Apr 15, 2015
WHO IS THE OTHER IN JEWISH COCHIN?
Who is the OTHER in COCHIN? Anthropology is about the study of THE OTHER and until recently it has been chez l’autre (in the OTHER’s home). But in light of…
Stories
Field notes from the road
Medicine, culture, travel, food, healing, and human stories from my archive. Start with a trail, search for a memory, or move by year.
Roads, meals, clinics, and human encounters.Archive into inquiry
These field notes are not only memory. They are the ground from which my new field inquiries begin.
The current inquiry follows one trail through the archive: food culture, metabolic health, Indigenous knowledge, and Suriname.
Apr 15, 2015
WARM, FRIENDLY, GENEROUS FRIENDS AND SEDER IN MIAMI
Just a few days ago I was in Fort Cochin, was wondering where I would spend the first night of Pesach! No invitation was forthcoming from Portland, Oregon so I…
Apr 15, 2015
OFFER DIGNITY TO OTHERS AND YOU WILL RECEIVE DIGNITY IN RETURN
Two incidents on my recent travels to the East stand out, emphasizing what my close friend the psychologist AA in La Habana said to me: You thrive on human relationships…
Apr 15, 2015
MALAYALEE MEMORY
I wrote this in 2008! On my recent visit in March 2015, it was as true as it was before: The Malayalee Memory or is it everywhere they are In…
Apr 15, 2015
Train Journeys: Cochin to Bangalore..an Observation
The train is called SuperFast which is a relative term here, instead of taking 12 hours to cover 560 km, today they would do it in ten hours and a…
Mar 15, 2015
GASPAR DA GAMA…FIRST OF THE MANY FOREIGN JEWS ON COCHIN COAST
I had only one purpose looking through the graves at the Grave Island off the coast of Zanzibar. Would I be able to identify any Jewish names amidst the medieval…
Mar 15, 2015
Visiting With Purpose Or Just Passing
VISITING WITH A PURPOSE OR JUST PASSING THROUGH I can recognize two types of Tourists: one group that is passing through, they didn’t come here because they have any special…
Mar 15, 2015
GRATITUDE IN FORT COCHIN
Gratitude in Fort Cochin I am reminded of the line from the French writer, Marcel Ayme: I, said the man, am a Jew As I walked up to the offices…
Mar 15, 2015
FEW HOURS IN COCHIN.. VERY EXCITING INDEED
I returned to Cochin after an absence of five years, which is very long for me with regard to any country in my world view. I had come primarily to…
Mar 15, 2015
FOOD SYMBOLISM OF PURIM, THE UNIVERSAL MESSAGE OF THIS CELEBRATION
Today is 13 th of Adar 5775 Yesterday evening, walking home in the evening, the clear fading sky showed the outlines of a bright moon, almost full. Is the moon…
Mar 15, 2015
AMERICAN FOOD GUIDELINES, BRAZILIAN GUIDE TO BRAZILIAN EATING, MICROBIOME AND WHAT WE SHOULD EAT
AMERICAN FOOD GUIDELINES, BRAZILIAN GUIDE TO BRAZILIAN EATING, MICROBIOME AND WHAT WE SHOULD EAT United States Food and Drug Administration has issued a new set of rules to guide Americans…
Feb 15, 2015
WHY I LOVE CUBA SO VERY MUCH
Just twenty four hours ago, I left the crowded, unruly Terminal 2 of the Jose Marti International Airport in La Habana to arrive in the crowded, unruly but more diverse…
Feb 15, 2015
DISTORTION OF HEALTH INFORMATION ON INTERNET
HEALTH INFORMATION ON INTERNET DISTORTED BY COMMERCIAL GROUPS Low Vitamin D Levels Tied To Increased Risk For Type 2 Diabetes. HealthDay (2/24, Predit) reports that a study published in the…
Feb 15, 2015
MARC AUGE AND MULTIINDIVIDUALISM AND DIVERSITY: CUBA AND UNITED STATES
Well known French Ethnologist was asked about Identity and this was one of his answers: Actualmente predominan en la vida social las tendencias provenientes de la defensa del multiculturalismo, posturas…
Feb 15, 2015
MARCEL MAUSS, THE CONCEPT OF THE GIFT AND THE CURRENT DAY CUBAN SOCIETY
THE GIFT MARCEL MAUSS AND HIS LESSONS FOR CURRENT DAY CUBA Marcel Mauss, considered the Father of Modern Ethnology was the nephew of Emile Durkheim, considered the Father of Modern…
Jan 15, 2015
SUCCESSFUL SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RESEARCH IN HEALTH, ILLNESS AND DISEASE
SUCCESSFUL SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RESEARCH IN HEALTH, ILLNESS AND DISEASE You have to tip your hats off to molecular scientists who concentrate on a minute aspect of metabolism. But it…
Dec 15, 2014
CULTURAL KNOWLEDGE CAN SAVE LIVES …RESPECT INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE
Early on in my association with the Indigenous North Americans, they reminded me, We know the answers but no one asks them. Also the well meaning, Euro-Americans come to the…
Dec 15, 2014
YALDA IN IRAN, ISRAEL LOVES IRAN, STONEHENGE, CARNAC, CHICHEN ITZA, DZIBILCHALTUN ANDהילדה הקטנה שלי
December 21st, 2014, it would be the night of YALDA, celebrated in most of the Persian Speaking Middle East and Central Asia, also spilling into the Indian Subcontinent. But one…