Relationship Between Animals And Human Culture

Human beings are considered to be the greatest creations that were given knowledge, skills and power to rule over the entire planet. However, at the same time, their relationship with other animals and its implications in human civilization cannot be denied. Historically, it is proven that for thousands of years, human beings have developed close contact with animals who were their means of living and at the same time often, great companions. Considering the great significance of animals in the lives of human beings, often their relationships were portrayed in literature by authors. It was meant to help the global community to have a clear understanding of the impact that animals have in the lives of human beings which is very much significant.

Additionally, Royal gives clarification for Native Americans’ positive stereotypes. He explains, “ But this is far from modern concepts of ecology. Native Americans in fact overhunted deer and beaver even before the arrival of the white man, and did not seriously try to preserve the resources in the vicinity of their villages. As a result, the typical woodland village, having exhausted local soil and game, had to move on average every eight to 10 years” (Royal 47). Although the Native Americans did not destroy the environment like Europeans on such a large scale, they are not trying to protect the environment either. This opposes the stereotypes that Native Americans are model ecologists. Royal also examines the inhumane sides of Native American tribes. Royal reveals, “The

Many people are under a false impression that early Native Americans are the original environmentalists. This is an impression that many people share. The Abenaki tribes that resided in Maine from 3700 BP were not by our traditional definition, environmentalists. In fact they were far from ecologically sound. This paper is meant not to criticize the Native Americans of the age, but to clarify their roles in the environment. To better understand this subject some background is needed.

Calvinists also believed that “men were directed to transform the earth according to the divine will of God” (Champagne 1992:15); therefore, men were given complete freedom for environmental domination in order to transform this world that is full of flaws and sins and to appease God. From this perspective, nature is an object to be struggled against and overcome. Furthermore, Christianity, more specifically Calvinist belief, teaches the radical dualism of sacred and profane. From this perspective, this world characterized by sins, flaws, and suffering is profane, drawing comparison a comparison to the sacred afterworld. Native Americans, on the other hand, had less tension in this dichotomous relationship between this-worldliness and otherworldliness. Most Native cultures believed that their institutional and cultural elements, such as ceremonies, kinship, villages, and clans were given as gifts by the “Great Spirit”-- a benevolent and ubiquitous life force of the world. The Great Spirit communicates with humans through intermediaries that reside in nature, which makes Native Americans to live harmoniously with the earth. Everything on earth is considered a spiritual being that needs to be respected to keep the world in balance.

They believed that everything, living and not, was sacred and interconnected to one another in one, unified spiritual world (Goff & Harvey, 2004, pp. 7, 267). Therefore, they wasted nothing. According to James German, “when a hunter killed an animal for food, religious prohibitions against waste encouraged him to preserve its pelt” (Goff & Harvey, 2004, p. 267). To the Native Americans, their identity was that they were of but one piece of a much greater spiritual world and in order to live a fruitful life, they must live harmoniously with the other spirits of the

While studying the creation stories and the founding laws of both the Iroquois and Navajo tribes, it was evident that these tribes have traditions that are passed down from century to century which consist of their gender roles, relationships to nature, and religious views. All of these traditions allows us to learn about the common elements of Native societies, including, relationships to nature, kinship, and gender. The relationship to nature was something that was shared by the Iroquois and Navajo tribes. In Interpreting a Continent, the Iroquoian people were very thankful to nature for providing for their needs “…thanks to the earth where men dwell, to the streams of water, the pools, the springs and the lakes, to the corn and the fruits…”

Often, people rely on mythological and scientific beliefs to explain everyday occurrences, however, myth and science contradict one another. Thesis: Reality, in the eyes of Native Americans, is determined by the past, by the stories/myths their culture has preserved, while modern science contradicts their ideals with facts, creating a conflict of belief. Transition: Anniversary utilizes

The introduction to this chapter takes place in a land ruled by animalistic deities. The

The Natives of California distinguish plants and animals into diverse locations of botany and zoology . They learn to cultivate throughout the views of animals and by creating a food chain that benefited the tribe. Many native tribes observed the environmental system that either made other species survive and extinct. The natives were considered to be curious about the environment they lived that prepared them want to learn, observe, and practice rituals. The natives were uninformed that religious ritual such as coordinating the sun and moon movement was practical rituals of much groundwork for collecting food and building supplies. Like many other American native groups they established and discover valuable properties of plants. Using kernels, plant roots, tree barks and herbal leaves as curative purposes. As the native embarked a lot of nature resources there were many that are ineffective and some are used in today’s modern medicine.

Due to the prior history of Native Americans, one can assume that the environment has a great deal of significance

The identities of the indigenous American societies changed in their techniques of hunting. Instead of having permanent homes, they divided themselves into groups of 15 to 50 hunter-gatherers, who would follow the great mammals, “Giant beaver, giant ground slot, mammoth, mastodon, horses, and camels”(8). But, “By about 1500 BC, people in the American southwest and Midwest had begun to cultivate some maize and squash, but only as a minor supplement to their hunting and gathering”(11). As one can tell, in the beginning, the indigenous American societies were hunter gatherers that traveled with their prey, but eventually they learned how to farm, and established permanent homes where they would farm a great portion of their food. As for the colonizing

In The horse bar mitzvah: a celebratory exploration of human-animal bond, Norine Dresser describes her evaluation of the human rituals imposed on a variety of animals. These rituals were done both for the reasoning of science and law and in pet-owner’s gratefulness and care for their pets. Chimpanzees are exemplified in the use of human culture’s being imposed onto animals, but with reasoning regarding science and law. According to the author, a family adopted chimps into their family, feeding them human food, and teaching them how to communicate with sign language. These animals were conveyed as similar to a deaf child and even practiced human-like rituals such as Christmas, thanksgiving and Halloween. On the other hand, in the practice of pet-keeping, owners imposing human celebrations on

Native Americans held great admiration for nature and their gods. People often dispute back and forth on whether or not we are similar or different compared to our Natives. Based on “The World on the Turtle’s Back,” “The Coyote and the Buffalo,” and Brother Bear, I can conclude that we obviously, for the most part, differ from ancient native cultures; people today do not hold nature to a great value and our religion is thoroughly different.

Native American tribes used to believe in the idea that the spirituality in animals is similar to that of the human mind. From birth, many Native Americans are assigned their spirit animal in which the spirit guides them in their life and teaches them lessons. Much of the attitudes of young adults on this issue describe that spirit animals are just animals that represent who they are and what they live by. This brings up an issue where the meaning of spirit animals is lost and cultural appropriateness is undefined with its background and history.

Human-animal interaction (HAI) is a concept that has been around since the beginning; ever since man knew what animals were. We have interacted in so many ways with animals - ranging from hunting as a resource to observing in the wild, and from holding in captivity as a means of labor to domesticating for companionship. Throughout these centuries of interactions, it's become abundantly clear as to what these encounters do for us as far as productivity/research/ entertainment/companionship, but it's never been completely clear as to what our presence and encounters do to them - more specifically, what does it do to them psychologically and behaviorally? The word interaction is key, and it's important to note what an interaction means: both individuals affect each other- “... both human and animal are active and reactive during an interaction, independent of who is the initiator” (Eddie A.M. Bokkers, 31). So, what does this mean for animal development? An animal’s psychological development (just like humans) is most influenced at a very young age, but behavioral development (though still very impressionable at a young age) can be influenced at virtually any point in their life. This, in regards to the influence of human interaction, means that it influences these two branches of development through positive and negative stimulants that allow a psychological learning adaptation to take place, prompting a behavioral action.