Egypt Case Studies: Make-Up

I want students to look into different aspects of life in Ancient Egypt.  They could choose the case study that they want (cosmetics, war, funeral practices, ship building, food, etc.), have a handout with questions and then have a couple of different documents to analyze about their topic.  They can complete as a pair.  Then they can draw a picture of that their case study in ancient Egypt with some basic facts.  It would be cool to have them share with each other in some way.  

Here are some questions I brainstormed for them:

1. How is beauty different in other cultures?  How is beauty different in Egypt than from today? How similar?

2. How does Egyptian's use of cosmetics a sign of "civilization" (hint: choose one of the 5 characteristics of a civilization and discuss it in relation to cosmetics)

3. Describe the make-up that ancient Egyptians used.   List 5 different things.

4. What ingredients did they use to make their make-up?

5. Draw a picture of what a typical woman's make-up in Egypt would look like. 

6. Apply to yourself:  Do you like using make-up?  Why or why not?  Do you think make-up enhances beauty or masks it?  Why do you think that woman throughout time have sought out ways to improve their appearance with make-up?  Do you think that Egyptian make-up is beautiful or excessive? 

Potential Articles:

• The Past, Present, and Future of Looking Good by Sarah Fewster (found through SIRS Discoverer.  Looks at make-up in general and has some fun facts but doesn't go into Egypt a ton)
• Fun Facts:
• Egyptians and Romans had their cosmetics buried with them so they could shine in the afterworld.
• Lettuce Head (330-30 B.C.): Ancient Egyptians put shredded lettuce on their bald spots to encourage hair growth. And they dyed gray hairs with a mixture of henna, cow's blood, warm oil, and crushed tadpoles.
• Grease Queen (69-30 B.C.):
  
   Egyptian queen Cleopatra bathed in goat's milk to moisture her skin and used bear grease to style her hair.
• Cosmetics weren't made specifically for teens until the 1940s, and those teens were encouraged to use natural colors. Then in the 1960s, teens developed their own makeup styles and trends. By the 1980s, teen cosmetics became a $20 billion industry.
•  For a great history of beauty trends, check out For Appearance' Sake: The Historical Encyclopedia of Good Looks, Beauty, and Grooming, Oryx Press, 2001
•   For more on ancient cosmetics, read "Style of the Nile: Recreating the chemistry and cosmetics of Queen Nefertiti," Discover Magazine, September 1999.
• Egyptian Make-Up (provides very simple, straightforward info on Ancient Egyptian Cosmetics)
• Cosmetics, Perfumes, and Incense in Ancient Egypt by A. Lucas (The Journal of Egyptian Archeology) 
• This seems very informational.  More of a journal article.  We don't have full access so unless we want to spend 10 dollars one day then we can't see more than one page.
• Wikipedia: Beauty and Cosmetics in Ancient Egypt
• Great simple information as always.  Emphasizes that wearing make-up in Ancient Egypt served a spiritual purpose
• Ancient Egypt’s Toxic Makeup Fought Infection, Researchers Say by Sindya N. Bhanoo
• Good NY Times article although it might be good to use another article in addition to this one.
• Looks into ingredients used in make-up and also raises the question: is Make-up good or bad?  Do we sometimes hurt ourselves to try and achieve "beauty"?  Is that okay?
• 5 Ancient Egyptian Cosmetics
• Seems like a good, simple overview.

Promises--Isreali/Palestinian Conflict Documentary

Promises is a documentary that shows the perspectives of Israeli and Palestinian children.  They follow seven Israeli and Palestinian children who all live around Jerusalem.

Brad said that he viewed the movie in high school and in a Middle East college class.  He loved it.  I think if Brad could still remember the movie and the issues it looks at AND that it was shown to him in two different class that it is worth looking at.

This link takes you to a website that posts documentaries for free.  It says that the documentary is available to watch on that website but I couldn't get it to work.  Try back later.

Human Rights Watch--Saudi Arabia

I came across the Human Rights Watch website that does research in human rights around the world.

I was interested in this article Perpetual Minors, which looks into how women are treated in Saudi Arabia.  The Human Rights Watch organization considers Saudi Arabia as having one of the worst records in the world today on women's rights. The article is based on interviews with Saudi Arabian women.

I have not read it (just read the opening few lines) but the article looks very revealing.

Latin American Dance

For our Culture Day for Latin America, I had another student teacher Lynette Yorgason come in and teach my class about different dances.

It was fascinating to learn that every state in Mexico moves their skirt a different.  As a result, you can tell where someone lives by the way you move you skirt. This is great to emphasize with students because it helps them see that there are differences within Latin American culture.

Here are the three different dances that were learned about:

 1) The dance from the Mexican state Jalisco.

This dance has you stomp your feet in triplets. You begin by stomping your right foot hard, then step with your left foot and then right foot.  Then you stomp hard on your left foot and do lighter steps on your right foot then left foot before you stomp hard on your right foot again.  You repeat this over and over again.

We had the class move in a circle clockwise stomping their feet.

The boys clasp their hands high behind their backs.  The girls pretend like their holding out a big skirt and moving it side by side.

The reason there is so much stomping of feet is because their music doesn't have a strong beat in it, so they make their own beat.

Type "Jalisco Dance" into YouTube for a video.

2) The dance Cumbia from Colombia.

This is an interesting dance because it shows the influence between the natives of Colombia and the African slaves.  The African slaves had chains around their ankles so they could only shuffle their feet. As a result, Cumbia dance is the shuffling of feet.  They made it more interesting by rotating their hips.  The women hold up large skirts and move their skirts around as they dance.  The men put one hand high on the back while they tip their hat and shuffle their feet.

Type "Cumbia Dance" into YouTube for a video.

3) The dance Capoeira from Brazil.

This is a fight dance.  I don't know too much beyond that and would need to do more research.  We didn't actually do this dance in class but we watched a video.  It is amazing because the entire dance is a choreographed fight.

The boys especially liked watching this video.

Look for this movie in YouTube: "The best capoeira video ever"

The students really enjoyed learning about the dances and participating in them as well.  I would definitely try to replicate this again. It took about 20 minutes to explain, dance and watch the video clips.

Cultural Diffusion

In my first geography unit of my student teaching, we are discussing culture and cultural diffusion.  Here are some ideas that I got from my mentor teaching and that I come up with on my own.

Question: How or why do things (ideas, movies, music, religions, etc.)  move from place to place?

They move because of:

-Trade

-War 

-Migration

-Everyone just wants to be cool and hip

Could address cultural diffusion by focusing on a theme like music (Mr. Stevenson's idea)

So, for example:

-Trade: (Seattle Sound)

-War: (article on how American Soldiers in Iraq left of legacy of Rap)

-Migration: (Anny foreign singer, missionary)

-Everyone wants to be cool and hip (Koreans)

Other examples of Cultural Diffusion besides music:

Religious Conversion (Missionaries): Holidays/Work Week

Technological Necessity: Internet

Trade: Politcal Systems

War or Conquest: Language, food (baguettes are popular in Vietnam because of French colonialism)

Migration: Restaurants (People from Thailand move to Provo and open Thai Restaurants, etc.)