine in the Nasca Region of Peru. His work focuses on the multiple lives of the mine and the changing relationship between the space and the people who used it. During his colloquium talk he explored the shifting nature of the use of the mine, beginning with its natural state as a geological formation, through its transition as a place of economic and symbolic importance, finishing as an important place of worship. He also spoke about its use in colonial times, as a storage place for tools and explosives. The Professor highlighted many interesting and beautiful artifacts during his talk, touching briefly on the Nasca Geoglyphs, the spirituality of humans and non-human entities in Andean mining, and the possible reasons Nasca people would have used the raw materials found at Mina Primavera.

In our interview he touches on his love for anthropology and archaeology, the thrill of excavation, and offers some advice for young academics - not something you want to miss!

Look for my next post on the Got Anthropology series, where MA/ MSc candidate Daniel Dick spoke on the topic of "Are Tattoos, Piercings, and other Body Modifications Natural?"

Important Dates:
November 1: Prof. Tanya Luhrmann (Stanford University) - Anthropology Colloquium Series
November 20: MA Candidate Jess Davidson speaks on "Is it really possible to be an 'ethical' consumer?" - Got Anthropology at U of T

Check out our Facebook and Twitter feed for more!

Professor Rebecca Stein at UofT Anthropology: Viral Occupation - Social Media and Military Rule in Israel/Palestine

Prof. Rebecca Stein speaks at the UofT Anthropology Dept.

On Friday, October 4^th, Professor Rebecca Stein of Duke University came to the Anthropology Department to take part in our Anthropology Colloquium Series to speak about her work in the field of cultural anthropology. Prof. Stein spoke eloquently about her research in Israel/Palestine relations, and how social media is intimately linked to military rule and political identity in the region. Her presentation focused on the way new video recording technologies can empower any individual to produce and share footage that can be used for public relations purposes, by both state combatants and insurgents. She placed particular emphasis on the concept of ‘virality’, and how web media such as YouTube, Vine and Instagram enable the viewing public to become infatuated with everything from cats playing the piano to suspect violations of human rights. 

Professor Stein’s talk shed a fascinating light on an area that is often ignored by serious fields of academic study. Popular Internet media is often dismissed when compared to so called reputable news sources such as CNN and BBC, and Professor Stein is examining just how these new sources of information will come to shape the way we perceive popular news subjects – particularly controversial conflicts. I look forward to reading her two new books – When Instagram Goes To War: Social Media, Digital Militarism and Israel’s Occupation (co-authored with Adi Kuntsman, forthcoming from Stanford University Press) and, Viral Occupation: New Media and Israeli Military Rule (in progress) and I would suggest anyone interested in the dynamics of that region check it out as well!

Welcome

Welcome to Inside Anthropology.

I should start by introducing myself. My name is Jenn, I'm a third year student in the Anthropology Department here at U of T, and I'll be working in the Department this semester as the student social media co-ordinator. Yes, I'm the one who updates our Twitter feed (follow us! @UofT_Anthro). A little about me: I have minors in general anthropology and archaeology, though biological anthropology is my primary interest. We'll see where I go after finishing my undergraduate degree, though I'm interested in pursuing either law school or grad work. I've had the privilege of traveling to many places in the world to observe many different cultures, something I believe has made me a better person, and a better anthropologist. My hobbies include photography, reading, working out at Hart House, and hanging out at various museums around Toronto. I hope to bring you interesting insights about anthropology here at the university.

But this blog is about more than that. Our goal is to reach out to the community and offer information about what's going on in the department. Here you'll find profiles of professors, department staff, and students. You'll also find information about interesting events that are happening in the Anthropology department. Maybe even some posts about neat stuff happening in the world of anthropology itself. If you have an Anthropology event you want to promote, know someone doing something interesting in the field, or just feel like writing us, you can email UofTAnthropology@gmail.com . We'll get back to you as soon as we can!

I will try to post several times a week - we have a lot going on that everyone should know about! There are so many people doing fantastic research, and our department is hosting many events that students and professors alike should take advantage of. Anthropology is present in everything, and my goal is to make it all a little more accessible. So keep on reading!

Yours in print,
Jenn