Communication

Non verbal- The first part of this assignment was to communicate without anything verbal. I thought it would be more fun and challenging if I waited to try it out today. I had a few friends over today to watch the NFL draft and decided to try this out with them. I only told 2 of them. I started this as soon as the draft started and it made it very difficult on me seeing everyone communicate with each other and not being able to verbally join in the conversations. They would ask me certain questions about what player I felt was going to be picked and was unable to answer and would just shrug my shoulders. I must admit it was a bit frustrating at times. I found myself laughing a lot and making a lot of hand jesters. I think more than anything, the hardest part to me was just knowing that I couldn't say anything and that being in mind made me more frustrated. Other than that, I think my friends who were unaware of what I was doing found it frustrating when they would talk to me and I wouldn't answer them verbally. Once I told them they found it amusing. I found it somewhat difficult. I think it would've been more difficult if I were to have tried this experiment on a 1 on 1 basis with a single individual. If this were two cultures meeting for the first time, I feel that it would be extremely difficult when first introduced. Once they get a feel for one another, I feel that the communication would be much easier. The reason I say this is because when my 5 year old son met my little cousin of the same age met for the first time late last year, my son spoke only english while my cousin spoke strictly spanish. After an hour together they knew what games to play with each other and got along very well. I was very surprised in how well they understood each other. I felt that was the perfect example for this situation.

No physical establishment- I found this part of the assignment extremely difficult. At first I felt it was going to be very easy by laying down on the couch and keeping my hand by my side so that I was unable to make any hand jesters. Instead I found myself wanting to use my shoulders and head at times. What I found the most difficult was actually moving my eyebrows at times when talking. I knew I couldn't move anything else but caught myself twice moving my eyebrows. My friends found this part easier because I could tell them anything but made it more frustrating on me just concentrating on not making any physical movements. It made me feel very stiff and uncomfortable. It says a lot in the comfort we are when communicating. I would say that this would be more difficult for the cultures for the individual that is speaking rather than the person listening. I do feel there are some people that would have difficulties reading body language. Some might have to do with different facial expressions and different jesters certain cultures have. An advantage when it comes to not being able to reading body language would be when someone is multi tasking. It would allow the individual who is multi tasking work and take care of his tasks without allowing the other individual feeling like his not getting all the attention.

Part 3- I think written language would definitely would've helped in the non verbal part of this assignment. Especially in the type of society we live in today where we depend a lot on text messaging and emails. Its an easy and effective way to communicate. As long as the language in the writing is the same, its very easy to understand. And in todays technology we are easily able to convert any type of writing into other languages. Morse code was an international way to communicate years ago but now we can convert almost any language into the one we can understand with our technology.

Adaptation of Zulu and Andean Indians

1. Zulu Nation: They are believed to be descendants of a chief from the Congo area who migrated south picking up various traditions and customs and inhabited the South Africa area. The Zulu people believe in a creator and god but this god does not interact with humans and does not care for everyday life. They interact with the spirits and feel that all misfortune is a result of evil sorcery or offended spirits. They feel that nothing happens for natural causes. The most famous Zulu warrior is Shaka Zulu, who after the death of his father conquered many nations under his reign and created a large Zulu nation.
www.africancraftsmarket.com/Zuu_people.htm
The temperature in South Africa is projected to increase between 1 and 3 degrees and the country's rainfall is projected to decrease by 5-10%. This is an important fact especially to the males in the Zulu tribe considering they are the ones that are responsible caring for cattle, manufacturing and maintaining weapons and farm implements, and building dwellings. The average temperature is  in summer and autumn in the western part of South Africa are likely to increase and making it difficult at times with little rainfall at times. The east part of South Africa is normally projected to be wetter. In recent years there have been several studies of certain illnesses leading to the water supply that has been causing cholera epidemic. An example can be noted here http://www.dwaf.gov.za/iwqs/microbio/NMMP2004/SaidM_Cholera_KZN.pdf
http://www.sealthedeal2009.org/climate-change-south-africa.html
The heat and strong sun has an impact on the civilians but have yet to find many indications that it makes it more difficult in their health to where it affects their daily lives. They do have a darker complexion and produce a large amount of melanin but I have not come across anything serious other than dehydration and not enough food intake to where their bodies are not able to handle their daily labor. Many of them have become gold and copper miners which involves several hours of difficult and heavy labor. I found it an interesting fact that Zulu workers organized some of the first black labor unions in the country. http://www.photius.com/countries/south_africa/society/south_africa_society_zulu.html

Andean Indians: They are a tribe that takes place in Central America and the northern coast of South America. What separates this region is the Orinoco River and the West Indies. The area is within the tropics and the seasons are marked more by precipitation than in temperature. Most of the lowlands tend to be higher in temperature while the higher parts of the islands near the mountain ranges that run through Central America, Colombia, and Venezuela have higher elevation, temper with their weather climate. Some areas deal with more heavy rainfall which support many of the surrounding forrests while the dryer parts support little more than sparse grass. The Andean Indians are some of the few tribes in Latin America to have survived after the arrival of the Europeans.

A variety of crops such as maize, sweet potato, bean, and others are commonly grown in various regions. The climate doesn't seem to affect their production in produce. Numerous other vegetables and tropical fruits are also grown. Their overland transportation is mainly by foot. Often when going from island to island, their source of transportation will be by canoe in the river. 

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/102247/Central-American-and-northern-Andean-Indian

Transportation can often be difficult going up and down or between the mountains. Sometimes animals such as llamas are needed. Some consider the Andes mountain climate to be the most interesting in the world because of how drastically it changes throughout the region. In Ecuador there are tropical rain forests just a couple of miles away from a frozen peek. Ecuador normally remains pretty dry while their neighbors on the other side of the mountains; Colombia, is normally pretty wet with much rain. Ecuador has an average temperature of 68 degrees as Columbia has an average of 64 degrees. The temperature is considered pretty good weather for living conditions considering the lifestyle and culture they have there where they can grow crop and make a living. The elevation and altitude is what seems to be more of a challenge at times. It is something their bodies get use to but does make traveling for them difficult at times which can put a wear on their bodies. The Andean Indians are considered to have strong cardiac muscles due to the constant high elevation they have dealt with for a number of years and is something their people develop over a long period of time in that climate.

http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/andes_climate.htm

Magic of Nacerima

5 words:

-Devotional: They are very dedicated to their beliefs and show it by their constant bows each day to their charm boxes. Each member of the family takes part in this by entering the shrine room and participating in the ritual. Although at the end of the article Minor mentions how he is surprised on how long the tribe has survived due to the temple possibly killing most of the individuals that participate in the ceremony, they continue to follow their tribe in participating the same steps.

-Spiritual: The fact that they perform exorcism speaks a lot in their beliefs and religion. They believe in bad spirits and having the power to release them through much torture. Most of it done by "the holy mouth me". Most of it seems to be decay but by drilling big holes and making them worse year by year, members of the tribe continue to be involved in the process. The "listeners" take much part in this process as well.

-Gender specific: They have different rules for different genders. Men will lacerate the surface of their face while woman have a different ceremony by baking their heads in an oven for an hour. Also woman have the ability to make a comfortable living by walking village to village depending on their hypermammary development. They charge a fee for people to stare at them.

-Development: They do seem adaptive to change as they mention that they do have ceremonies for people who are thin and have feasts for them to gain weight as they also make overweight people fast to lose it. They also have the ability to change woman who have small breast to larger and larger to smaller.

-Cautious: Lastly I choose cautious due to the fact that they are tentative of pregnancy. They have efforts to avoid pregnancy through much of their magic. They also try to limit intercourse as well. 


Part B:
1. It came to me as a shocker at first. Then the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. It made me feel me kind of slow for not catching on right away. But the words I chose do seem to describe many americans. We are devotional; whether its to our families, work, or goals. I forgot to mention in part A that it seems to also be a routine in which we Americans seem to ordinarily grow a custom to and not like change.
2. I feel that I was biased in my first word with Devotional. For the most part I explained about how they seemed dedicated to their beliefs and why but towards the end of my description I felt as if I made them seem ignorant for continuing to follow the same routine by going to the temple that didnt seem to help but cause more death. I also chose Gender specific and that showed to be bias as well by the way both males and females were described. Woman were made out to seem as if they have it easier due to looks.
3. This section Im not too sure which word I would alternate. I felt as if I was biased in my description of the word and not the word itself. Gender Specific would be the one I would possibly alternate. I wrote towards the end what the females have the possibility of doing in charging a fee to be stared at. Instead I could've just given an overall picture of what they perform and succeed.
4. It is very important not to be bias towards other cultures so that people can get an overall image of the culture being viewed and examined. That way they dont go based on what the anthropologist is commenting or going on their thoughts or beliefs. Is it possible? In my opinion, no. I feel that at some point an anthropologist will have to make some type of indication in which they will give their point of view. Even if it is in a small detail.