Smells and Bells

As we have discussed in class and as Rasmussen also describes in her book, “Arabic flavored” Islam tends to be much more publically patriarical, while Indoneisan Islam includes and appreciates women in their islamic traditions, practices and beliefs. This generality kind of reminded me of christianity amongst white people vs christianity among black people in America.  Christianity by whites was often forced upon and used to oppress black people especially during slavery times and now just a few generations later many black families hold strong christian beliefs, which seems counterintuituve to many. I do not speak for anyone whatsoever, but from what I have experienced and witnessed many have in turn used it to persevere through the effects of that oppression, to restore and keep faith.  Wildly famous rapper and producer Kanye, for example, openly discusses his faith in his music and other media, often symbolizing Jesus and religion as safety and motivation to get through ra...

  Web Blog Sensory Interpretation Blog Prompt or 6? 5 senses... Welcome!  Here is the Web post  Assignment for our class, and general guidelines for what to include in your posts Sensory Interpretation Web Blog Posts  (6 posts on each of the senses, 5% each, plus one summarizing blog post the last week of class 10%, for a total of 40%).  Short reflection writing assignments to be posted on a blog set up specifically for this class  here . Students will "log" what they are learning about the relationship between the senses and "religious" experience throughout the term, and be able to comment on one another's questions and insights.  You should make at least 7 posts, @one every two weeks. Make sure you have one post each tagged with "taste", "smell", "hearing", "sight", "touch" or "6th sense."  To assure you will get credit for covering each of the six senses in your blog posts, edit them to make sure th...

Festivals are held worldwide for many purposes. Most festivals have religious origins if not still a religious purpose. Anne K. Rasmussen's book Women, the Recited Qur'an, and Islamic Music in Indonesia , as the name implies, discusses Islamic music in Indonesia. The chapter on festivals was of particular interest to me. Rasmussen wrote, "religious festivals at which competition is the focus exist to reward excellence; however they also serve the function of introducing, teaching, and reinforcing an Islamic praxis on global, national, and regional levels. Festivals and competitive events that feature Islamic arts - from fashion to calligraphy and from recitation to pageantry - are part of a culture of competition that thoroughly saturates the performing arts" (Rasmussen, 2010). These festivals function to reinforce religious tradition and contain many elements of culture as well. This can be seen in other religions and cultures as well. While I was studying abroa...

The sense of hearing has many levels of importance to us such as hearing a loved one's voice, sensing a potentially dangerous situation, listening to music, or just simply hearing the sound of leaves crunch under foot in autumn. One of the first things I think about with the importance of hearing would be music. In Diane Ackerman's Natural History of the Senses she discusses this relationship that humans Our Christmas ornament from when I played trumpet.  have to sound and music and states that "the odd thing about music is that we understand and respond to it without actually having to learn it" which is one thing I find amazing about music and sounds in general (Ackerman, 205). I have long forgotten the details about scales, notes, and measures that I learned while playing trumpet in eighth grade, but that does not mean I cannot enjoy, appreciate, and feel emotions that the song evokes. Music is so universal regardless of language or genre and it can be enjoyed...

Orchestra Sounds fill our world to an almost deafening degree. Sound is layered in the perception of the world. In a single moment, there can be some many different sounds bombarding our ears. Music is a great example of the layers of sound. A song can have a melody, counter melody and bass line with multiple instruments in each group. The separate rhythms come together to create the song. Harmonies exist from instruments intertwining their notes together to create more than the notes alone. While music does show how sound can be beautiful and harmonize, everyday life is not filled with such wonderous melodies. Noise-cancelling Headphones Most background noise is considered annoying. A peaceful summer afternoon does not involve the sounds of cars rushing by or people screaming in the background. A quiet night is not made better by the honking and beeping of construction vehicles outside your room. In Women, theRecited Qur'an, and Islamic Music in Indonesia , Rasmussen n...

Sound is so important for so many different faiths and religions because sound is how so many people communicate with each other as well as pray to their god(s) or deities. The one thing we can expect to find when attending a place of worship of any faith is song, prayer and talking. Sounds such as specking and singing are such a large part of cultures and we can clearly see this in the videos of showing people practicing parts of the Islamic faith.  Another large part of religion and faith when it comes to sound is music. One can find different types of instruments such as drums, guitars, pianos and many others being used while praying and worshiping god(s) and deities. There so are many ways to show that one is dedicated to their faith or religion and using music is key role way of showing dedication in many groups. Every religion has different approaches to how they wanted to use it, sometimes it depends on gender, age, location, position of power, language and inten...

Web Blog Sensory Interpretation Blog Prompt or 6? 5 senses... Sensory Interpretation Web Blog Posts  (6 posts on each of the senses, 5% each, plus one summarizing blog post the last week of class 10%, for a total of 40%).  Short reflection writing assignments to be posted on a blog set up specifically for this class  here . Students will "log" what they are learning about the relationship between the senses and "religious" experience throughout the term, and be able to comment on one another's questions and insights.  You should make at least 7 posts, @one every two weeks. Make sure you have one post each tagged with "taste", "smell", "hearing", "sight", "touch" or "6th sense."  To assure you will get credit for covering each of the six senses in your blog posts, edit them to make sure they have these tags.   Also among your 7 or more posts you should respond specifically to ...