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
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:
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.
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
Body Ritual of the Nacerima
superficial: It seems that the two main concerns of the culture are economic value and physical appearance. The article expands on the latter; many different rituals and tools that the culture uses for physical appearance are described. For example, a "shrine" is described to be used in every household; a shrine where tools are kept to uphold one's health, such as a charm-box that holds the medicine of the people or the font that is used to wash one's face and hands.
insecure: According to the article, the Nacerimas believe their bodies to be naturally ugly and they must go through many different means to achieve a socially acceptable body. Going through many variations in the article to keep up a desirable body, it is evident that the Nacerima culture is ultimately insecure in their natural state. They go as far as to have a basic ritual in keeping a healthy mouth.
strict: After reading over every ritual and tradition the Nacerima goes through, it is easily seen to be a rather strict culture. With so many different rules and values on the human body, it would be hard for any person to keep up with the cultures demands. Also, the article points out how a sick client can only seek help if they have a big reward for the custodian; if they fail to have a rich gift, they will not have help, and may have dire consequences in their health.
lost/misunderstood: Many of the reasons of why this culture is so shallow cannot be understood in a logical way. Theories can be presented as to why the Nacerimas have become so caught up in physical health and appearance, but one main reason will most likely not be concluded. Although their rituals may seem to be utterly ridiculous, it is hard to stray away from any tradition once it has been established, even if the reason for the establishment is not clear. The Nacerima culture is just another culture lost in its' traditions, unsure of the point behind them.
obsessive: Through my past conclusions, it is obvious to see that this culture is quite obsessive. Although halfway through the article one can conclude that this is a satiric piece on American culture, I believe the term obsessive is easily a term used to describe Americans everyday. Americans are obsessed with idealistic values and strict in achieving these values such as a perfectly sound body, exponential salaries, popularity in social class, etc. However all these values are superficial and shallow; once a person achieves any of these values, they can easily see how unfulfilling they are and how insecurity begins to pour in and how truly lost a person becomes.
1) As an American, I feel my choice of descriptive words are accurate, the American Culture is indeed superficial, insecure, strict (in keeping up their physical appearance), misunderstood, and obsessive. I think these words are synonymous with many other adjectives that could be used to describe Americans such as shallow, lonely, etc.
2) Yes, my word choices do exhibit ethnocentrism, as any of my words choices would have because I based my conclusions on how my own culture would view the Nacerima culture. I made assumptions that the people of the culture were insecure and shallow because if any person in my culture were to spend so much time and money on their own bodies, they would be considered shallow and insecure. However, I believe the words lost or misunderstood were less biased because if anyone were to pin adjectives on another culture, it would only be because they are understood differently from another cultural standpoint, therefore almost any culture could be misunderstood. Obsessive, strict, insecure, and superficial are all biased descriptions given to the culture due to how my own culture would view them.
3) I could replace the words obsessive, strict, or even superficial with orderly, traditional, etc. Although any description would be biased, these words would be a lot less biased because they are descriptive in a factual sense of how they deal with everyday life, how they are traditional and orderly with their traditions, rather than describing how the culture may be in my opinion.
4) It is important to describe another culture in a manner as free from cultural bias as possible because any culture can be viewed as bizarre and eccentric from another culture's standpoint, therefore the less culturally biased a person is, the more valid their opinions are. I do not think it is possible to completely avoid personal cultural bias as a Cultural Anthropologist because everyone was raised in a certain culture and everyone has an initial perspective on things; cultural bias does not have to do with having open mind, but more having to do with a foundation on which a person bases their opinion off of. In fact, I believe cultural bias is so impossible to avoid that the term should not be called cultural bias, but something more along the lines of cultural foundation or cultural standard.
insecure: According to the article, the Nacerimas believe their bodies to be naturally ugly and they must go through many different means to achieve a socially acceptable body. Going through many variations in the article to keep up a desirable body, it is evident that the Nacerima culture is ultimately insecure in their natural state. They go as far as to have a basic ritual in keeping a healthy mouth.
strict: After reading over every ritual and tradition the Nacerima goes through, it is easily seen to be a rather strict culture. With so many different rules and values on the human body, it would be hard for any person to keep up with the cultures demands. Also, the article points out how a sick client can only seek help if they have a big reward for the custodian; if they fail to have a rich gift, they will not have help, and may have dire consequences in their health.
lost/misunderstood: Many of the reasons of why this culture is so shallow cannot be understood in a logical way. Theories can be presented as to why the Nacerimas have become so caught up in physical health and appearance, but one main reason will most likely not be concluded. Although their rituals may seem to be utterly ridiculous, it is hard to stray away from any tradition once it has been established, even if the reason for the establishment is not clear. The Nacerima culture is just another culture lost in its' traditions, unsure of the point behind them.
obsessive: Through my past conclusions, it is obvious to see that this culture is quite obsessive. Although halfway through the article one can conclude that this is a satiric piece on American culture, I believe the term obsessive is easily a term used to describe Americans everyday. Americans are obsessed with idealistic values and strict in achieving these values such as a perfectly sound body, exponential salaries, popularity in social class, etc. However all these values are superficial and shallow; once a person achieves any of these values, they can easily see how unfulfilling they are and how insecurity begins to pour in and how truly lost a person becomes.
1) As an American, I feel my choice of descriptive words are accurate, the American Culture is indeed superficial, insecure, strict (in keeping up their physical appearance), misunderstood, and obsessive. I think these words are synonymous with many other adjectives that could be used to describe Americans such as shallow, lonely, etc.
2) Yes, my word choices do exhibit ethnocentrism, as any of my words choices would have because I based my conclusions on how my own culture would view the Nacerima culture. I made assumptions that the people of the culture were insecure and shallow because if any person in my culture were to spend so much time and money on their own bodies, they would be considered shallow and insecure. However, I believe the words lost or misunderstood were less biased because if anyone were to pin adjectives on another culture, it would only be because they are understood differently from another cultural standpoint, therefore almost any culture could be misunderstood. Obsessive, strict, insecure, and superficial are all biased descriptions given to the culture due to how my own culture would view them.
3) I could replace the words obsessive, strict, or even superficial with orderly, traditional, etc. Although any description would be biased, these words would be a lot less biased because they are descriptive in a factual sense of how they deal with everyday life, how they are traditional and orderly with their traditions, rather than describing how the culture may be in my opinion.
4) It is important to describe another culture in a manner as free from cultural bias as possible because any culture can be viewed as bizarre and eccentric from another culture's standpoint, therefore the less culturally biased a person is, the more valid their opinions are. I do not think it is possible to completely avoid personal cultural bias as a Cultural Anthropologist because everyone was raised in a certain culture and everyone has an initial perspective on things; cultural bias does not have to do with having open mind, but more having to do with a foundation on which a person bases their opinion off of. In fact, I believe cultural bias is so impossible to avoid that the term should not be called cultural bias, but something more along the lines of cultural foundation or cultural standard.
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