"Body as Community Forum" by Becker + Assignment

For this assignment, you will answer questions about an ethnographic reading called, "Body as Community Forum" by Anne Becker. Anne Becker is anthropologist who has done extensive research in Fiji documenting ideas about the body in Fijian cultural systems.  We are reading one chapter from her book, Body, Self, and Society: The View from Fiji. 

STEP 1: Read

Read "Body as Community Forum" by Becker. 

STEP 2: Write your Answers

Please write answers in sentence form.

1. In the first paragraph of the chapter, how does the author describe Fijian conceptions of bodies? How is that similar to or different from how you understand bodies?
2. How do Fijians describe niju encounters? In what ways do encounters occur? What is it like to visited by a niju? What differences did you notice between waking visitations and dream visitations? What are some ways the community responds to niju dream visits?
3. What is the role of spirit causation in explaining illness in Fijian society? What cases is it applied to? What does Becker mean on page 113 when she says, “an illness episode is recontextualized as a social and personal experience”?
4. What are some causes of spirit illnesses for Fijians? How are spirit illnesses treated? What causes spirit illnesses in children?
5. How did the various people in Ateca’s illness story (pages 120-121) experience her illness? What did they see? What did they feel? How did they explain the cause of her illness?
6. Becker argues that Fijians can find “voice and support” for debilitating illness within their culture. How does she feel this support is different from the experiences of people with similar illnesses in Western culture? Do you agree with her?

STEP 3: Submit your Answers

Submit your answers by clicking the blue, "Take The Quiz" button below and copying your answers into the box. Although I am using the "quiz" feature for this, it is not a quiz. This is just an assignment. Do your best, but I'm not grading you on getting the right answer; you will be graded based on your sincere attempt to answer the questions and showing that you have read/watched the information, even if you didn't understand all of it.

Please get in touch if you have any issues submitting your answers. 

STEP 4: Check Answers

After you submit your answers, click on Attempt 1 in your attempt history. You should then be able to see the correct answers to the questions. This information is meant to help you affirm that you were on the right track in understanding the information or, if not, fill gaps in your understanding. You will only be able to see the answers once, so take any notes that you want to.