The Samoan Spirit

Environment and Human Adaptations

1. Environment: Samoa is an island located in the south-central Pacific Ocean about halfway between Hawaii and New Zealand. It consists of two large islands of Upolu and Savai'i and seven small islets. Climate in Samoa is very tropical and there is a rainy season between the months of November and April. The average temperature is seventy-nine degrees Fahrenheit. Samoa is mainly urban, with developed societies, but also has rural areas. They are separated and very far from possible competition of cultures due to Samoa's isolated location. It's main resources are copra, cocoa beans, and bananas. Many birds are unique to Samoa such as the Samoan Flycatcher and the Samoan Fantail; A few land snails unique to Samoa include the Eua expansa and the Succinea putamen. Plants exclusively in Samoa include certain palms, orchids, and endemic genus. The coral reefs in Samoa suffer environmental stress due to the fluctuating temperature that causes thermal bleaching and destroys many of them.

2. Adaptations: Many Samoans are usually referred to having a strong, big-boned build and usually have a darker tone of skin. Samoans are hunter-gatherers whose ancestors traveled far into the ocean since Samoa is at a far distance from other countries. In order to survive the long travels in the ocean and sun and adapt to the islands and its rainfall and means of finding resources, their bodies adapted into larger bones for strength and warmth and their skin tone became shades darker. Cultural Adaptations would include Samoans traditional flowy and loose clothing to stay cool in the warm tropical weather. Also, the common housing in Samoa is a hut called a fale, it has pebble floors, a thatch roof, and no walls to keep cool, but there are coconut leaf blinds that can be lowered to exclude wind and rain.

Language and Gender Roles

1. Language: The Samoans speak Samoan and English. Samoan is a Polynesian language, part of the Austronesian family. They do have their own writing system developed by the London Missionary Society and the alphabet does not include the letters B, C, D, J, Q, R, W, X, Y, or Z.

2. Gender Roles: The Samoan culture has a third gender specific named Fafafini, which are men who have been raised to assume female gender roles. The gender roles in Samoa are defined by division of labor; men have traditionally been assume to take on the work of agriculture, fishing, and constructing while women assume the role of nursing and housework. These roles still continue, but sometimes women will work alongside men in work that is not hard labor such as banks. It is not strictly defined this way, but Samoa is a  male-dominated society that does not belittle women, but keeps a more traditional view on genders. Most high positions in authority are occupied by men. The youth of Samoa are taught these gender roles through example; they are influenced by how they are usually raised in a home: a male the leader of the household and a female who cares for the household. The males stronger build is a reason as to why they are usually taught to protect a family and assume authority in their family's home.

The Economy of Culture

1. Subsistence: Due to the variations in altitude, a lot of tropical crops are produced; Samoa's agriculture is rich with copra, cocoa beans, and bananas. These are their main resources because of the large amount Samoa produces. The subsistence pattern will probably not transition any time soon only because Samoa produces up to 15,000 metric tons of said crops, with potential for more if the pest issue was more controlled. The largest industry is fish processing and canning. Young people do most of the hard labor while elders are given roles of education and supervision. Samoans have a tendency to be obese and be highly prone to diabetes because they overeat due to their biologically large bodies that can intake large amounts of food. Both men and women gather food while men do more strenuous activities to find food.

2. Economic Systems: The economy of Samoa is very dependent upon agriculture and fishing, but also tourism. They produce a large amount of agriculture, enough to have a surplus amount to always keep the economy steady because they export so much of their agriculture. The country's currency is the Samoan tala.

Marriage and Kinship

1. Marriage: Samoa's marriage pattern is monogamous and one cannot date nor marry a blood relative. Marriage partners can be selected between young people, but it is usually only done if both families are in favor. Families will usually be in agreement if the economic situations between both families seems promising. Almost everyone marries, divorce is rare, and homosexuality is illegal in Samoa. Couples settle in the house of bride or groom, with a household usually consisting of seven people and headed by a matai, who is usually male.

2. Kinship: Still coming from mainly the male descendants, there are many cognitional kinship groups in Samoa. The groups live in sections of a larger community and carries traditional authoritative titles within their section, such as the chiefs and matais. They protect and provide for one another as a family, giving aid in finances and products to one another if needed. The kinship procedures and principles of the Samoans comes from Hawaii.

Social and Political Organization

1. Social Organization: There is no basis of social class in Samoa, but there are authoritative chiefs in certain families. Some families are ranked higher or respected more, but not treated much differently. Anyone can try to be a matai since they are chosen by their agai.

2. Political Structure: Samoa has a House of Representatives and a Senate. The House of Reps, governor, and lieutenant governor are chosen by popular vote. The chiefs in the Senate are selected by paramount chiefs of each county. The matai is the leader of villages and is selected through respectable traits such as economic promise, knowledge, diplomacy, etc.

3. The Role of Violence: Highly common crimes in Samoa consists of assault, burglary, disorderly conduct, and property damage. However, crimes involving murder and sexual violence are less common. They have a police department, attorneys, and a court.

Togiola Tulafono, the Samoan governor

Religion and Art

1. Religion: The Christian Church is the most common religion involved in Samoa, with Catholicism coming second. Samoans are very involved in their religion and widely respect church leaders who are usually Samoan. The religious practices of Samoa are very similar to that of Western practices, with music and singing as a key part of worship.

2. Art: Art is very big in Samoa, from the traditional gender specific tattoos to the worship and liveliness of their song and dance. Oral story telling is very common amongst Samoans; the chiefs usually pass down oral legends and tales to their respective communities. Samoans partake in large group singing and dancing in unison between men and women with a lot of clapping.

 

A male Samoan's tattoo. 

Conclusion: Cultural Change

a. My culture has been affected by other cultures, such as the Polynesians who stemmed the beginning of the Samoan language. The Hawaiian culture influenced the kinship traditions of Samoa and the west, most exclusively the United States, affected the country's religions and political systems.

b. I believe this culture to be healthy and thriving, they stick to so many of their cultural traditions, such as the authoritative figures, gender roles, their dance and music. So much of their culture is loyal to their religions and general systems of organizations.

c. In the modern world, Samoa is important due to its mass amount of exports.

Bibliography

State Department Documents / FIND. Background Notes : Samoa (04/10). State Department Documents / FIND, , 21 Apr. 2010. eLibrary. Web. 02 Aug. 2012.


"SAMOA." Countries of the World (Toucan Valley). 2004. eLibrary. Web. 02 Aug. 2012.


Webb, Virginia-Lee.. "Picturing Paradise: PHOTOGRAPHS OF SAMOAN LIFE AND CULTURE, 1875-1925." USA Today Magazine. 01 Jul. 1996eLibrary. Web. 02 Aug. 2012.


"American Samoa: Chapter 1. General Information." Countries of the World. 1991. eLibrary. Web. 02 Aug. 2012.


"Samoa." CIA World Factbook. 2011. eLibrary. Web. 02 Aug. 2012.


Mayer, E, Carol.. "Samoan Art & Artists: O Measina a Samoa." Contemporary Pacific 1(2005):255. eLibrary. Web. 02 Aug. 2012.

Art as a Culture

1.
a) The cave artists were trying to portray their culture through art because this was the only form of "writing" they had to communicate their stories and lives in order to keep records.
b) I think there were more animals than people in their paintings because they were more interested in their lives involving the hunt for animals, they considered animals and the resources they received from them sacred and they wanted to express themselves as hunters through their art. 
c) The paintings show us that the cave dwellers were observant in their environment, they regarded themselves as very important to the world because of their hunting skills. 
d) One difficulty that these early humans navigated in painting these pictures was the limited amount of light source, having to build numerous portable lamps to create art in the night. Materials for painting had to be created on their own. 
e) Three possible functions this art had for early humans could be the function of instruction, their art explained how to hunt successfully so other generations could learn, and visual art was the easiest way to communicate this. Also, it could simply be for storytelling and records, so that these early humans could leave their mark of existence. Another function could be a function of worship to whatever their belief system was, they could have used art to express their faith. 


2. Commonality functions of Lascaux Caves paintings and modern art is that both artists are determined to express themselves in their strengths, in what they are most familiar with. Art is used to tell stories, to tell a personal opinion, no matter if it is art from today or art from cave times.


3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16J4Jzr8_7A
a) I chose to explore the art form of beatboxing, beatboxing is tied to to the hip-hop culture of music, included as a key element to help make a foundation of sound for hip-hop music, however, it is not limited to only hip-hop music. For those who practice beatboxing, it's function is to prove the variety of sound and ultimately, music, one can make using their own mouth, tongue, lips, and voice. 
b) The hip-hop culture is very closely linked to this art form, although it does not completely surround this art form. Beatboxing is sometimes considered one of the key "elements" of hip hop because the sounds made by beatboxing are similar to the music that is used to make hip hop music. Beatboxing is used to make drum beats, rhythm, and musical sounds and Hip Hop consists of rapping, a musical beat, dancing, and graffiti art. Through beatboxing, a musical beat is made that can be danced to or rapped over. 
c) This art form benefits soicety because it is another talent that can be self-discovered. Through beatboxing, another form of music is achieved, without any use of an instrument or any other form of technology. I have not found any detrimental affects of beatboxing. 

Politics and Violence

1. The Yanomamo people have no rules against killing people. There is an implication of what proper conduct is and if someone misbehaves, they must fend for themselves and their kin. No laws or rules are formally official with the Yanomamo people, but the Western Culture has plenty of possible consequences for killing people; the government, not the victim's kin, makes sure to punish murderers.

2. In Yanomamo populations, revenge killing is a process that takes place most commonly because of women and is one of the main causes of warfare. When a village member kills a person from another village, the  latter village goes after the former. When a person from a village kills another person within the same village, the village splits into two groups and go after one another. Swift retaliation can enhance fear of the village who retaliated swiftly.

3. The benefits of obtaining the status of unokai is that people will fear you and hesitation for killing you or your kin will greatly increase. Unokai also are more reproductive and have an easier chance to find wives, giving them a desirable social status. Non-unokais barely have a benefit at all, they are perceived as cowards, usually ridiculed or made any easy target. Men would probably prefer to be a unokai in order to have a better social status.

4.
a) Political structure is influenced by revenge killing because the Yanomamo people are basically governed by killing. The "patas", or leaders of the kins, are the only political figures. The killing of men is what causes warfare between villages.
b) Social status and organization is influenced by revenge killing because men are much more feared, respected, and desirable as a mate if they have killed a person, especially through hasty retaliation.
c) Kinship is influenced by revenge killing because it is usually one's kin who assists an individual in revenge killing. Kinship loyalty is measured through the help one receives from their kind when taking revenge.
d) Marriage and Reproduction is influenced by revenge killing because men who have killed a person due to revenge are more desirable as a husband and father. Women prefer men who have killed because they are perceived as strong and courageous, qualities women look for in a provider.

5. We need laws against something that no one should want to do because people still want to regardless if they know they should not. Killing people is a sign of hostility and violence, two things that usually result in chaos and no resolution; regulations need to be made for the people that there is nothing wrong with killing people.

Kinship Chart and Analysis

1. I interviewed my mother, Alma Aguirre, a woman born in Chihuahua, Mexico in the 1950's. Her family was very low-income, almost reaching poverty level in the small town called Parral that she resided in. Because she was the oldest of ten siblings, she lived her life like a second mother to her nine brothers and sisters, helping her mother out in any way she could.

2. As the anthropologist, I did feel a bit awkward because some of the questions seemed to get a little personal for my mother, however, it was not as awkward as it would have been if I had interviewed another family member. It may have affected the thoroughness of my interview only because I tended to avoid subjects that I knew would have been uncomfortable for me to discuss with her. This most definitely would not have been an issue if I was interviewing someone other than a relative because a stranger or even a friend may not care to appear a certain way to me and would have answered more freely.

3. My family members are all close within immediate family members, however, most do not expand to uncles and cousins and so on. For example, in my immediate family, I am very close to my brother and sisters and especially my parents, but I only really speak to one of my cousins out of the sixty-seventy first cousins that I have. When it comes to physical traits, the majority of my family share the traits of average height, light skin (light skin in comparison to other hispanic people from Mexico), big eyes, and straight teeth. These traits are found most common in my mother's side of the family, but my father's family are also average height with light skin and big eyes. These traits are apparent in my siblings: all my sisters are about 5'4, light skinned with nice teeth and big eyes. The younger individuals in my family are treated a lot younger than they are usually because in our culture, the older you are, the more wise you are, meaning that the younger you are, the less you know. This is obviously not a factual perspective, but it's how we measure the amount of respect we give a family member. The smaller the family, the more happy the family seems to be. Most of my parents siblings that have more than three children ended in divorce or are going through a tough time with addictions, depression, etc. Some of my family members were born and raised in Mexico while some completely do not know how to speak Spanish; this sometimes is an issue because it is harder for us to communicate and relate to one another, but all in all, it doesn't affect how much we care for each other.

4. I don't know the relatives on both my mother and father's side really well, but I have met all of them and have spoken to most of them on a personal level. The only family members I don't socialize equally with are the much older family members because they most strongly believe in the idea of the younger you are, the more foolish you are. The fathers of each family have the most influence on decision making because a lot of my family members believe in the traditional view that the men are the head of the household and should decide on anything that may ultimately have a big effect on the family. Family members who marry into the family are usually treated a bit differently at first until they prove themselves.  However, my family is very warm and welcoming and as long as the person proves to have good intentions, they will be treated as if they have always been in our family. Like I said, we are very traditional and many of the women strive to become a good cook and a good mother to their children 100% of the time and the men strive to gain a good career and always keep the family stable. Although I do not have a problem with any other type of way another family may divide responsibilities, with regard to gender roles, I do like the way my family tries to be as traditional as possible. I've learned my family may not all be as close as we wish we could be, but we still understand the importance of family and how we will always be the backbone in each other's lives.

Subsistence and Economy

Part 1
1. The benefits of hunting and gathering include division of labor and clearly defined roles due to the fact that they usually hunt and gather on their own or in small groups. The advantages of agriculture are that it allows the developing progression of cities and a way to feed a large amount of people easily.
2. The disadvantages of hunting and gathering is a lack of security and an unreliable source of food. The cost of agriculture pesticides or other chemicals and fertilization alters biology in rivers and lakes and pollutes them. Lesser quality product is usually the result.
3. Hunting and gathering provides a better diet due to the food not having been exposed to chemical such as pesticides.
4. The transition to agriculture as a means of providing food was probably made because it was a much more reliable source because it was an easier process that could be done in a fast way to supply a large population.

Part 2
1. This statement means that in order to trade, we need a product to trade in the first place because otherwise it would be impossible to trade.
2. A social benefit of trade is that through trade people can communicate the availability of their product by word of mouth and can trade not only products but ideas to develop their products.
3. Two negative social results of trade are unreliability from one party to supply a product or to supply an efficient and lack of safety.
4. The relationship of the development of agriculture and the development of trade is that in order to trade, agriculture must be used to supply a large amount of surplus and the reason agriculture is used is for trade of products.

Language

Part 1:

I found this experiment extremely difficult because I could not actually elaborate on topics as a conversation usually does, I could only communicate simple things such as the weather or how I was feeling.

My partner could understand most of what I was trying to communicate only because I knew I wouldn't be able to communicate anything too complex so after trying to have a real conversation, I only tried to communicate simple sentences.

I think the culture that does not speak has the  advantage of communicating complex ideas because the speaking culture has the advantage of understanding complex ideas only because the speaking culture easily communicates extremely complex ideas through a complex method of communication: language. The speaking culture may have an arrogant attitude towards the culture that does not speak because they are not used to people not using language, they may belittle the non-speaking culture due to their impatience towards them. The mentally impaired have trouble learning to communicate through language; the people who do speak sometimes are rude or impatient towards them because they don't see the point in taking the time to try and understand them.

Part 2:

Surprisingly, I was not able to last through the 15 minutes of using only speech as communication. It was difficult because I am a very dramatic person who uses her hands and extreme facial expressions to get a point across (I'm actually known amongst my friends as a great story-teller)

My partner laughed at me a lot, but did not have any patience because I could barely keep from moving my hands. It was hard for her to keep an interest in my conversation because I looked like I wasn't interested in it.

Non-speech language is very important! Facial expressions can communicate so much more than what the person is saying; it can tell us how we feel about what we are saying, how interested we are in conversing, etc.

Learning to ready body-language is important because there is so much you can tell from it. You can tell if someone's interested in you, if someone is implying they are irritated with you, or many other things. Sometime what people are actually saying isn't really what they mean to communicate. Environmental conditions where it might be a benefit to not read body language may be if a person senses they are in danger but does not want to make it obvious they are aware of this so they would rather have their body language not be read.

Part 3:

My experiment would have been a whole lot better if I could have used written language because then I would have been able to use both my body language and the words I wanted to communicate. It simply would have been me putting the words I was going to say on paper while still stressing other things through body language after the person read what I wrote.

Written language provides an advantage of multiple ways of communication for the culture that uses it, e.g. e-mail and mail.

Written language has had a great impact on the spread of ideas among the world due to the ability to easily communicate many ideas on paper and spread news easily by making it official on paper rather than relying on simply word of mouth.

Environmental Adaptations

WARNING: nude picture in post


Zulu Population


1) The Zulu population live in an environment that is very vulnerable to extreme events such as floods and droughts. South Africa has a very high level of climate variability and ironically enough, it rains the most during the summer in most of South Africa; the average annual rainfall is about 464 mm. The area is known for being very hot, even if it does rain in the summer or it gets mildly cold in the winter, the air is usually very dry.


2) One physical adaptation that I see in the Zulu people is that they have very dark skin.  South Africa has very high levels of solar radiation, ranging from 450 kWh per square meter to 1950 kWh per square meter per year. The solar stress on the skin had to have made the populations skin darker to adapt to the area's conditions. Their skin color can be seen in this picture: 

3) One culture adaptation I see is less clothing due to the hot weather. Women are even seen not wearing anything to cover their breasts. Although they do wear plenty of accessories, they usually wear very loose clothing such as flowy skirts like in this picture:

4) I think their race would simply be described as Black or Negroid. African-Americans in the U.S. usually have very dark skin, as do the Zulu population, of the main races of the world, negroid is used to to describe the people of Black African ancestry. 


5) I believe the physical adaptations of the Zulu people have more explanatory power over the categorization of race I used. The physical adaptation of their dark skin explains why they are darker than other races, providing a more open view to the people, rather than simply putting them in a category due to a first look. I think looking at their adaptations would help anthropologists understand the people much better. 




Andean Indians


1) The Andes Mountain Range has a climate that is very vulnerable to variability. From one country to another, the weather changes drastically, from rainfall in the rainforests in Ecuador to the dry weather in Columbia. Because they are people of the a mountain range, there is also altitudes higher than 3000 m to get used to. These high altitudes cause major climate changes from day to night and oxygen deprivation due to low air pressure. 


2) One physical adaptation is that the Andean Indians have very red skin, such as red cheeks. This could be due to a higher amount of red blood cells flowing to the skin in order to get more oxygen to reach their tissue; more oxygen is needed because of the low air pressure. 

3) One cultural adaptation I see is a lot of layers and hats, they probably wear a lot of clothing in order to be prepared for a freezing cold night, but wear hats in order to block the strong sun during the day. 

4) I would classify this population as Amerindian because they are natives of South America.


5) After re-reading the physical and cultural adaptations of the Andean Indians, I think the adaptations of any population to an area will always have more explanatory power over the categorization of race. Anthropologists learning and using the adaptations of populations would increase the chance of more accurate classifications when studying populations. Of course when looking at any person, most people can try to guess their race, however, if one were to learn the adaptations of major populations, their guess would always be much more precise. 




Citation: 


Zulu Population: Reason, C J C., Landman, W., Tennant, W.. "Seasonal to Decadal Prediction of Southern African Climate and Its Links with Variability of the Atlantic Ocean." Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 7(2006):941. eLibrary. Web. 20 Jun. 2012.


Andean Indians: http://jeb.biologists.org/content/204/18/3151.full.pdf
                              http://anthro.palomar.edu/adapt/adapt_3.htm