The close of this chapter At the moment of starting the assignment of this blog, I was for sure that I would hate every minute of it. I was sure that I would need help just to finish the first phrase, and that I would struggle to make myself sound like an adult and not a child whit my grammar and my vocabulary. Turns out it wasn't that bad. I have a better grasp of the English language that I give myself credit for. By all means, I'm not even close to a native speaker but I can defend myself, especially whit the blogs when I have the time to check what I'm writing. Turns out I only need practice, who would have known? well... my teachers knew. I have found that this exercise really help me in my vocabulary building, as I have time to search for new words and concepts to express myself. and as I start using them, my oral abilities improve too. I really feel that the more I write the easier it gets. As for future entries for this blog, I would like to explore m...
Posts
My new love for Rugby This semester I can't say that I started with the attitude of enjoying the classes. Coming back from a gap year I have to take courses that complete the study syllabus more than classes that I would like to take. But I was pleasantly surprised when I started Rugby. It is a mixed course but I was the only woman. That didn´t stop my excitement. The more I played the more I liked it. We started learning how to move in the field and how to pass the ball. Now that I know a little more I feel more confident playing in practice. I have always played basketball since I was little in semi-professionals teams or for my school so it was a little intimidating to pass from a sport whit more than 1 hour of play time to one whit just 15 minutes!! it was a lot. I have never had such a hard time keeping the pace of a practice. But I feel that I have made an improvement, I no longer feel like having a heart attack after practice, but I know that I can still better myse...
Eco-friendly and natural burials Human funerals fascinate me. From the process to the result years later, aka the bones left behind, I am intrigued. But I can say that I find our current state of funeral costumes, not the best option. I think that is directly linked to our death fear. This fear of disappearing and being forgotten come hand in hand with the denial and our reluctance to talk about it, of this wish of being preserved in this plane as is we have never left, to keep the body here with us, in some way putting pause at time, denying our own decomposition, as a natural step in human existence. As if even in our tombs we are still haunted by occidental beauty standards. We have to look the best the day of our funeral, a perfect skin and a pleasant smile on our faces. I really don't like that idea. The more I study, the more I'm convinced that I like... no, I love! the idea of natural decomposition, and that I would not like to left my body as a relic ...
Jane Goodall "The least I can do is speak out for those who cannot speak for themselves" Women, anthropologist, and primatologist, Jane Goodall has dedicated her life to comprehend the social and family interactions of wild chimpanzees, and not for nothing is considered the world's most foremost expert in the topic. She has passed over 55-years studying chimpanzees in the Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania since 1960. Besides that, she is the founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and the Roots and Shoots programme. She has been part of the board of the Nonhuman Rights project and been named a UN Messenger of Peace. Wath is not to admire about this woman. Chimpanzees besides Bonobos are our more close relatives as primates. And Goodall whit her research debunked two of the scientific trues about chimpanzees in that time, that only humans could construct and use tools, and that chimpanzees were vegetarians. She would observe how chimpanzees would use...
Hey again, two posts in a day! wow, I am impressed whit myself. This time I want to talk about a photo that really amazes me, not as much as because of the incredible moment in the history of science it represents, but even more because of all the theories and conspiracies that has behind it, one of them sais that it was all a faux and that the landing was staged so the Americans could get ahead in the space race against the Russians. I am talking about the Apollo 11´s journey, the infamous lunar landing and the photos taken on July 20 of 1969. https://images.nasa.gov/details-6900952.html In this photo, in particular, we can see the astronaut Edwin Aldrin on the surface of the moon. You can see footprints in the soil, and parts of some equipment in the corner of the picture. The deep blackness of space can be ...
Yesterday, during a car drive with my family late at night, the topic of feminism came up, as it has been coming up lately with the sit-in in the faculty. My father asked me why if our instincts as women tell us to be mothers, feminist women think that is society that is making us being mothers even if we don't want to? I was perplexed for a minute because people in general disesteem how powerful the susception of patriarchal-neoliberal society is - in our case and society and culture, in general, in the way we act, think and feel about everything in our lives. We have a false sense of individualism and autonomy of ourselves that we - as a society think that stereotypes, bias and discrimination can't apply to us if we don't let them. As an anthropologist, it had been made clear over and over again for me that our birth in this society means that we operate with the prejudices and categories that this society has. The only thing that we can do to change...
Hello there, I would like to talk today about why I decided to study anthropology in the first place. I think that first, I should admit I had no idea what I was doing when I choose to follow this past. I have always been really hesitant at the moment of making decisions that would affect my life and future. When I was a child I changed careers as I changed clothes every day. As I grew older I noticed more and more how I didn't have even an idea of an area of study that I could claim my vocation. I found myself interested in everything, even the topics I wasn't particularly good at. By the time I was in high school, I was convinced that I would be an astronomer. I was sure that that was the career that would make me happy, but my dad, more practical than my adolescent self, make me notice the problems whit my plan. I was horrible at physics, I enjoyed to learn about it, but in reality, I was a disaster in the class. it broke my heart at the time, but now I appreciate the s...
About me: Hey! I'm Valentina, I'm 23 years old, born and raised in Santiago Chile, and I'm currently studying biological anthropology at the University of Chile, I didn't know that I will study this career, I had already convinced myself that I would like architecture, when this path of career surprised me by accident. I really don't like to talk about myself, I mysteriously forget all about my life as quickly as someone ask the dreaded question, so Valentina tell me about you?. I'm the oldest of two children and live whit both of my parents in Santiago. I have never lived anywhere else but my mom loves to travel, a hobby that she had passed to both of us. I plan to takes her around the world once she is older. I was born in July, and that maybe explain my love for rain and cold, I studied in ...