The last blog post

Looking and remembering about this year, in perspective, I could say that it was a little bit boring; I did not do so much funny things or started new activities. Unfortunately I didn't went to any concert, but I wanted to go to some during the year, and the exhibitions that I visited was not really interesting to me, so I don't remember details.

So I will talk about a movie that I saw and was very special to me. The name of the movie is "Entre les murs" in French, but the translation to English is "The class". I saw this movie with my boyfriend at the Cine UC (on the UC Extension Center), and it was part of a festival of international movies (SANFIC), so the film-maker, Laurent Cantet, was there to present the movie and make some comments about its production.

The movie was interesting and special because of the topic it talks about: education. First of all, it was made about the real facts, that is that the film-group was looking the daily activities and dinamics for a year on a class of a French public school, and after that they made the movie with roles and facts inspirated on the reality of that class with the same students as actors.

In second place, the reality that was related refers to a poor French context with immigrant realities and problems like drugs or delinquency. It was interesting because of the style of the film-maker. It was real and with no excessive characteristics, because the problem was centered on the way of learning and the interactions between students and teachers and they dind't show that with morbidity.

This is a recommendable movie with an interesting topic. I was thinkg about it for weeks before I saw it!

Regards!

Practicing

Hello Classmates!

Today, in the practice exercise for the exam, we work with listening, reading and writing items. 

The first part was the reading part. I think it was simple, and it was not so difficult to me. I did not know some words, but I searched their meanings on wordreference website. However, I think it was a little bit long, because a reading item takes more time than other kind of exercises. 

At the second part, the writing one, I had some difficulties with the online format. I have problems for several minutes with the format to write the words. In general, the grammar and vocabulary were not too difficult.

At the last item, listening, I tried to pay so much attention because I think that I have some problems with this kinds of exercises. In general it was easy, but I feel that I need to improve.

Regards to everyone and I hope you have done well :) 

Social history

Hello classmates today I will talk about a "free topic".

It is really difficult to me to think about something free, specially in this few minutes. But I think that the History (as a discipline) is something interesting to talk about, and specially because I have been reflecting about it these days.

First of all I have to say that I am not a specialized on this area and my opinions have not been discussed with more people. 

This term I started being "ayudante" (something like the assistant of the students of a course) of the course Social History of Chile. In this course students prepare a investigation about a "social subject". That means that everything that they search and investigate about it has to focus on the social group that is the central affected and involved on the process and facts, not on the government or on the macro economic or politics that determine their acts.

This central thing of the social history is something that I knew since I took that course last year. But at this time it makes much sense to me. Because when you study a social science you can realize about a lot of social problems related with a macro structure (the social capitalism system), but the subjects about how to work or how to make reading on the direct reality are few.

I think that the way that the history works it's great methodologically, and it's similar to some Anthropology technique (interviews). But there is a huge difference with the social sciences, and it is on the politic objective that the social and the economic history put at the beginning. The history want to recover a voice, recognizing that this voice have been silenced for someone or something. And that process of silence (oppression) include an important subject, that lived that. His life is something to recover and the way to make history is from that or those subjects, the historic and politic subjects.

About this year :)

This year have been specially rushed and tiring, because of the long strike at the university and the new assignments with a lot of homework (specially reading work).

At the beginning, on holidays, I went to the south of Chile with some friends and my boyfriend. It was relaxing and exciting because of the places we knew. The most exciting thing was the bus and ferry trip to Chaitén, it was around beautiful natural and huge hills and different animals (particularly dolphins).

About the academic year, it has been tiring. I have had a lot of reading work for the most of the assignments, and specially at the end of the term (I think because of the strike), when I slept few hours repeatedly times.

I think that this year has been a huge year of knowledge, specially on the politic thing. I have strengthened my work on two politic organizations on the university and that is one think that makes me fell calm about something bigger (related with the social and change work) that I think that is important and urgent to do. 

An important new of this year was a family "change". My mom left our home and went out of the city with my father. It is something gradually and it has been a change about the organization with my sister to maintain our home (something that at this time has been toooo difficult)

I expect for the rest of the year something more quit, time to relax (out of this city) and an accordance feeling.

Regards! 

Clotario Blest

Hello classmates!

Today I am going to talk about a person that I think was great.  His name is Clotario Blest Riffo and he was a leader union (he found the CUT) and an important leading figure along his life.

Clotario was a life leader because everywhere he was he tried to make something about the conditions of the people there, trying to organize them or make something about their relationships with their employer.

He was a union leader because he believed on the power and potential of the working class to make the revolution and stop the rule. It is an important point because Clotario united that aspiration with a Christian belief and that was a revolutionary thing on his time. Besides he believed on the autonomy of the workers on his dispute and emancipation, putting the traditional party away.  

There a lot of things to say about his life and his thoughts, so i will list some landmark to make this easier. When he was on the seminary was expelled because he organized a strike opposed to the authorities. On the 30’s he found the group “germen” related with the ideas of “la teología de la liberación”. When he started working with public workers he understood that his organizational work will be difficult. Since that day he started organizing workers with things out of the formal politics: the football.A few years later he found the ANEF and more later the CUT.  

I think that Clotario was an important person because he thought about the revolution and the organization as a way of life. He was so disciplined about the things that he thought that were important to be a tenacious person and he actually did that until the day he died.

If I could talk to Clotario I would like to ask him about his training and about the educational ways he used with the workers.

Laurita

Today I am going to talk about my Pet. I've had just three pets in my life: a little turtle named "Florencia", a boxer dog named "Brownie" that my best friend gave me when I turned 17 years old and my cocker-poodle dog Laura.

Those three animals were and are very important to me. But I have an special relationship with Laura because she is the only one who lives with me now (and we have lived for 7 years together), so I think that I could say more about it. That doesn't means that I don't love my other pets or that I don't spend time with them.

Laura is the only dog that lives with me because she is like a little old dog so quiet that sleep so much and is the all time asking for petting. Brownie is huge and need to run the hole day so that is why he lives in my father's house (out from Santiago)that is bigger.

Laura came to my house 7 years ago, on my sister's birthday, when she had 4 years old. Before that, she was my aunt's dog, but my aunt gave us Laura because she was moving to other city and we were so near to Laura (we used to go to visit her home to play with her and to care her when she was alone).

Laura was a "easy" dog that always was loving with everyone, so the change of home wasn't so difficult to her (or that is what we always thought). She used to wait us (my sister and my) every day to play with a teddy picker and bite it. At this time she does just the same thing and the rest of the day she is sleeping on our beds.

I love to came home and see her waiting me with a teddy picker on her snout and running by the house. I use to put water on her container and to clean the courtyard.

Regards :)

Here is Laura with Bownie (when he was a baby) on me.

A friend of mine :)

I think that a friends is someone who you can trust and who yo can be yourself always. I have few close friends, but today I am going to talk about one who is really close to me and who is with me since a lot of years. 

Here we are at the school, we had 14 years old!

The name of my friend is Constanza, but everyone calls her Coni. I met her in 2005 at the school, but we make good friends later, like in 2006 (7th or 8th grade). I remember that we were part of the same group of friends but with the time we get closer. Then we were always together at the school and after it, we met our families and shared vacations, secrets, problems and our entires life. 

I feel really happy to have Coni, she is a huge part of my life that I wouldn't like to change. We have been to each other all these years despite of the last time when we separated a little because of the University and the new obligations.

I think that we are really different. And I try so hard to respect hers different points of view. She really like science and video games (things that I don't like), and she hates to read or to talk about conflictive things (things that I do). But we share some simple things like our love for the animals, some kinds of music, the love for the food, swimming, trips and laugh. 

Despite of our difference I think we share a story of a lot of things that we live together and that is something really hard that keeps us together. At this time we get together every week, because we study on the same campus. That is something that we are trying to do since a few weeks ago, because when you study is difficult to meet with your friends. 

The language and Mr. Pagel

Hello classmates and everybody there! 

Today I am going to talk about a topic that I do not like so much. Language.

I think that is really difficult to explain what language is. I mean that we can make a lot of biology hypothesis or social hypothesis but it is a fact too remote and too rooted on our human essence that makes it (almost) unachievable.

In my personal opinion, obviously conditioned for my "social" training, I think that the fact (I mean the appearance) of the language is a social thing, and it did not happens one day, it was a social process, related with the evolution too.

Now, relating this topic with the video of Mr. Pagel's speech, that outline the process of the "beginning" of language and understand language as a communication system that solves the problem of the social learning (visual theft), inaugurating the cooperative societies where the language is a piece of social technology. Mr. Pagel says on his video: "once we have language we can put our ideas together and cooperate to have a prosperity". Also, Mr. Pagel can predict what language should be on the future: just one language for the entire world.

As I said before, I think is difficult to go as far as to say what will happen with language. I feel about language as a huge thing that we really can not figure out. But it doesn't make it something useless to social studies. Language is so rewarding studying our reality, the change in our cities and country, migration events,on psychology studies about learning on the kids mental process. 

Chilean culture

First of all I would like to say that I don’t feel good talking about the Chilean culture or the national holiday, because I think that at this time we just celebrate and commemorate the victories and legitimize costumes by the dominant class.

Now, if I have to define the things that I think that make people Chileans I would like to think about the popular costumes: like some kind of food (carbonada, cazuela, corn cake, empanadas, mote with huesillos, humitas, some kind of shellfish, etc.), country costumes related to the work on farms (like the traditional “party” named trilla where the people harvest chickpea, wheat or other kinds of vegetables and the neighbors and family go there to help in the harvest, but later everyone eats and drinks wine), some dances of the different cities around the country and the typical popular parties.

At the present I think that the most deeply rooted costumes are derivative of the popular parties and conserve things like eat a lot, drink so much, and dance. In the present most of the people makes barbecue, eat beer and other alcohols, dance modern kinds of music, and the most rooted traditional dance is the cueca, a dance that in my opinion is not much traditional.

I don’t know if I feel identify with some national element like nationalism or solidarity, I could say that I feel identify or angry about some injustice or about the domination that the most of the people in the country suffer, but I don’t know if that is a feeling promulgated these national days.

I don’t know what we should celebrate instead of the costumes imposed by the Chilean dominant class, the Spanish Conquistadors and the politic slogan imposed all these years. It’s difficult to say that we should celebrate Mapuche’s or aborigine cultures costumes because at this time we are not part of that and it could be a false commemoration with an exotic interest.

A place that I like

Hello everyone!

Last semester was stopped, as you know, by the strike. So we didn't have holidays. Today I'm going to talk about a place that I like and I would like to go in holidays(we have a little break next week because of the Independence Day).

I don't have one favorite place, because I really like travelling an knowing new places. So I don't prefer the country, the mountains or the beach, because it depends to the specif places, there are ugly and crowded beaches or countries that I don't like. 

But if I have to choose one of them I'd prefer in this moment the country, because of its tranquility. I usually goes to the country of my father's family. It's a huge place with some animals, a river and avocado trees. My favorite thing there are the old and abandoned houses of my father's ancestor.

It is on the sixth region, near to Melipilla, on a rural district named San Pedro. And I have go there all my life, because my grandparents used to live there. It was the meeting point of the hole family, to celebrate birthdays, holidays and to get together.

Now when I go alone or with my parents I just used to sleep so much over the grass, walk for the hills, and read. But I use to invite people with me, because that is a perfect place to lose contact with the things that we used to do.

I'm not sure about the place where I'm going this holidays, but I'm sure that I'll go there some days.

Regards!

About the last term

HI everyone!
The last term was too rushed, the strike took more time than we thought and the end of the process was really disappointed.

I was part of the strike but it's difficult to me take a precise position, because I think that the strikes are not the choice of the most of the people at the faculty, no one has the total clarity to propose the best tactics to work and to convince the others. The worst thing is that the most of the people is not thinking about the methods, is just acting quickly and repeating a process, since 2011.

Anyway,the last weeks of the last semester were chaotic. Everyone was studying for days with no rest (studying, reading or doing homework).The contents that we review at class were few and the lectures were a lot, so it was difficult to survive.  

This term I expect that the things will be better and I really believe that the time to work will be more, so we should review all the contents. 

The final post

Hello everyone!

Today I’m going to talk about the experience writing a blog for the English class.

I've never had one before this year, so at the beginning it was so difficult to write thinking that others will read it, and obviously the language was a problem.

But considering this learning methodology, although it is good to develop personal writing skills and to learn English vocabulary, I think that it is better to learn in a collective process, because from my point of view, the learning is so much fruitful if it is made from all our own shared experiences. So, I think that a good way to make this experience better in the future is to incorporate a review of the blogs all together. Also, we could strengthen the vocabulary so we can detect our weaknesses and work with them together so we can improve.

Anyway, I can’t deny that the exercise of writing every week (with some weeks of break) has had some good results. I feel I've improved my writing and reading skills (When I read my classmate’s blogs). I also learned to use a new technology tool and a lot of new words.

Now, talking about the course in general, I think it was very well despite the few sessions this term. I hope that the classes keep improving next year :)  

Mi favourite subject: Ethnohistoria

I am in the second year of my career, and the anthropological topics of this semester are more specific and concentrated on Social Anthropology. The two subjects about Archeology and Biological Anthropology are interesting but not my favourite ones, because I would like to work in the social area. This term I learned other anthropology theories and fields like structural anthropology, ethnolinguistics and ethno-history, and this last one has been the most interesting for me.

The ethno-history was something unknown for me until this year, and when I knew about it the first class I was so surprised. It was the first real approach to the anthropologist´s work in real life with ethnic groups. The ethno-history work, basically, is to recover the voice of the ethnic groups that has always been hidden or silenced on the history of the “winners”.

The ethno-history doesn’t close its field to the ethnics groups because you can make ethnohistory every time you recover the speech or ways of life that has been silenced in the dominant history. The objective, when you recover a speech, is that you recover a part of the thinking or models of that society.

But I am not sure if that class is my favourite. I really enjoy the contents of the class but I think that this Anthropology area is so unknown and the impact on the alive societies (and those ethnic groups) is so little or minimum.  That's is a huge problem, because I think that we can't dedicate our work for our own interest.

Regards!

A Picture

Hello everyone! Today I have to talk about a picture I like.

The problem is that right now I can't think about or remember a special photo or picture. But surfing on the internet I remember a beauty and special amphibian that I knew a few days ago. It is an aquatic animal named axolotl, axolote or ajolote that means "aquatic monster" and i knew it because of a Cortazar tale. 

This is an incredible animal, because is a neotenic salamander. Neotenic means, in evolution terms, that the species axolotl have a young appearance, like a baby or a young salamander (the same with humans and primate).

The axolotl lives on the Mexican waters.

The fist picture I saw was so incredible because the axolotl's face looks human. A happy human.

I just looked on the internet to see the axolotle, so I don't have any picture of it that I took and I don't know who took it either.

This picture shows an axolotle, I think it was taken on the Mexican waters and is beautiful because it shows the smiley axolotle's face. 

(This is the first picture I saw)

PUSHEEN THE CAT

Today I'm going to talk about Pusheen the cat and if you like cats you will love her, she is a very funny and cute kitty drawn of the internet. In her site you could see her as an animation in different "memes" about her daily activities. The page is full of animations about Pusheen moving her legs, eating ice cream, pizza or donnuts, sleeping, cooking and more things. 

I knew this kitty because of my sister's facebook application on her iPod, Pusheen is a chat's emoticon that you can send to you friends (if you have an iPod). 

When I was looking information about this cat I found that it's really popular, even has an online store, so I think that it is an  animation of a company.

Finally, here is the Pusheen's site, and if you want to see more of its memes I really advise you to visit it: http://pusheen.com/

And here are some pictures of her ...

My Cell phone

Hi everybody! The topic I’m going to talk about this week is technology.

I don’t really know much about technology, actually I think I'm ignorant with technology stuff or the new technology objects at the shops.

Anyway, if I choose my favourite piece of technology, I will talk about my cell phone or movile phone.

I like my cell phone because one reason, people can talk with me, and I can call them everywhere I am, and anytime I want. My phone is little, white and touch screen. In the picture seems modern, but it isn't! It hasn't internet, a great camera or things like that, it just call (when I have money) and send messages.

I got it like 4 years ago, when i lost the last one at the school.

I use my phone every day but when i forget to charge the battery (and that happens to me). Even though I carry it almost every time, I usually don't hear it and, obviously, don't answer my mother calls, she thinks I do it purposely.

Finally, i think if i don't have my phone, the life will be the same but we couldn't ask for or notify things quickly, but nothing will be terrible.

About Animals

Welcome back to my blog, today I have to talk about anything I want. Is weird but I think that "free topic" is more difficult than write about an obligatory subject. Anyway, I will talk about something that makes me feel worried and upset.

Something I think is important to considerate is the incessant animals slaughter to “make” food that the big companies are doing since a lot of years, but that the people don’t reject. When I say that the people don’t reject this slaughter I’m talking about the people at the present that keep consuming this food, these animal-made clothes, these huge animal killer companies stuff (beauty accessories, etc.) and a lot of other things made by those abusive people and their “animal jails”.

The bigger problem is that the people knows a lot about how the animal lives, the abuses, their predestination life, and even how is the meat to our organism, how disgusting is the care of that meat, and they still support this domination in name of the best to the human and our heath. The point is that everyone at the present knows the animals domination but is just a few people that act with a little of consequence with something that we honestly know is unacceptable. 

Marshall Sahlins

I think is still difficult to write about my career, although this is my second year. I feel embarrassed but now I don't know any link of an anthropology web site, when I'm studying or bored searching anthropology things I find interesting and meaningful sites, but I never pay attention on the address.

After this I will start looking (and remind what I read) for interesting anthropology on line things.

If I have to choose an anthropologist, today I will talk about Marshall Sahlins. What I know about his life is that now he is an important american anthropologist, because of his perspectives about the society, with a critic economic approach. His anthropology theoretical consist in change "natural" visions or assumptions incorporated on our lifes and social theories, that are funded on liberal and capitalism ideology. His methodology to conclude that, is the anthropology camp work and sometimes the archeology. I like this anthropologist because of his neomarxist approach, his innovative and critical basics and how he writes.

Regards!!

About music

Today I'm going to talk about a singer. It's difficult to me choose one, because I don't have a favorite band or singer that I have been listening for years o that I know everything about his life, but in general I like woman singers and relaxing music. One singer that I really like is Sarah Blasko, she is australian and I think she is in her thirties. What I like of her is the voice and the instruments she use. Also I think she's so beautiful.

I started listening her because of a friend, I listened her a lot at the beginning but now I just listen music sometimes because I’m so busy reading or doing other things. About her, I don’t know specifically what type of music is, it could be pop or indie. What I like is that she sounds great, in her CDs and at the live concerts that I search on the internet. Also I like her lyrics, always are like poetry.

Here is a video of a song called Night and Day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dGc2cpKSew

About me

Hi everyone!

My name is Daniela Galleguillos Henríquez, I'm 18 years old and I live in Santiago. I was born on April 16th, 1994. I have an older sister and we live with our parents. My sister's name is Karol, she's almost 23 years old and studies near to us at UMCE.

I have two pets that are part of my family. A dog named Laura who has about 11 human years, and a much smaller dog named Brownie.

I studied at a scholl near to my home for 10 years and a year ago I started studying anthropology at here. It was difficult at the beginning because I wasn't sure what it was, what was the work of an anthropologist in society and things like that. But now I'm pretty sure what I want to be.

I would like to talk about my hobbies. I really enjoy walking at parks or beautiful green places. I like watching movies at my computer with my sister or my boyfriend, but my favorite movies are Hayao Miyazaki's ones.

I would like to play an instrument, but I've never tried to learn one, maybe I'll do that some day. Nor practice any sport, but in a few weeks I'll begin to use the bike every day to go to university, because I'm sick of buses and crowded subway.

Regards, and I see you next class!