On Wednesday night I was talking to
my Grandma about my Diverse Cultures class. I told her that we were learning
about Native Americans and then she interrupted me and said “Oh my goodness I
love Indians so much and I would love to see them dance and in their outfits”.
I was like yeah Grandma the Native Americans have an event called the Powwow
and different types of Native Americans get together and celebrate. I mean she
was so excited about the conversation that she interrupted me again (of
course). Then she said “Have you heard of a group called Redbone “Come and Get
your love”?”. I was like maybe? “I used to play it all the time!” Then I
started thinking and then I begin to hum it but I did not know the words. So my
Grandma found this on You Tube and I thought it was pretty cool.
I decided to look up women from the
Comoros. To my surprise the women are evolving just like the women in the
United States. You would think that the women in Africa would not have as many
rights or privileges as we do in the U.S. The women in the Comoros owns their
house, they work more than men and they also work in a political offices. The
women in Comoros are Muslim and it can be a little difficult for non-Muslim
women. A Catholic physical therapist lives in Comoro and everyone will not visit
the physical therapist because she is not Muslim. Another fun fact, Comoro used
to have a Queen or was also referred as the Muslim Queen.
Reading Dr. Vaneman’s blog I became
interested in the Navajo Pageant. The Pageant consist of Navajo women coming together
and are preserving their community/clan and the Pageant winner represents
womanhood and fulfills the role of their Grandmother, Mother aunt and sister. I
love the principles this Pageant brings because it is not just about beauty or “if
you could rule the world for day, what would you do”. It is about keeping a
tradition and embedding the cultural into young women since the Navajo culture
is gradually disappearing. I love that the winner of Miss Navajo goes around
and educates other people about the culture, language and the Tradition.
This is an interesting variety of "stuff," Sherami. I'm especially glad that you thought of things you'd like to know more about and then researched those things. It is interesting to approach other cultures with questions about women's place and rights--they often lead very different lives than we might guess. Do remember that the goal here is to share things with the rest of the class, so you might want to give a bit more background on issues we haven't covered, such as the Comoros.
ReplyDeleteI think it's fantastic that you had that conversation with your grandmother! I actually remember that song from the 70s as well, but I had no idea it was sung by a Native American group. Very cool!
Hey Sherami!
ReplyDeleteI watched the video for "Come and Get Your Love" and I realized that I know the tune as well, but I had never thought about the musicians performing it, let alone that they were Native American. I'm really glad you shared information about the Navajo pageant and their empowering position as a sharer of Navajo language and tradition.
-Erin
Sherami I really liked your method of research for "cool stuff." I also talked to family members about what we do in class and bounced ideas off of them for research as well. I had never heard the song "Come and Get Your Love" but I appreciate you mentioning it so that I could listen and appreciate the Native Americans once again. The global issue on women's rights is much larger but it was nice to see from your research that equality is being achieved in some parts of the world!
ReplyDeleteHi Sherami!
ReplyDeleteI really liked your video, I like others in the class recognize the tune. It is interesting on how everyone may know the tune but not realize it is coming from a Native American group. I like how you looked up women in a different culture. As a woman, it is always interesting to see how other cultures treat them. I also like your pageant post. Some people think badly about pageants, but it is a good way to keep culture.
-Katie Long
Sherami! I am so glad you found the Redbone song. I had a similar experience with my dad and didn't believe him at first until I looked it up myself. The pageants are really cool and unique. I like how it really plays on the women of the culture and also conserves their culture
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