Purpose

This week Romantic Love is in the Air, and we’ll investigate it by comparing and contrasting what’s happening on love scenes in four/five countries [principally Nepal, Niger, France, and Canada].

When watching this film keep cultural relativism and "Units of Analysis" in mind.

We’ll look at love and a whole lot of other things Holistically, and check out what is “Normal” and what is “Ab-normal”.

In addition to being able to pick up a lover from a marketplace where male prospects display their wares, as seen in the film Strange Relations, markets almost everywhere can tell us a lot about the people. Besides witnessing a match-up in the making in the Niger marketplace in the video, in our readings for the week we’ll go to Nigeria (not to be confused with Niger) and have a look around a marketplace to see what it tells us about the Nigerian peoples. Gannon and Pillai think the "Marketplace" is an excellent cultural metaphor for Nigerians.

And what could be lovelier than to finish your Presentation so you can hand it in on time (in two weeks)? So, we’ll focus on that also.

(optional) And in the end some of will see what was happening around the global on 20 July 2020, in a noted project which chronicled Life in a Day on Planet Earth (95 min., 2021; Eligible for Extra Credit).

- - REM --GC Wk4 View Slides: "Comparative Method as Major Approach"
  - REM --GC Wk6 View Slides: "Fieldwork as a Primary Research Technique"

Outcomes

- To understand the application and and see the results of using "The Comparative Method" in combination with "fieldwork" to understand an item or custom as the primary "Unit of Analysis", in this case "Romantic Love".
- To begin considering what is "Normal" and what is "ab-Normal", when it comes to customs . . . and who decides.
- Ask yourself, "How would this video be different, from an anthropological point of view, if it focused on only one of the countries/cultures?
  - And what "difference" would that difference make, in terms of understanding "Romantic Love".
- Ask yourself, "How do the concepts of EMIC and ETIC apply to describing this film?"
- Ask yourself how the materials from the textbook on the Nigerian Marketplace relate to (or do not relate to) the materials on Niger markets as presented in the video.

Begin Week 11

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 11 Module for a listing of the activities.