Before I was doing the researching about the group which I studied this time, the only thing I know is the name of this cultural group which is the South Sudan. Also, this region locates in Northern Africa. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea, Eritrea, and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west and Libya to the northwest.
I never thought the health problem is extremely serious in South Sudan. Sudanese people are deeply suffering from the diseases and other health problems. In the Sudan, health is always ignored by people. The wealthy situation for a cow is even more important than human beings. Also, I have to say the most health problem in the South Sudan is malnutrition. In my blog post, I discussed a lot about the serious malnutrition in Sudan, and used some pictures and sources to prove it. The significant cause of malnutrition is horrible food sources and bad health condition. It includes their living places; health care condition and how unserious doctors are. A lot of Sudanese live in the tent because they are suffering from the bad food sources. Also, the health condition is terrible. A lot of people do not even have a chance to go to hospital. The hospital in Sudan lacks a lot of equipment. When patients need help, they have to go to other country which close to the Sudan. What is more, a lot of Sudanese doctors are unhelpful because of their low salary. Their health care knowledge is also limit. In my blog post, there are two stories which shows how serious it is. Those elements make the Sudan in danger. In addition, even if Sudan has a lot of serious health situation, the landscape and custom in the South Sudan is still great. The traditional custom is really significant. For the landscape, one of the Sudanese whose name is Jalil al-Hamza upload a video to prove Sudan is the most beautiful country in the world. What I learned from researching is Sudanese are still suffering from the diseases, especially malnutrition.
As we learned in this course, Ethnocentrism is judging another culture solely by the values and standards of one’s own culture. At the same time, it’s also a kind of faith to that culture. Cultural relativism is the idea that a person’s beliefs and activities should be understood based on that person’s own culture. In my observation, one ethnocentrism example would be in the blog post 4 which talks about the customs about the Sudan. An author whose name is Jalil al-Hamza upload a video called “The most beautiful country in the world” instead of “one of the most beautiful country. One challenge I encountered for cultural relativism in my research would be in Sudan, a health value of a cow is even larger than a person. Personally, I think the base of a country is people. If all the people are in danger, then this country is done. Even if we say the value for all the life is equal, but right now, people on the top of food chain. Personally, I think the value of human is a little bit higher than other animals.
Basically, the research of ethnography is a method which is used to study for a group of people in their own culture. In this method, anthologist use to do some observational studies or having some conversations with those face to face. The purpose for this study is to see others behaviors or culture in their own ways instead of our own perspectives. In my blog post, I searched how Sudanese suffer in the health issues and some of their customs by looking at pictures, stories and some videos. For example, through reading the Sudanese’s stories that how Sudanese suffer from the bad health care condition. Also, in those pictures, I learnt why the value of a cow is more important than human because animals can provide more food than human beings. Thorough the study of ethnography, I learnt how to understand different situation in different cultures in their own standpoint instead of using my own.
For the videos in my blog posts, one digital strategy I used is searching the term of “Sudan traditional custom” on You