We have spent so much time focusing on the strange and shocking artifacts of wonder that are displayed by people through mediums such as the cabinets of wonder that I would like to delve into the exploration of everyday things throughout the world that can provoke wonder...In this instance, it's really all about perspective. Let's start close to home. Each of us are studying different specializations that are offered in the university. Even if some have the same major, it is most likely that they have a different focus. If you have chosen your major based on what you are passionate about, there are bound to be very particular things that may seem boring and insignificant to others that provoke wonder in you.
For example, I am a Spanish and Anthropology major. In Spanish, I have been very interested in the focus on spanish linguistics and the different phonetic alphabets of the very wide range of spanish dialects that exist. For this reason, this chart is wonderful to me:
.
In Anthropology, my focus is on cultural anthropology. So while this:
may be wonderful and fascinating to an archaeologist, it just bores me to tears. For me, I feel and experience wonder when I think about the world and the vastly different worldviews that each and every one of us have. We each see and experience the world in such uniquely different ways, and oftentimes assume that others see it the same way. Even the details such as where people call and feel to be their home is fascinating... While these places:
Cinque Terra, Italy
Plitvice Lakes, Croatia
Western Sahara, Morocco
(Photo credits: Jessie Krafft; Summer 2008)
are home to some, they are exotic to those who live here:
It's all relative. It's all about perspective. These things are wonderful to me because of their importance in this globalizing world, as shown to us by writers such as Thomas L. Friedman. We need to gain the ability to understand, take heed of everyone's different perspectives, and RESPECT that we all see the world, interpret current events, and believe in very different things. This is why anthropology is relevant and is wonderful to me. Some of these things may be wonderful to you, but if you were prompted to think of the very simplest things about what you study that provoke you, it is probable that they would be very different from mine. This makes me wonder.
For example, I am a Spanish and Anthropology major. In Spanish, I have been very interested in the focus on spanish linguistics and the different phonetic alphabets of the very wide range of spanish dialects that exist. For this reason, this chart is wonderful to me:
.In Anthropology, my focus is on cultural anthropology. So while this:
may be wonderful and fascinating to an archaeologist, it just bores me to tears. For me, I feel and experience wonder when I think about the world and the vastly different worldviews that each and every one of us have. We each see and experience the world in such uniquely different ways, and oftentimes assume that others see it the same way. Even the details such as where people call and feel to be their home is fascinating... While these places:
Cinque Terra, Italy
Plitvice Lakes, Croatia
Western Sahara, Morocco
(Photo credits: Jessie Krafft; Summer 2008)
are home to some, they are exotic to those who live here:
It's all relative. It's all about perspective. These things are wonderful to me because of their importance in this globalizing world, as shown to us by writers such as Thomas L. Friedman. We need to gain the ability to understand, take heed of everyone's different perspectives, and RESPECT that we all see the world, interpret current events, and believe in very different things. This is why anthropology is relevant and is wonderful to me. Some of these things may be wonderful to you, but if you were prompted to think of the very simplest things about what you study that provoke you, it is probable that they would be very different from mine. This makes me wonder.
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