World System Simulation: Our goal is to recreate the world.
To do so, we have to find the driving forces of the world.
We need to simplify the world somehow to find the most fundamental, the most important, driving forces that move social, cultural, and political changes.

We might start with POWER.
What is power? Ability to MOVE something, to have an effect on something.
But where does it come from? You can't touch it, see it, hear it, smell it, taste it. So what is it? Where is it? Who has it? Is it really an IT? Can somebody really "have" it? Remember how language plays games with us.
Definitions:
Power: ability to impose one's will upon others
Influence: "unofficial" ability to sway people Hard Power vs. Soft Power
Hard - use of force
Soft - shaping minds

Totalitarian states emphasize hard power to control their citizens

Democratic states emphasize soft power (Remember the clip from Comedy Central which shows soft power in action. The clip is available on comedycentral.com under Daily Show clips.)

Hard Power: Economic & Physical Force (Coercive)
Soft Power: Shaping Minds (Co-optive)

Examples: Education, Media, Consumerism, Exporting Values, Defining "cool" Hard & Soft Power are both part of "Structural Power" - which is power and inequality embedded in (and produced by) economic, social, political, and ideological structures I used clips from the movie
"Gandhi" and other documentary clips about Gandhi's life to illustrate these concepts. Examples I used included: the British use of Hard Power both in military foce (the Armitsar Massacre of 1919) and economic sanctions (such as the taxes on land and salt). The British had very little "Soft Power" though. They did not control the hearts and minds of Indians. Gandhi had tremendous soft power, and the more the British used their hard power, the more Gandhi's soft power increased. Gandhi employed non-violent techniques of "non-cooperation". He recognized that Britain was attempting to set up a pervasive structure of power. By not participating in the structure (by not purchasing British goods, refusing to pay taxes, and not working for them) he undermined British power.
Then I talked about the Cheyenne. Between the 1700s and the late 1800s, their political organization could be mapped out like this: The Warrior Societies were generally made up of young men who fought wars. The Council of 44 was a group of 44 mostly elder men who were considered Peace Chiefs and also arbirtated internal affairs and conflicts. When the council of 44 met, the most important 5 chiefs sat in the following way, each of them representing different elements of the world ...

Their leadership was sacred, and as leaders they were elevated beyond earthly concerns. When one chief's wife was stolen from him, he simply stated very calmly, "A dog has pissed on my tipi," showing that such things could not be of concern to him because his first and most sacred priority was to the tribe as a whole. In this way, such leaders become self-less, acting for others and not for themselves.
As white settlers moved into the region the resources of the Cheyenne became more scarce. Eventually war broke out. A number of treaties were signed, but few lasted before violence once again broke out. Hundreds of Cheyenne were killed without much of a fight while they were living near a government fort under the illusion that they would be safe there. This was called the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864.
In 1876 the Cheyenne defeated Custer and his troops at the Battle of the Little Big Horn. Within a year they were all captured and sent to live on reservations. Eventually they came to live on 2 reservations, one in Oklahoma and the other in Montana. The video I showed shows life on the Northern Cheyenne reservation today. Today the Cheyenne have a political organization which they describe on Norther Cheyenne Net as: The Northern Cheyenne Tribe was organized in 1936 and operates under a constitution consistent with the Indian Reorganization Act and approved by the Tribal membership. Today the Tribe is a Federally-chartered organization with both governmental and corporate responsibilities. The governing body is a Tribal Council headed by a President, who is elected at large to serve a term of 4 years. The tribal council consist of members elected from each of the five districts. The Vice President and a Sergeant-at-Arms are elected by the tribal council from within its number and a Secretary and Treasurer are appointed outside its number. The Secretary and Treasurer have no vote.
The tribal council consists of members elected from the Ashland, Birney, Busby, Muddy, and Lame Deer districts in the proportion of one member for each 200 population and an additional member for each major fraction thereof. The current governing body has 19 members.

I then discussed democracy:
I pointed out that Democracy fits with our culture - particularly our values and ideals of individualism and self-expression

But after reviewing the culture of the Nekalimin, where I did fieldwork, I asked a difficult question: "Could Democracy work there?"


Traditionally, Nekalimin Political Organization had these features: * Great Man / Big Man Leadership. No "power." Just influence.

* Seek agreement and consensus.
* Individual opinions are not valued.
This emphasis on consensus rather than individual opinion is prevalent throughout Papua New Guinea. Papua New Guinea became an independent democratic state in 1975 after Australia left. The first elections were held in 1977 and every 5 years after that. So how does democracy work there? What does an election look like?
First, all members of a tribe will "Pasim Tok" - "Fasten Talk" (Come to a consensus)
They vote by tribe, usually for a member of their own tribe. They do not vote on issues
There are over 1,000 tribes, and 2,875 candidates contested for 89 seats in 2002
There is much at stake, and this leads to tribal fighting & general election mayhem A person can get elected with little more than 2,000 votes and then tends to direct all state funds to those 2,000 people at the expense of the other thousands of people who receive nothing or very little. In short, democracy doesn't work very well there. What about other aspects of the state government? What about law? The officer along with hundreds of others decided to get rid of witchcraft. This brought two very different systems of social control into conflict.

The law transformed witchcraft from a problem between two people in a relationship into a crime against the state, punishable by law. Ultimately people rose up against the law and re-instituted consensus rule. Then we moved on to discuss RELIGION.

I started with the Buddhist story of THE MUSTARD SEED
----"The reputation of Buddha Shakyamuni had spread far and wide. Not only was he renowned as a great, compassionate and fully enlightened human being, but also as a skilled teacher and a miraculous healer who could even bring the dead back to life. One day, a woman approached him after a teaching, begging that he do something to restore her dead child to her. The Buddha listened patiently to her plea and saw how great was her despair. He said to her, "Mother, if you bring me just one mustard seed from any household in which no person has died, then I shall revive your child." The woman was greatly encouraged by the Teacher's words. She traveled from door to door throughout her own village, but could not find even a single residence in which no one had died. She went out of town, wandering to this hamlet and that in search of the tiny seed that the Buddha had requested. Days later, muddy and footsore, she returned to the place where the Buddha and his followers were passing the rainy season.
She was ushered into the Teacher's presence worn out, but not discouraged. "Master, try as I might, I could not locate the token you requested as an offering. But I have come to understand that death visits every household and eventually, every single one of us. I would like now, to 'enter the stream' and work towards the liberation that the teachings provide." BIG QUESTIONS:
Why death?
Why life?
The world is much more than what meets the eyes.
We experience great sorrows - and great elation. We experience death - We fall in love - and sometimes we have what for lack of a better word we might call "the religious experience" --- all of these experiences are beyond words.

....And then there is the world itself....
Where did it come from?
It too is beyond words.
You can say it is the Big Bang - but what was before that - You can say it was God, Allah, Spiderwoman of the Hopi, Afek of the Nekalimin, any number of thousands of Gods that Humans put their faith in ... but is that just a word we place on something unexplainable? Ultimately the ground of our being is a mystery - as humans we name it by many names ... You have probably heard of several religions - Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam ... there are in fact no less than 5000 religions. Each one as adamant as the others that they have the right answer in their pocket. Great diversity - yet remarkably similar as well. How do we explain this diversity?

Worldwide we find that religion expresses, explains, and legitimizes cultural practices, values, and the socio-political order. In other words, it FITS into the barrel. And if the barrel changes - so does the religion. Example: UNILINEAL DESCENT GROUPS - CORE VALUE ON FAMILY GROUP (DESCENT GROUP)
Dobu and Sir Ghost PAPUA NEW GUINEA - RELATIONALISM Animism - Sinik and "relating to the world" I showed a video illustrating this.
INDIA - HINDUISM INDRA'S LESSON
"There is a wonderful story in one of the Upanishads about the god Indra. Now, it happened at this time that a great monster had enclosed all the waters of the earth, so there was a terrible drought, and the world was in a very bad condition. It took Indra quite a while to realize that he had a box of thunderbolts and that all he had to do was drop a thunderbolt on the monster and blow him up. When he did that, the waters flowed, and the world was refreshed, and Indra said, "What a great boy am I."
So, thinking, "What a great boy am I," Indra goes up to the cosmic mountain, which is the central mountain of the world, and decides to build a palace worthy of such as he. The main carpenter of the gods goes to work on it, and in very quick order he gets the palace into pretty good condition. But every time Indra comes to inspect it, he has bigger ideas about how splendid and grandiose the palace should be. Finally, the carpenter says, "My god, we are both immortal, and there is no end to his desires. I am caught for eternity." So he goes to Brahma, the creator god, and complain.
Brahma sits on a lotus, the symbol of divine energy and divine grace. The lotus grows from the navel of Vishnu, who is the sleeping god, whose dream is the universe. So the carpenter comes to the edge of the great pond of the universe and tells his story to Brahma. Brahma says, "You go home. I will fix this up." Brahma gets off his lotus and kneels down to address sleeping Vishnu. Vishnu just makes a gesture and says something like, "Listen, fly, something is going to happen."
Next morning, at the gate of the palace that is being built, there appears a beautiful blue boy with a lot of children around him, just admiring his beauty. The porter at the gate of the new palace goes running to Indra, and Indra says, "Well, bring in the boy." The boy is brought in, and Indra, the king god, sitting on his throne, says, "Young man, welcome. And what brings you to my palace?" "Well," says the boy with a voice like thunder rolling on the horizon, "I have been told that you are building such a palace as no Indra before you ever built." And Indra says, "Indras before me, young man- what are you talking about?"
The boy says, "Indras before you. I have seen them come and go, come and go. Just think, Vishnu sleeps in the cosmic ocean, and the lotus of the universe grows from his navel. On the lotus sits Brahma, the creator. Brahma opens his eyes, and a world comes into being, governed by an Indra. Brahma closes his eyes, and a world goes out of being. The life of a Brahma is 432,000 years. When he dies, the lotus goes back, and another lotus is formed, and another Brahma. Then think of the galaxies beyond galaxies in infinite space, each a lotus, with a Brahma sitting on it, opening his eyes, closing his eyes. And Indras? There may be wise men in your court who would volunteer to count the drops of water in the oceans or the grains of sand on the beaches, but no one would count those Brahmin, let alone those Indras."
While the boy was talking, an army of ants parades across the floor. The boy laughs when he sees them, and Indra's hair stands on end, and he says to the boy, "Why do you laugh?" The boy answers, "Don't ask unless you are willing to be hurt." Indra says, "I ask. Teach." (That, by the way, is a good Oriental idea: you don't teach until you are asked. You don't force your mission down people's throats.) And so the boy points to the ants and says, "Former Indras all.Through many lifetimes they rise from the lowest conditions to the highest illumination. And then they drop their thunderbolt on a monster, and they think, 'What a good boy am I.' And down they go again."

This story illustrates some core values of Hinduism:
Cycles - Reincarnation
Each person has their place (Caste)
Subdue individuality - Be humble. These are the Virtues. Mayan - also cycles - AGRICULTURAL (CORN) El Castillo Temple
91 steps x 4 sides + 1 = 365
52 years in a cycle / blocks at the base
Equinox - Snake - Kulkulkan (head at base)
Origin at "Snake Mountain"
Snake represents cyclical REBIRTH (sheds its skin)
Hunab Ku - Creator God
First humans were made of CORN (reflects corn agriculture)
13 compartments in 7 levels - different god in each -
Cycle: Agricultural (Corn)
Order and Organization - Reflected in levels and compartments (imitate bureaucracy) The current Katun will increment about ten years from now (13.0.0.0.0 will be on December 21st, 2012) New Age Spirituality
* individual selects own beliefs from many world religions.
*Main idea: All is one, and all is spiritual.
* emerged in late 1960s, early 1970s

Pantheism: The belief that the universe and all within it is God (I used the example of "God" in Los Angeles, a man who is a pantheist who actually legally changed his name to God in recognition of his belief that everybody and everything is God.) To reiterate the main point of this lecture, worldwide we find that religion expresses, explains, and legitimizes cultural practices, values, and the socio-political order. In other words, it FITS into the barrel. And if the barrel changes - so does the religion.

A few more notes on Religion and Art Religion and Politics But what about America?
What are the religions?
What is the religious landscape? How is it changing?
* New Age Spirituality
* Fundamentalism
* Rock-Star MegaChurches
* 85% Christian ...
* 75% say they pray to God on a daily basis
* only 33% actually make it to church each week,
* only 40% can name more than 4 of the 10 commandments
* and barely half can name even one of the 4 gospels.
* 60% believe the Bible is literally and completely true
* 75% agree that the Bible teaches that "God helps those who help themselves."
Emphasizes Individualism - Independence, etc. But yet there are many important differences: 224 Million Christians
42 Million Non-Religious
4 Million Judaism
2 Million Muslim (Islam)
1.6 Million Buddhist
1 Million Hindu
Over 60 Million Non-Judeo-Christian. (about 22% of US Population) See comparison of survey statistics at
http://www.adherents.com/rel_USA.html#religions

Bottom line: We live in a Pluralistic Society. (many cultures - many religions)
THE QUESTION: What role should religion play in a pluralistic society? If the majority religion is incorporated into the state, will its values necessarily exclude and discriminate against those who have other values and beliefs? Should there be a separation of church and state? If so, how strongly should the line be drawn? THEOCRACY: A government ruled by or subject to religious authority. USA VIDEO: The Contradiction: have a civil religion (prayers by politicians, etc.) BUT when actual policy and governance is concerned - there is a separation of church and state. The first amendment is a limitation on democracy. (restricts the majority from establishing a state religion even if they voted to do so) Christian Coalition - Rating Politicians "trying to "take America back" to the "Judeo-Christian Principles" that they claim form the foundation of America. Liberal Christians are concerned that the Religious Right is emphasizing "morality" at the expense of social justice. Should there be a "limitation on democracy" in order to protect religious freedoms? INDIA Minorityism vs The Tyranny of the Majority The video mentioned "minorityism" - which refers to the protection of minority rights despite the desires of the majority. The opposite of minorityism is what Alexis de Tocqueville and John Stuart Mill (both 19th century writers) refer to as "The Tyranny of the Majority." This means that a majority oppresses certain groups through the power of their votes. Some claim that homosexuals suffered from "the tyranny of the majority" in this past election in which an amendment was passed banning gay marriage.
We then looked at how Joseph Campbell's studies of World Religions have inspired movies like Star Wars, the Matrix, and many others. We analyzed the Matrix in depth, demonstrating how it is weaving together themes from Christianity, Hinduism, and Buddhism.


ART
Wednesday's lecture on art: Main Points
Art is life.
Art provides meaning to life.
Art expresses identity.
Art connects us ...
Art is everywhere all around us. (show spear head)

We tried Tuvan Throat Singing
Understanding Tuvan Throat Singing requires
Interpretive Approach: seeking the meaning of another culture's art & symbols, requires rich body of ethnographic knowledge Inuit Throat Singing (girls in each other's throats)

Inuit Song-Dueling is like
8-Mile Rap Battles in Detroit Saami Joiking - Individualism / Pastoralism Kanak of New Caledonia - Participant Music Australian - Didjeridoo - Songlines and the Dreamtime
Songs actually work like maps guiding through a sacred landscape, connecting them with the dreamtime and their distant ancestors. Navaho Sand Paintings (see Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandpainting)

* These examples illustrate how integrated art is with life throughout the world. The moment you recognize that art is life, you become the artisan of your own life - you recognize your own freedom to create your life as you want it to be. We ended by looking at examples of: Syncretism: merging previously separate traditions