Purpose

This week we’re going to the city of Varanasi in India, located along the banks of the sacred Ganges River, where several families share with us their very last moments with their beloved relatives. We’ll visit with families who are saying goodbye to their relatives. To die in the city of Varanasi, on the banks of the sacred Ganges, is one of the most cherished of Hindu religious aspirations in India. It is a way of life and death not familiar to most of us.

In anthropology “Life Cycle” events involving life and death have always been of great interest, including how living folks interact with both their departing and departed ancestors, and how the transition from this life to the next (for those who believe in a next life) takes place.

And we’ll have a look at the week’s news from India.

Outcomes

- To understand the cultural, social, historical, political, and economic importance and outreach of, India, since 2023 the numerically largest country of the world, as well as one of the dominant cultures of the world, past and present.
- To understand the ways the specific elements of the two cultural metaphors represent the numerous microcultures and dominant regional/religious cultures of the country.
- To understand the interrelationships between the "Kaleidoscope" of microcultures that make up the country of India.
- Using India as a model to understand the importance of recognizing the relevance of "Units of Analysis" in anthropological research, and in general understandings of global cultures and microcultures.

Begin Week 10

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