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
The point that really attracted me to read your article is how women do not wear anything due to teh hot weather and the sun. I see you definitly have a valid/good point. Also, I like how you pointed out how they wear accessories more than regular clothing. GOOD POINT. In addition to your point that adaptation is more effective than race I agree with you on this point and I have expalined my agrement in my blog. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteWhile the warning on nudity is appreciated, given that this is a cultural anthropology course, it is probably unnecessary!
ReplyDeleteGreat job on this post. Good coverage on the physical and cultural adaptations as well as the discussion on the usefulness of race vs. the adaptive approach.
The only thing I will call you on is the red faces of the Andean people. Red faces is a secondary result of the primary adaptation, which is the higher levels of oxygenation. Greater oxygen levels in their blood stream is the adaptation that helps them live in high altitude climate. One side affect is the appearance of their skin on their face, which doesn't have an added benefit on its own.
Other than this point, great job.
I really like how you tied your environmental description, physical adaptation, and cultural adaptation together using the fact that the Zulu are exposed to lots of sunlight. I liked your description of race for the Zulu and agree with your classification of them as Negroid. In addition, I agree with your adaptations described for the Andean people. The only thing I would want to know more is how do the Andean Indians fit into your race classification. I agree with your point that adaptation is better for anthropologists to classify human populations than race.
ReplyDeleteI would like to say that your warning was much appriciated. You covered both aspects of both tribes very well. You basically tied the whole piece together which is hard to do sometimes.
ReplyDelete