ANT 201 Bodemer - Culture Sketches Review

The Yanomami Religion

- Believe in 4 layers with small amount of space between. Above The fourth is not known about and is empty. The The fourth is the sky onto which the underside stars are stuck. they believe the bottom of the sky looks much like the earth with plants and animals but where the souls of the dead dwell. The third layer was created when a piece of the fourth fell off and created the earth. Below the earth, the last layer is trapped souls who were left for cannibalism. Which disgusts the Yanomami people. - they were the original humans. - The soul plays a central part in the spiritual world. It is the soul that is consumed by the cannibals in the netherworld and is a sophisticated "organ".

The Yanomami Male and female

- Culture is decidedly masculine. - girls perform childcare at a young age and are made aware they have much less social room then men. -they are married at a young age and have no voice to preference in this regard. The men are much older. But girl does not take up residence with her husband until reaching puberty. - Women collect fire wood, cooks, and is subjected to physical cruelty by their husbands. it is commonplace and expected behavior. Women depend on their brothers to protect them from unusually cruel husbands. - "play" lasts twice as long for boys as it does for girls. Girls at age 10 spend bulk of day working, while late teens still enjoy childhood.

The Tiwi Origin

Occupy Melville and Bathurst islands located off the north coast of Australia. Generally flat land. heavily forested islands.

The Kaluli Kinship

Organized into exogamous, patrilineal clans that are scattered throughout longhouse communities. Share food in longhouses -Siblings, actual and cousins, are most important ties in relationships. -Preferred marriage: in which man and woman belong to different clans. -Marriage is instigated by elders in longhouse, often quite without the to be grooms knowledge. -groom is often last to know.

The Ojibwa Religion and world view

- Dreaming, fasting, visions, and most importantly relationship with "the grandfathers" = the other-than-human beings -primary contact with these individuals is achieved during dreaming. in which power is given and received. - supernatural beings give human "blessings" during sleep and it is encouraged to dream from a young age through fasting. - the dreams were not discussed because if told they might lose their power. -one power possessed by humans and other-than- humans alike is metamorphosis, the changing of one's shape. -The shaking tent: a structure erected that is used by a diviner to call upon his guardian spirits for answers. -The evidence of their arrival is the movement of the tent which shakes from side to side with their appearance within. -Impressive because the diviner is bound hand and foot. -Pawaganak - personal spirit guardians.

The Basseri Their kinship

- Households are based on nuclear families. - Reckon descent patrilineally. Inheritance is from father to son. A son of a Basseri is a Basseri regardless of the affiliation of the mother. -Bride price among the Basseri is called "milk price"

The Samoans Religion

- The supernatural ones" Atua and Aitu - The polynesian word tapu is the source of "taboo". Tapu encompasses taboo's sense of the forbidden (a set of supernaturally dictated prohibitions), and sanctity (sacred bond). -They do not share their traditions with outsiders for it would anger the custodial spirit. - Christianity was introduced by missionaries and met with little resistance as accepting it was seen by chiefs as a way of preventing war and acquiring valuable material goods from these missionaries.

The Roma Origin

- known as Gypsies -"Citizens of the world and nowhere" - Originated in Northeast India

The Roma The Religion

- no evidence of a traditional Romani religion. - People without a history - Many are Muslim and christian. In Europe they are catholic, protestant, and Orthodox.

The Roma Traditional Occupations

- organized in three categories: crafts, trading, and entertainment. - Traditionally all members of a community share the same occupation. -The Ursari are bear trainers, Aurari are goldsmiths. craft production, horse trading, and musical performance. - Roma musicianship is renowned.

The Aztecs How did they make their living?

-Built on agriculture - Maize. Chinampas - floating gardens. - Hunting was esteemed among the Mexicas for food, fur, skin, and to supply the empire's zoos. -at Urban centers, craft manufacture was highly elaborated, painters, goldsmiths, silversmiths, featherworkers, and sculptors. - Weaving - done by all women. - Markets were economic link between different regions of production .

The Tiwi religious Beliefs

-Emphasize relations between people far more than those between people and supernatural. - Three worlds in existence: the world of the unborn, living, and dead. -Spirit children wait in their own world to be found by their father. -Religion revolves around taboos established for daily life, rituals involving death, and male initiation ceremonies. - Pukamani is their word for taboo and an important funeral ceremony. -Kulama ceremony: yam ceremony , part of initiaition into tiwi adulthood.

The Hmong Kinship

-Focus directed on individual households because of the mobility necessary by slash and burn techniques and patrilineal clan organization. -Children are members of their fathers clan. -Exogamy is strictly practiced: Marriage is only allowed outside of a social group. -Boy gives girl's parents a silver coin to start negotiations. Three days later the new couple spends three days at the future groom's house which begins the girls entry into his clan. -Cross cousin marriage is preferential. -Elopement is allowed and permitted traditional alternative. - Pregnancy is a third route to marriage.

The Ju/'Hoansi (!Kung) Making a Living

-Foraging: plant foods are plentiful and nutritious = majority of their diet. -Women can distinguish more than 100 varieties of edible plants from those of a poisonous nature. - Most important in diet is the Mongongo - a protein rich nut found in trees near watering holes. They practice Egalitarianism: which necessitates the avoidance of undue praise for an individual and that person's accomplishments. "Insulting the meat is one of the central practices of the !kung. "

The Aztecs Religion/worldview

-Life is precarious and it was the responsibility of humankind to attempt to control this uncertainty and assure their own continued existence. -The continuation of life is not ensured unless the people actively promote its survival through human sacrifice.

The Trobriand Islanders Making a living

-Live in thatched huts. -Kula ring. The exchange and trade of two types kula shells, white and red in a clockwise motion within the islands. -Yams and pork are the most important foods. Pigs are only slaughtered on ritual occasions -Fish provide major source of protein in Trobriand diet. -Production of Yams is a central focus for daily life. and can be stored for nearly half the year. -Men grow the yams.

The Trobriand Islanders Religion

-Magic is employed in situations where trobrianders lack control: Fishing in lagoon, no. Fishing in harsh open sea, yes. - Magic is a tool that can bring about success leading to power and authority. -Traditional spells are common knowledge, but otheres are bought or passed along through the DALA. -Sorcery is poison magic.

The Azande What is their religion/worldview? Witchcraft? Sorcery? Oracles? the benge?

-Mbori - a ghostly being who the creation of the world is attributed. - The trickster tails: tales serve to assert and affirm social rules. -Witchcraft: Witchcraft is an actual physical property residing inside some individuals, who may be unaware of their power. Witchcraft substance, mangu, can be inherited. Believe witchcraft is at the base of all their misfortune. -Sorcery: an art that is learned and deliberately practiced: Charms and spells. Witchcraft is willpower. -Oracles: Consult oracles for marriage, journeys, their health, building houses, and organizing raids. -Benge: The poison oracle, reserved for men alone. Its a necessity, not a ritual, to them.

The Ju/'Hoansi (!Kung) Kinship

-Members share everything -Two kinds of relationships, "joking" or playful relationships (comfort and affection) and "Avoidance" relationships based on "Fear" or respect -Relationship between parents and children fall into Avoidance. - Single name, no first and last name. -One may not marry a person with the same name as one's parent or siblings. -Marriage arranged by parents for children. -More than half of all first marriages end in divorce.

The Aztecs - call themselves Mexica Place of origin?

-Migrated from Aztlan, in central Mexico, into the Valley of Mexico and settling in Tenochtitlan (island on lake Texcoco) "The place of the fruit of the prickly pear cactus".

The Basseri How do they make their living?

-Most important is domesticated animals: Sheeps and goats. Donkeys used as pack mules and ridden by women and children. Men ride horses. Camels carry heaviest items. -They do not herd cattle because their trek is long and difficult and too rocky. -Each shepherd has 300 to 400 sheep and goats. -Each household must have about 100 to provide for itself satisfactorily. -Foraging = minor rule. Hunting = for sport.

The Ojibwa Kinship

-Patrilineally, exogamous totemic clans. Could find members of your own clan in any settlement. Marriages, small formal ceremony, arranged by parents or guardian. Cross cousin marriage not preferred. Monogamous marriages but polygyny was possible.

The Hmong Making a living

-Practice Slash and Burn Agriculture. Land within two hours' walk of village is planted. -When land is no longer usable, villages move to a different mountain. -Rice and Corn are most important food crops. -Experts at cultivating opium in their mountain soil and was their only cash crop. -Livestock are important too . Every family has roosters and hens. -Poultry is used to retrieve the lost soul of a sick child. -Pigs are owned by every family and used for flesh and fat in coking. -Cattle used for sacrific, not for agriculture. -Horses used for help in fields.

The Aztecs What is their Kinship?

-Single most important principle in Mexica society. - They reckoned descent bilaterally: Both mother's and father's brothers were called uncles. -Primary purpose of marriage was to strengthen or forge powerful political ties. -The nobility were polygynous, but the commoners were not. -Marriages were arranged for youth by their parents

The Yanomami Origin

-Solely hunters and gatherers, no gardens. They were to isolated to be cultivators. -Currently they live in the Amazon forest and rely both on foraging and horticulture. The remainder have settled on rivers where fishing has replaced hunting on the boarder of Brazil and Venezuela.

The Basseri who are they and their Place of Origin

-The Basseri are a pastoral nomadic society in southern Iran, whose migration takes them to the mountains and steppes to the east, north, and south. 300 miles by 50 miles.

The Ju/'Hoansi (!Kung) Religion

-The gangwasi, ancestral ghosts, are responsible for most illnesses and misfortune that befall their living kin. -It is death that turn people bad. -Healers are the primary guardians of spirituality. Done in !kia dance form.

The Kaluli Religion/worldview

-The unseen world is everything to do with sound. Sunrise is not sunrise, but bird song. - In the unseen world every person has a "shadow" or "reflection". Shadows of men are wild pigs. -Through mediums that Kaluli hae knowledge of the unseen world. Men who have married spirit women in a dream gain access to this world when they have a child with their spirit wife. -Every Kaluli death is caused by a sei, a witch or evil spirit who inhabits a person. usually men.

The Azande what is their kinship?

-Their courtyards are reflections of their inhabitants. Each woman has their own house and granary. (polygamous). -genealogical relationships between clansmen are seldom known and usually untraceable. If the father's soul is more powerful than the child will be a boy, if less then mother, than a girl. HIV is spreading today.

The Roma Kinship

-Vitsa members depend on one another in daily life and have ritual obligations to fulfill. -alliances reinforced through marriage ties. - sometimes marriage is arranged for a bride price. - celebration can be a simple declaration of intent with tribal leaders or a several day celebration -the new couple traditionally lives with the husband's parents

The Minangkabau Making a living

-Wet-rice cultivation and agriculture in dry fields has been the mainstay. -Rice is used locally for subsistence and then sold in uplands - they are still farmers living in nagari.

The Samoans Economics

-the matai controls the land, he does not however have authority to sell the land or will it to his own children upon his death. They vote on its disposition, and work it cooperatively. -irrigation is unnecessary because of the tropical climate. Coconut is the most important crop and the one with the widest variety of uses. -Copra is produced for cash income (dried meat of coconut). - the wood from the tree is use for building houses, cricket bats. Fibers make rope for canoes. leaves make shoes. -Taro is preferred as food though. eaten at every meal. -Their are specialist tradesmen like boatbuilders but no specialist agriculturalists. Everyone is a farmer. - Fishing does have its specialists. they have the TAUTAI, who captain the thirty foot long outrigger canoes and sit in the stern of the boat.

The Minangkabau Religion/worldview

Adat: "Customary law" and traditional islam

Haiti Place of Origin

Between Cuba and Dominican republic in caribbean sea. (shares island with DOMREP)

The Azande "The people who possess much land" Where are they Located?

Center of Africa on boundaries of the southwestern Sudan, the eastern edge of the Central African Republic, and the northeaster portion of the Congo.

The Ju/'Hoansi (!Kung) Origin

Hunters and Gatherers living in Southern Africa in Botswana and Namibia in the Dobe area in the Kalahari desert. A grouping of 10 watering holes

The Minangkabau Origin

Indonesia: Greater Sunda Islands, the largest is Sumatra. Worlds sixth largest island. The Minangkabau live in the center of west Sumatra.

The Kaluli Origin

Live in the tropical rainforest in the southern highlands province of Papua New Guinea on great papuan plateau at base of Mt. Bosavi (volcano).

The Ojibwa Origin

Native American group living in northern midwest in the united states and south central canada. Refer to themselves as Anishinaabe = "human being".

The Azande How do they make a living?

- "shifting cultivation" (no crop rotation) relying on maize and millet, gourds, and pumpkins, bananas, and beans. -Cattle herding is impossible because of the Tse tse fly. -Chickens and dogs are only domesticated animals. - Two seasons, rainy and dry.

The Hmong Religion/worldview

- 10 to 20 percent are Christian - Vast Majority are Animists (complex beliefs revolving around the spirit world). -The shaman is a crucial mediator between worlds - Equilibrium: balance is the key to a fulfilling and valuable life. -Animals can exchange and share souls with human beings. -

The Trobriand Islanders YAM PEOPLE - sexuality in dance, cricket and yam ceremonies. Origin

The Trobriand Islands are flat coral atolls off the coast of Easter New Guinea. -Consists of four main islands. Island of Kiriwina is the most populous (25,000 people). - Made up of 60 villages.

The Tiwi Making a living

The tiwi are hunters and gatherers. Their varied environment provides them with dietary abundance today as it did in the past. Supply of fish, game and vegetable foods is connected very firmly to what may be the most familiar characteristic of Tiwi Culture. -Men hunt turtles, geese, lizards, fish and wallabies - Women supply the bulk of their diet with the foraging of edible plants, fruits, and vegetables and they hunt small game with tools they manufacture.

The Samoans Origin

Western Polynesian people whose home is 2300 miles south of the Hawaiian Islands. The islands of Samoa.

The Tiwi Kinship

Polygyny among tiwi appears to be adaptive to these foragers like in horticultural societies. - Belong to their mother's matrilineal descent group, which they call their "skin". They reckon their common descent from a group of unborn spirit beings living in or near a body of water. - Pregnancy occurs when a man discovers one of these unborn spirits and sends it to his wife, whose clan origin must be the same as the spirit's. - Men have no biological contribution to the conception of a child. - sexual intercourse with either a husband or a lover cannot result in pregnancy. - In order for a child to be conceived it must be dreamed of by its mother's husband. - everyone is kin to everyone else -Traditionally all women must be married: from before birth to death. No concept of an unmarried female. -Daughters were an asset to his father and he invested these assets to his own future economic, political, and social advantage. At age 14 she could be a wife and her husband about 40. Polygamy, many wives.

Haiti How they make a living.

Poorest country in Western Hemisphere. They garden and work hard.

The Kaluli Making a living

Practice Swidden horticulture in extensive gardens. -Food is Sago, a starch they extract from wild sago palms. They also eat fish, lizards, pigs. -They trade with other groups and within their own community. They trade hornbill beaks, dogs teeth, and tree oil to the Huli who gave them salt, tobaco, and aprons woven from net. - They manufacture gardening tools, stone adzes, bows from palm trees, and net bags.

Haiti Religion

Roman Catholicism and Voudon

The Samoans kinship

Samoan villages are organized around the household and the extended family unit. The head of the household is a man called the matai. -Households of bride and groom are equally involved in the planning and expense of the wedding. -Newly weds do not establish their own new household bet get to choos which side of the family they will join. -Chief -talking chief - rest of the men are the Aumaga: the labor force of the community -ambilineal kinship system: they can choose to affiliate with any of a number of groups throughout either their fathers or their mothers side.

The Minangkabau Kinship

They practice matrilineal descent. men practiced merantau - voluntary outmigration. - live in rumah gadang: traditional Minangkabau house where up to four generations of a matrilineal house can live.

The Yanomami Making a living

Trading between villages is self-propelling: trade leads to more trade.

The Hmong Place of Origin

Tribal people living in isolated mountain villages throughout China, Laos, Thailand, and Vietman. They originated in southern China. Historically referred to as Meo or Miao which means "primitive or "barbaraian".