Introduction Cultures have existed for centuries. All over the globe different cultures populated the earth, some originating in the most desolate and unforgiving areas on the planet. All the cultures had to adapt to the region where they lived, and while adapting, they devolved their own way of life, religions, subsistence, political structure, and family structure. Two of these cultures are the Hindu, who resides in India, and the Samburu who are located in Northern Kenya. Both of these cultures are unique in their own way, and have some similarities when it comes to family. Hindus, make up a large portion of the population in India, and also have several temples spread all across the globe. India is a very poor country, but they have managed to keep up with some of the technological advancements that the rest of the world shares. They have linked into the internet, some have facebook pages and others use the web for their businesses, they have come a long way from the tribal people who originated in that hemisphere. The Samburu in contrast, are still very much a tribal people. They live in houses made of sticks, mud and cow dung, and wear clothing that are made by their families. Family Structure In the Samburu culture, each family has their own house, which is built by the woman of the house with the help of the other women in their tribe. They build the houses depending on the size of the family, using sticks, mud, and cow dung. (Ferraro and Andreatta, 2011). Each family no matter how large will live in their house with each other, but the whole community interacts together. The Hindu has a family structure that is similar to the Samburu. In the Hindu culture, they have the tradition of the joint family system. This me... ... middle of paper ... ... community that the Samburu have. When it comes to religious practices, the Hindu culture has several deities for one God, whereas the Samburu worship God, or what they call Nkai. Hindu religious rituals are usually extravagant and include a large amount of people, whereas with the Samburu, rituals are constrained to their community. Both cultures are unique and have their own way of life, but all cultures in the world have some similarities because the human race in a whole is one entity. References Ferraro, G., Andreatta, S. (2011). Cultural anthropology: An applied perspective 9th edition. Cengage Learning. Stanford, CT. Stinson, P., Strom. D. (2012). The Indian economy. The Economist. Subramanian, A. (2013). Why is India’s economy stumbling. New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/31/opinion/why-indias-economy-is-stumbling.html
There are many different cultures and groups of people that we don’t know anything about. There are a lot of people in the world trying to close that gap. People like Catherine J. Allen, author of The Hold Life Has and Napoleon A. Chagnon, author of Yanomamo. In each of their respective books, they brought us closer to societies I had never heard of until now. We learned about the different aspects of the lives of the Sonqo (Allen) and the Yanomamo (Chagnon). They brought us insight on certain things like gender differences, family relationships and how where they live affects their lives. In this following essay, I’ll be discussing gender differences in both the Sonqo and Yanomamo societies as well as how each tribe uses kinship, reciprocity
The Hindu caste system compared to the social systems of medieval Europe and the civilizations of Mesoamerica and the Andes have several important similarities and differences. While all the social class structures provide guidance and structure to the society, they were also very strict. All three of these systems enforced a small amount of social mobility within the caste structure. . The Hindu caste system was based around a firm ruling system and Hinduism, medieval Europe was centered on the church and the estates, and the civilizations in Mesoamerica and the Andes was unified upon the use of religion and upper class service.
1.) Intro: I decided to focus my Religious Ethnography on a friend whom I recently have become close with. Adhita Sahai is my friend’s name, which she later told me her first name meant “scholar.” I choose to observe and interview Adhita, after she invited me to her home after hearing about my assignment. I was very humbled that she was open to this, because not only was it a great opportunity for this paper, but it also helped me get to know Adhita better. I took a rather general approach to the religious questions that I proposed to the Sahai family because I didn’t want to push to deep, I could tell Hinduism is extremely important to this family. Because this family does not attend a religious site where they worship, I instead listened to how they do this at home as a family instead.
Buddhism and Hinduism share vast similarities. One being both the practice of meditation. Hinduism has “no single founder” (Hinduism, Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th Edition), no central authority, and no widely known creed. However, Hinduism does have a caste system that they run on. Hindus believe that everyone has their place in the world and they cannot overstep their roles and responsibilities outlined in their caste. Hindus also follow the “Veda as the most sacred scriptures.”(Hinduism, Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th Edition). Due to this commonality it has helped Hindus and Buddhists come to recognize each other and remain cordial to one another. Which is pivotal since both religions are practiced so close to one another (at least geographically speaking). The “caste system” (Hinduism." Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th Edition...
In a tradition Nepali family, the male is considered the head and is responsible for family decisions. Likewise, women are supposed to stay at home and take care of the children. People live in a joint family and make contributions on household tasks and expenses. However, like the Mexican culture, these practices has been changing in Nepali culture too. As mentioned earlier, Mexican families had been modernized. While some families still follow the traditional family system, many others have changed the way they live. New families prefer to live in nuclear families and females have started being the head of the household. Even though the family structure has been modernized nowadays, family is the number one priority among many modern Mexicans. They still like to celebrate festivals and occasions with all of their relatives and still take care of their elderly parents. Family ties are strong in Mexican culture and have been for centuries, and they hope to keep it the same
Hinduism is the world’s third largest religion and was originated in the Indian subcontinent. Is rare that a big religion like Hinduism don’t have a single founder, religious organization, specific theological system and don’t even a system of morality, but it is a religion that has evolved over thousands of years. Hinduism has a diverse body of cultural and philosophical practices. Hinduism consists of belief and tradition. The most recognized belief and traditions of the Hinduism are Karma, Dharma, Samsara and Moshka. Hindu people don’t believe in violence, but they do believe in prayers, honesty, truth, austerity, celibacy and penance. The Hindu scriptures are collectively referred to as the Shashtras. The Hindu scriptures were initially passed on orally from generation to generation until finally ancient scholars wrote them down; mainly in the Sanskrit language that was the prevailing language of the time. Some of the Hindu scriptures are the Shruti and Smritis. The Shruti primarily refers to the Vedas which represent eternal truths revealed to ancient sages but some other Hindu individuals associated the Vedas with a God or a powerful person. The Smritis are all of the other text different than the Shruti. The most know of the Smritis are the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. Although the Hindus worship a large pantheon of Gods and Goddesses, they believe in the one Supreme Power that manifests itself in various forms.
Different religions, different ways, and one aim of maintaining religious identity. Hinduism and Judaism, two of the world’s biggest religions, are seemingly completely unalike. With differences such as their views of afterlife, death and birth Hindus believing in rebirth and “oneness” with Brahman, and Jews believing in a world to come, focusing more on God’s image, never really mentioning what happens after death. Yet when you take a closer look into both religions you find some similarities. Both religions’ rituals focus on the same things, they may be celebrated differently but the meaning behind the celebrations and the meaning behind some of their symbols are the same, and their purposes help people maintain their identity and keep the traditions of their cultures strong.
Ruth Benedict’s anthropological book, Patterns of Culture explores the dualism of culture and personality. Benedict studies different cultures such as the Zuni tribe and the Dobu Indians. Each culture she finds is so different and distinctive in relation to the norm of our society. Each difference is what makes it unique. Benedict compares the likenesses of culture and individuality, “A culture, like an individual, is a more or less consistent pattern of thought or action” (46), but note, they are not the same by use of the word, “like.” Benedict is saying that figuratively, cultures are like personalities. Culture and individuality are intertwined and dependent upon each other for survival.
Defining a ‘typical’ Tibetan family is a near impossible task because the structure and dynamics of every family are as unique as the individuals that comprise them. I will begin by first examining the broad similarities that exist within Tibetan families with respect to family structure.... ... middle of paper ... ...6.
Srilankan Tamils has ancient and modern cultures diverse from family to family. We can generally say that families and family obligations play an important role in the life of most members of the community. Families’ carries out fu...
Most Ainu organize in groups of nuclear families, the nuclear family being the basic social unit (Encyclopedia). Some groups, however, have extended families, but are not as common. Families are both patrilineal and matrilineal, the sons inheriting the father’s clan and the daughters inheriting the mother’s clan (. Both males and females do not marry cousins, but only from their mother’s family (Encyclopedia). Also, polygyny is practiced by the higher-status males in a community (Encyclopedia). During the bear ritual, relatives of the host in other settlements usually come to participate (Encyclopedia). Marriages traditionally were either arranged or of mutual consent (Museum, Life 1). Also, as a result of the twentieth century’s attempted Japanese integration, often through exogamy, now not even a third of all Ainu have four Ainu grandparents (Bowring 244).
Hinduism, as well as Buddism, both came into existence in India. Both religions are similar in many ways. The religions both believe in reincarnation and that the specific purpose of their teachings is to escape this cycle.
Every culture has several similarities and differences that impact the way they do things. Several of these cultures have distinct traits and traditions that make them differently from other cultures. I believe these differences make each culture different and unique. The two cultures that I have chosen to compare and contrast with each other is Kenya and India. In this paper I will discuss the similarities and differences in each of the culture’s families in context, marital relationships, and families and aging. These are important aspects of these cultures and to examine them will give me a better knowledge of both of these cultures.
A senior male usually heads families in India. In the senior males household a family can be very large. The senior male’s family can include his unmarried children, married children alongside their wives and kids, unmarried younger brothers and sisters, and married brothers with their wives and children. It is common however for families to separate once the father dies. This idea of family is true for both nuclear family and extended family.
Family is usually defined as a basic unit of social structure.Family can never be defined exactly because it changes from time to time.The way a society looks at a family is never constant.India is the second most populous country with over 1.2 billion people and the most populous democracy in the world.India is a pluralistic,multilingual,and a multi-ethnic society.Family is the most important social institution in India and it has survived through ages.India is a collectivist society and it emphasizes on family loyalty,family unity and family integrity like most other less industrialised, traditional and eastern societies Since time immemorial, India had a joint family system. Due to rapid urbanization and changes in the society, one can see