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Sunday, April 1, 2012

Anthropology

It's here, it's here! The A through Z blog challenge is here! I skimmed through the dictionary and chose a random word for every letter in the alphabet. Every post I'll put the definition of the word I'm writing about. We're starting off with...


an·thro·pol·o·gy
[an-thruh-pol-uh-jee]
noun
1.the science that deals with the origins, physical and cultural development, biological characteristics, and social customs and beliefs of humankind.
2.the study of human beings' similarity to and divergence from other animals.
3.the science of humans and their works.
4.Also called philosophical anthropology. the study of the nature and essence of humankind.


First of all, one of the things I love about a definition is that there are multiple answers for the same word. I'm gonna go with #1 on this one, because that's what I want to blog about.


Like most college freshmen I took an intro course in Anthropology. It was an elective, and my first homework assignment was to read about the NACIREMA, a tribe of people from the north american continent. It was an eye opening assignment, reading about how strange these people were. Their weird beliefs and rituals were so foreign.

Then I got to class and we started talking about the culture. Many people had similar views and repulsions to the article we were given.

Then our professor told us to read the name of the tribe backwards and it all came into focus. One of the best early lessons I had in college and I'll never forget it. If you'd like to learn more about the NACIREMA, here's a link to the article he gave us!  :)

Tomorrow's word is 10 letters, and begins with BL, any guesses? It's going to be a great one, can't believe this is the word my finger landed on!




11 comments:

  1. What a sneaky prof! I had a math professor who would take a sample of his class's handwriting, "analyse it", and hand back a personality profile to each student. While the kids gasped in amazement at how accurate the profile was, little did they know, they all had the same one.

    Bl, Bl, Blue-footed booby, obviously.

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    1. Nice guess Tamara, but believe it or not, it's an even better word than blue-footed booby (which by the way is much longer than 10 words). ;) Love what you're doing on your blog, I made my guess!

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  2. Awesome! I'll check out the link. Your professor sounds way cool and very sly!!

    There are so many words tomorrow's post could be about. Blackboard?? Or maybe bloodhound?? Guess I'll find out tomorrow. :-)

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  3. At my brother's wedding we all did the NACIREMA.

    But really, my nephew's studying anthropology, so I'm sending that article along to him.

    Hello Egypt!

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  4. Excellent word choice! I'm stopping by as part of the A to Z challenge. Nice to meet you. :)

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    1. Thanks for stopping by Shannon, I'll have to swing by your blog!

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  5. This is fun!
    The only BL words that jump into my brain are...blood, bleeding, bloodsucker... it's going to be a post about vampires? lol

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    1. It has nothing to do with blood, though it is a pretty violent word. What are you doing up woman?

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  6. Interesting take on the challenge! The "random word" thing seems to come out well. Great "A"!

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  7. LOL - great post! What a lesson from that teacher, sneaky! I am looking forward to the next random word.

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