Essay Example on Rites of Passage: Etic and Emic Perspective

Cultural relativism is the comprehension of other cultures from their point of view or in their terms without the application of your learning as the base of evaluation. Different places have different approaches to many issues in life, and this varies from one culture to another. To accurately appreciate other cultures and cultural lifestyles, we must be able to understand the concept of cultural relativism. Cultural relativism invokes the need to view different cultures as an outsider or native. In approaching other cultures as a native, it is easy to appreciate the importance of certain events and the history of the culture.

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I will be writing about college as a rite of passage from an etic perspective to understand this rite of passage from an outsider's point of view. An individual from one culture must learn to study his culture from an etic perspective. The opportunity to study your culture from an outsider's point of view can help one explain his culture to another person. The etic approach helps to avoid biased approach to topic that relates to a person's culture.

I will also be examining another culture from an emic perspective to comprehend the true meaning of this culture and its relevance. The rite of passage in this approach is the rite of passage from life to death in japan.

Part One:

In this section, I will comprehensively attempt to explore college as rite of passage from an etic perspective. This approach attempts to analyze culture as an outsider of a certain culture, and it involves a spectator learning where one assumes the role of a stranger to their own culture. We must become willing to view our culture from an etic perspective so that we can study our culture open-mindedly and recognize how our lifestyle may vary. To put this vividly, in article seeing college as a rite of passage, the author, David G.Blumenkarants, describes college as the place where young people come of age. Throughout his work, the author attempts to explain the college as a place where students learn and are exposed to new rites of passage from a broad stage. College is where intentional rites of passage can be served to a student identity and social development, with additional benefits for the benefit for the college community as well as the larger society (Chang,2012).

In comparison to other rites of passage such as marriages and funerals, in America, there is no well laid down instruction on how to expose and initiate children to adulthood. The lack thereof of such established transitions between childhood to adulthood, youth in college experiment with activities and behaviour that they deem to be adult-like, in their attempt to prove that they are adults.

College represents a shift from childhood to a perceived adulthood environment where children are given the freedom to do a thing in their ways without the supervision of adults. This kind of situation exposes the child to many activities that have been suggested to be some initiation into adulthood. These activities include health-compromising such as drinking alcohol, hazing (Adam) and inappropriate sexual relations (McGolerick,2010)

The transition to college is often viewed from a point where a child leaves his home, a place of childhood behaviour and move to a place where you have freedom of choice to what happens to one's life. It is described as a place of "betwixt and between" that compels change to take place(1969). During these transition phase, there is always the fear of uncertainty of new places and people where one has to adjust from what they have learnt at home to the expectations of this unique place.

College as a society it has its expectations for an individual, and it has its unwritten rites of passage. There are expected phases that one has to go through to be fully acknowledged to be a member of this new and demanding society. For the four years or more an individual has to stay in this society, individual will be exposed to more activities which are intended to build ones intellect while others are designed to take away "innocence". College is viewed as a place of initiation where the junior people progress into various stages and come of age and then become senior students. The top students and adults are trained to leaders and with time by earning certain privileges can be allowed to participate in the initiation process of other new junior students to guide them and support them as they go through the same experiences they went through.

The rites of passage bear a momentous connotation to a culture. They encompass convoluted rituals that are scared to the community is it practiced. For the case of college life, junior students have to go through these commonly notable initiation practices which from an outsider point of view might seem childish and morally wrong but they denote a value that is highly acceptable to the campus community and members who endure the process embraces the freedom and status that comes with the success.

The importance of these well-known rituals is the fact that they offer the native a chance to look back when they started and celebrate their achievements. In the same way, from an anthropological point of view for college students, the stress on performing the laid down rules and rites of passage is essential in their existence as a pathway to identity formation. It allows the student to reflect and appreciate their lifestyle.

Part two:

From an emic perspective, the departed hold a very significant place in Japanese daily experience of the family members. It is therefore considered an essential ritual to offer sweet, snacks and fruits to the ancestors before per taking on any of those delicacies (Tsuji,2011,p.29).it is also customary, in many families like mine, our grandmothers offer tea, flowers and freshly cooked rice every morning in the altars of our departed to honour their spirit. From my native point of view, this ancestral veneration allows the Japanese to stay bonded with their departed.

The Japanese afterlife rites are demonstrated by local beliefs and traditions that are performed to a dying relative before and after death. In their perspective, the Japanese families have a duty to their departed through a chain of rite of passages which include cremation practices and chronological ritual to celebrate their death. These rituals are believed to be link and connection between the living and their ancestors. The ceremony performed at almost every family grave, are also supposed to be an assurance to the elderly that upon their interment, the family will never abandon them. Another way to remember their departed, and also as a way to keep their spirits alive, stories about the ancestors are told to children so that they can never forget their people. From their point of view, they believe these stories help the younger generation to bond with their ancestors and also learn great virtues.

From an emic view, the ancestral rites and stories help preserve the history of a family from one generation to another. The stories are also used as instructions to the young to learn from the departed and do more for their families.

A record book of all the departed members of a family is kept in a book that is stored and safeguarded at the family temple. This book serves the role of preserving the family tree and its used to teach the young generation of their origin.

The Japanese hold the commemoration of their ancestors as a way of confronting harsh times attributed to the demise of a family member. On the flip side, the sincerity and affection associated with the ancestral ritual give the elderly hope and the strength to deal with the emotional and physical distress that occurs due to inevitability of ageing. The rituals offer the elderly some assurance that when their time comes, they will be treated with honour and be forever remembered.

To the people of Japan, demise marks a move from living world to the afterlife. In this point of view, the family members of the departed preserve the dead in a family grave which is seen as the final resting place. Various ceremonies are periodically performed to continue honouring the dead in their role when they were alive, and sometimes their grave offer relief when things get tough in life. Sometimes the tombs are also used as a place of solace and comfort and even a place of wisdom and direction.

Conclusion

It is very vivid that apart from what we see, cultural practices and interactions offer the true identity of a cultural group. An etic perspective provides insights that attempt to uncover what is essential to a particular group, especially in college life and daily routines that are considered sacred in this group. On the other spectrum of the study, the Japanese ancestral rites, believes and practice demonstrates the value they place upon the memories of their departed and lessons that always considered precious to the future generation.

From a simple case of college life from an outsider point of view, it shows biases or stereotypes that arise when one does not understand the importance of certain believes and practices of another culture. The stereotypes can lead to misunderstanding and discrimination based personal such as moral inclination. Etic and emic approaches help people appreciate cultural difference and this in a big way help eliminate discrimination and any prejudice that can arise due to lack of exposure.

References

Chang, M. (2012). College: Rite of passage. Kaleidoscope. http://studentmedia.uab.edu/2012/06/college-rite-of-passage/

http://college.uchicago.edu/video/rite-passage

McGolerick, E. (2010). College sex: What parents need to know. She knows

Olkon, S., & Smith, J. (2013). Rite of passage.

parenting. http://www.sheknows.com/parenting/articles/817449/What-parents- need-to-know-about-college-sex

Tilley, John J (2007).Cultural relativism." The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology 1-2. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/9781405165518.wbeosc176.pub2.

Tsuji, Y. (2002). "Death Policies inJapan: The State, the Family, and the Individual." In Goodman, R., ed., Family and Social Policy in Japan: Anthropological Perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge, University Press.