Language Blog

Part 1-

I found this experiment very difficult, I never knew how much I relied on language until I wasn’t able to use my voice. I had the conversation with my mother and she and I are both very expressive and loud because we are Italian. We were able to have a conversation and some what understand what we were communicating through my hand gestures. It was a very funny experiment. I was still very hard for me not to use my voice because I like to talk a lot.

The patterns of the conversation were unlike any conversation I have ever had because I wasn’t able to respond with my voice. My mother would keep giving me a confused look because she didn’t understands some of the gestures I was giving. I never realized how important symbolic communication was.

If my conversation represented two cultures meeting for the first time it would be filled with a lot of confusion. I think that the culture that doesn’t have verbal language would have the advantage. If to people meet for the first time and they don’t speak the same language then they both would resort to gesturing and pointing at things to describe what they are trying to say. The culture that does have symbolic language might look to the other culture as under advanced or not as intelligent. One example of people not having symbolic language today would be the deaf. Yes, they do have sign language but they are not verbally speaking with one another. It seems it would be hard for people to understand one another if they both didn’t speak rather than one person having symbolic language and the other not. I also think it takes longer for these people in our society to communicate with one another. Not having symbolic language would be very hard to deal with.

Part 2-

 I was only able to last about 10 minutes because it was so difficult to communicate. I found this part of the experiment the most difficult. I am a very expressive person and I always use my hands to gesture. The hardest part of this experiment was not being able to raise my eyebrows or smile or even point or move my hands. I am always a person that gets my point across by using my facial expressions. My friends and family always say they can see how I am feeling that day by the look on my face.

My mother seemed somewhat board by the conversation that we were having because we were not able to communicate in the same way that we normally do. Normal words or exciting comments did not come across the same way because there was not passion behind the conversation or the words. After this experiment I have found that non-speech language is even more important that verbal language because you can’t get the real feeling or emotion across about an issue or great conversation without expression or gestures. Sign language is more important that some of us even know or will ever even realize because we take all of our forms of language for granted.

I think that most people have a hard time understanding body language. I know when I am in a room with a crowd or people I can look around and understand what most people are feeling just by their body language. For example the other day I was standing in line at the grocery store and the person behind me was standing way to close and invading my personal space so I leaned and moved feather way to show them I was uncomfortable and it worked. I sent another message to someone without saying any words and just using my body language. I think a benefit to not reading body language would be when you are trying to push your way to the front of a line and you can see that people are standing in the way or not moving forward and you push past them to hurry along with your day and you can obviously see they are annoyed but if you just keep moving it won’t matter.

Part 3-

 I always think that having written language will help any situation. Sometimes it is easier to communicate with written language rather than verbal because when you write it can sometimes be easier to express how you are really feeling. If I was able to write in part one the conversation would have taken longer but would have been a lot easier to understand. Being able to write down what questions I had for my mother would have been better than trying to point or communicate with my facial expressions.

Written language has many advantages to start it can last for generations rather the verbal communication that can be forgotten about in a minute or two. If you have written communication you can always remember what conversation that you have had. I also think that with written communication people are more willing to be open about what they are feel because some people have a hard time getting across the real message they want to portray. A culture that uses written communication can only grow and prosper form being able to communicate in many different ways.

Written communication has impacted the world for many years. We are able to learn and grow from reading other writings from different cultures. We are able to send message around the world through written communication. Without written communication we as a society would not be as advanced. We are now able to contact any nation on the planet and send them so form of written communication in order to get our message across. I feel that written communication is the strongest form of communication that we have. 

The Zulu’s and The Andean Indians

The Zulu people live in South Africa there population is about 3 million people, they are most know from there beadwork and basketry.  The name of the Zulu people came from, one man and his decedents make up the Zulu clan. The Zulu people raise cattle and farm for many different fruits and vegetables. The women are the ones that own the homes and are in charge of keeping everything afloat. 

The Zulus are Africans and in the area where they live is extremely difficult for them to complete their labor intensive jobs.  The Zulu have many traditions and rituals that they partake in each year. In many of the areas where the Zulu live the women have to collect water, wood, do the cooking, cleaning and any other household task. For the Zulu women the job their job is never done. The Zulu people live in huts made of long grass and their floors are made of hardened clay. The Zulus also believe that illness because stress and misfortune, so if a family member dies they are considered to have misfortune.

Over time the Zulus learned to adapt to there always changing economy and way of life. They struggle for many years with having their own freedoms and rights. They also had to adapt to the climate in South Africa. It is extremely hot and they live in an area with only low grasses that don’t provide any shade. 

The Zulus skin had to adapt over time to deal with the harsh UV rays from the sun and that is why their skin pigmentation is so dark. Traits about their appearance also changed such as there noised widened so they are able to breathe in the hot African air every day. The Zulu have had to learn to adapt to the harsh thunder storm that happen in the area where they live. They believe they should always put away all of the mirrors, pots, sink and much more in order to protect themselves from being struck by lightning. Many Zulu people still die each year from being struck by lightning.  The Zulu people as a race are African American people and have had hardships among their people from many years because of slavery and wars among other nations.

The Zulu people have had to adapt in many different ways in order to survive in the extremely temperamental African air. Both their race and adaptation play off of one another. The Zulus have had many problems with their race because they are African they were in slaved and forced to do hard jobs in the sun and heat which forced them to adapt faster to their environment otherwise they would have all died by now. Many people from America today would not be able to survive in the harsh African sun because of their own skin pigmentation and not being properly equipped to breathe and work in the African sun.

The Andeans Indians are people Indians that have learned to adapt to high altitudes that most people would ever be able to survive at. The Andeans have also learned to thrive under these high altitudes conditions when other cultures would flounder.

 The Andeans people are able to breathe in less air and their bodies have learned to take more oxygen in to their blood so it is easier for them to breath and such high altitudes. The Andeans bodies had to adapt to the area in which they live so that they would struggle to breath with every breath. Breathing is something most people don’t even think about so imagine having to stress about breathing every time you took a breath it would be unbearable. The high altitudes of the Andes have been occupied by people for more than 10,000 years and by millions of people (J.L Rupert). Babies of the Andean Andeans born in the high altitude have better developmental adaptations then ones born and sea level. The Andeans have to wear very think ponchos in order to stay warm because it is very cold in the high altitudes at which they live.

The Andeans Indians are hard to describe as anyone races because they are so different from any other people on earth. They live in the highest city on earth which is in Bolivia. If I could describe them as any one race I would say they would be close to Native Americans, this is because of their skin pigmentation and traditions. The difference between their race and adaptations are that race describes there outer appearance and adoptions would be the way they adapter to breathing at such high altitudes. The Andeans are amazing and fascinating people that have learned to live in an extremely difficult environment.

Summary

Both of these unique cultures have had to adapt to the places that they live. Both of these races are very different put fit to the circumstances at which they live. The Zulu are African people that have had to adapt to the harsh sun in order to survive and this goes a long with their races because African in fact do have darker skin than other people in order to not get skin cancer and to deal with the UV rays from the sun. Because race is how you look and adaptation is how your body has to react in order to survive I think they both go hand in hand. The Andean people have lighter pigmentation then the Africans do because they are in high altitude and in a way colder environment. The Andeans have had to have their lung adapt to the breathing conditions and this also goes along with them being Indians. Indians all over the world have had to adapt to the situations and have learned to thrive.

Sources

Introduction to the Zulus, unknown author, © copyright 2008

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

Zulu Culture, Graham Chennells, Zulu Culture and about the Zulu people, the Zulu

Nation, and Zulus in Zululand; covering various aspects of the Zulu Culture,

http://www.eshowe.com/article/articlestatic/65/1/13/

Genetic approaches to understanding human adaptation to altitude in the Andes

J. L. Rupert 1, * and P. W. Hochachka 2 1Department of Pathology and

Laboratory Medicine and 2 Department of Zoology, the University of British

Columbia, Vancouver, Canada V6T 2B5 *e-mail: rupert@zoology.ubc.ca

Accepted 2 July 2001

Uncovering the Mystery of the Nacerima People

Secretive- The Nacerima people have many hidden traditions that they don’t even share with their families. The only time their certain rituals are even discussed are still in secret but are talked about with the children so they can learn how to do their own rituals privately. There is so much secretiveness even about the human body; women and men do not even see each other’s body parts. Sex has to be scheduled and is kept to a minimum and when women are pregnant that have to hide the fact that they are carrying a child. Most of their rituals are magic based and they even keep a secret box or chest with little charms for their rituals. They have a temple which they send their sick to but know body really knows what the medicine men do in the temple to heal the sick that enter it. They only know that many people don’t survive the poking and prodding.

Uneducated- The Nacerima have been practicing the same rituals for hundreds of years and they haven’t advanced from when they first started as a civilization. They still have the same holy-mouth-men that do horrible, painful operations to their mouths after all of these years. They let the holy mouth men make your teeth rot. They also practice magic with voodoo dolls. Nothing seem to ever be discussed therefore nothing can really ever advance in society. They seem to stand stagnate in their culture because of their everyday rituals which take up most of their day, they also have population control because many don’t want to procreate because they believe the human body is so disgusting.

Untrustworthy- It seems that no one in the Nacerima culture trust one another. The text states that some of the children have to visit the “listener” to rid themselves of demons that they might have collected when their mothers started to teach them about how they will conduct their own rituals. The people of this culture even think that certain mothers bewitch their own children when they are teaching them about the secret body ritual. There seems to be know trust between the men and women of this culture and there are seems to be a lot of rejection. Mothers aren’t even allowed to show they are pregnant and most of them don’t breast feed their children as well because it is looked down upon.

Persistent- It seems to me that the Nacerima people are very persistent. They always go back to the holy mouth men a few times a year even after the grueling pain and rotting of the teeth. They also stick to their daily schedule of the worshiping of their shire in the privacy of their own home. These people have a very strict lifestyle and keep carrying on the traditions with their children. They have a few very important members of their society that they always look upon: the first is the holy mouth man, the listener and the medicine man. The people rely on these few members to help them through their everyday life. They also send their sick to a temple but only if they can afford it to be tortured, poked and prodded because they think it will heal their sick. Many people that enter the temple do die, most call it the temple of death, but many people still want to go into the temple.

Fascinating- The people of Nacerima are very fascinating to me. They do the same rituals everyday and have continued to do them for many years. I find it very unusual that they husband and wives are even so secretive with each other and that mothers seem like they abandon their own children once they are born.  Family doesn’t seem to be a very important part of their culture. I also can’t believe they put themselves through so many painful rituals just for the acceptance, I guess you wouldn’t know any different if you were brought up in such a culture. They also focus a lot on magic and hope for healing and rejuvenation for their medicine men. It’s amazing that they are so not accepting of the human body and try extremely hard to hide it rather than learn from it and accept it. Fascinating is the perfect word to descried this culture because they are so different form my own.

Part B

As an American, how do you feel about your choice of descriptive words in Part A? 

I think that almost all of my words pretty much describe American people as well. The only word that I would say doesn’t fit the all American as a whole would be uneducated. I think there are many educated Americans but there are defiantly more uneducated people in America today.  After I read the article and wrote my first blog I researched about the Nacerima people and saw that it was actually a joke about the American people today.

Do any of your choices exhibit ethnocentrism on your part?  In other words, do any of your descriptive words reveal a judgment of the Nacerima rooted in your own cultural bias?  Are any of your words free of bias? 

I think I did judge the culture strictly off of their rituals and beliefs. Everyone is bias in one way or another, every time anyone has an opinion it is bias. I think that saying that the Nacerima people are uneducated, untrustworthy and persistent is judgmental. I also think a lot of the words I chose have to do with the way I was raised and with the American people today. The only word that I think that is free of being bias is fascinating because when I described this word I stated facts and not just opinions.

For any of the words that are biased, can you provide alternate words that are free of bias but communicate the same explanatory information and intent of your original word?

I think that the word secretive is a little bias and I think it could be changed to reserved instead because that is less judgmental.  The Nacerima are people who don’t like to share much with others and keep things to themselves. They are more reserved about their body parts and don’t like to share them with others. I also think that I could change the word uneducated to misunderstand. Not every culture has as many opportunities to be educated and learn about the world like we can. Just because people are different doesn’t mean there way is wrong.

From this experience, reflect on the importance of avoiding ethnocentric judgments when describing other cultures.  Why is it important to describe another culture in a manner as free from personal cultural bias as possible?  Do you think it is possible to completely avoid personal cultural bias as a Cultural Anthropologist?

I think it is important to be able to step outside of your own personal feelings and experiences in order to really understand and learn from other cultures. There are so many different cultures from our own and in order to even try and understand why different cultures conduct different rituals we have to be open.  I don’t think it is totally possible to not include some cultural bias because everyone has judgments about everything even if they don’t know they are even being judgmental, but it is important to try.