Respecting other cultures when mailing packages to the troops
Being the loving and over cautioned military wife that I am, I researched what was prohibited when mailing a care package to an APO address to my husband. According to the USPS website, the items that are prohibited include: obscene materials, nude or semi-nude porno graphic material, bulk religious material that is contrary to Islamic faith, and pork or pork byproduct. The last two caught my interest and the first thing that came to my mind was food taboos of Islamic faith.
Before deploying, troops are briefed on the cultures they will be interacting with in the location they are deploying to. This usually includes the customs, traditions, relations between individuals, religious institutions, etc. As a way of to control the amount of disruption upon another culture as best as they can. Also the sheer presents of troops is a disruption upon culture. At least there is an effort to understand the ways of another culture.
As stated on the USPS site, it is prohibited to send pork products or byproducts. Consuming pork product is prohibited according to Muslim Law. Like Jewish pork taboo, the same is in Islamic faith – the animal must it must have split hooves and chew its cud and it cannot have one and not the other, like the pig has split hooves but does not chew its cud.
Since on of the many things troops do in another country is to befriend the locals, accepting that there is a taboo of food is one way to build that trust. I found it interesting that the postal service does provide that information as a way of helping the troops establish those relations by not allowing individuals from the U.S. to send those products over to those who are interacting with the culture.
I am assuming that the no religious material in bulk that is contrary to the Islam faith is to not appear as if the troops are missionaries. It does say that a religious item may be shipped to a single individual. Trying to avoid the feelings and failings of colonialism. But it is nice to see the efforts to not cause too much disruption within another culture. As we have seen in the past of the devastating results that continue to still have effects upon certain cultures.
Once can see from reading this on the USPS that is geared towards the troops that are deployed in the Middle-East and Northern Africa. It hold true that these areas have been the areas that the US has been deployed to in the past decade and still are being deployed to these areas. I am sure that those who are deployed in other areas of the world, there are also restrictions to what can or cannot be sent due to the culture they are interacting with.
There is a tendency to think that the presence of military troops destroy cultures and change the people they interact with. This is true that the presence of troops will result in changes to a culture, it is inevitable with any group of individuals who come into contact and interact with a culture outside their own. But at least there is an effort to minimize the damage that could be done if there was a lack of cultural education to troops.
This Semester’s Courses
It is 3 weeks into the Fall 2013 semester and it had already been overwhelming with the amount of readings, project planning, and the anticipation of my husband’s deployment departure (which happens next week). Due to all that I have been lacking on blog posting. Now that I am organized (or least think I am) for this semester, I will be able to post more.
This semester I am taking 4 courses, all graduate level. It isn’t recommended but I have a personal goal to finish my degree by the end of the Spring Semester, right before Brian gets back from deployment.
The courses I am taking this semester:
- Evolutionary Theory in Biological Anthropology – This course covers theories of evolution of humankind from the time of Darwin to modern day theories. We have been reading The Origins of Species for the past two classes.
- Advanced Method & Theory in Archaeology – This course discusses the methods and theories that have been used to define and shape archaeology
- Historical Research Methods in Archaeology – This is a practical application course that introduces the use of historical documents into archaeological research.
- Disease & Culture – This course discusses how diseases has shaped culture and culture has shaped diseases. It is an introduction into Medical Anthropology.
I am almost covering the holistic approach to anthropology minus linguistics, Each course has a final project/research paper due which I plan to share my research and post the final products. My ultimate plan is to somehow tie each of thesis final projects into my thesis somehow. It will be a challenge, but it makes all the more fun.
This semester I am also going to be working on my prospectus for my Masters Thesis (not that I don’t have enough to do this semester). Draft #1 has been done but I am sure there are going to be many revisions. I want to remain busy and distracted with my work this semester and be able to focus most of my time in the Spring semester to write my thesis. I also need to be distracted to not think about missing my husband while he is on deployment.
One Does Not Simply...Write About Anthropology 