Feeding Desire Assignment for ANTA01

A day In Habibi’s Life

I woke up hearing my grandmother, Humairah, yelling at me to wake up. My grandmother, like many of the older women, use a raised voiced rather than physically walk around to places they needed to go to. They just loudly speak to everyone from the place they are at and tend to talk to them in loudly.  I am 10 years old but I am not yet as fat as my mother and my grandmother hoped I will be soon. She always teaches me how to be like her. Now I quickly finished up my morning rituals and I am going to eat my breakfast with my grandmother. I rushed into the front room and found my grandma sitting cross-legged, watching my younger brother and sister eat their morning porridge.

She looked exactly like the curvaceous pyramid every woman in Azawagh wanted to be (Popenoe, 2004: 43). My grandmother chastened me, she told me not to walk too fast. Now I slowed down, still unused to restricting my body to move as little as possible. Then I sat next to my grandmother, adjusting my hawli (garment worn by Azawagh Arab women) (209).

I saw my brother and sister finished eating and skipping out of the room. I miss those days when I was able to do the same thing. My first baby tooth had fallen out when I was 6 and that’s when I got my first hair braiding. That is also when le-bluh (process of fattening) (40, 44) began. That means I was no longer a child, but I think I still am a child. I lost all my freedom right then too. But they were preparing me to get ready to become a proper women (44), sexually mature and desirable to men (42).  I watched as my grandmother talked to our neighbors and my aunt, Bashira, and dreaded the awaiting meal. Finally, my grandmother called our servants to bring me porridge.

The servant set the giant bowl of milky porridge and accompanying bowl of water, and left. The porridge was made of pounded millet grain and milk (47), this is something I had become to detest. Day after day, I am expected to gulp down the milky porridge which was to fatten me up. Soon, I would be able to switch to eating couscous and water (42). My grandmother watched as I tentatively swallowed a spoonful of porridge. Humairah, my grandma, sighed and instructed me to eat more and eat faster.  When one reminder wasn't enough, she reached over and pinched me which hurts a lot. “Nothing was more effective than bodily pain” she said once. It enhanced development and learning, disciplining the body and hence the mind and soul (47).

As I tried to eat faster, she sat back and looked at me, satisfied that I am stuffing myself properly. Just like she did every day, Humairah began to lecture me on the importance of fattening. To be fat, she explained, was to be beautiful. It was zeyn (good/beautiful). Men desired fat women, and the only way to be a women was to be fat (48). For me to be able to find a good husband and have a good marriage, I have to be sexually mature and desirable (49). I’m tired of hearing the same lecture, so I slowed down my eating. Then she pinched me and slapped me on the hand and glared at me to eat faster.

I haven’t even made it through half bowl of porridge and I am already full. But I am too scared for another punishment, so I began to eat at an intermediate pace. Faster than I could have, but for my grandma it was slower than what she expected. Continuing where she left off, she regarded me with some disdain. I am fat, yes, but not fat enough. Men liked women with "pendulous upper arms, rolls of fat around the waist, a protruding behind, and thighs that together form one vast expanse" (43).

In my grannys days, she was the most beautiful woman in the village. She started fattening at the age of six, and was married by the age of twelve. She was mature and beautiful beyond her physical age (45). Even after marriage, and having children, she always continued to fatten and maintain her womanhood. As a woman, it was her duty to be attractive to her husband (53). To be fat was to be healthy (4). While her husband had worked, herding cows and goats, his wealth and social status were only shown through his wife's body (6). A woman's body, like milk that gives life to families, was valuable (27).

By this time, I had almost finished my bowl of porridge and I am glad that my grandmother was done with her story. I quickly finished the last bit of porridge, struggling to swallow it down with water. It is not fun at all. Now my grandmother called our servant back in to remove the bowls. Humairah motioned to help me stand and together we slowly made our way to the room. It was time for our midday nap. Lying on the mat, I am thought about the upcoming marriage of my childhood friend and cousin, Jamila. It was the reason Aunt Bashira had come over earlier, to ask grandmother to come visit and help with the preparations. Jamila was indeed beautiful, like her name. Being two years older than me, she had began fattening when she was five and was now seen as a mature, beautiful and valuable woman (41).

This made me realize, after Jamila's wedding, I will be next in line. I just hope I would be beautiful like Jamila or grandmother to attract a good husband. Waking up from her nap my grandma reached out to help me stand. We then started walking slowly to Bashira's house. While the women sat together and discussed preparations, I went and sat with  Jamila and started gossiping. We talked about Jamila's husband, who was well-off enough for Jamila to continue fattening after the wedding (45). She teased me about the type of the man I would eventually attract with my developing body. As mid-afternoon approached, we anticipated the meal time and realized its off-schedule from everyone else (48).

The meal went fairly similar to the one I had mid-morning, except now there was about eight or nine women telling me and Jamila the stories of their youth. Jamila is now used to the porridge and stuffing, while I am struggling once again. Following the meal, everyone retired to mats lying out and taking a short nap. It was evening time when Jamila's father, my father and another uncle arrived home. The women resumed their wedding preparations, making final decisions and teasing Jamila about her good fortune. They could hear the men laughing and discussing trade routes in the other room. Once it was close to nightfall, me and Humairah bid goodbye to women, and slowly made our way back home.

I always see my grandmother  admired her own beauty. With her plump figure, wrapped in her indigo hawali, and slow, swaying walk, she really was majestic. Finally I finished my night rituals and got to lay down on me mat. I hoped that soon enough, the women would be sitting around making preparations for my wedding too. That, however, would only happen if I can get as fat as Jamila and my grandmother. I think I’m getting sleepier now, thinking about the monotonous day that I am going repeat tomorrow, a repeat of the day I just had.

Works Cited

Popenoe, Rebecca.

2004. Feeding desire. Fatness, beauty and sexuality among a Saharan people. London:        

Routledge.

I did this for my university Anthropology (ANTA01) assignment.

Anthropological Study Of Relegion

Anthropological Study of Religion: Summary

This work shows an anthropological approach with the assistance of nineteenth and twentieth century hypotheses on how religion is examined. The works of Edward Tylor and Friedrich Muller is utilized to display the anthropological investigations of nineteenth century. Tylor is maybe best known for his "intellectualist" way to deal with religion, his commitment to relative procedures, and his emphasis on religion as ''belief.” Muller is best known for his original translations of world religions and for introducing linguistics models for comparable examination of religions. The twentieth century works of religion are tended to by looking at the works of Clifford Geertz and Claude Le'vi-Strauss, with unique regard for Geertz's formulation of religion as a “cultural system”. Nineteenth-century anthropologists were very experienced in reasoning and religious philosophy than their twentieth-and twenty-first-century partners. Durkheim, Weber, and Freud, for instance, were knowledgeable in religious philosophy and lean towards to some of their disagreements to scholars. Anthropologists no more look at religion as a unified cultural system but see these as the results of a mix of different cultural systems. In the nineteenth century, anthropologists centered their attention on tribal, also called as "primitive" religions. As Robert bellah said “Religion is no longer a “one way thing”’ (2009: 24). There are no ''pure plays'' in tribal religions, and tribal religions have been very much affected by the significant world religions. A few anthropologists are themselves dynamic members in the religions they study. It has never been difficult to put forth a defense for the centrality of religion in human life. Religion exists in all communities considered and studied by anthropologists. As noticed, the center of anthropological study has moved from the investigation of tribal to present day religions. Religion is not effectively characterized. Religions have material expressions, however religion, in essence, lives inside there alm of experience and thoughts. Religions mainly focus on one thing that’s belief. Most people who study similar religions would say that the anthropological study of religion had its beginnings not with the Greeks but rather as product of continental European researchers who were keen on religious convictions of the over a wide span of time. The first form of studies started with Immanuel Kant and G.W.F. Hegel and different theologians, classicists, linguists, and folklorists. Anthropologists in the nineteenth century were better in theology and philosophy than the twentieth and twenty-first century colleagues. British social anthropologists have effectively done as such in altered accumulations, for example, David Parkin's The anthropology of evil, which incorporates sections by Christian, Muslim and Hindu scholars; Joanna Overing's Reason and morality; and, all the more as of late, Signe Howell's The Ethnography of Moralities. Modern anthropological investigations of religion had their sources in the nineteenth century with the original speculations of Max Muller, William Robertson Smith, Edward Burnett Tylor, and James G. Frazer (2009:27). As noticed, the center of anthropological study has moved from the investigation of tribal to present day religions. Most of those researchers who worked in the nineteenth century were Arm chair anthropologists. Geertz was an American anthropologist of the twentieth century known for his detailed study on religious symbols and religion in general. As said in this entry “Like Frazer, he separated religion from science” (2009: 31). He sketched out three notable occasions that had important influence on the anthropological study of religion: “the development of history as an empirical discipline; the split between advocates of psychological and sociological approaches to human culture and religion; interest in theological ideas and their impact on social lives” (2009: 32). Even though there is a sharp and continuing eagerness in the study of religion, there has been no single, uniform anthropological hypothesis of religion and/or no basic procedure for the investigation of religious practices and beliefs. Regardless of their transformative conclusions and their complicated Euro-centric and Judeo-Christian mentions, Muller, Robertson Smith, Tylor, and Frazer ultimately made significant additions to the study of religion and can successfully be perused today. Most nineteenth century anthropologists concluded on many of their hypothesis from their own life experiences in the religion they followed. Most of these anthropologists followed Christianity. By the mid-twentieth century, anthropology of religion started to be impacted by ethnographers who went past library resources. These researchers, obviously, were not the first to take an enthusiasm for the similar investigation of religion; nor were they the first to hypothesize on the religions of preliterate and tribal people groups. Morton Klass proposed that anthropologists should apply Western religious thoughts and ideas to anthropological hypotheses about religion. Robertson Smith was among the first scholars to propose that religious ceremonies are basically social in nature. His thoughts had a significant effect on both Emile Durkheim and Sigmund Freud. Edward Burnett Tylor is maybe best known for his "intellectualist" way to deal with religion, his commitment to relative procedures, and his emphasis on religion as ''belief.” Muller is best known for his original translations of world religions and for introducing etymological models to the similar investigation of religion. Anthropologists no more take a gander at religion as a brought together social framework, yet see religions as results of the interpenetrations of various social frameworks. While social researchers all over the place face with these issues, anthropologists of religion specifically inspect a subject for which shape and substance, custom and myth, enchantment and religion, must be temporarily isolated a subject for which the solidness of roots, ceremonies, demographics and social chains of importance can be gotten a handle on yet its essences experienced by its members should progressively be drawn closer both inductively and deductively. Therefore the anthropologists no longer focus in the primitive tribals, but the modern religions in the developing or the developed countries.

Bibliography

Peter B. Clarke, Peter Beyer, (2009) The world's religions [electronic resource]: continuities and transformations, London: Routledge 

                                 ---- This is my work I did for my RLGA01 ----- 

Main Quotes of Romeo and Juliet Explained.

Siloluquies

"A plague o' both your houses!" (3.1.104)

What does it mean? Tension between the Montague and Capulet families has been mounting until a fight erupts in the streets. Romeo's best friend, Mercutio, goads Tybalt Capulet into a duel. Mercutio is stabbed by Tybalt, who runs away. Mercutio curses both families in his final words, wishing a plague on both families. Mercutio's words foreshadows the loss that both families will soon feel.

"O! I am Fortune's fool!" (3.1.133)

What does it mean? After Tybalt and Mercutio die, Benvolio tells Romeo that Prince Paris will probably doom him to death if he's caught. Romeo calls himself Fortune's fool. Romeo is discreetly referencing the prologue, where the audience learns that Romeo and Juliet are fated for misfortune. But Romeo also feels Fortune is being especially cruel; he just got married, and he might be put to death. His words bring the idea of fate and destiny back into the audience's mind.

"For never was a story of more woe [t]han this of Juliet and her Romeo." (5.3.317-318)

What does it mean? In the last two lines of the play, Prince Escalus remarks on the lives of Juliet and Romeo. He's saying that no other tale has been this sad. While Escalus is right, his words also allow for the enduring quality of Romeo and Juliet's love. Their classic love story has been told and retold to every generation since first hitting the stage in 1594.

The following quotes are part of the famous balcony scene — Act II, Scene II — when Romeo and Juliet agree to elope. Some of the most quoted lines from Shakespeare are from this scene

"But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun!" (2.2.2-3)

What does it mean? Romeo, our young hero, already loves Juliet. In his words of adoration, he compares Juliet to a sunrise. Juliet hasn't seen Romeo below her window; she has no idea Romeo is even on her family's grounds. The important thing to take away is Romeo's use of language. Throughout the play, Romeo associates Juliet with 'light' imagery. He finds her love to be bright, sunny, and warm.

"O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?" (2.2.33)

What does it mean? Juliet is thinking about Romeo and his family ties. In Shakespearean times, "wherefore" meant "why". Juliet is asking why Romeo is a Montague. Although Juliet is unaware that Romeo is in the orchard below, she accurately points out a primary conflict in their relationship; their families probably won't accept or approve of their marriage.

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose, By any other word would smell as sweet." (2.2.43-44)

What does it mean? Still thinking about names, Juliet expresses a very modern idea. Your name does not define you. In her world, your name — or the family that you come from — sets out how people view you. The idea that you should be judged solely on your own merit is a progressive idea for the setting that showcases Juliet's rebellious and modern streak.

"Good Night, Good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow, that I shall say good night till it be morrow." (2.2.185-186)

What does it mean? In her farewell, Juliet expresses her sorrow about being away from her love, Romeo. But their parting is sweet, because the next time they meet, their wedding will take place.