W7: Activity Post

In this seven-week course, there are a lot of videos and readings I learned. Women as a main population to discuss in the class, but it also connected with men, culture impacts, social determinants, and so on. It is my first Anthropology course and I learned to combine human’s health with many other factors as a new definition of illness and disease. To be honest, I found every week’s material is interesting and enjoyable. The most impressive topic is “New Bodies, New Selves: Women’s Embodied Experiences of Culture” in week 6. I was surprised to find a new understanding about female genital cutting in the region of West Java and the belief of Islam. Female genital cutting can be seen as a male circumcision and it represented beauty and purity. Even now, there are many people continue this tradition. Through the reading, I learned a new perspective about female genital cutting. In week 6, women’s embodied experiences of culture combined women’s health with the social impacts and cultural influences. I also got a lot of insights when I share my own ideas and view classmates’ comments. For example, one comment mentioned that it is not a forgotten thing even female genital cutting, plastic surgery, and chinese foot-binding were outlawed abruptly. Because these practices was a big part of the history. This point I have not thought about and I found it is reasonable and interesting. I think the way we comments is very good for me to learn about this course’s material. I think it is better for us to take more comments in the future courses.

One thought on “W7: Activity Post

  1. Week six was really interesting for me too, FGM is a controversial topic and I wasn’t sure how the class would respond to the week. I personally have really enjoyed reading your blogs and activity posts, you bring up a lot of stuff that I was unaware of and bring up things that I hadn’t considered. I hope you get the chance to take more anthro classes in the future.

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