Bloomsburg State College
Bloomsburg
Pennsylvania
;.

Anthropology Newsletter
Vol. 5, No. 4
Jan-Feb. 1981
Department of Philosophy/Anthropology
Scheduling for Fall 1981:

The following courses will be offered by the anthropology

faculty in the Fall semester of 1981:
46.100
46.200
46,301
46,340
46.410

General Anthropology
Principles of Cultural Anthropology
Field Archeology
North American Indians
Primitive Arts

The Primitive Arts course will be offered by Dr. Minderhout for the first time since
Fall 1978,
their major.

This course can be used by art history majors to fulfull a requirement in
The course contrasts art in Western and non-Western cultures and surveys

art traditions in Africa, Asia, Polynesia, and pre-Columbian Meso-America.

Three

topics in particular are emphasized: (1) the possible evolutionary significance of
esthetic behavior; (2) the relationship between art and social structure; and (3) the
impact of acculturation on non-Western art traditions.

Folklore, music, and dance

are discussed as well as graphic and plastic arts.
Kudos and Folklore:

Mr. Solenberger recently forwarded a note to the newsletter editor

from Dr. Hopkins, chairman of the Department of Speech, Mass Communication, and Theatre.
In the note, Dr. Hopkins praises the newsletter staff as "doing a great job", but he
also raises a question about the folktale printed in the Nov-Dec. issue.
that this tale is also repeated in his collection of Aesop's Fables.
Who came first, Ghana or Aesop?

He notes

His question:

That question is probably unanswerable, but the fact

that the same tale should appear in two different cultures is not unusual.

Folklore

themes often pass across cultural boundaries, and the Mediterranean world and West
Africa have been in contact across the -Sahara for many centuries.

What often happens

is not the wholesale borrowing of an entire tale as the Ghananian-Aesop example suggests,
but the spread of a theme through diffusion from culture to culture, with each culture
populating the tale with characters familiar to their own culture.

For example, the

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familiar tale of the Musicians of Bremen from Grimms' Fairy Tales is found all across
the Old World from Europe to Japan.

As our readers no doubt remember, the point of

the Musicians of Bremen is that animals, including an old donkey, a worn-out hound, an
abused cat, and a rooster destined for the cooking pot, all of which are weak by themselves, are able to combine their talents to frighten off a band of robbers and take
over their hide-away.

The Japanese tale goes like this:

An egg, a scorpion, a needle,

a piece of feces, and a rice mortar came together for a long journey.

They entered

the house of an old woman during her absence, and in order to do her harm, they disposed themselves in different places.

The egg lay on the hearth, the scorpion in the

water basin, the needle on the floor, the feces in the doorway, and the mortar over
the door.

When the old woman came home in the evening, she went to the hearth to

light the fire, but the egg sprang up and smeared her face.
basin to wash, she was stung by the scorpion.

When she went to the

Seized by terror, she rushed from the

house, but the needle stuck in her foot, she slipped on the feces, and the mortar
fell on her head, killing her.

Once again, the weak and despised

creatures rout the

presumably stronger character.

Folklorists believe that this tale originated in Asia

and spread west through India, into south Russia, up through Central Europe, and into
Germany, where it arrived in the late Middle Ages.
The Anthropologist's Cookbook:

In Morocco during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan

a thick soup called harira is often served to break the day long fasts which are mandated for that time.

Muslims are not allowed to eat during the day, but at sundown,

light meals may be served.

Harira is eaten throughout the year, but during Ramadan

it is served in homes and restaurants everywhere in Morocco, and the prices of the
ingredients always rise dramatically before and during the fast.

½ cup lentils
½ cup chick peas
½ cup barley
450 grams (1 lb) canned or fresh
tomatoes, drained or sieved or
liquidized in a blender
1 large bunch parsley
1 bunch fresh coriander
450-680 grams (1-1½ lbs) meat for soup,
cut into pieces

2-3 stalks celery, diced
beef bones
1 onion diced
½ cup oil
2 tsp. tumeric
water or beef stock
rice or thin spaghetti,
if desired
salt & pepper to taste
2 tbsp. flour
juice of 1 lemon

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Soak lentils, chick peas, and barley overnight.

Drain and set aside.

Add chopped

parsley, coriander, and diced celery to the sieved tomatoes and let the mixture stand.
Heat oil in a large pot.

Add meat, bones, and diced onion, and cook until browned.

Sprinkle with tumeric and add water or beef stock to cover.

Bring to a boil, add

lentils, chick peas, and barley, and simmer for 2 hours or so until meat is cooked.
Add tomato mixture, salt and pepper, and cook 15 minutes more.

If desired, add rice

or thin spaghetti and cook until done.
Fifteen minutes before serving, put 2 tbsp. flour in a small bowl.

Add some hot soup

and mix, returning flour mixture to the soup pot, and cook, stirring, about 15 mins.
Add the juice of one lemon and serve hot.

Serves 6.

It is suggested that harira

will have more flavor if it is kept for a day before it is eaten.
Bigfoot Part~:

Life With Bigfoot:

Among the believers in Bigfoot there exists a

hypothetical scenario describing the creature's character and its sociologicalpsychological make-up.

What is believed about Bigfoot is the result of hundreds of

sightings along with the folklore and mythology of continental Asians, American
Indians, and North American whites.
Official Bigfoot societies, located in several regions of the U.S., compile data on
Bigfoot.

The nearest regional society headquarters is in Pittsburgh.

These groups

send elaborate questionnaires to witnesses who are instructed how to act and ovserve
in the event of future sightings.

They are also urged to photograph, but not attempt

to kill, Bigfoot.
From these various sources a picture of a huge, essentially timid, creature emerges.
It is interesting that while there are occasional sightings of female Bigfoots, there
are no confirmed sightings of infants, babies, or child Bigfoots.

A long childhood

is characteristic of all the primates, and it seems odd therefore that this data is
missing.

Since female bears are often seen with cubs, it could be argued that this

is one reason why Bigfoot sightings are not mistaken encounters with bears.
Bigfoot believers generally assert that the creature is so infrequently seen because
(1) it is very rare; (2) it is very shy; (3) it is aware, perhaps to the point of
paranoia, of the dangers humans hold for them; (4) it possesses an extraordinary

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sense of smell which warns of human presence at great distances; and (5) it is nocturnal in habit when few humans would be in the deep woods.
~

Bigfoots are said to live essentially as loners, coming together only for rare mating
sessions.

The absence of continuous adult male-female associations would be unin ue

in primates, if this were true.

Although Bigfoot is considered to be afraid of humans

and to be essentially vegetarian, some people believe that they attack livestock and
venture close to farm property in the search for food.
The legendary Bifgoot stench is asserted to be responsible for the awareness dogs
have for the presence of Bigfoot.

When frightened by humans Bigfoot presumably ex-

udes this strong odor as a defense against pursuers.

Next month: an evaluation and

summary of the evidence of Bigfoot.
ARCHEOLOGY WIND-UP:

The class in Field Archeology II has completed its excavations

for the season at the Brouse site near Riverside.

All excavated squares have been

"back-filled," top soil being replaced last, and our modest collection of stone artifacts turned over to the owners, as agreed.

Thanks are due to Mr. & Mrs. Wayne

Brouse, proprietors of the Cherokee Golf Course, for withholding part of their field
along the Susquehanna from cultivation this Fall so that the BSC excavation could
take place.

An unusual feature of this "dig" was that, after carefully removing

over a meter of topsoil and clay, we came upon a compact layer of flat rocks-not a
Roman road but part of the former river bed, as those who have paddled on the
Susquehanna would recognize.
In view of the rich collection of projectile points, knives, etc. gathered by the
Brouses from other parts of the same property (mostly Early Woodland period, apparently), we were disappointed in the small yield this season, although we dug
where there was a maximum concentration on the surface of fire-cracked hearth stones,
worked flint chips, and charcoal.

Probably we shall not return to this site, so

M. A. N. Club members and other readers are invited to leave work with Mr. Solenberger
(218 Bakeless mailbox) of other sites where BSC might get permission to excavate.
Already we have heard of a couple of possible sites nearby.

Watch for an announce-

ment of another M.A. N. Club Saturday exploratory expedition when weather conditions

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become suitable in the Spring.
Anthropology Goes Public:

According to a recent article in the New York Times, an-

thropologists are increasingly becoming employed in Washington and elsewhere as
policymakers.

As former AAA president Paul Bohannan was quoted as saying, "The

economists and the political scientists both beat us to the draw in public policy.
I guess it's because we anthropologists have long spoken for the underdogs -- we
are having a bad time getting out of that image."

However, with teaching jobs be-

coming scarce, already 27% of the AAA's membership is working in government, private
business and other non-academic jobs, and that number is likely to grow.

Anthro-

pologists have long served in many federal agencies, such as the Departments of State,
Interior, and Housing & Urban Development, but government has never been comfortable
with them.

To quote Bela C. Maday of American University, but formerly of the

National Institute of Mental Health, "Anthropologists have sneaked into positions
in Washington in spite of being anthropologists, not because they were anthropologists.
Anthropologists often do not understand the rituals and practices of Washington.
Washington is run like a big family.
take it away.

The ins have power and the outs are trying to

Anthropologists have made the mistake of identifying with the outs;

therefore, they could never break in."

According to anthropologists already in

government, the primary benefit anthropology has for policy-making is to assess the
impact of policies on communities and cultur·es.

However, Bohannana commented that

he believed that advice from anthropologists would seldom be fully welcome in government because policymakers want to solve problems quickly "and anthropologists make
them think about what they are doing -- and a lot of them are uncomfortable with that."
Book Review:

Sheila Kitzinger, a British social anthropologist, specialist in medical

care, and mother of five, has recently written a book called Women as Mothers: How
They See Themselves in Different Cultures (Vintage Books 1980).

Kitzinger is a lec-

turer with International Childbirth Education Association of America and with the
Paramedical Association for Childbirth Education in South Africa.

While her prin-

ciple fieldwork has been conducted in a hospital in Jamaica, she has worked and talked
with obstetricians, pediatricians, nurses, and mothers all over the world.

The book

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is not a "how-to" book, but rather is a look at the socialization process of motherhood cross-culturally.

Kitzinger documents the ways in which cultures channel women

into mothering and child-bearing responsibilities.

She concludes from her study

that a great deal of what is called a "maternal instinct" is culturally imposed ·and
that there is no right or wrong way of mothering.

In addition, to mothering, the

book also takes a look at pregnancy, contraception, and childbirth cross-culturally,
including a chapter on the ritual and technology of contemporary hospital childbirth.
The book makes fascinating reading and is highly recommended to those interested in
socialization, sex roles, and medical anthropology.