Post Tagged with "culture"

Laguiole, a prestigious folding Knife

The Laguiole knife, an object-tool whose reputation is second to none

Laguiole is the capital of cutlery in Aubrac, a region of central France. Most people think that knife manufacturing in Laguiole is an ancient tradition that has adapted and been mastered over the centuries! Surprisingly, it is not!

The Bee, one of the distinctive signs of a true Laguiole Knife

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The Bouquinistes-Book Sellers along the Seine River

Bouquinistes, a trade that goes back to the Middle-Ages and is unique to Paris

The story has it that a boat transporting loads of books sunk near Notre-Dame Cathedral.

The sailors swam ashore taking with them as many books as they could and sold them to the passersby to make up for the wages they had lost. They certainly found the sale lucrative enough to start making a regular living from it.

Bouquinistes' stalls near Notre-Dame Cathedral

Since then, we are used to seeing the booksellers along the Seine and they have become one of the many iconic symbols of Paris.

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Exploring culture through Anthropology

Australian blog Culture Matters is a space for students and staff at Macquarie University, Sydney to share and highlight trends in anthropology. The blog explores both Australian and international issues affecting asylum seekers, refugees and indigenous people.

One of the site’s top posts, On being ‘black’ in Australia and the U.S, discusses ways in which we imagine identity and attribute race. There is also a great discussion in the comments section on identity and labels.

Join the conversation here and visit this site to learn more about practical applcations for anthropology in day to day life.

Read more:
More blogs from Australia on Blogs of the World
Canada’s cultural mosaic
Indigenous flags of Australia

Is California Splitting Apart?

Golden Gate Bridge (from Curreyuk; Flickr, Creative Commons)

The San Andreas Fault runs parallel to California’s Pacific coast for 810 miles, a seismic fault line that separates the Pacific and North American tectonic plates. The result is that San Francisco and Los Angeles are actually moving closer to one another at the rate of an inch and a half annually, getting ready for a head on collision in a mere 12 million years. Despite this convergence, the two cities and their respective halves of the state could not be farther apart culturally. 

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Brazilian Music Series – Powerful Women Singers

On my last post about Brazilian music in which I talked about a very special beat, Chorinho, I mentioned the need to go a bit beyond of what is stereotyped about Brazil all over the world. Yes, of course Samba is huge, and I just love it. It is part of our tradition and it goes in most Brazilians’ veins. However, our musical scenario is such a rich encounter of rhythms, sounds and voices that it wouldn’t be fair to insist on just one type of music.

Vanessa da Matta

So, I dedicate this post to the women in my country who inspire, empower, allure and make us proud. To those who are tremendously talented and represent our most voracious, enchanting voices. Those women whose stories and musical paths are unique, but they share their passion for every word they sing and pronounce. Our language, Portuguese, becomes pure poetry or a cry for justice in the mouths of these powerful women.

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What's polite in Peru?

“Pucha, Cam, estás gordita!”

It wasn’t really news that I’d put on a little weight in my month in Australia. It was a month of good cheese – very good, rich, fattening cheese, blue and brie and goats’, the kind I’d missed terribly in Peru. A month of wine and all those Aussie beers I love so much. Dinners out, desserts, birthday cake, Tim Tams. And a distinct lack of the exercise I get in Cusco simply by walking across town at 3,300 metres above sea level.

Image: vvaiting via flickr

But I certainly didn’t need it pointed out so bluntly. “Geez, Cam, you’re a little fat!” And I really, really didn’t need it pointed out over, and over, and over again, until I finally told the boys that in Australia you don’t dare comment on a woman’s weight, and that I wasn’t seeing the funny.

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