Language

Part 1 was pretty tough because I could not describe anything. I can only direct my friend towards an object or illustrate an emotion or happening with bold body language. My friend talked to me like I was a child who didn't have good speaking skills. Almost like playing charades, he had to decipher what I was explaining then build from that. If these were cultures meeting for the first time, the speaking culture would have a much better opportunity to convey complex ideas. Just like my instance, they would talk to the other culture with an ill-competent demeanor; and until they understood their specific language would they both be able to share complex ideas. Stephen Hawking is a prime example. Although people already understand he is a genius, we still have to decipher what he is saying through written text - which takes a lot longer than speaking.

Part 2 was also difficult because it was hard to not move at all while speaking. Although, it was a bit easier than part one, because I can actually clarify what I'm trying to express. It was not as fun though because I could only sit there with a stoic face, it got a little boring for the both of us after 15 minutes. Being able to demonstrate while analyzing is critical, otherwise it would be strenuous to communicate freely. An environmental condition where it is very important to sense body language is when an animal is being intimidating and wants to be aggressive - it is that time to back away and sense the danger. Considering the benefits of not being able to read body language, I don't think there are any. It is extremely valuable to have.

It would have been a lot easier to use written language. It is the same as speaking, but it takes longer (as I said with Hawking). A culture can become very rich in ideas with a solid and developed language. Most of the time only the huge and ground-breaking ideas come through writings and books, rather than speech; and being able to share these ideas are a lot more effective than spoken word, since they can be shipped and travel a lot quicker than a person.

Environmental Adaptations

Population A:

1. The Zulu population inhabits KwaZulua-Natal, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, and the Free State of South Africa. Where 80% of Zulu people are, KwaZulua-Natal, the climate is varied yet verdant thanks to diverse, complex topography. Generally, the coast is subtropical with inland regions becoming progressively colder. The south coast has an annual rainfall of 1009 mm, with daytime max peaking from January to March at 28 degrees Celsius with a minimum of 21 degrees Celsius, dropping to daytime highs from June to August of 23 degrees Celsius with a minimum of 11 degrees Celsius.

2. It is essential to be fit when in such a broad landscape. It takes time to 

get resources for everyday things. Usually, rural women do not have appliances such as electric stoves, electric kettles, vacuum cleaners, and electric lights. Men traditional clothing consists mainly of cowhide that is used to cover the bottom front and back. Traditionally, women and men walk barefooted when they wear these clothes. Women have to do chores in order to get anything that they need, like going to the forest to collect wood for cooking and for bringing warmth. This chore sometimes keeps women away from home for the whole day. Oftentimes women have to leave early in the morning and only come back home late in the afternoon. Women usually walk long distances in search of water. They often carry steel buckets, clay pots, or plastic containers. Most women master the art of carrying the water container without hand support at a very early age. There are rural areas that have water taps, but many places still use natural spring water, in which frogs and crabs are commonly seen moving freely. Without doing this, they would definitely not reach homeostasis because they would starve.

Woman carrying pottery

3. The Zulus live in homesteads instead of villages. Each homestead is known as umuzi. Each of the homesteads are surrounded by a hedge, and consist of several "beehive-like" huts, known as kraals. They are beehive-shaped and are built around flexible saplings. Over the top thatching of grass mats are laid and tied down with grass ropes. The floor is made of clay and cow-dung and is polished with a stone to make a hard surface making the floor look like marble. The huts form a circle, with an opening at one end that serve as an entrance. There iss also an inner circle, which iss fenced off by poles. This serves as a cattle pen, where the livestock are kept at night. Each homestead has farmable land around it for the use of growing crops. Cattle are grazed on common pastures short distances away from a family. 

 

 Zulu huts

4. The high majority of the Zulu's race is black. Favoring 79.5% of South Africa's population is black, this is a good estimate.

Population B:

1. The climate is not the same throughout the Andes because there are places nearer to the equator than others. The Andes are separated into three natural regions: the southern, central, and northern regions. In the northern region, it is hotter because it is closest to the equator. There are rain forests in this region, due to the more humid, rainy climate. In the southern region, the mountains are nearer to the Antarctic and it is much colder. It is not very populated in the southern area. In the central region, the weather is more mild because it is not near either the equator or the cold Antarctic.

2. Humans have occupied the Andes for more than 10,000 years, and millions 

of people, indigenous and otherwise, currently live on these plains, high in the 

mountains of South America, at altitudes exceeding 3000 m. While, to some 

extent, acclimatisation can accommodate the one-third decrease in oxygen 

availability, having been born and raised at altitude appears to confer a 

substantial advantage in high altitude performance compared with having 

been born and raised at sea level. Being in this environment gives these people 

only one choice in the climate in which they live, and they adapt.

Farming at high altitude

3. The temperature in the Andes can be rather pleasant. The seasons change more by rainfall than by temperature. Nights are a bit cold to chilly and days can require a winter jacket to short sleeve shirts. In the cities many of the people wear modern clothing, yet in some cities and in the smaller towns and countryside the women usually wear a long skirt and have a collar or shawl. Many women also prefer to wear bowler hats. Each community has a different pattern of weaving of their textiles and  their hats. You can immediately know what community a man is from by identifying his hat. The woven pattern of their special ponchos is also an identifying item. Hats can also tell you by color and design a person’s status in the community and whether or not they are single, in a trial marriage, or married.

Andes clothing

4. A large part of the population of the Andes are Mestizo, meaning mixed 

ancestry. So it can be a largecombination of ethnicity that are the majority 

of peoples. Much blood comes from ancient Incas and ancient Peru populations, 

also from European and Indian natives. It is much too diverse to name one 

race the majority.

Summary: Adaptations have nothing to do with race. It is all the environment. Explaining how they are raised and understanding an individual's environmental influence and immunities is the only route to understanding their culture, as an anthropologist.

Zulu

http://www.south-africa-tours.com/zulu-culture.html

http://izmo.tripod.com/project/zulu.htm

Andes

http://www.andeanawakening.com/andean-culture.html

http://jeb.biologists.org/content/204/18/3151.full.pdf

Cultural Description

Part A

Primal

Without modern civilization, it is only natural for these people to act this way. It is a very primal thing for humans to look for cause and effect, and this is what works for them, it is all they know. Without a reasonable breakdown of why something is the way it is, it is only rational for people to create it themselves.

Ignorance

Ignorance is strength, and if the rituals prove to be working in the eyes of the 'higher-ups', it must work. People want answers to their problems, and since the rituals are accepted by their entire society, it is understandable that they all follow through, even if it is miserable and painful. "The more powerful individuals in the society have several shrines in their houses and, in fact, the opulence of a house is often referred to in terms of the number of such ritual centers it possesses. Most houses are of wattle and daub construction, but the shrine rooms of the more wealthy are walled with stone. Poorer families imitate the rich by applying pottery plaques to their shrine walls."

Worship

Again, people need an explanation for their illnesses and woes. If that means worshiping a shrine with charms, so be it. The magic-men appear to be god-like in the way they are perceived by the civilization, who "... write them (ingredients for potions) down in an ancient and secret language; [t]his writing is understood only by the medicine men and by the herbalists."

Economy

If something costs something, then it has value. The 'hospital' in this civilization requires substantial gifts to give their ritual healing, so people assume it has merit. "No matter how ill the supplicant or how grave the emergency, the guardians of many temples will not admit a client if he cannot give a rich gift to the custodian. Even after one has gained and survived the ceremonies, the guardians will not permit the neophyte to leave until he makes still another gift."

Education

The way people are manipulated is to keep them uneducated, and to portray deep respect for the 'trained' medicine-men who run the latipso, or the 'listeners' who merely act as a psychologist. They are deemed special because they have been trained to do their acts. "[The] ceremonies involve not only the [medicine-men] but a permanent group of vestal maidens who move sedately about the temple chambers (latipso; hospital) in distinctive costume and headdress."

Part B

1. I feel the words I used are not so different than how I would describe religion, the medical field and things of those nature in America. In churches they sometimes persuade people to donate money, whether it be for a good or bad cause; and medical insurance is in many ways similar to the tribe described in the article, you have to pay beforehand and afterward in order to get treatment - which to me seems preposterous in our society - we deserve universal healthcare.

2. I kept this in mind as I read the article, no I don't think I was biased at all. All people are ignorant to some extent. Replace the terms latipso, nacerima etc. and change the context, I would have the same opinions I have about America.

3. I guess I would remove the word primal and replace it with fear in the context of our culture. A lot of our mannerisms and the ways people present their opinions derive from that.

4. Yes I think it is possible to avoid cultural bias with enough education and experience. This is important because, if you are being an ethnocentric, it only leads to judgements, not facts.