Language

I found this first experiment pretty difficult. I did not realize how hard it is to communicate with people without using any sort of symbolic language. As I do this assignment it really opened my eyes to other aspects in my life because I take care of senior citizens where some of them cannot communicate with any language anymore.  Even though this assignment was for only 15 minutes it really opened my eyes to the struggle and frustration that it might cause to people who can’t communicate with language when they need, want or just want to talk about something.  When I take care of the seniors who cannot communicate I do allot of showing things to them. Such as when I get them breakfast I choose multiple things and show them to them, and most of them point but others just smile when they see something which shows me that is something they want to have.  I have always tried my best to really understand how to communicate properly with people who cannot communicate with symbolic language and it is something that I gain knowledge daily on new ways to communicate with them since they cannot communicate with symbolic language.  I have found ways with using our senses like touch, and hear to communicate in a better way.  My partner in this experiment did alter the way of communicating with me because I was not talking and was not able to write things down when we were trying to have a conversation. My partner was my cousin who I live with and when I got home from work we started this experiment. He was asking me questions about how work was today, and what we were making for dinner. I tried to explain to him what I wanted for dinner and at one point he just started to take things out of the fridge and I was shaking my head yes and or no.  He altered his way of communicating with me within the first five minutes he stopped talking and just kept making faces like was it a happy day and he smiled, and then yawned and I thought he was asking if I was tired.  I was trying to use my mouth to say words without actually talking and he was laughing because at one point he had no idea what I was talking about.  I think my cousin in the first experiment when he using symbolic language definitely had an advantage. I think you would have an advantage when trying to communicate complex ideas. I think after doing this experiment and talking to my cousin after, he said it was really hard to even understand what I was trying to say almost the whole time until I started to point to things and shake my head yes or no but even then he said he was confused. I think there might be a very strong attitude from the speaking culture towards the culture that does not use symbolic language because it can cause allot of confusion and or frustration if there is something you are trying to find out. I think it is definitely interesting learning new ways of communicating such as American Sign Language but for people who do not know or understand it I think some people might come off as rude if they cannot communicate the way they want to. I think when people are open to new things such as learning to communicate with other cultures that do not use symbolic language it can help to better understand different cultures and the way they have to communicate with each other.  For part 2 I did not think it would be hard at all but in fact I didn’t even last the full fifteen minutes without moving my hands. I never thought I talked so much with my hands but when we stopped talking my cousin told me that I moved my hands more than five times in ten minutes. I was fine the first few minutes then in we got deeper into a conversation and I even moved my head a few times. I did not even realize that I was talking with using movement until he finally laughed and then I noticed. I felt like I was talking in a mono tone for a little bit and he said for a few minutes of our conversation it seemed super fake because I could not talk the way I would normally. He said It almost felt scripted because I was trying really hard to just sit and talk without using any sort of movements.  I think non-speech language is very important in our lives and I think that American Sign Language should be something everyone is taught along with other language’s because I do not think knowing one language benefits being able to communicate properly with other people, and even other cultures. I think the fact that I could not talk for a long period of time without using my hands to talk showed me that using sign language or just using different hand motions in a conversation can really help to get a point across or to make a statement if you are trying to say something. I think there are definitely people who have difficulty reading body language. I work at a senior citizen home and I work with seniors who have severe Alzheimer’s and Dementia. When working with seniors who at times can no longer communicate there wants or needs reading body language is a key factor in my job. I have seen many people who come and go working with us who do not know how to read body language. And for example a resident who is mad and cannot tell us what I have seen people try and talk to them and it causes them to get very agitated when in fact the way they were standing could have told them it all. I think that knowing how to read body language in any environment can be helpful. For instance someone who might commit a crime might walk in to somewhere with a certain type of body language and knowing how to read it might be helpful. I think reading body language can just help in your everyday life.  The only thing I could really think of where it might not benefit to not being able to read body language would be if you are in an environment where you are really trying to focus or pay attention and someone might distract you if you notice the body language that they are doing. Maybe an inappropriate flirty body language from a coworker, and if you do not notice or read the body language it might not make you feel as uncomfortable.

                                                       

I do think that in the first experiment if we were able to use written language it would have made it allot easier. I could have just simply answered my cousin’s questions by writing it down instead of trying to use hand motions and point to things. I think written language provides a great advantage to the cultures that use it because it helps us learn more, be able to write and understand things. I think having the Alphabet in our culture is very beneficial it is something we learn at such a young age and only grow from it. I think that the written language has had a great impact on globalization because it has helped others learn to understand a different ways of communicating. There has be other forms of written languages in the past and I think that it only keeps improving for others to better understand the written language. I think it has a good impact because we are able to share information with others around the world by writing it down instead of actually having to be right in front of them.  In the past there were pictures painted on caves or walls trying to represent something or tell a story, and know not only do we put pictures in books but we write about the story as well to fully explain what we are trying to say. I think with newspapers around the world it helps for people to read what is happening in other countries and can help them understand what is going on in other societies. 

Zulu/ Andean Indians

ZULU

1. Zululand is a warm sub-tropical climate most of the year. In summer the temperatures are hot from 74-86 degrees. In the winter the average temperature is in the high 60's. Almost all year long besides March/April  it has very hot days, and the humid levels are very high. Summer are usually when there is rain but there can be rain up to all year long, just not in extreme amount of it.

A  physical adaption that the Zulu people have to adapt to is for example the fact that women have to walk long distance to even find water. Women have to carry steel buckets, clay pots, or plastic containers. Most of the women carry the water container with out using there hands and support it on there heads I think this can cause allot of damage in the long run because the amount of water that they are carrying can cause damage to there heads, necks, and backs. With the amount of  walking these women have to do in the humidity and heat can also cause stress on there bodies.

A cultural adaption that the Zulu people had to adapt to is the clothing that is worn. They wear both traditional clothing for ceremonial, or modern westernized clothing for everyday use. Women dress differently depending on whether they are single, married, or engaged. Women who are single might where little to sometimes no clothing on there tops, they might wear short skirts made up of grass, or beaded cotton strings. An engaged woman will let her hair grow longer, she will cover her breasts with a cloth she decorated to show that she is spoken for and is no longer single. A women who is married will cover her body completely to show that she is taken and is not longer single or engaged. The women who were married often had a tough time trying to cool there bodies down due to them wearing cloths covering there whole body, where as single women did not wear much so where able to cool there bodies down faster in harsh weather.

If I was asked to classify the Zulu people in to a specific race I would say African American because of there skin color, and even some features. I even notice some of the clothing being similar in past culture experiences I have read about; about the African culture. 

ANDEAN INDIANS

2.  The Andean Indians civilizations are based on cultures of Ancient Peru. The Inca Empire was the last political group that emerged from the Andean civilization before conquest by the Spaniards.  lived in a varied climate at a high altitude then the Zulu people. The mountain ranges are very high and with high altitude this tends to leave snow on the mountains all year long. The Andean Indians also lived in different climate areas such as deserts, forests, valleys, and plains. Since they lived in a variety of different climate areas the weather and temperature changed but majority of the places it was cooler rather then hotter. The days in the mountains can be warm but at night they weather can drop below freezing.  With a higher latitude the winds can be very strong.

A physical adaption that they have to demonstrate would be trying to grow crops and food under the tough climate change that they live in . The Andean Indians weigh about 60 pounds more then the Zulu people due to needing more oxygen. The lack of oxygen they get can cause a physical problem for there bodies in order for them to grow or develop properly.  They had Lamas to use for transportation. 

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Culture Adaptation. The Andean Indians had to wear clothing that covered them up due to cold condition's that they lived in. They  had to be careful of being frostbitten. The Andean people had potatoes as there main source of food. The potatoes started in the Peruvian Andes and then became the constituted diet of the Incan Empire.  The Andean Indians did not have the knowledge of farming tools, or have working animals, so they had to hand farm everything they wanted to grow and eat.  They used animal droppings as fertilizer and used hillsides to farm on.

For the Andean Indians I would probably say the classification of race I would say Hispanic. I think the color of their skin, and they way they dress. I also think learning in other classes about Indians i would have to say that's what they look like.

I think the most useful approach an Anthropologist should use is looking at the adaptions to the environment. I think that the outward appearance is something that everyone easily judges people on no matter where you are from. I think when I classified the Zulu people as African American it was a judgmental view based on skin color. But there are other aspects to being African American other then the color of your skin. Cultural adaptations is a more accurate way of describing a group of people. I think using outward appearance cant describe everyone in that group that you are talking about because not everyone looks the same.



Sources
http://www.uiowa.edu/~africart/toc/people/Zulu.html
http://www.zulu.org.za
http://www.humnet.ucla.edu/aflang/zulu/history.html
http://www.drakensberg-tourism.com/zulu.html
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/102247/Central-American-and-northern-Andean-Indian
http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=1398&page=92
<http://www.everyculture.com/wc/Rwanda-to-Syria/Zulu.html>.

Rituals

Ritual, is a word I would use to describe the Nacierma ceremonial aspects. I would use ritual because of the shrines that they make for after the ceremony. The focal point of the shrine is in a box or chest which holds charms, and magical positions. They put the shrines in their houses in there individual rooms which are walled with stone, or pottery plaques on the shrine walls. I think that what they do by every day the member of the family in a succession has to enter the room bow their head, mingle holy water in the font and then proceed with a brief rite of ablution. I think that using the word Ritual has every meaning to this because that is what it is to them a passion and a Ritual that everyone follows, and follows them daily.


Body manipulation is another word I would use to describe how they use to use native esthetics's. They had ritual fasts to make fat people think and ceremonial feasts to make thin people fat. They said that general dissatisfaction with breast shape is symbolized in the fact that ideal form is virtually outside the range of human variation. Women would use there breasts for a way to make money by going village to village letting men see them. I think body manipulation is a good word for this because manipulating the body that it is to fat, or to thin is just something we believe is wrong. Who is suppose to decide who is to fat or to thin?

Trend is another word I would use to describe the trend that they had for their daily body rituals. I think that trends happen all the time which can became a ritual we have because it  is something that everyone does, and or has become something that is practiced by people daily. There daily body ritual was premformed by everyone which includes a mouth-rite. There  ritual involved a practice which strikes the uninitated stranger as revolting. They would insert a small bundle of hog hairs into the mouth, along with certain magical powders, and then moving the bundel in a highly formalized series of gestures. I think that to use that is something few would never do but to them that is something everyone had done which becamse something that everyone needed and wanted to do.

In this reading I read allot about magic and magic powders. So magically is a word that realtes allot to this reading. I think that magic is something few people believe in and or understand. They would seek out a holy mouth man once or twice a year, and in the holes in our teeths where cavities were and or if there were not cavities they would drill out a whole they would put a magically powder that they beleived would arrest decay and it would draw in friends. I think that magic would describe this clearly becuase beleiving that magic in your teeth bringing you friends is not something that people would beleive can just happen.

Mascochist is a word to describe what women and men use to due to get stasfiaction of pain and or abuse. An example of the tendenices were a part of a ceremony where women bake their heads in small ovens for about an hour. Men use to scrape and lacerate the surface of there faces with a sharp instrument. I really did not know another word other then masochistic becuase undergoing the pain that women had to go through to bake there heads for an hour can not be something in my opinion that they would just do if they did not enjoy it.



As I re read my descriptive words  I realize as an American my words were kind of harsh. I think that the words do pertain to the reading, but I think I could have used better words to describe some of the things I was talking about. I think what I wrote was accurate according to the reading, so I think that I did write an appropriate word but maybe it might have been a little bit harsh. Re reading my descriptive words and writing about Nacirema makes me wonder what people would write about us as Americans if someone had a reading for them to read and asked them the same questions. I was very shocked when reading some of the things I did but at the same time I am sure that people from other cultures and countries would be just as shocked to read things Americans do. I definitely think that I exhibited ethnocentrism. I think when reading this I immediately started judging the life they lived and they life I live and it brought confusion to me. I think that some of my words show that I completely judged them. Words I feel that are biased that I used are magical I think I could have used illusion. I did use the more magic because they talked allot about magic powders with assuming that they were thinking they were magical and quickly judging the situation. I think instead of trend I could have used is a movement on what they do. I think a trend is something that people fall in to but I don't think that what they did was because it was a trend but more of the movement they were going through. I do not think using masochist was biased because its true what they did to there bodies was very masochist such as the women putting there heads in ovens for an hour to bake. I think it is very important to describe another culture free from person culture and bias because as I wrote my descriptive words I was always referring back to my own personal life and they way I lived. I did not realize how easy it was to be bias when referring to other cultures, I did not even mean to be bias but realized I was. I do not think it is possible to completely forgot all of your own personal views and avoid cultural bias but I do think that if you are trained the right way and know what you are doing that you  can try and avoid being bias when documenting about other cultures and being a Cultural Anthropologist.


-Krystle Johnston