This link takes you to an excerpt from an episode of National Geographic’s Taboo series — a series that is, by its very nature, rather sensationalist. Nevertheless, it is one of the few films available for online classroom viewing that allows us to witness first hand several Rites of Passage directly involving body modification/decoration, both to effect and mark transitions in status. The individuals undergoing the rites of passage would never be full group members without them.

Please be aware that some of what you will see in this excerpt does involve blood and pain. While you are watching the film, please think about what you learned in the prior lecture. Please think about how your own culture also has some bloody painful practices. Think, for instance, about male circumcision, which is often done ‘automatically’ to newborn boys in the USA. Think about orthodontia, body waxing, and the more invasive modification techniques that are practiced in our world. And remember, while we can (in theory) opt in or out of, say, having a face lift or pectoral implants or getting pierced or tattooed or even, for instance, injecting ourselves with steroids, individuals in tribal cultures will effectively be exiled or suffer ‘social death’ if they fail to demonstrate allegiance to their people through opting for culturally recommended and valued body modifications.

Here is a captioned version Links to an external site.of the video.

This lecture explores how a culture’s ethos affects the ways that members of that culture perceive the world (including their own feelings, which get turned into emotions in different patterns across cultures). Practice theory is referenced to help us to grasp that culture emerges only as we perform it, which we do when moving and emoting as well as thinking. Remember, with this as with all lectures, you should feel free to stop and rewind or review, or to take a break, whenever you like. Also, if you want captions, you can view the video in two parts via the YouTube Playlist Links to an external site..

• Study finds causes of high rate of myopia among Asian school-leavers Links to an external site.(2.5 mins) [note that a ‘school leaver’ is a graduate in many other nations.]
• Rising Rates Of Nearsightedness Attributed To Time Spent Inside Links to an external site.(1 min)

Video 2 identifies a suspected direct cause: lack of sunlight! The specific mechanism has yet to be discovered. It will be interesting to see (no pun intended) the impact of the pandemic on myopia rates. For more on that, here is an OPTIONAL short news article Links to an external site.. 1. Watch: Dove – Evolution of a ModelLinks to an external site.

Sometimes, the bodies we strive for are so constructed – so fabricated – that they aren’t actually achievable through normal means. In other words, the ideal can be so divorced from the real that it’s not even feasible. This creates no small degree in anxiety among ‘normal’ people. This brief video reveals the nature and degree of manipulation with which we can be faced.