Religion in the Ranchos- La Misa and other such stuff

I have had a few opportunities this semester to attend religious "events" in Spanish- meaning that it was in Spanish with native Spanish speakers. I also finished reading Pedro Paramo- which was a weird book, perhaps a little too existential for my purposes- but I drew a lot of insight about religion from it.  So I thought that I would start with a little report on La Misa and then try to tie in a few other things that will/might apply to my experience in the field.
There were several differences that I noticed in La Misa than what we usually find in Mormon worship services- or even American worship services. One was the food that was there. I regret now that I didn't stop to eat something- but knowing the kind of person I am- shy at first and then I branch out a little- I know that would have been hard for me. If I did it again I would definitely stay for food. Maybe I'll get a chance to go again before leaving. So from that aspect of the Misa and from what I've heard about Mexican culture and even seen- food is a big part of the culture and is even present in religious situations. Of course Mormons do this too- just in other ways. I wish I had more insight about this- that just tells me I should have gotten a churro or something and I probably would have more insight.
As well, in La Misa people were dressed in more casual clothes. I also saw a lot of different types of people. It wasn't just old ladies or families, there were young adults and men alone etc. They all also seemed to have a different way of worshipping- meaning that some of them sang, some did not, some knew the words of the prayers and some did not- or at least didn't repeat them, some held their arms up when they prayed, some did not. In a setting where I was living among them- for instance, I might be able to do this in the field- I might be able to draw conclusions about why each person acted they way they did. Even if I had talked to more people that day, I could not have gotten to know them so well to know what type of person they were and why they were at Mass and why they did or did not repeat the prayers. But in a field study situation, this might be something that I will be better able to do. And since my project doesn't deal so much with religion, this might not be part of the questions that I try to answer, but I could perhaps gain insight into why certain people eat what they eat and the types of physical activity they engage in and why. I'm sure that there are variations within the community. I want to understand their perspective as a whole on health etc, but in order to do that I have to find out what the individual differences are.So the point of this thought is that, only given one afternoon to make observations about people is not enough. It is good practice and can open up some questions, but spending three months will give me so much more opportunity- even at that, I'm sure that three months will in some ways feel insufficient.
Another aspect of religion that I wanted to comment on was that it seems as though it is starting to change. For instance, more people were wearing jeans and more casual clothes than people used to in the past. Also, there were some electric guitars, which several decades ago would most likely not have been permitted in church. In class we have also discussed some of the changes in religion that are happening in Mexico. Roman Catholicism is still the predominant religion, but other religions are giving rise. There is supposed to be an Evangelical Church going up in the Ranchos. I am interested to see how the people respond to this and the changes in religious dynamics that it causes. In the book Pedro Paramo, religion was not portrayed well. The book was written several decades ago during what was probably the beginnings of some of these religious changes in Mexico. The author portrayed the Padre as a hypocrite, preaching of virtue but displaying none of his own. The people of the town were portrayed as ignorant followers (for the most part) going to the Padre for final judgment on their acts but in the end, dying and ending up in a heavenless state- like the idea of purgatory. The author seems to be saying that despite their beliefs there is nothing after death. The history of Mexico reports a very strong influence of religion, especially from the Catholic Church, it will be interesting to see if the people in the Ranchos still hold to this tradition, or if some of the philosophies of other religions/ideas are seeping into their culture.
Of course, I'm not really sure how I would go about answering these questions. It is not connected to my academic project, and religion can be a very sensitive subject. I also wouldn't want to get into a situation where I was presenting my beliefs in an inappropriate way. I think, though, that by participating in and observing the religious events, I will be able to gain some insight and maybe even be able to come up with some questions or engage in some harmless conversation.

Gender Dynamics in Rural Mexico

I read an article discussing a pilot project with the goal of educating and therefore increasing the income of women in rural Mexico. (Urquieta-Salomon, J, Tephichin-Valle, A, & Tellez-Rojo, M. (2008). Poverty and gender perspective in productive projects for rural women in mexico: impact evaluation of a pilot project. Evaluation Review, 33(1), 27-53.) First though, I want to discuss the recent push toward increasing opportunities specifically for women in third world countries as an attempt to improve the economic status not only of the individual women, but of the communities they are in. It is interesting to note the change in emphasis- where before men were given the priority as bread winning and therefore were the ones that could qualify for loans or given education and now it is the women who are given these opportunities. A prime example of this is microcredit, in which only women are given small loans to begin private businesses in order to support their children. With this is mind, I wonder what kind of shift this creates in the culture and gender dynamics of these communities. This article discusses several different interventions that were taken in order to educate and give opportunities to women to help them come above the poverty line. Some of the interventions worked and some did not. Most of the problems seemed to stem from the already embedded gender "roles" and ideals within the society. In Mexico, the women are responsible for the household chores and tasks, while the men earn food or money so that the family can eat. When given "projects" or ways for the women to earn money- they were still left with all of the tasks that were required of them before. The tasks were not redistributed. In addition, the women were already not as well educated as the men. They were not accustomed to learning new things and gaining new capacities. And so they didn't gain the abilities that the interventions attempted to teach them. They do not have the mentality for learning and increasing their potential for a better life. 
This brings to mind a few questions for me and my project. First- how will these differences in gender roles effect my interaction with the people? Who will I need to talk to in order to find subjects for my project? The fathers or the mothers? As well, will they listen to me. I am a woman and I may not be regarded as an equal when I am speaking to men. What will they think of my increased education? Will they judge me for it? Most women my age in Mexico already have a couple of children and are taking care of their households and husbands. Will my difference in position and ideals in life conflict with theirs? I am not really sure if these questions can be answered until I get there. 

Reading: Pedro Paramo by Juan Rulfo

Rethinking/phrasing hypothesis

Something that has recently come to my attention is the news of the obesity epidemic spreading to Mexico. I did a little bit of research on it and have found a significant amount of articles describing the increasing number of obese people in Mexico as well as the increasing number of Mexican children with type II diabetes. There are a couple of things that I think of with regard to this information. First- originally the hypothesis for this project has been that Mexican children will show an increased amount of core stability when compared to American children. This stems from the assumption that Mexican children are more active than American children because they lack the advanced technological sources of entertainment (tv, videogames, internet surfing/chatting etc) and because their culture requires more activity (walking to school or other places, engaging in manual labor at an earlier age, participation in sport- mostly soccer, which they are known for.) It seems however, that some of the same couch-potato habits may exist in Mexico at this moment. The kids and adults are getting fatter, at least in the bigger cities. The article, Bryan, L, & McLaughlin, H. J. (2005). Teaching and learning in rural mexico: a portrait of student responsibility in everyday school life. Teaching and Teacher Education, 21(1), 33-48. describes the transition from the more aboriginal lifestyle to the more American lifestyle explaining that with this transition comes the resulting poor health that has been increasing in the United States. So, some more thoughts come to my mind. First, will the rural villages outside of Irapuato be experiencing the increasing obesity trends? If so, why? What activities are they not doing and what are they doing to cause this? I feel that it is likely that the children are in a rural enough part of Mexico still with heavy traces of "aboriginal" culture and activities. But who knows- I will see when I get there. Nonetheless, I will still need to be sure to rephrase my hypothesis to emphasize more the type of physical activity that is being done and that correlates with decreased or increased stability and posture. So the hypothesis should read more like this "Higher levels of physical activity and longer durations, lead to increased core stability."

  Well, this leads me to realize that I need to rethink my thesis a little bit better. Instead of saying that Mexican children will hav

More Research- Activity levels in Mexican Children

Interestingly enough I was able to find an article on a study conducted in Mexico City through the school systems. The Study tried to asses the activity levels of the children in order to determine whether they were sufficient for healthy development. This population is a kind of hybrid between the kids that I will study in Mexico and the kids in the United States- to which I will compare the results of my study. Mexico city is a more urban and well-developed area of Mexico and as such is more similar to the United States than to the rural towns surrounding Irapuato, Mexico. As well, the children that live in Mexico City will share a lot of the culture and similar activities that the kids in Irapuato engage in. As such it is interesting to find a study in which one might expect this sort of "middle ground." With that said, within the article is was stated that 26% of Mexican children are considered overweight. --- I briefly looked for the same statistic for American kids, but I didn't have a lot of time to really find what I needed.
In addition, this study used a technique called SOFIT, "System for observing fitness instruction time." This is apparently a common tool used to quantify the quality of Physical Education classes. So of course I looked up the SOFIT methods in order to understand a little more about what the scientific community requires or at least recommends in order to conduct valid and acceptable observations of physical activity. One of the main points of SOFIT, however, is to evaluate the instruction given to the students concerning physical activity.
Considering my project and the population that I am going to be studying, I don't even know if they will have a "PE" class like the ones that are used in Mexico City. In addition I am not worried about what is taught in the schools, but more- what kinds of activities the students engage in which increase of decrease their core stability. With that said, within the procedures for the SOFIT technique were several ideas and variables that I sould take care of or at least take into account before going their. For instance, they observe students for 10s intervals and describe their activity during that time- whether they are laying down, sitting, standing, walking or more acitive. I think that this could be an effective way for me to collect the data that I need.
I also, feel that this won't quite be efficient enough for the goals of the my project. However, I can certainly adopt some of the techniques. My study will require more than just obeservation of schools activity level, but levels that ocurr at any and all times. in addition, I am by no means evaluating the effective of the PE instruction in the classroom.
Another question that I need to take into consideration is how much I can vary the thechniques that I use in this project with those that amy used in the project before. I want to be able to use all of the data that she collected, but if I collect mine in a different way from hers, it could render the projects incompatible. With that said, I may not even want to use the SOFIT method. We'll see.

Thoughts from previous projects

I was able to look up Amy Nagle's research proposal for her study of the same project in Ghana. It was very helpful. First, she brought up a lot of points that I hadn't even thought about. For instance, I need to find more statistics and reports on physical activities and obesity relating to Mexico. She has some for Ghana and is able to compare them to the United States, thus giving supporting evidence that there is indeed a difference in activity and health between the two countries showing the reviewer that the project is indeed well planned and useful.
In addition, Amy talks specifically about gaining rapport with the adults in the community so that she can then ask them to allow their children to participate in the study. One very specific way in which she plans to do this is through "prayer time." From what I understood in the project, it is a social gathering held ever night where she can meet people. Is there something like this in Mexico. I imagine that there is. I went to a "fiesta" the other night that primarily consisted of Peruvians. They were dancing and eating and talking. Anyway, it was very normal for them and I imagine that in other Latin cultures like Mexico there are also activities like this.
 -Even while writing this I have been thinking that I should look up the holidays that will occur in Mexico while I am there. As well, those at the fiesta were dancing a ton and seemed to be very familiar with each of the different types of dancing etc. - Is this something that children are taught in schools or is it that they just do it a lot and so they know how? do they do it enough to affect their core stability?
Going back to y previous thoughts about how to gain rapport with the adults- I am wondering what types of things will I need to do in order to meet people to work with. Are there daily or weekly social gatherings? Do I just need to go knock on doors? I was planning to meet the kids through the schools- are there opportunities at the schools to also meet their parents?
Also, Amy talked about sharing information with the people so as to give back or develop a reciprocating relationship with them. I'm not really quite sure what she means or what she did. I think that the idea of "giving back" will help me gain more trust with the people there. What kinds of information do I have access to that the Mexican's would be interested in? Also, what could I prepare beforehand as a type of "compensation" for those that participate in the study- a small gift of some sort? Amy also did this in her project. It is common in the Ghanaian culture to give gifts as compensation. Is this the same practice in Mexico?
A lot of these questions, I feel could be answered most effectively by talking to someone who has been to Mexico or is from there. I will have to make some more friends.

Schools in rural Mexico

The life is completely different in rural Mexico than in most cities in the United States. This means that the school systems are adapted to the culture and way of life that the school children experience. In the article I researched (Bryan, L, & McLaughlin, H. J. (2005). Teaching and learning in rural mexico: a portrait of student responsibility in everyday school life. Teaching and Teaher Education , 21(1), 33-48) the researchers conducted a field study within the rural town of El Bosque, Veracruz, Mexico. In this small village, there is one teacher who is responsible for all grade levels. All of the students are taught in the same room at the same time. They usually attend school for four hours a day. The article discussed many different ways in which the Maestro taught the students in order to balance the age groups and culture of the classroom. Most of the results of the study found that the students had to practice self discipline and were expected to be responsible for themselves (behaviorally as well as academically.) In addition, the students were given responsibilities that students in the United States do not usually encounter- i.e. they were expected to help the younger students with their homework and they were given chores to do around the classroom such as clear out and clean the bathrooms.
These practices in El Bosque are likely to be similar in Irapauto. I hope to be able to work well with the schools in my rancho and the surrounding ones. This article first gave me insight into how the school systems are set up. It might be that I only have four hours out of the day to work with the kids and make observations in the schools. This concentrated observation will be much more helpful and easier for me than trying to observe only a few children at a time in their homes. In addition, the article noted that the students move more freely within the classroom. This is different than schools in the United States in which students sit most of the day for several hours. There have been findings that show that students in the United States find it difficult to sit up straight because they do not have the muscular stability to do so. This brings to light a couple questions, first- if needed would Mexican children be able to sit up straight for several hours?, second- if they cannot or even if it is not necessary, do they come across other problems due to their movement and activities within the classroom? third- what types of activities could be implemented in the United States in order to help the lack of trunk stability that is increasing within the schools?