Favorite subject: Etnography and Archive

This semester, the subject that caught my attention the most, was “Etnography and Archive”. The content itself was most theoretical but due to the final assignment and the intrinsic character of the ethnographic work, we had to do several tasks out of the classroom. Mainly, this subject was about how we had to do the observation and study of a community, this means how to interact and participate with them, so this way we can learn about their internal relationships and dynamics.  This work is also mixed with anthropological theories which allows us to generate new knowledge and explanations through the analysis of our observations.

I liked the subject because we choose to observe a chilean wrestling community, that ended up being super fun and interesting, and gave us the opportunity to know more of how wrestling was perceived and how it has developed in our country, since we didn’t knew much about it at the beginning, because it is poorly known in our country in general. Even though, they were open and welcoming, and their show was amazing, so the work was satisfying and positive to me.

Franz Boas

I really admire Franz Boas. He was a german/jew anthropologist that was born on July 9, 1858 and died on december 21, 1942. He developed his career at the United States, and standed out because of his new anthropologic theory, called "Historical Particularism”. This theory was against racism and contradicted evolutionism, the prevailing paradigm of that time, which stated a lineal way to see human diversity. Besides this theory developed the concept of “cultural relativism” which explained that every culture and folk had their own and particular history. This means that a group was not always molded after the influence of another and greater culture or human group, nor had to develop in certain stages as tribe, chiefdom, state, empire, etcetera. A great portion of his work was the study of the Inuit of North America, who also helped him to develop his theory. I like him because of the implications of his ideas, since they started a positive and revolutionary theoretical reflection towards the mankind and society conformation itself.

My pet

I have a little female bunnny called Rabito. Originally, when we bought her the pet-shop guy told us she was a male, but not so long ago the veterinary told us that we were wrong, so that’s why her name doesn’t sound that girly. Even though we kept the name, because it suits her pretty well since her fur is very soft and completely white but her tail, which is a brown-grey color.

I love Rabito very much, because she’s being with me for a long time. Sometimes I brought her to my room to play but she is lazy and likes to be pet. When she gets relaxed she stays very still and then she doesn’t like to move at all.

I like pets because I think they are amazing beings that brings happiness to every home and teaches us important things, specially how to take care of others who depends on us to be alright. Even though not everyone must like pets or have a one, they are always a positive thing to have in your life.

My favorite photograph

This is a photo of me walking through a narrow path at the Moon Valley at the Atacama Desert, the driest in the world. It was taken by my mom, Mabel, during our last summer vacations, in February of 2017. We went to Calama, a city in the north of Chile, and then we moved on to San Pedro de Atacama, a very popular touristic destiny in our country that I liked a lot. The desertic landscape is stunning yet surprisingly calming and beautiful, and of course it reminds an extraterrestrial place with the weird geological formations made of various minerals and salt. I think this photo captures that special contrast and calm atmosphere, because I remember I was walking very slowly and admiring the view. It also brings me memories of the great time we had with my mom in general, it was a cool trip we took that made me happy. Im looking forward to visit San Pedro again and go to places I couldn’t see this time.

My favorite piece of technology

Hi! Today i'm going to talk about my favorite piece of technology, my tablet. This is a small computer and fulfills the functions of one. My dad gave it to me about a year ago to do my work in the university because it’s easy to transport. In my house I use a lot for reading things about the university, since it has a screen suitable for this, and relax listening to music in Spotify. What I most enjoy on my tablet is that I can take it to the university without load with the weight of carrying a computer in my backpack and definitely my life without the tablet it would be much more complicated because I spend a lot of money on photocopies and probably could not do things in the university.

Why i choose Anthropology?

Hi! Today i'm going to talk about the chose to study Anthropology. When i was younger i wanted to became an astronaut, but realized that it was to difficult for me and i started to think about others careers like history, journalism or law. Until anthropology arrived to my life i love it because their exists the archeology specialization and thats how i decided to study my actual career. My experience at the university has been marked by stress but has been entertaining at the same time, because i have learned a lot about things i like and i have also met very kind people like my friends. Finally, for my academic future i have great expectations about the job to get because i would like to be the head of an excavation and help with the conservation of the archaeological sites in Chile.   

My autobigraphy

Hi, my name is Ambra Figueroa and on my second year of Anthropology at the Universidad de Chile and now im going to talk about myself. I was born on april 5th, 1998 in Santiago and my zodiac sign is aries. When i was in high school i studied at Carmela Carvajal in Providencia, kind of far from my home, because i live in Renca with my mom, my grandparents and my rabbit "Rabbito". I dont have brothers or sister, so i spent most of my time taking care of my pet and now i really love animals, actually when i have free time i volunteer at a rescue center taking care of different kind of monkeys and thats my most important hobby right now. See you in next post!