Begetting Ordinary Human Analysis

As anthropologist Bruce Knauft described, the Gebusi clan had words that described many different aspects, examples included oil the Gebusi word for tomorrow and yesterday and owa for grandparents and grandchildren, but the most defining one was kogwayay, a catchfall marker to describe all of their cultural distinction. Because of kogwayay’s branching terminology, kogwayay is also the Gebusi’s word for ethnicity, the identification with a cultural group because of shared values customs and beliefs, while inversely excluded from different groups. One aspect that contributes to the Gebusi’s sense of kogwayay is religion. Through Knauft’s book we see their religious ways introduced and watch them change and adapt with the dynamics of cultural change over time.

The Sonqo people and the Yanomamo people had their differences, but in the end were a lot more alike than you would think. They both portrayed gender distinctions in everything they did. One gender was always superior than the other, in this case the men seemed to be. Men were always the high and almighty, given way more power than women. As I read more, I began to find some answers as to why this might be so. Each group, the Sonqos and Yanomamos, have their own beliefs and their own way of organizing their pack. This all is different for each group depending on the natural environment they were brought up in and continue to live in. It was very interesting to learn more about these two groups and to see what they all had in common and what they did differently. I enjoyed searching for the frequently asked question as to why they do what they do and if there is any meaning behind it. In the paragraphs to follow, I will be talking more about why gender distinctions develop and also how different environments can shape who you become as an individual and as an united community.

The Canadian Inuit were a domestic, tribal, egalitarian society in the 19th century. And some cultural changes occurred; making the Inuit adapt and become more aware of other resources they could get hold of, for gathering and hunting for food. In the 19th Century, the Europeans discovered the Inuit culture and this provided new resources for the Inuit to gain an easier way to gather and hunt for food. But because of the European influence, the Inuit’s culture changed to adapt with European Individuals living in their land, and European resources that had been made access to them. By this cultural change in the 19th century there was “an increased diversity in the social structure and material culture of the Labrador Inuit society” (Auger, 1993:27). The Labrador Inuit was a significant Inuit Society to have an ethnographical research made to understand a little bit more to; how the Inuit was affected and how the food process was changed. It will also be discussed the significant ideas and techniques that the Inuit used to gather and hunt for resources.

In order to understand any culture, it is essential to acknowledge the importance of taking a holistic view. This approach, which gained recognition and validation in the twentieth century, stresses the importance of accounting for all of the components of a culture. The concept requires an understanding of each subsystem, which dictates certain aspects of the culture being studied. With this theory as basis for her approach, Myerhoff is faced with the difficult task of piecing together the many parts contributing to the formation of the culture at the Center, while simultaneously recognizing the distinctions between the acting subsystems. Sometimes it seems that realizing what leads to specific cultural constructs would be extremely difficult; this is especially the case with traits that have become so naturalized that only an outsider would recognize them as distinct and significant. That said, it is obvious that there are advantages to studying a completely exotic culture, as the majority of anthropologists do; however, Myerhoff chose to do her fieldwork in a culture that is centered

James P. Spradley (1979) described the insider approach to understanding culture as "a quiet revolution" among the social sciences (p. iii). Cultural anthropologists, however, have long emphasized the importance of the ethnographic method, an approach to understanding a different culture through participation, observation, the use of key informants, and interviews. Cultural anthropologists have employed the ethnographic method in an attempt to surmount several formidable cultural questions: How can one understand another's culture? How can culture be qualitatively and quantitatively assessed? What aspects of a culture make it unique and which connect it to other cultures? If

The Kamilaroi nation’s kinship is based a lot around totems, that link between the spiritual world, creation and the living world (“A Nations Identity Totems”, n.d; para 1). Totems are a system that looks at the community, how people work as a team, and the value of individual skill. (Totems, 2016). In a way totems provide people with a sense of belonging in relationships between a person and group. In Kamilaroi, totems allow individuals to understand their connection to the scared land. (“A nations Identity Totems, n.d; para 2)

An anthropologist will try to read and understand the Nacirema culture with the notion of being culturally relative. With this way of thinking in mind, we could study the Nacirema peoples without any judgment. If we can come to terms with our ethnocentric views, we can quickly analyze the wrong way of thinking. Therefore, we can try to understand the Nacirema culture through their shoes. If we keep looking at their cultural in a primarily ethnocentric perspective, we would not have found the similarities between the Nacirema culture and our own.

Soldiers are trained to be altruist even when they don’t agree with it they are taught a sense of self service and duty and no matter how they feel about someone or what the person looks like they are going to help. Males and females soldiers the same.

Symbols has been appeared in human history since stone age, from the use of symbol to communicate to the use as royal and aristocrat, symbol has carried different meaning or cultural spirit at different periods. Symbols has been used widely in Celtic Art Period and Art Deco Period, they are not only for decoration but also reflect the cultural life. Although symbols are key elements in these two period, Celtic Art is not as popular as Art Deco among the design history and influences to nowadays.

In traditional Aboriginal society inter-personal relationships are governed by a Complex system of rules, known as the classificatory system of kinship. The kinship system

Michael Halloran (2004) proposes that culture as a diverse and complex system of shared and interrelated knowledge, practices and signifiers of a society, provides structure and significance to groups within that society which subsequently impact the individual’s experience of their personal, social, physical and metaphysical worlds (p.5). Halloran (2004) theorizes that cultural maintenance is key to increasing the health and well-being of Aboriginal Australians whereby he suggests that culture provides collectively validated ways to think of and value oneself, further arguing that culture helps to suppress fundamental human existential anxieties about social isolation produced by our mortality awareness. Emile Durkheim (Marks, 1974) identifies anomie as being without law or norms, similarly, D.J Spencer (2000)

I believe that the force that was most responsible for the new imperialism of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was the social force. One reason that social is the main force is because of Social Darwinism, which is the idea that the fittest countries will survive. Another reason is Racism; racist people believed that their race was peerless and that there should be more of that peerless race. The last reason is because of “the white man’s burden”, which is the idea that the Europeans and Americans had the moral responsibility to civilize primitive people. In the following paragraphs I will explain each reason and provide evidence.

As more and more states ban cell phone usage while driving, more and more people have actually looked into this topic to see how big of a distraction cell phones are in the car. According to extensive research, barely any accidents involving distractions include cellphones, and even after 20 years of researching this topic, there still isn’t any conclusive data on the impact cellphones have on driving. Cell Phones shouldn’t be banned to use while driving.

Examining the ideas and beliefs within ones own cultural context is central to the study of Anthropology. Issues of Race and Ethnicity dominate the academic discourses of various disciplines including the field of Anthropology. Race and Ethnicity are controversial terms that are defined and used by people in many different ways. This essay shall explore the ways in which Anthropologists make a distinction between race and ethnicity and how these distinctions serve as frames for cross-cultural comparison and analysis. It is important to accurately define these coined terms before one is able to make accurate comparisons and distinctions between them, and their relation to the concept of

The general study of humans and their ways of life is called Anthropology. Anthropology have four classic subdivisions: Cultural (or socio-cultural) Anthropology, Archaeology, Linguistics Anthropology and Biological (or physical) Anthropology. He or she who typically had some training in each of these four classic subdivisions in fact, have connected them to one another within a large field anthropology study. Moreover, he or she can use the theoretical knowledge and findings of anthropology to solve real-world problems surrounding human beings or human customs. Anthropologist has an idea that the beliefs and practices of a culture should be understood within the context that particular culture’s background, history and current events surrounding it called Cultural relativism. The main objective of this final research paper is examining my own culture from etic (i.e. outsider’s) perspective and another culture from emic (i.e. insider’s) perspective to clearly show my personal understanding of cultural relativism. Specifically, I will examine the rites of passage in African American girls/women lived reality and effects of the intersectional race, class and gender oppression in America coupled with discussing Japanese different rituals comparison to American outlook into death and the afterlife. All in all, rites of passage are done differently and makes a difference in its own society.