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Seeing the relevance of Anthropology in Everyday Life

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On the Backs of Other Mothers

November 3, 2016 by Carie Little Hersh 1 Comment

On the Backs of Other Mothers

I had no idea I was singing the saddest song about motherhood of all time. It all started when I became curious about a lullaby my grandmother used to sing to me. It turns out that “Go to Sleepy Little Baby”, which I now sing to my babies, was from a radio show in the 1940s – The Judy Canova Show. Canova ended each episode with the lullaby, which she remembered hearing from her own mother. But the original song is much more disturbing. Although some connect Canova’s version to a Swedish lullaby, the most likely source is an African-American song, All the Pretty Little Horses, which dates to the time of slavery. Hidden in the sweet lyrics about cake and promises of horses and carriages is an often-omitted verse that is shockingly grim. As the enslaved nanny sings to the white baby … [Read more...]

Filed Under: American Culture, Children, Cross-cultural Interaction, Culture, Family, Globalization, Kinship, Parenting, Social Class, Social Systems Tagged With: “All the Pretty Little Horses”, “Miss Housekeeping”, allomothers, babysitter, domestic labor, fathers, feminism, globalization, housekeeper, international domestic worker, Judy Canova Show, lullaby, migrant labor, mothers, nanny, neocolonialism, parenting, slavery

Of Fantasy and Daughters

October 31, 2016 by Carie Little Hersh

Of Fantasy and Daughters

I recently had the excellent fortune to guest blog on The Horn Book's new venture: Family Reading about my love of reading fantasy, and sharing the books with my young daughter. Fantasy (not, I'm slightly ashamed to admit, ethnography) remains my favorite genre, largely because of the way it allows us to work through complex concepts with fresh eyes. Fantasy takes cultural elements, values, and dialogues we are familiar with, and detaches them from their embedded cultural context. In other words, it lets us talk about tricky subjects - race, gender, power, religion - without all the baggage that normally accompanies the concept. As a mom, it is especially important to me that I give my kids thoughtful ways to tackle these tough subjects, while also giving them a space outside of … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Children, Family, Kinship, Literature Tagged With: children, daughters, Diana Wynne Jones, empowering, fantasy, gender, girls, Harry Potter, Howl's Moving Castle, J.K. Rowling, literature, mother-daughter reading, Terry Pratchett, The Horn Book, Wee Free Men

Stop Blaming Parents for Our Society’s Failures

April 23, 2016 by Carie Little Hersh 1 Comment

Stop Blaming Parents for Our Society’s Failures

Yet another parenting article popped up in my Facebook feed this week. Not a How-To parenting article, which is annoying enough, but a You’re-Doing-Everything-Wrong parenting article. Generation X’s Parenting Problem, published in 2015 but making the rounds again now, is a diatribe about how today’s parents are doing everything wrong. Life was so great when we were kids. Parents today are stressed-out maniacs who need to relax. We turned out fine. Kids these days have it too easy. If only parents today followed their parents’ and grandparents’ choices, everything would be great. The problem is, we don’t live in our parents’ or grandparents’ world. Just like the insipid and ubiquitous memes about how "My childhood was awesome: I was beaten with a belt and I learned respect", these … [Read more...]

Filed Under: American Culture, Culture, Ecology, Food and Foodways, Kinship, Parenting, Social Systems Tagged With: “Generation X’s Parenting Problem”, Anthropology, blame, capitalism, carcinogens, child development, criminalizing parents, ecology, economy, food toxicity, Generation X, housing, industrialism, kinship, parental leave, parenting, plastics, social institutions, social welfare, socialism, stress, support structures, toxic, toys

Surviving the Holidays, Anthropologist Style

December 19, 2015 by Carie Little Hersh 1 Comment

Surviving the Holidays, Anthropologist Style

As the holidays inch closer, and you’re beginning to dread joining the bag of mixed nuts you call your family, consider approaching them with anthropologists’ eyes this year. Participant-observation is the primary way cultural anthropologists come to understand people who live very different lives from their own, but we use it also to understand people who are *ahem* uncomfortably close to us, too. Rather than hitting the eggnog too hard and arguing with Aunt Fifi about her political views, pretend you’re writing a book on people you don’t know anything about and respectfully ask auntie about her politics. Sit at the kids’ table and check out how different the conversations (and the table customs) are from the grown ups’ table. Notice with new ears how, despite the fact that your black … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Kinship, Participant-Observation Tagged With: biological anthropology, Christmas, Cultural Anthropology, Dian Fossey, family, holidays, interview, Jane Goodall, mindfulness, participant-observation, primate studies, stress

Dr. Carie Little Hersh

Dr. Carie Little Hersh is an American cultural anthropologist, former attorney, and teaching professor in Anthropology at Northeastern University. This is her personal blog about anthropology and its relevance to everyday life.

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Disclaimer

As someone who was an attorney for between 3-7 minutes, I feel compelled to state that the views on this blog are mine and don’t reflect those of my employer.

 

relevANTH is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

 

Bonus Disclaimer: References to specific products and services on this podcast do not constitute or imply an endorsement and the views and opinions expressed by guests do not necessarily state or reflect those of either relevANTH or Dr. Hersh.

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