Cultural Communication

Part 1:

·         I found this to be difficult, my partner was talking about something I was very interested in and I kept wanting to ask questions, but found without being verbal I could not articulate my complex questions. Being silent in itself was not hard, but not being able to show the question to my partner, I had to remain curious throughout the entire conversation.

·         At first my partner was at a loss for words, and laughed at my expressions, but as the conversation progressed my partner became more comfortable and opened up, conversing me and accepting my silence and listening intently. They did not alter their way of speaking, at least not in a way I noticed. My partner struggled a bit to fill in empty spots because of my lack of response, perhaps that is a noticeable change my partner made because of my silence.

·         The speaking culture has the advantage, because they can show much more information and communicate more complexly than the culture who can only use body language and facial expressions. The speaking culture may assume the culture using symbolic language is either stuck up and refusing to speak to them or they may assume the non-speaking culture is ignorant. Some individuals in our culture who have difficulty communicating using spoken language are deaf and mute individuals, this effects them by causing them to become better at communicating and showing their feelings in non-verbal ways, like sign language and body language. It also teaches people who communicate with individuals who have these problems how to understand more than just verbal words.

Part 2:

·         I had to do the conversation in two increments because I started giggling, but I did manage it. It was very hard not to use any emotion or moving, I didn’t realize just how much I move and use emotion to express feelings, until it was taken from me and I was no longer allowed to do so.

·         My partner was interested by my lack of emotion at first, but by the end of the conversation admitted to being slightly creeped out and feeling like he was talking to a robot.

·         Movements while speaking are somewhat important to the way we speak, for me I found it harder not to show any emotion verbally or physically, then it being hard to not use my hands or body while I spoke.

·         Yes there are people in the world who have trouble reading body language. The adaptive benefits of being able to read body language are knowing how someone feels before they even speak to you, say a person is angry, they walk a certain way and sometimes fold their arms or make an angry face. An environment where it would be bad to read body language would be similar to the environment shown in the movie and book titled “1984,” by George Orwell. The book is about a government where people are constantly being watched and have many, very strict rules they must follow or they are tortured. Big brother is their leader and he is ultimate, the reason this would be a good environment for people to be able to read body language is because, it could put citizens in danger. The government would know if they were nervous or if they were angry and would use this as a reason to believe they were not obeying the law and torture them.

Part 3:

·         I believe that part one of the experiment would have been easier if written language had been allowed, because it would have been a way to better articulate an exact feeling or response to your partner’s words or actions while talking with you.

·         Written language provides a culture with a way to record important historical events. We can also develop and use it to show differences between our culture and the culture of others.

·         Written language has allowed for more information to be shared with more people than ever before. So in terms of “Globalization,” it has helped us connect with our allies in other countries, we are now able to effectively communicate and work with one another because of our connection though written language and verbal language. We are also able to share our ideas worldwide through written communication, we can learn about each other and pass on information to the new generation.

Zulu and Andean Indian Cultures

The Zulu population are located in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal, this land is very fertile and summer is the most productive season.  This area only has two seasons each year, Summer and Winter. A Zulu summer is between the months of October to April, during which it is very rainy and warm. While winter is between June and August, during which the weather is cold and dry. The temperatures here a very moderate on average. Overall there is not much of a major change between seasons, but the rain for most of the year helps crop growth, to feed the tribes people. Winters can be somewhat stressful on the tribe, but do not last long. The average rainfall for the Zulu tribe is, 115 days per year. Homeostasis is not hard for the Zulu to maintain, to my understanding.

The Zulu demonstrate the physical adaption of their darker skin color, which helps them block out harmful UV rays of sunlight. The environmental stress which causes the need for such an adaption, is the hot and humid climate, which they live in. They live in a climate which is hot most of the year, with a lot of sunlight, in order to balance their bodies and survive, they have developed darker skin that is able to block most harmful rays of sunlight. This protects them from diseases such as, skin cancer. This helps them maintain homeostasis.

Skin Color of Zulu Children

The Zulu tribe present the cultural adaptation of dressing very sparingly, to help deal with the hot climate they live in. Men normally do not wear shirts, just some fabric to cover their genitals, as well as small pieces of fabric on their arms and legs. Women generally wear clothing made mostly of beads, which offers, air flow to their skin to keep them cool. Once again this stress was caused by the intense climate they live in most of the year. With this clothing choice, they have helped control their ability to live in such a hot climate.

Zulu Woman's attire

Zulu Male Attire

I consider the Zulu race to be, African. I chose this, based on where they are located and based on the adaptations they share with most other African natives. Lastly I chose it because as I just stated they are African natives.

The Andean Indians population are located in the Andes Mountains, in central South America. This area is located within the tropics with temperatures varying based upon elevation. Lowlands tend to be hotter, while higher up into the mountain ranges, temperatures tend to be colder. Dense forests in this area receive heavy rainfall throughout the year, however there are also dry areas where only sparse grass manages to grow. Not much is known about the seasons in this location.

Andean Indian Demonstrate the physical adaptation of, a strong heart and lungs, which helps with oxygen flow in high mountain areas, where oxygen is denser than at lower elevations. This environmental stress is caused by where they live, at higher elevations in the mountains. These people must have strong hearts to live at such elevations otherwise the pressure of trying to get enough oxygen to survive would be too much for their heart and they would not survive. They need strong lungs to be able to survive on denser oxygen, without over working their hearts.

Being able to not only function at such high altitudes, but play instruments too. Demonstrates a strong heart and lungs.

The Andean Indians show the cultural adaption of, learning to farm using the constellations. This group of people understands that where they live, farming is very difficult and has to been done during specific times to be successful. These times are decided by astronomy, when a certain constellation appears, in this case Pleiades which is part of Taurus, they can predict precipitation during the rainy seasons, which will be months later, and use it to know when to start planting their crops for the year. Awaiting the appearance of this constellation is also a celebrated festival for these people. This adaption helps them survive, by giving them more crop production to feed their people each year.

Andean Indian Farming

I would describe the Andean Indian race as, Native American or perhaps Hispanic. I base this on their skin coloration and global location as well as having the word Indian in their name, I will confess I had a lot of trouble with this, I couldn’t seem to find any hints so I decided to take my best guess as to what I believed their race to be. I would love input on this from someone with perhaps the same or a different answer as to Andean Indian race.

My Links

Zulu environment Link: http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Zulu.aspx

Andean environment Link: http://www.britannica.com/topic/Central-American-Indian

Zulu Physical Link: http://anthro.palomar.edu/adapt/adapt_4.htm (learned climate information from previous Zulu link)

Andean Physical Link:  http://anthro.palomar.edu/adapt/adapt_3.htm

Zulu Cultural Link: http://www.zulu-culture.co.za/zulu_clothing.php#.VxebFPkrLtQ

Andean Cultural Link: http://www.des.ucdavis.edu/faculty/orlove/New%20Publications/2002%20American%20Scientist.pdf

My 5 Descriptive words: Poorly, Unique, Private, Magical, and Sacred

         I chose the word Poorly as one of my descriptive words because it can have many different meanings, depending on how it is used. When I first hear or read the word poorly my mind immediately thinks of someone without a lot of money, but in cases such as this article it means something entirely different, it is still a lack of something, but not a lack of funds. " the culture of this people is still very poorly understood." In this article he is talking about a lack of understanding, but uses a less known word instead of the obvious choice.

      Unique is one of my favorite describing words, because I think it sounds better and more appealing than the more used word, unusual. Unique to me feels special I would much rather someone tell me i'm unique than tell me I am unusual. Unusual can sometimes feel mildly insulting or derogatory, even though the two words mean practically the same thing. "While such a concern is certainly not unusual, its ceremonial aspects and associated philosophy are unique." I like how he chose to use both words in a way that made them both sound positive and make sense even in the same sentence.

        Private, is another describing word I like because, I am a private person and privacy means a lot to me. I also like the way in which Horace Miner uses private, to mean something you do alone or just don't tell others about. "While each family has at least one such shrine, the rituals associated with it are not family ceremonies but are private and secret." I enjoy being able to do things privately, because it benefits me and Private observations in the cultural anthropology area, could be very beneficial.

        My next descriptive word is magical, I chose this word because I enjoy all things fictional and magical. As a child I enjoyed fairy tails and princess dreams, now as an adult, I still enjoy fictional reading, especially when magic or magical creatures are involved. I liked how Horace Miner used the word to describe a person. "In the hierarchy of magical practitioners, and below the medicine men in prestige, are specialists whose designation is best translated as "holy-mouth-men." It is very interesting and draws a readers attention to the reading.
     
       My final descriptive word is Sacred, to me it is a fancy way of describing something that is important to you, but sounds much more appealing than the word important. If for example I were to say that a cultural anthropologists most important tool was their mind, that sounds okay, but to say their most sacred tool is their mind, somehow makes it seem more important, at least to me.  "The extremely sacred and traditional character of the rite is evident in the fact that the natives return to the holy-mouth-men year after year, despite the fact that their teeth continue to decay." I believe by adding the word extreme he also made the word sacred more powerful and drew more attention to the sentence itself.

Part B: Nacerima

1.  As an American, I feel curious and confused with how Horace Miner describes American culture and I wonder if this is America today, or maybe even a decade ago that he is talking about.

2. I did exhibit some ethnocentrism, when it came to visiting the "Holy-Mouth-Men" and teeth continuing to decay that seemed a bit unnecessary to me as well as the shrine visiting alone, that sounded interesting, but strange.  I  believe this reveals a bias of disliking pointless pain, and a lack of understanding and respect for spiritual procedures.  I feel my chosen words are free of bias in terms of culture, but not in how they were chosen, I chose them merely because I liked them, there was really no other reason, so they are somewhat biased towards me.

3. I believe the word poorly was some what biased and a better word might have been uneducated, because this could mean we lack because we have not been taught instead of assuming we just choose not to learn things that we do not find interesting enough.

4.  It is important to avoid ethnocentric judgments when describing other cultures, because we do not know why they do what they do or what has caused this dramatic change or effect. Just like you should not judge a person by what they look like, you should not judge a society, based on outward appearances. It is important to describe other cultures with out personal bias because, not only are you trying to educate yourself, but your trying to teach other people why things are done a certain way by certain people and you may even teach the people themselves how they came to be this way. You would not want to cast a bad shadow over a culture especially if they are already frowned upon by most other cultures. I do not believe it is possible to completely avoid personal bias, because we were all raised differently and have different morals, what may seem normal to us may seem disgusting to someone else, we cannot change how we think, but we can change what we say and prevent others from experiencing another culture through a biased anthropologist.

What two items would I bring if I were stranded on desert island?

Well if I were stranded on a desert Island, I would bring a survival pack and an hunting knife. I would bring a survival pack, because it is technically one item, but contains many things such as water, food, maps, flash lights, compass, etc. I picked a hunting knife for when my food source runs out as well as for and cutting I may need to do for building or hunting purposes. I want to write more, but can't think of much else that is relevant to this topic.