Religion is no "opiate of the masses." Rich and poor, educated and ignorant alike flock to the call of certainty in these uncertain times. Rather than action based on the fear of an angry deity’s surveillance and judgement, this is an escape from the unease within. Certainty is a kind of social power. It indicates authority. Certainty reinforces identity through the use of prescribed language. Certainty is a foundational part of action. Today’s pandemic religion is about something you can be sure of. It’s about a bid for authority seen as stolen by science, by government, by secularism, and by technology. In the same way that 'thoughts and prayers' are more of a dismissive platitude than an actual step towards healing, it’s “Amen” at a distance without much in the way of getting directly in the trenches to rescue the drowning.
Author: The Familiar Strange
Navigating Lockdown: What Studying Vipassana Mediation Taught Me About Surviving Melbourne’s Intense Lockdown
While last year I was busy being quite the adventurous backpacker, this year my biggest achievement has been to walk beyond the well-worn path between my bedroom and kitchen. It might have been the intensity of the lockdown slowly rotting away my brain, but I couldn’t help but start to draw some parallels between my time locked up in my bedroom in Melbourne, and my practice of Vipassana in Thailand.
Special Episode: The Familiar Strange & All Things Myanmar with Myanmar Musings!
The Familiar Strange · Special Episode: The Familiar Strange & All Things Myanmar with Myanmar Musings! Surprise! We are so pleased to show you all a collaborative project we did with our friends and yours at Myanmar Musings! In this very special episode, Familiar Stranger Alex D’Aloia sat down with Luke Corbin, Anthea Snowsill, Michael … Continue reading Special Episode: The Familiar Strange & All Things Myanmar with Myanmar Musings!
Ep #67 Face Ownership, Identity politics, Election Spectacle & Curated Preferences:This Month on TFS
The Familiar Strange · Face Ownership, Identity Politics, Election Spectacle & Curated Preferences On this week’s panel, we feature the president of the Australian Network of Student Anthropologists, Hanne Worsoe and Dinith Adikari who is a PhD candidate from the Australian National University. Hanne kicks us off [1:37] by discussing a recent article by Judith … Continue reading Ep #67 Face Ownership, Identity politics, Election Spectacle & Curated Preferences:This Month on TFS
Ep #66 Method Adaptations, Big Bugs & aguaje: Diana Tung on Doing Fieldwork During Covid-19
The Familiar Strange · Ep #66 Method Adaptations, Big Bugs & aguaje: Diana Tung on Doing Fieldwork During Covid-19 “How much time do you actually need to spend with someone to “accurately” represent their lives?” This week, we bring you an interview with Diana Tung who is currently doing her field work in the city … Continue reading Ep #66 Method Adaptations, Big Bugs & aguaje: Diana Tung on Doing Fieldwork During Covid-19
Advertising Change: Presenting a New New Zealander?
The Southern Man advert is aiming to speak to a specific audience of beer drinkers, assumed by Speight's to be men. Other beer companies have played with similar received notions of masculinity. Tui, another New Zealand beer company, have run adverts where rural ‘blokes’ who run out of gas for the BBQ decide to power it from the farts of a nearby cow. This is seen as a representation of the much lauded ‘Kiwi ingenuity’. Another example of the stoic, terse masculinity of what advertising companies imagine farmers to be is the advert Toyota ran in 1989 that sees a series of farm accidents with the farmer responding ‘bugger’ after each of these.
Ep#65 The Social Dilemma, Corpo-Humans, Buying Nothing & Localised Colonialism: This Month on TFS
The Familiar Strange · Ep#65 The Social Dilemma, Corpo-Humans, Buying Nothing & Localised Colonialism This week we bring you a panel with Anthea Snowsill who is currently doing her research with the Intha people of Myanmar. In this panel We’d also introduce our newest Familiar Stranger, Carolyn West. Welcome to the team Carolyn! Carolyn [1:25] … Continue reading Ep#65 The Social Dilemma, Corpo-Humans, Buying Nothing & Localised Colonialism: This Month on TFS
Introducing Cultural Anthropology: A Christian Perspective Textbook Review
Christian but not ideological? Doesn’t promote perspectives in controversy but centers theological devotion? Biblical differences of opinion, but not anthropological ones? The centrality of “belief” as both a core concept and as a linguistic turn of phrase (i.e., “anthropologists believe…” which appears all over the text) is also telling. This isn’t just a Christian perspective, it’s an unexamined recapitulation of Euro-American religious concepts (like “belief”) that formed the Eurocentric academic study of culture two centuries ago and that modern anthropologists have spent a fair amount of time deeply critical of.
Called to the Torah: Navigating Feminism and Jewish Law in Modern Orthodox Communities
The synagogue – a deeply symbolic cultural space – is a place where feminist congregants are increasingly seeking equality. These women wish to read from the Torah (a sacred text within Judaism) during services, typically something only men are allowed to do. Orthodox feminists argue that there exist halakhic (relating to Jewish law) grounds which justify women engaging in this ritual; there is simply a lack of rabbinical willingness to interpret the law in this way.
Ep#63 Culture Shock, Storytelling, Pungent Masculinity & Rule Based Imaginations: This Month on TFS
The Familiar Strange · #63 Culture Shock, Storytelling, Pungent Masculinity & Rule Based Imagination For the panel this week we welcome Luke Corbin from Myanmar Musings and Familiar Strange alumnus Jodie Lee Trembath! Simon starts us off [1:31] by discussing his recent culture shock in moving to Germany from Australia. Simon thought that experiences during … Continue reading Ep#63 Culture Shock, Storytelling, Pungent Masculinity & Rule Based Imaginations: This Month on TFS
The Familiar Strange 