Essays on Cultural Anthropology

            The essay “Universality of the Folklore” is an excerpt from Stith Thompson’s book, The Folktale, a text which tackles the subject of folk tales around the world, their importance to societies and the various types of tales that exist. Thompson is America’s foremost scholar in folklore, having devoted most of his professional life in…

The story Centennial, by James A. Michener, had sections in it that referred to the way that Native Americans lived in America. These sections told stories that portrayed, partially, to the customs of the Native Americans. Many general references to their religion, transportation, rituals, and everyday life, were made. I have read these sections and…

Throughout history, the Vikings have been depicted as the savage and somewhat barbaric pirates from Scandinavia. Conducting frequent, vicious raids upon countries across Europe, their reputation has always been, more or less, ruthless. Though this may be partially true, historical evidence also suggests the Vikings as being more than what we generally presume… —What were…

The United States of America was essentially founded on the principles of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness through solidarity of human kind. It has been the land of immigrants and still is. The melting pot and salad bowl, are two metahors often used to describe how the different cultures blend together.? The term…

Euhemerization is a process that human being figuratively changes into a god with time while reverse euhemerization according to Chinese scholars, is a procedure through which a mythological creature or god changes to a historical figure, believed to have existed before. Reverse euhemerization happens to people occupied with history than mythology. Euhemerization is a theory…

Every culture around the world differs in some way or another. There are three cultural differences that specifically differ from that of South American culture. These three concepts are respecting one’s elders from “Or Else, the Lightning God” by Catherine Lim, respect for the dead in “Dead Men’s Path” by Chinua Achebe, and racial equality…

Romans and Barbarians DBQ According to the Romans nomads were considered to be barbarians, however over time Romans began to develop nomadic customs which were no longer considered barbaric but civilized. To the Romans a ‘barbarian’ was anyone who was an outsider of their land, and in that case nomads were considered to be barbaric….

During the late fifteenth through the seventeenth centuries, thousands of individuals were persecuted as witches. It was thought that these individuals practiced black magic and performed evil deeds, the deeds of the devil. This all happened during a time of great change in Europe, during the time of the Protestant Reformation, the Catholic Reformation, the…

The melting pot is a theory in which came about in the Revolutionary period by Michel-Guillaume Jean de Crevecoeur. His theory envisioned that America was a “melting pot”, where individuals of all nations are melted together to become a new race of men. The term melting pot refers to the idea that societies formed by…

Just like every other empire, Rome experienced many changes both politically and culturally. Along with these changes in the classical era came continuities as well. As I mentioned there are many changes in this time period, one being the destruction of paganism and the acceptance of Christianity in the Roman empire. Roman influence in Europe…