Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Jem Kamran- Reflection on habitat and habitus


In class we talked about the difference between habitat and habitus. Through the discussion we concluded that habitat is a place of dwelling and habitus is a way of dwelling. From what I understand habitus are social norms that are instilled in us. The belief of society influences how we perceive a place. For example in the western society cemeteries invoke fear, because of the stories of ghosts, zombies. Western culture looks at spirit afterlife as something horrible. However in other culture afterlife is celebrated. In Mexican culture for example the day of the dead is celebrated. The families honor the dead by having a party at their graves.
There are many other examples of social norms that we have adopted in our culture. For example people don’t talk to each other when they are in the elevator or on the subway because they have been warned that you can’t trust strangers. So people don’t normally strike up conversation with people next to them. This is mainly influenced idea of society and how the society perceives people they don’t know. 

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