WHICH CULTURE IS FOR YOU?
Anthropology is the study of humankind everywhere, throughout time, seeks to produce reliable knowledge about people and their behavior, both about what makes them different and what they all share in common.
The next few pages will share with you some simple facts about two cultures that are very much different, and are seperated by a span of ocean water. These two groups of people are the Yanomamo people of Brazil and the Swazi of South Africa.
INTRODUCTION
There is a large tribe of Tropical Forest Indians on the border between Venezuela and Brazil. They are distributed in about 125 small distant villages. The are gardeners and they have lived until recently isolation for our kind culture. The interesting thing about the group is tat they have managed to retain their native pattern of warfare and political integrity without interference from the outside world. This is due to their isolation in a remote corner of the Amazon. They have remained sovereign and in complete control of their own destiny up until a few years ago.
The Swazi people live in a small land locked country border on three sides by South Africa. They have a wide range of ecological zones; rainforest in the north, west mountainous regions, the center is level land and the east scrubby lowveld. It mostly rains in the summer, which is strangely from December to April. The people are hard workers are originating from the Nguni clan of North Africa. Because of their location many European hunters, traders, farmers, and missionaries came to their area bringing the skills and trades with them. This caused the Nguni people to become what is now known as the Swazi people with a new and mixed culture.
By comparing, the two cultures I will try to show how being isolated and exposed can change a culture. This will show each culture's destiny was decided by each group geographical location.
SUBSISTENCE
Yanomamo people lived by a combination of horticulture, fishing, and foraging. Horticulturist who raises plantains and bananas, the Yanomamo diet consists of things hunted and gathering of palm fruit. Only about three to four hours in a day were spent working on the food supply. This allows time to enjoy the day by relaxing and having fun. This somewhat ...
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... and afterwards passed on to the others who stayed home.
Traditional leaders handle civil matters among Swazi. The continuity of the monarch contributes to the country's stability and peaceful climate while ensuring that the cultural heritage is safeguarded as Swaziland develops.
One group use words to settle a difference and the others choose a Fierce Axe.
CONCLUSION
It is apparent how what people call necessity others call, modern convinces of life. The introduction of Christianity, education, farming, and reasoning has placed a positive affect on a group of people who origins were to be nomadic. By allowing themselves, the use of books and new tools has allowed them to grow. This has also given them a hunger for improved things. Not only will they seek the basics of life, but some things that are for pleasure also. The other group has opted to continue to live the same. They have allowed people from outside their world to come in and introduce them to some new things. These things that are not just good for them but thing started to eliminate their very existence. The culture should have help maintain their survival.
While the Yanomamo travel for several weeks when the jungle fruits and vegetables are ripe, they are a tribal society settled in villages, which break into small groups to go off on collecting expeditions. During such expeditions, game such as wild pigs, large and small birds, monkeys, deer, rodents, and anteaters, are hunted. The bulk of the Yanomamo food, more than eighty percent, is grown in their village gardens. The size of the garden is dictated by the size of the family it must feed. Because village headmen will have the responsibility of entertaining visitors and sponsoring feasts, they plant and care for larger plots. Plantain is their most important domesticated crop. Manioc, taro, and sweet potatoes are also cultivated along with cane, used for arrow manufacture, and tobacco, a crop of central importance. All women, men, and children chew tobacco daily and guard it jealously. The Yanomamo word for being poor is literally translated as without tobacco. Cotton is also grown in the village gardens to provide the materials for hammocks and clothes. The Yanomamo envision the universe as having four layers hovering at...
There are many cultures throughout the world, which may be far apart and yet still have similarities. Two of those such cultures, the Basseri, that live in Iran, and the Nuer, whom live in Sudan, have their differences, but also have some similarities. Many of the differences and similarities come from their subsistence strategies and the social and political organization of their societies. With the regions of the world, both the Basseri and the Nuer live in, they’ve had to adapt to the environment they live in along with the limitations imposed by that environment.
The traditional European Society was both similar and different to that of the West African society. Except certain factors determined how they would vary in opinions, this also affected how they handled situations when they faced an obstacle. The Europeans, Africans, and the Native Americans were diverse in their own ways , they had many similarities , but they took different approaches to situations.(Chapter 1,Page 6)
Since the beginning of time, mankind began to expand on traditions of life out of which family and societal life surfaced. These traditions of life have been passed down over generations and centuries. Some of these kin and their interdependent ways of life have been upheld among particular people, and are known to contain key pieces of some civilizations.
Men are usually the hunters and the women the gatherers. Men will go on long distant hunts that may last up to a week. The Yanomami are known as hunters, fishers, and horticulturists. The women cultivate plantains and cassava in gardens as their main crops. Men do the heavy work of clearing areas of forest for the gardens. Another food source for the Yanomami is grubs. The practice of felling palms to facilitate the growth of grubs was the Yanomamo’s closest approach to cultivation. The traditional Yanomamo diet is very low in salt. Their blood pressure is usually among the lowest of any demographic group. The Yanomamo often move from area that becomes overworked, which is known as a practice of shifting cultivation and is when the soil is drained and ...
The 1974 documentary, A Man Called "Bee": Studying the Yanomamo, was directed by Timothy Asch and Napoleon Chagnon and filmed on location with the Yanomamo peoples in South America. In this documentary anthropologist Napoleon Chagnon endeavors to study Yanomamo tribal growth and expansion. According to the film, Yanomamo villages are dispersed throughout Venezuelan and Brazilian forests and total about a hundred and fifty. (Asch, 1974)
Both groups of families live in different tribes where the male represent the main figure. The horticultural labor is distributed between men and women. Yanomami men clear the field and tend and harvest the crop. When a ritual is going to be performed, the Yanomami males do the cooking. Even though males depend on women for preparing and gathering food and all the ingredients, manioc root or other forest produce, women hard working contribution do not necessarily grants a higher status within the tribe. Because is a male dominated society, the control over the food distribution relies in males decisions.
Tribes have been present since the beginning of time. They are often smart, innovative and self-sufficient, all without the use of modern technology. A prime example of this is the Yanomami tribe. They are one of the last completely isolated and non-urbanized tribes in the world. The Yanomami have managed to stay secluded from society for over a hundred years and now this is starting to change. Cities along the Brazilian- Venezuelan border are expanding and occupying Yanomami land. Along with the expansion of Brazil and Venezuela, gold miners are invading the tribes land and destroying their environment and their health. The tribe has no real way of protecting themselves; they do not use or have modern day weapons and the government is taking no action to help. The seclusion that the tribe has managed to maintain contributes to their interesting way of life, but outside sources are threatening their culture. Another reason why the Yanomami are under attack is because they live on valuable land that miners are taking great interest in. Although they are under attack may people do not feel empathetic towards their situation, this is because they have a bad reputation surrounding them. Due to mass industrialization, the Yanomami tribe of the Southern Amazon may lose out on their rich existence and culture.
Cultural Anthropology is a term that is in everyday lives and topics. When one thinks of anthropology they think of the study of old remnants commonly referred to as archaeology. This, however, is not the only form of anthropology. There are four types of anthropology and they are archaeology, biological anthropology, cultural anthropology, and linguistic anthropology. However, Cultural anthropologists are every where and study people of all walks of life. One can find a topic and find some type of study that an anthropologist has conducted on the matter. The following are five articles that explain how anthropologists are every where.
Cultural anthropology involves exploring social and cultural variations of humans. Linguistic anthropology studies how language shapes communication. Archaeology is the study of earlier cultures by analyzing and interpreting material remains. Biological anthropology includes topics such as genetics, evolution, and growth and development. Cultural anthropology can give a more in depth perspective on how different cultures, religions, and nations interact with their children.
… The cultures of Zuni, Dobu.…differ from one another not only because one trait is present here and absent there…They differ still more because they are oriented as wholes in different directions. They are traveling along different roads in pursuit of different ends…(223).
I will discuss about the culture change that is occurring in the Yanomamo. There are many positive things that come with these changes. Most changes have its pros and cons. Yanomamo is being affected dramatically by outsiders. The Brazilian Gold rush and the Salesian missionaries have come to the Yanomamo locati...
Anthropology is the study of humans through the ages. It aims to understand different cultures and practices that have existed from the origins of mankind as well. It differs from sociology in that it takes into account humans and cultures that no longer exist.
One cannot generalize or predict all human behaviors, thought processes, morals, and customs. Because human nature is dominated by different types of cultures and societies in various parts of the world, this can often lead to misunderstanding which ultimately leads to the illusion of cultural superiority, and in most cases this can lead to genocide - the systematic murder or annihilation of a group of people or culture. Anthropology is the study of humans, our immediate ancestors and their cultural environments this study stems from the science of holism - the study of the human condition. Culture is crucial in determining the state of the human condition, as the cultures are traditions and customs that are learned throughout an individual
Ethnicity plays a large role in South Africa’s culture. Ethnic identity, refers to the participation in a certain cultural group. It is defined by shared cultural practices, such as holidays, language, and customs. People from South Africa can share the same nationality but have different ethnic groups. Ethnic groups may be either a minority or a majority in a population such as black and white in South Africa, but cultural diversity is a referral to human qualities which are different from our own and those of groups that one may belong. The diversity of culture in South Africa reflects the many dimensions including but not limited to: ethnicity, traditions, customs, beliefs