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>.