This source discusses some of the traditional gender differences between men and women in the Japanese and Chinese cultures. In early Chinese and Japanese culture the idea of balance was key. Characteristics tending to be assigned to a specific gender, but one was not necessarily seen as better than another. The qualities where simply different. In both China and Japan women’s work remained largely domestic, such as weaving, and men plowed the fields.
The traditional Japanese religion of Shintoism lead to the high status of women in early Japanese culture. The Japanese sun goddess (to whom all emperors claimed ancestry) was greatly revered for her mystical powers, and many female sovereigns where also thought to have great powers.
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It discusses traditional gender roles in Japan and how they have evolved (largely due to religious influence, but political reasons as well). As with Reese, it does not provide many specific examples of gender expectations and roles, but offers a more generalized view of women’s place in society.
This chapter offers a brief, though insightful, overview of Iroquois history, and traditional beliefs and societal structure. Men and women worked together to survive, men hunting or fishing and when working the fields and foraging. Families lived together in longhouse and the eldest female of a line was the dominant figure within the longhouse. Although, ideally, a husband would live with his wife’s family, it seems that did not always occur. Divorce was common, and often fathers did not live in the same longhouse as their children. Children often shared a close relationship to their fathers, however, it was often their mother and an uncle who raised the children. Much of the information in this book is not relevant to my topic. This book focuses on the wrong time period for my research, and does not cover the subject I am interested in great depth. It does, however, offer a good starting point for understanding traditional Iroquois culture and does expand on some basic gender roles and expectations I can make use of.
This source details the roles of women throughout ancient Greek and Roman
The Haudenosaunee is one of the best known Native American Indian groups that lived in the northern New York region. They are referred to as the Iroquoians. They are a group of five allied nations – the Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida and Mohawk. Their league of confederation is called the “League of Iroquois”. Tuscarora, a sixth nation joined them later. They were very strong militarily and feared by Europeans and fellow Indians alike. The rivers in the region ran into Lake Ontario. The winters were cold and snowy and the summers were pleasant but humid. They had extensive varieties of animals both large and small. The language spoken was the Iroquoian language by both the northern
Before the Europeans came to Canada, Natives had their own culture, traditions and norms. These differences were obvious to the Europeans who sailed to Canada, their interactions with the Native peoples proved these vast differences. One major difference noted was that the Iroquois organized their societies on different lines than did the patrilineal western Europeans. Iroquois women “by virtue of her functions as wife and mother, exercised an influence but little short of despotic, not only in the wigwam but also around the council fire.” “She indeed possessed and exercised all civil and political power and authority. The country, the land, the fields with their harvests and fruits belonged to her … her plans and wishes modeled the policy and inspired the decisions of council.” The Europeans were astounded by this way of life.
The Ojibwa and Iroquois cultural stories both had settings that were located in Canada. But do you know the differences between their cultures? This instructive essay will teach some major differences between the Ojibwa and Iroquois culture. There are four essential differences that are going to be included in this essay. First, the Ojibwe had more animals invented in their cultural tales, the Iroquoians travelled more in their tales, the Ojibwa shows more uses of spirits in their tales, and finally there are more chiefs showed in the Iroquoian cultural tales.
Before the arrival of Europeans in the 1600’s, the Five Nations of the Iroquois lived under a constitution that had three main principles, peace, justice, and the health of mind and body. The Constitution of the Iroquois Confederacy offered compelling evidence of Native American rich and sophisticated cultures with their well established democratic government with a form of religion and a strong matriarchal system before the advent of Europeans.
This primary source, John Rolfe’s Letter to Thomas Dale about marrying Pocahontas, is from the settlement era and was written in 1614. The European settlers in this era, early 1700s, wanted land and to displace the natives not intermarrying with them. Most settlers remained separate from the Indian society. Some settlers married Native women as a way to gain access to the native societies. It was a way to gain an economic relationship. Indians were being forced off their land because they had no real claim of it. Settlers would establish their towns on sites previously cleared by the Indians. The marriage of John Rolfe and Pocahontas was a rare and unique circumstance in the 1700s. The letter to Thomas Dale is a window to a period of uncertainty between the white settlers and the Native Indians in North America. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the importance of this letter and its effects to the society in the time period after it was written. John Rolfe’s decision to marry Pocahontas proved to be vital at the time. John Rolfe’s letter to Thomas Dale for approval on marrying the Indian Princess Pocahontas reflects on how much society in the early 1610s depended on such thing as intermarriage between a white man and an Indian woman to help keep peace between the white settlers and Native Indians in North America.
There are hundreds of Native American tribes and millions of people that are within North America that identify themselves as Native Americans. Each tribe has their own unique customs, language, and myths. However, within the confines of this paper I will take a broad view with regards to Native American customs and traditions from a small sample of tribes that were observed prior to the vast expansion of colonizing the west.
Throughout the course of history there have been numerous accounts regarding Native American and European interaction. From first contact to Indian removal, the interaction was somewhat of a roller coaster ride, leading from times of peace to mini wars and rebellions staged by the Native American tribes. The first part of this essay will briefly discuss the pre-Columbian Indian civilizations in North America and provide simple awareness of their cultures, while the second part of this essay will explore all major Native American contact leading up to, and through, the American Revolution while emphasizing the impact of Spanish, French, and English explorers and colonies on Native American culture and vice versa. The third, and final, part of this essay will explore Native American interaction after the American Revolution with emphasis on westward expansion and the Jacksonian Era leading into Indian removal. Furthermore, this essay will attempt to provide insight into aspects of Native American/European interaction that are often ignored such as: gender relations between European men and Native American women, slavery and captivity of native peoples, trade between Native Americans and European colonists, and the effects of religion on Native American tribes.
When European settlers arrived, they had a pre-decided vision of what women ought to behave like based on the European women, which the indigenous women didn’t align with. Indigenous women were comprehended and characterized in ambiguous and conflicting terms. They could firstly be viewed as “noble savages” where they were seen as classic Indian Princesses, virginal, childlike, naturally pure, beautiful, helpful to European men, and open and willing to
Before the westward expansion, the Ojibway people’s way of life was peaceful, respectful, and they prided themselves on their work ethic. They were one with nature living within the forest under the pine trees. Ojibway believed in taking and giving back respect to the forest ground. They admired what the forest had to offer and they “repay by honoring and respecting the living things in the forest: the animal people and the plant life which
Sex and gender play a big part in american society today and are often misconstrued. These two topics have become progressive as people are starting to express their gender and sexuality in ways other than what is and has been considered the norm. Many people believe that sexuality and gender are synonymous with one another. Gender is socially constructed while sex is biologically determined. In society’s past, Americans often strayed away from discussing controversial topics, but with the rise of different ways of addressing people, it is deemed more important to understand. Along with the blurred lines of gender and sex comes sexuality, who someone is attracted to sexually. When people stray from society’s heteronormative mindset, they are often faced with many more challenges than the average hetero man or woman. People often have the preconceived notion that if something does not concern them, then they should not be involved in it. A person who could be your neighbor, co worker, or even child, may have to deal with the troubles of people confusing their gender identity with their sex. While also facing challenges that deal with the sex of the person they choose to love. Learning the difference between gender and sexuality will open the eyes of many people and see how the two are different but relate to one another very much.
The Iroquois was a culture based on equality. The roles of men and women were different, but each gender shared an equal
They have freedom of marital choice and given their written contributions to Japanese society, have an intelligent wit and wisdom to share. For a brief moment in early Japanese history, these noble women contributed greatly to a complete change of national identity, Japan’s very sense of self, all the while they were also being kept secluded and apart from many other parts of socio-political interactions. These women, during a time when the Japanese were trying to throw off the Chinese influence and cultural trappings, helped create a culture so vast, elegant, and rigid that aspects of that culture have lasted for 1221 years, so far.
Post-war society in Japan caused a shift in society with the in the push for social and cultural change that caused many Japanese people to reconsider certain aspects of their life such as family and the workplace. These changes in particular, had not really developed fully until the end of the 21st century because of Japan’s delay in modernity. One of the problems Japan faces today is the rise of an older generation and the decline in birth rate. The cultural values of young adults in this generation including the rise of feminism, have resulted in some dramatic changes in the rights and responsibilities of women in the household, the current rise of nuclear families and the decline in marriages all together.
“Historically, like almost every culture on the planet, Japan has tended toward idealizing male dominance and female
Thus, more and more profound changes are taking place in the traditionally and social construction of gender roles according to sex, leading to a conception of the masculine and differentiated and hierarchical in terms of importance, according to which they were attributed to the man roles and responsibilities in the public domain, livelihoods, and results orientation, Competitiveness, and strength, and to women 's private, home-based and family-based roles, on the basis of In more emotional and relational characteristics