Background: The informant has lived in Durham, North Carolina his whole life. His whole extended family has also lived in North Carolina their entire lives. TR: This is uh, this is kind of like a superstition that I remember, um, and it had to do with porches, remember and this is from a long time… Continue Reading »
Background: I asked about the informant’s background with Pacific Islanders and how they heard about it to which they responded, “I work with a lot of Filipino coworkers, I have friends who are various nationalities, I know some Indoneseians, I know some Fijians, Samoans, Hawaiians. And they all have similar, like, the one consistent thing… Continue Reading »
Description: After a funeral, people would put salt on themselves in order to keep spirits out of their home. Background: The informant observed the ritual from his mother. Transcript: ML: My mom puts salt on herself before entering the house after a funeral. Me: Is there a reason that your mom does that? ML: I… Continue Reading »
Main Piece: During many traditional Korean commemorative ceremonies called jesa (제사), there is a part where a family’s ancestors are honored by being “brought in” through an open door and allowed to dine on the food first before the family that prepared it. Once it is time for the meal to be eaten by the… Continue Reading »
Informant’s Background: My informant, AD, is an undergraduate student at USC who grew up in Glendale, California. Her family immigrated to the United States from the capital of Armenia, Yerevan, after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Context: The informant is my girlfriend and we share an apartment together. I asked her if she could… Continue Reading »