Lost Boys Found

We watched a movie in class at the end of last week about the Lost Boys of Sudan. I knew quite a bit about them for my church, St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in Barrington, has a ongoing twelve-year covenant relationship with the Diocese of Renk in Sudan. The Second Sudanese civil war left tens of thousands of boys orphaned and displaced, fighting to take refuge elsewhere or to not give up hope on their beloved country. Our goal is to rebuild the social structure and to develop Christian leadership and to support and strengthen in the now peaceful, southern Sudan. The video we saw in class was to show the stories of some of the Lost Boys who fled to the United States to adapt to our culture, find a home, find a job, make new friends, get an education, and create a prosperous life. Though the challenges (such as learning to keep receipts, needing to get a license before driving a car, etc.) they face are familiar to us, the boys unknowingly trudged through and learned how to become an American. They prefer living in the United States rather than Sudan because there are more opportunities to succeed for a better future.

Cultures Apart From Our Culture

Last week, we started looking into different cultures. We started with a tiny quiz on the American culture, seeing if we knew what movies are appropriate to let a small child to watch, what is a modern teenage pastime, greetings for different kinds of people (for example, you can high five a friend opposed to shaking hands with your boyfriend or girlfriend’s parents), and so on. I found it particularly interesting to find that cultures today that exist in other parts of the world may have different rituals apart from the United States and many European countries. For instance, the Asu tribe, in India, take an extreme amount of care and worship of the Rac, similar to the bull. Every family in the tribe must own at least one. The wealthier members of the tribe own two or more, showing of their social rank as well. Everyone must keep the Racs in tip top health because the breed itself tends not to live over seven or so years. These animals are used in puberty rituals for teenagers becoming adults. They also have special paths specifically for Rac use; only the herds may go on them for enjoyment. In comparison to the modern world culture, the Asu mainly worship the Rac, making it the center of life, where modern cultures don’t exactly worship animals or such. It’s fascinating to see how cultures like this live and survive in today’s world.

Labels: Searching For a Sense of Self

We watched a late ninety’s show called Freaks and Geeks earlier this week. Not only was it entertaining, but we needed to relate it to this week’s topic of sociological perspectives. While watching this show, I found that the characters are similar, yet exaggerated characteristics of high school students in the United States. For example, we have the wanderer who doesn’t know who to be friends with, but she knows what’s right wherever she goes, whether it’s standing up to a bully or telling someone off for being a jerk. Another example is the one who feels like he or she is in control of everyone else; He/she may not be in control at home (possibly having family issues), but he/she picks on others for their own gain, even though it really may be hurting them more deep down. For examples that give the show its name are the freaks, the people with unusual behaviors and appearances, and the geeks, the “uncool” nerds. Because the characteristics of the characters in this show are a little bit romanticized compared to what we have in high school today (the show sets in 1980), the characteristics weren’t far from reality. Most teenagers still are wandering from group to group to find a sense of self and a place to express that sense of self. We all feel like freaks and call each other a geek at times when we get real passionate about something, like art or music or math, but these terms aren’t exactly used nowadays. Still, we seem to function as a school society all the same with or without the labels.

Objects in class

During the first week of Sociology, we were given a task to complete a worksheet to analyze a certain object of our choice. We needed to describe the object, discuss how it relates to social life, how is it used globally, does it affect life on earth significantly, how has the object come about, and how has the object changed over time, as well as how will it be like in the future. We basically needed to find out how it relates to us and its impact to society. My group chose to analyze a jester-like, snow plow hat. We concluded that it came into existence a long, long time ago when people needed warmth on their heads during winter. It is also derived from the renaissance style of the court jester’s headwear; who knows, maybe the jester-like style will come back in fashion. It could be jester-like for the sole purpose of the wearer getting people to laugh! It seems highly unlikely for anyone to be offended at seeing such a hat. Like in the picture above, the dog doesn't seem to be at all offended or annoyed with the hat. Then again, the hat is being worn by a dog (rather than a human, but humans love to dress up animals for some reason...) and the hat could be photoshopped on a picture of a dog, but sociologically, it works!