Advising Meetings

Tueday, April 29, 2008

Goals:
1. Examine intro
2. Look at improving writing style
3. filling in research gaps - more primary source hunting!
4. overall argument evaluation

Accomplished
1. Examined sentence structure and looked at separating sentences as well as clarity
2. Looked at introductory sentences - do they state the larger argument? (thesis!)
3. Questioning: the thesis in the first paragraph? Decided that this is the best thing due to common high school writing conventions
4. Questioning: decided that referring to "this research" or "this thesis" is okay - use this in the introduction, conclusion, and in definitions
5. BE INTERESTING. BE ACCESSIBLE TO READER.
6. PRIMARY SOURCES: European Digital Library, Project Gutenburg, Bartleby, Middle Ages encyclopedias in the library



April 22, 2008, Advising Meeting with Dr. Joyce Valenza
Goals
Discuss working thesis and any confusing points/points still to be addressed Pursue needed research alternatives Look at structure

Accomplished
Looked at weak points in paper, focused on how to strengthen Preliminary research resources i. EuroDocs for primary sources ii. NetLibrary iii. JSTOR exhausted iv. Primary Source anthologies from ILL?

Plans for Next Meeting
discuss research progress since last meeting specifically look at passages from paper needing more textual evidence has thesis been proven?

Saturday, March 22, 2008: Phone advising meeting and interview with Dr. Carol ProrakGeographer and Scholar with specialization in Asia and Caribbean GeographyProfessor of Geography (Asia and Caribbean) at Slippery Rock University in PA, co-author of Asian Women and their Work: The Geography of Gender Development.
Goals:1. Discuss working thesis and any preliminary problems 2. Discuss aims of thesis as a whole and receive guidance as to aims for research as a whole 3. Answer general and specific questions arising in research so far Accomplished1. Discussed new directions for thesis: further examining the practical as well as the cultural or religious significance of spices 2. Research directions: explore the concept of nutmeg as a psychotropic drug, examine the civilization Sri Vijaya 3. Received good background information on perfuming of waters in eastern religion and tradition4. Encouragement for the theory of sexual sciences as playing a role in the spice trade, perceptions, etc. - this in unexplored, scholarly territory!Notes:Not very much support for spice as ritually importance (important in Hinduism, not so much in other world religions)In a cultural sense, linked to people who practice a particular faithArchaeo. Evidence in northern IraqIdea of Paradise - no evidence didn’t occur until Arabs came to sail (8th 9th)Cinn. = native to Sri LankaMedieval texts obsessed with spice, but not exposed until before Middle AgesMedicinal vs. symbolic relationshipCinnamon = cassia, along Silk Road to M. EastArabs à Sri Lanka/India (b. pepper, cloves)SRI VIJAYA (sea-based empire in SE Asia, transferred to S. India à M. East)NUTMEG = psychotropic properties, mild hallucinogenFerd. And Is. Wanted to undercut Arabs in drug tradeParadisal watersRole of water is universal in Arab culture – all of Arabia…water is included in some form in all rituals – essential for lifePerfuming of waters is common to rituals in Mediterranean across Arabia into India“areas colonized by Spanish, we find perfuming of waters…conquest of Iberian peninsula”Spanish America = perfuming of waters, colonized by Iberian people in many parts of the worldPre-Christian, Pre-Islamic cultures throughout region = strong belief in spirit possession – spirits could be “jins,” could not be trusted – would possess people, particularly womenSpirits varied by location – forest, spring coming from rocksEntry of spirits into individuals = shaman/ritual leader, you could go to them for healing…fearful of power of spirits…As Christianity came over, conflict with how to manipulate the supernatural…in Christianity, spirits transferred into saints and other holy people….”conflict over ritual and its ends”Islam – if people went to shamans instead of other religious places, there might have been conflict, but otherwise not…Controlling spirit, to what extent commandeering self = perfuming!Northern Africa, E. Medit, all the way to N. India = culture heart for perfumeryCrusades, W. Europeans = contact with perfumery as important cultural tradition, contact with spices = perfume (EXAMINE PRACTICAL USE, MEDICINAL, APPEAL…cassia = rid of bad smells)Possible belief of Christians about Eden and riversW. Europeans invested massive resources in trying to get control over these spices – the idea does hold some water, only holds water for some amount of time when practical uses underneath…practical = enough, symbolic = enough…Combination of practical and symbolicConservative strain of Islam gets all of media attention – hard to imagine how sensuous Islamic cultures were at the timeSpices stimulate arousal, raise heart rate, etc.Related to cleansing waters, cleansing body…smelling better enhances sexual appealNUTMEG = PSYCHOTROPIC PROPERTIES = SEXUAL PROPERTIES?

Notes

1. manna compared to the coriander seed in color (Exodus 16:31)
2. spices, such as cinammon and cassia, commanded by God to Moses to mix in with other substances for the "holy annointing oil" (Exodus 25:6)
3. references to spices in Song of Solomon (Parry 22)..."In the seventh chapter of Proverbs, we have an example of the latter in the story of the lady of easy virtue who uses the sweet odor of cinammon to ensnare "a young man void of understanding" (Parry 22)
4. New Testement doesn't speech that frequently of spices
a. St. Matthew 13:31 and 17:20: Christ likens kingdom of heaven to a grain of mustard seed
b. Revelation of St. John the Divine - fortells of the fall of Babylon - distress of merchants, who have been made rich from trading costly goods "And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her;...And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments...thou shalt find them no more at all"

Cassia and cinnamon in the ancient Middle East
1. made their way through Asia w/ least resistance to travel: China, west through mt. ranges Kuen-Lun and Thian-Shan, through Tarim River valley, to Bokhara, then to ancient port of Hormozia on Persian Gulf/Basra.
2. other possibility: to rivers of Tigris and Euphrates
3. from N. India: from the Indus through Gedrosia to Hormozia and continue to provinces of Persis and Susiana to Basra.
4. "Difficult mountain ranges, swift-moving rivers, miles of barren plains and arid deserts, lack of provisions for traders and pasture for animals, the great distances between waterholes, the chill of mountain passes and the heat of the desert sun, all militate against the idea of caraban movements in such early ages" (Parry 26)
5. Phoenicians and Arabians as founders of trade with Eastern spice land
a.