In "Dreaming Across Cultures," Pamela Hartmann (2007, pp. 145 - 147) discusses the importance that dreams have held for thousands of years over the great variety of human cultures, from the primitive cultures of Africa and Papua New Guinea, through ancient Egypt and Greece, to Mediaeval Christian Europe and the New World cultures of the Americas along with the Far Eastern cultures then opening up to Western interests.
_______________________________________
My Yes/No question is:
Do you like Hartmann's "Dreaming Across Cultures"?
My answer is:
No, I do not. But since your homework is to respond to this question in a comment, or two comments, and perhaps a reply or two, I'm not going to explain this answer just yet.
I normally skip this chapter in Quest when I teach Reading and Writing CD, and this particular reading is one of the reasons I prefer to start with chapter 6, where Hartmann concludes with a solid academic writing exercise, with an example paragraph (p. 227) that happens to agree with my idea about a solution to the harms caused by illegal drugs. But although you might like to have a look at Hartmann's chapter 6, which we are not going to do this term, your homework today is to respond to my question on "Dreaming Across Cultures."
___________
Reference
Although I don't, I can can think of good reasons why others might like Hartmann's "Dreaming Across Cultures."
ReplyDeleteI do not like Hartmann's "Dreaming Across Cultures" as the beliefs stated are not really common in our culture. For example, in Ancient Greeks belief, many innocent animals are sacrificed for nothing instead of their meat being distributed to the poor. Moreover, in Native Americans' s belief, drugs are used in order for ones to have a dream. But, in fact, it is a hallucination, not a lovely dream. This will cause more problems in the society, especially in terms of crime and also well-being of the people.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure I think a belief being uncommon a reason to dislike that belief - the idea that slavery is wrong was also not common in Thai culture, but I think it should have been liked even before it became common. The same was true in the US, where slavery was a widely accepted social practice believed to be ordained by the Christian god, but the religious Americans who supported slavery were all wrong, just as their Bible is wrong. They had selfish reasons for supporting slavery, but none of those reasons were good reasons to dislike the idea that slavery should be abolished, as it eventually was by Abraham Lincoln during the long and bloody American Civil War.
DeleteI like Non's response. I'm just not sure that they are good reasons to dislike Hartmann's reading.
And I disagree with second reason: Thailand had a very long history of opium use without major problems until after that drug was made illegal, and the same was true of Peyote in the US. The evidence seems to suggest that it is making drugs illegal that causes most of the social problems we associate with them.
A very thought provoking opening response from Non, and we definitely like that!
And since we enjoyed the clear statement of Non's ideas, which he very successfully communicates here, this is another excellent piece of response writing by him.
DeleteYes, I do
ReplyDeleteThis is because they all share either similar or different interesting viewpoints of dreaming in each culture. I’ve never known about that before. It seems different from my culture to a certain degree, which some of Thai people are prone to interpret their dreams as omen or a miracle story, whereas others may regard their dreams as a natural process in human being.
According to the reading passage, some of the ways they view or use dreams somewhat appeals to me, for example, the use of dream by artist as a source of inspiration, or the dream interpretation by the Senoi of Malaysia. Both are applied creatively and can lead to psychological benefits to dreamers, even it is sometimes a nightmare. Any dreams could become good things in different aspects for everybody if they learn and understand them creatively without credulity regarding ancient beliefs which sound irrational.
I agree with Feem. I liked the variety of different approaches to dreaming that Hartmann presents, and as noted, we can learn from that with actually accepting the beliefs presented as being true.
DeleteNo, I also don't like Hartmann's "Dreaming Across Cultures" cause it give people belief about something that cannot explain in science or physical ,and control people with fear and build them to trust in only a spirit. But not at all that affect in a bad way by using people' faith to control them; The Senoi of Malaysia used their dream to solve a problem in social - a positive way, it's good ,but it is not depend on a rationale.
ReplyDeletepersonally, we must understanding first about that period, at that time, education did not refer to basic of science, so people still believe in their god, soul and spirit that would make their life was better. Then, a dream was important with their daily life.
I wonder what Jom thought of Feem's comment posted three minutes earlier, which was perhaps so close that it had not been posted when she started writing hers.
DeleteWhat others have said can be a useful source of ideas to respond to, and as you can see, I like Feem's ideas, which seem to me also to address Jom's reasonable worry, which is approaching what does make me dislike this reading by Hartmann.
And when I read it again, I was wondering just how much Jom dislikes Hartmann's piece of writing. I know she starts by saying, "No, I don't like Hartmann's 'Dreaming Across Cultures,'" but much of her response seems to me to support that she likes it, at least in part and perhaps more than the dislike mentioned first.
DeleteEven my dislike is not total, as my reply to Feems's comment says.
No, I don't like it.
ReplyDeleteI think that most of dreaming across cultures are related to superstition instead of believe in themselves and their action which is a pathway to have a sustainable success.
Moreover, some culture believe in dream too much to allow dream to overwhelm their life.
The Ancient Greeks and Medieval Christians is an example, they believe that dream can tell them how to cure themselves instead of go to see doctors.
In the future, If people still believe in superstition and allow it to overwhelm their life, it will be difficult for them to change to be development country and follow up other countries.
Does that mean you also dislike religion, which tends to be full of superstition: gods, heavens, ghosts, afterlifes, reincarnation, and so on?
DeleteLike everyone else, Ae gives us some good ideas to think about, and since those ideas have very successfully communicated her ideas, which we might agree or disagree with, it is an excellent piece of response writing, perfectly fulfilling its purposes.
As you now know, I dislike the article because of the extremely unacademic ideas that Hartmann mindlessly repeats about the Senoi. They are amazing claims which directly contradict what I already knew about relative violence levels in primitive cultures. That made my initial reaction something like: "This is rubbish." And I was suspicious enough to do a bit of research, which revealed that the whole myth about the Senoi, whilst likely appealing to middle-class Americans looking for wisdom in primitive societies was nothing but an unfounded and false myth. A useful starting place was the Wikipedia entry for the Senoi, and that led me to a 2003 research paper (Domhoff) on the claims made about them.
ReplyDeleteAt the very least, Hartmann should have stated that the wild claims she repeated about no violence, no psychological problems and so on were highly controversial and disputed, and seeming not supported by any reasonable evidence.
DeleteThe other ideas were interesting and plausible, and the article as a whole useful for our purposes, but the rubbish about the Senoi really does not seem to me to belong in a text teaching academic English. I should perhaps conclude by pointing out that Hartmann and the Quest series is probably as good as any similar series available, and is better than many. We all make and expect the odd mistake or carelessness, however many times we check our work, but the mistakes with the Senoi seemed whoppers to me.