Haelin Roberts
Professor Crouse
11/13/17
Rituals Essay
Throughout the 18th and 19th century, the icy waters of the North Atlantic were dominated by Icelandic fisherwomen. While much of their accounts have been forgotten, Anthropologist Margaret Willson is seeking to bring to light the true story of these brave women. Willson came across the history of these women in 1999 when she stumbled upon a stone hut in Iceland with a plaque that, when translated, told Willson it was the reconstructed fishing hut of Thurídur Einarsdóttir. When Willson asked around, she had trouble finding any information and she dropped the project. Upon returning in 2009 to work on a different project, Willson found that while hard to find, more and more people knew of women who had fished. Through her research Willson found that many accounts of fisherwomen came after 1700, in which there was a large smallpox outbreak causing a shortage in labor. While Willson admits that it is hard to estimate how large a role women played in fishing, the amount of accounts from multiple different areas does indicate that it wasn’t a regional anomaly. With Iceland gaining their independence in the early 1900’s, many of their gender roles began to change with influence from other countries. As time went on, there were fewer accounts of these fisherwomen, with Willson only finding 150 between 1950 and 2013. These women also faced scrutiny from their community and family members, with many assuming they were either sleeping with the whole crew or a lesbian. The decline has been even more rapid in recent years, with the percentage of females on fishing boats dropping from 13% in 1999 to 6% in 2013.
Willson’s research shows a crucial error that many people make in the struggle for equality among the sexes. While many believe that female rights are slowly but surely improving, the records of the Icelandic fisherwomen prove otherwise. Considering how much information Willson found documenting fisherwomen throughout Icelandic history, it is very strange that many of the people she talked to in person had little or no recollection of women fishing in Iceland. Also, it has only become harder for women to work on fishing boats in Iceland which is evident in the rapid decline of their stake in the work force. As a nation that is known to be one of the most gender equal, it is disturbing to see the lack of credit to these women, and how difficult it continues to be for them to get involved in this industry. Much of this comes from Iceland’s access to the rest of the world, in their previous isolation (being an island) there was no pressure from the outside to make them think women would have more roles in the home. Their independence from Denmark also allowed them to create a culture completely of their own which would also lead to the change in gender roles.
While there are accounts of fisherwomen in Iceland before 1700, Willson attributes an increase in participation due to a major smallpox epidemic which put a strain on the male workforce. The adaptation for the Icelandic people was for women to become more involved in the workforce to allow the population to recover from such a large hit. In those days, many farmhands were only considered to be useful if they were also able to work at sea, since it was such an important source of food. Through this, women had an improved place in society due to their importance in food production.
One of the fastest growing tourism operations in South America is centered around the consumption of the hallucinogenic drink ayahuasca. Ayahuasca has roots deep in South American culture as a beverage used for medicinal purposes, but as more people around the world have come to find this practice, many are paying hundreds of dollars to experience what the locals have done for thousands of years. Many of the people doing this come from well-off backgrounds and travel long distances to experience the benefits of ayahuasca and other indigenous medicines. While ayahuasca is a banned substance in many countries, including the US, in Brazil it is legal for churches to use for religious purposes and in Peru it is legal for all purposes. Although many swear by the healing powers of these retreats, they haven’t developed without their own share of scrutiny, over the last few years upwards of 9 people have died at these retreats. Since there is no regulation of what these lodges give to people, the causes of death have not been directly attributed to ayahuasca. Another problem is the reports of sexual assault on females that have stemmed from these lodges in recent years. Due to this, many lodges also offer female shamans to try and reduce risk. The main problem with these ayahuasca lodges is that their practices are completely unregulated. Any person can open a lounge with no prior experience or permits, and start giving these people whatever they want. While many of these deaths could have been avoided, Peruvian officials in Iquitos are seemingly trying to brush these deaths under the rug for fear of a decline in tourism.
The anthropological interest in these ayahuasca lodges comes from the debate over whether this practice is both ethical, and if the culture surrounding ayahuasca is being appropriated by those who come to practice it. The issues of appropriation come from the change in the traditional methods of ayahuasca. Throughout history the use of ayahuasca is not well documented until around the 19th century when more indigenous peoples began to come into contact with each other. Ayahuasca was used by these peoples to reaffirm a sense of community and tell origin stories. As there has been a tourist boom for the demand of ayahuasca, many foreigners have come and hired local shamans to conduct the ceremonies while outsiders collect all the profits. There needs to become a balance of outside influence combined with traditional practices to benefit both parties. Another issue is the power that the visitors have over the local shamans who run the lodges, many of these people are being drastically underpaid and have to cater to all the wishes of the visitors. The rise of ayahuasca tourism hasn’t had only negative effects, many people who were unemployed have found jobs working for these lodges, and if the pay for them becomes regulated, it would be a huge plus for the local economy. Another benefit is the increasing popularity of indigenous medicines which often have the same healing properties as traditional western medicine, without some of the negative side effects.
Common not only in sports, hazing has roots deep in all cultures as a sort of requirement for entry into a certain group of people. From 1900 all the way up to present day, there have been records of hazing at the West Point military academy which the academy has tried to stomp out, and failed. Hazing practices are typically enacted by those who are already part of the group that the hazees are attempting to become a part, it is a rite of passage into many groups. While this may seem like an act that only occurs on sports team or in high profile academic/social groups, hazing has roots in indigenous peoples and gang initiations. While 44 of 50 states have now passed anti-hazing laws, about 10-20 percent of students report hazing, and up to 50 percent of those on sports teams report hazing. In a 1959 study done by psychologists Elliot Aronson and Judson Mills, there were three different groups with varying degrees of required embarrassment and discomfort. The three groups were then put through a discussion designed to be as uninteresting as possible, then they were asked how they felt about both the presentation and their fellow participants. The study found that people who had endured the most severe discomfort and embarrassment reported liking both the discussion and their fellow participants. One explanation for this was that those who endured the most discomfort were seeking to reduce the dissonance that had been caused by the activities. Another explanation was that their group suffering had actually brought the group closer together since they had shared experiences and were more likely to trust one another since they had gone through the same things as they had. From an evolutionary side, researchers have found that enduring these acts can demonstrate a resilience or show a person’s strength that demonstrates they belong to the group. By putting newcomers through uncomfortable circumstances, they are able to determine the intentions of said newcomers.
While the practice of hazing has been going on for hundreds if not thousands of years, many who have not experienced it don’t truly understand it. The process of weeding out the weak from a group has roots deep in our evolutionary process. By getting rid of those who truly aren’t committed to the group, it ensures a higher rate of success for the rest of the group. This does not defend the process of hazing, while it does have a purpose. Hazing has become a dangerous process in which some lose their life due to the intense circumstances they are put through. While hazing has become a hot button issue due to recent national news stories surrounding it, it doesn’t seem as if hazing will every truly be eradicated since it is rooted so deeply in so many different cultures. It is striking how even without shared experiences between cultures, hazing has developed the same way in different groups that have never come in contact with each other. This further cements the idea that hazing is an evolutionary process that psychologically makes people think they are improving the overall strength of the group. Hazing doesn’t always have the happy ending that many envision, with the mob mentality that comes from a group inflicting pain or discomfort on a lesser group, they often go too far and seriously damage the people they are hazing. Hazing can have deep psychological effects and without a solid grasp on the task at hand, it can get ugly very quickly. Interestingly enough, the actual acts that occur in hazing have not changed very much even as it has become more prevalent. Usually involving bodily harm, verbal abuse, and the forced completion of unwelcome tasks. Hazing tends to blur the line between important shared ritual, and flat out assault of the verbal or physical nature. This is what makes hazing hard to completely condemn as for many people it has brought them closer together and allowed groups to become more tight knit.
I found that when I was writing this paper I used a lot of analyzation that was demonstrated in our ENG 110 class. It was very useful in an essay that wasn’t in English. Since much of the essay was talking about another culture it is useful to use the same strategies since much of the content needs to be explained. The two paragraph format makes it much easier to synthesize all of the information in the second paragraph. In the article written about hazing, many of the evidence that I used was specific numbers and percentages. This was useful for working on including evidence in essays. By reading these essays from an anthropological perspective it allowed me to see different points of view when reading a piece. It helped me to analyze my information because it gave me a clear point of view to see it from. Rather than use large words or language the reader wouldn’t understand, I sought to use easily accessible language when possible. Any terms that were foreign to the reader were explained to be understood. While some argue that the complexity of academic writing creates language and concepts that are difficult to understand, I believe there is always a way to explain your point to the common person. This is where the phrase ‘layman’s terms’ comes in, this is the explaining of something complex, but in easy to understand terms. Many academic writers could benefit from using this more. This writing style is engrained in writing today, many writers attempt to get their point across but use vague, indirect language. In my papers I intend to be direct without oversimplification. Oversimplification is also something that needs to be avoided because many of the topics being written about in academic writing are very complex, foreign subjects. Not many people in my paper would understand how ayahuasca is used in South American culture but by seeking to give the reader information in a direct way, I was able to easily explain a foreign concept. In my writing I seek to present and prove my point, rather than disproving the other point of view. By seeking to prove my own point, I am able to decide exactly what the reader focuses on and steer them one way or the other. Often academic writing is written from the defensive point of view where a writer must defend their point, when they should really be trying to only prove their own point. Often I find myself using metadiscourse and I try to guide the reader through my writing too much, I think I could work on this by only leaving the information that is necessary to the reader in my future writing.
