Product - Response Paper 5

5.2 Teaching Culture: ANALYZING ARTIFACTS

Cultural Products are immersed in every culture all over the world. They are perceptible through the five senses: sight, hearing, touch, smell, or taste. Sometimes its perceptibility is quite obvious and other times it is not, but there are a lot of tangible artifacts related to products. Artifacts are objects created or elaborated by individuals of a culture, and the majority of the times are very specific, unique or representative of a culture. Thereby, in terms of analyzing artifacts it is very useful to keep in mind the pentagonal diagram of culture.

We were asked for our professor to design an artifact in class, whatever we wanted to create. The artifact I invented was addressed to help people in the woods or somewhere else who have been poisoned somehow by indicating quick remedies or elaborated formulas based on plants to delay the poison. This product is based on Zoi Powell discoveries in 2040 (supposedly it is 2057, and I am trying to be creative by making up all this out of my mind to make it interesting to me).What is it? It is an intelligent machine that utilizes sensors to monitor the environment and adjust its actions to fulfill its task in uncertain and variable environments. Where do you find it? It can be found in specialized laboratories or you can take a look for our on-line retailers on http://www.remediesatonce.com. This prototype is very expensive and it can only be used by specific people or organizations. How do you use it? It has a keyboard in which you type the kind of poison, and it gives you some alternatives to work on. Also you can seal any injury with the laser, but you must know what you are doing, otherwise you can cause side effects. Which groups of people use this object? It is used for groups of people who go into the Woods, exuberant places, or just people how work with snakes or doctors. Why do people use this? People use it because it is a practical way to delay poison in your organism by using natural methods or substances provided by an intelligent machine that was merely found by German laboratories. It helps organizations to make things easier. What significance does it have in the culture? It has significance in the culture due to the progress that had caused all over the years, it has completely crossed boundaries. People would have thought this was impossible long time ago, but now that this kind of technology exists and it has shown its results to the world, it has certainly changed people minds and they are more into the idea of it. Though this technology was found by Powell, its production lies on that first prototype she found. This artifact is used mostly by authorized individuals due to its complexity and importance, and it was classified as “the best top 10 secret fact that no one told us” according to Rick Spike, History Channel.

5.3 Learning Culture: MAPS

Another way to understand cultural dimensions of places is mapping Aerial views of a place, including objects or artifacts. That is why it was asked to us to draw a floor plan of our house and to analyze the area regarding some questions that will be answered below. The floor plan presented on the image has thirteen rooms. They all are addressed to different practices depending on the activity performed. This exercise will help us to have an idea on how cultures organize or interpret the natural environment and create a relationship among places, such as geography, plants, objects, etc.

1. The garage is only used by guests

• Four different kinds of plants and a bench

2. The living room is used for guests and sometimes for everyone (my family) to rest while watching television or listening to music.

• Television, DVD, radio, two paintings, three sofas and one couch

3. The dining room is used by family and guests to have breakfast, lunch or dinner.

• Table, four chairs, two paintings, one vase with artificial flowers

4. Kitchen is used by my mum and me in terms of cooking, and my father and brother do use it in terms of washing the dishes or helping out my mum mostly.

• Cooking utensils, cooking furniture, refrigerator, kitchen, oven

5. Laundry Room is used by all family members, to wash clothes, to clean objects, to give a bath to our dog.

• Detergent, washing machine, cleaning utensils, waste basket

6. The back yard and terrace are used for entertaining and for letting the clothes dry.

• Chairs, plants, books, etc

7. The rooms are used by specific family members and others are not.

• Television, computer, radio, bed, closet, clothes, books, etc

8. The bathroom and rest room are used by all family members or guests who come over one in awhile.

• Bathtub, toilet, soap, shampoo, etc

I think my residence is cultural because it is a product of what persons practice and the perspectives that surround communities. There are specific objects in every room, and that makes it unique and appropriate for the person who lives there. Though every single place of the house has a specific function, all family members are able to interact with others without losing their identity.

*************************************************************************

5.4 Learning Culture: FLOWCHARTS

For getting a driver’s license:

You must be over eighteen

For getting medical treatment:

You must have health insurance

For reporting a crime:

You must be a witness of it

For establishing a law:

You must be part of the government

For getting married:

You must by over eighteen (legal purposes)

For getting a bank loan:

You must have something to back up the loan (guarantor, property, etc)

For religious rituals:

You must have some expertise regarding the topic

For paying taxes:

You must have a salary or money to pay them

What connections do you see to perspectives, communities, and persons?

I think they are all interrelated because perspectives are beliefs or attitudes that guide persons and communities in the practices of the culture. It is something established and as we can recall, the book (teaching culture: Perspectives and Practices) studied in class says “Culture is the evolving way of life of a group of persons, consisting of a shared set of practices associated with a shared set of products, based upon a shared set of perspectives on the world, and set within specific social contexts.” I completely agree with it.

5.5 Teaching Culture: PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP TO CULTURAL CONTEXT

Is personal relationship to cultural content a factor in your teaching of culture? Explain your answer.

Personal relationship is very important to cultural content due to its uniqueness of being able to transmit the student different backgrounds; thereby it is the main factor in teaching a culture. Not only because students are going to learn more, it is also important to make them think or realize how different situations in our life can make the difference when learning a culture it is not ours.