Purpose

Real People . . . Real Places . . .

Videos for the Semester

This week we're off to Spain, and Portugal. In Spain we visit with Anna and Kamila Polonia, and other "Extranjeras"--"Foreign Women"--immigrants to Spain. Immigration remains one of the major issues in most of the European countries, as it is in the U.S.A. and elsewhere around the world.

"Extranjeras ("Foreign Women") shows the least known and most typical aspects of other cultures through the experience of various immigrant women living in Madrid. We see these women's everyday existence -- their family environments, how they live and what they work at. We are given the chance to know what happens to their dreams, and where their affections lie. We also discover the new places they have created in order to meet and exchange."

Picture of Anna and Kamila Polonia from the film "Extranjeras" ("Foreign Women".

From Extranjeras ("Foreign Women")

Outcomes

First, to get a sense of the lives of real individual immigrants in a foreign country. In addition to visiting with Anna and Kamila, the film "shows the experiences of immigrant women from China, Bangladesh, South America, Africa, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe in Madrid."
Second, to get a sense of what the immigration situation for individuals was like in 2003, the year the film was made, to provide a baseline for what you will hear and see about immigration more than twenty years later. How have situations changed? How have they not changed?
And with the text readings we'll have a look at Spain and Portugal, and how their versions of the "Bullfight" reflect their similar-but-distinct cultures.
In the readings you should get a sense of how Gannon and Pillai use "cultural metaphors", in this case the same metaphor, to convey the essence of the Spanish and Portuguese cultures.
And with our slides this week we learn about one of the main features of American Anthropology: "The Four Fields of Anthropology".

Begin Week 2

Now that you have a sense of the purpose and outcomes contained within this module, begin working through the activities:

by using the “Next” button below to advance through the activities in sequential order
or by going directly to the Week 2 module for a listing of the activities.