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American and Chinese cultural differences
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In “Eating Christmas in the Kalahari” we are given an inside view of what a social anthropologist experienced while celebrating a tradition in another culture. In American culture Christmas is celebration of God, spending time with family members, and giving gifts to one another. On the other hand, in the Bushmen’s tradition they gather the biggest ox to offer to their people, and have a celebration. As a man from a different culture, Lee wanted to give the Bushmen’s one of the largest ox he could find in order to show his appreciation, and thank everyone for welcoming him into their land. After he gives the people a big ox he is taunted, and put down for not having a larger ox. He was told he was being inconsiderate to the people for not getting a large one that could feed everyone in the land. …show more content…
He asked one his close Bushmen friend’s to explain the reasons as to why the other Bushmen treated him badly. Moral of the story, in the Bushmen’s culture it is okay to make fun, and belittle one another when it comes to providing food and other life essentials. The reason these men do such taunting is to make the individual become more humble. In America, people tend to inflate their ego, and have a sense that they are better than anyone else if they can do something someone else cannot. Humility is what the Bushmen want to establish in their culture, and anyone who comes along to join them. In their eyes everyone should be treated equally. So, although Lee did provide a good enough of an ox for the Bushmen, he learned that no matter how much we provide for someone we should not feel entitled or expect anything in
Lee had supreme confidence in his army, and believed that it could accomplish whatever he asked of it. This confidence sometimes led him to ask too much, such as in the case of Picket’s charge during the battle of Gettysburg. In Lee’s mind he was first and foremost a Christian, and a gentleman. These facts, although not bad, certainly caused Lee to be less aggressive, and to fight the war in a very old-fashioned manner. This was not so with Grant, who seemed to believe in a more modern type of total warfare. Perhaps because this war, as many contend, was the first modern war, it was impossible for the South, and it’s leaders to adapt to the situation.
Consuming Grief: Compassionate Cannibalism in an Amazonian Society is an interested and well written ethnography on the Wari’ people. Beth A. Conklin goes above and beyond her call and does the Wari’ people justice by explaining their side of the story to the world that turned a cold shoulder on them for their norms. Consuming Grief helps to open the eyes of its readers to differing cultures and not to judge them on first looks. Beth A. Conklin shows tolerance and acceptance towards the Wari’ norms even if she did not agree with them. Tolerance should be extended towards all cultures around the world, everyone has their own norms and styles and each should be accepted and viewed as if it was a norm in one’s own culture.
The film Ongka’s Big Moka is about a Big Man named Ongka of the Kawelka tribe in Papua New Guinea. Being the Big Man of the tribe Ongka reasures his status by arranging a Moka ceremony. In this film we see the process of a Moka that takes up to 5 years of preparation. We follow Ongka’s struggles and successes of accumulating the number of pigs in preparation for the ceremony. The film allows us to understand the motives and functions of a Moka, provides topics that have been discussed in class, and relate this culture to a similar institution within the United States.
believed his army was invincible. One of his officers Jeb Stewart went on a wild goose chase, he was sospost to inform Lee but didnt. Lee had no eyes and ears to tell him what was going on.
Blount takes the reader through the life of Robert E. Lee. However, Blount dances to a different beat while telling the story of Lee. There are some details about Lee that have been overlooked or ignored by other writers that Blount made prominent in this biography. One of these is Lee’s humor when it comes to the word “Pussyism” (57). This word was used when referring to the Oxford movement in the Church of England. Lee walked into conservation between two junior officers and declared, “Beware of Pussyism! Pussyism is always bad, and may lead to unchristian feeling; therefore beware of Pussyism!”(58). Lee is brought alive into the readers mind by this type of humor.
In Barre Toelken’s essay “Seeing with a Native Eye: How Many Sheep Will It Hold?”, the ways in which one culture perceives another and the criteria used to make judgements are explored. Toelken states “I think I can say something about how differently we see things, envision things, look at things, how dissimilarly different cultures try to process the world of reality” (10-11). In essence, Toelken is alluding to how different cultures will interpret their experiences and rituals according to their own set of beliefs and practices. This complicates situations in which the experiences or rituals are not comparable across cultural lines; someone will always be missing an aspect or a significant purpose if they do not try to “see it as much as possible with the ‘native eye’” (12). In other words, one must immerse themselves in the culture they are analyzing, while not comparing it to their own cultural experiences. One must consider all the cultural implications of that specific culture when wondering why things are done a certain way. Toelken provides
General Lee knows that we have inexperienced men and aims at improving the quality of the troops. He upgrades the quality by tightening command and discipline, improving morale, and convincing the soldiers that the confederacy was in full command of the situation. Lee knew that we are lacking, and devised initiatives to nullify the Union’s superiority in manpower, armaments, and supply by destroying their prearranged plans.
Hämäläinen goes on to explain that his purpose is to trace and analyze the contradictions of the Plains Indians’ horse culture, rather than just condemning it as something baleful, which many historians tend to do. Hämäläinen also refutes the common eastern farmer-western nomad manner of analyzing Plains equestrianism, in which there is “a tendency to cast the villagers as cultural reactionaries who failed to embrace the liberating powers of equestrianism and, locked in space and time, were crushed by the double invasion of the aggressive nomads and the encroaching Americans,” (Hämäläinen, 2) and instead proposes that Plains horse culture is understood from a latitudinal --rather than longitudinal-- viewpoint, since horse culture spread from the south, northwards. It is also explained that the latitudinal spread of equestrianism gave rise to the creation of markedly diverse horse cultures, vary...
Greed is a large part of the American culture whether we realize it as a society or not. Many countries around the world view the United States as a selfish country that does what it wants on a global scale, and does not share or allocate its predominate wealth. I am very thankful and proud to be a citizen of this country. Even though I would risk my life to protect our country and its freedom, there are aspects about our civilization that I wish could be different. Black Elk, “a holy man and a warrior of the Lakota Nation Indians,” was a member of the Oglala Sioux tribe during the most horrific period for Native Americans in the Western part of the United States. In excerpts from the novel of his life story Black Elk Speaks, he is able to relate the differences in the ways of life from his people and the white settlers. Although he lived in the late 1800s, he is able to make reference to issues that are relevant to us today. His observations display issues such as human bonds, ethics, economics, and politics. He describes how the excessive acquisitiveness of one society led to the cultural displacement of another.
In all revolutions, men and women emerge throughout nations to defy governments, and to bring about change across their country. Many direct their people to challenge what they believe to be an unjust regime. However sometimes those in charge lead, not for the good of their fellow countrymen and revolutionaries, but for their personal benefit they are able to receive through their abetment. One example of such was Major General Charles Lee, second in command of the Continental Army, who at first had been seen as a huge contributor to American Liberty. Though experienced in battle, Lee revealed to be not only a disagreeable and an uncooperative individual, but a traitor to the American people, when he believed all hope was lost.
The colonization of civilizations has changed the world’s history forever. From the French, Spaniard, and down to the English, have changed cultures, traditions, religions, and livelihoods of other societies. The Native Americans, for example, were one of the many civilizations that were conquered by the English. The result was their ways of life based on nature changed into the more “civilized” ways of the colonists of the English people. Many Native Americans have lost their old ways and were pulled into the new “civilized” ways. Today only a small amount of Native American nations or tribes exist in remote areas surviving following their traditions. In the book Ceremony, a story of a man named Tayo, did not know himself and the world around him but in the end found out and opened his eyes to the truth. However the Ceremony’s main message is related not only to one man but also to everything and everyone in the world. It is a book with the message that the realization of oneself will open the eyes to see what is truth and false which will consequently turn to freedom.
These injustices are first present when Lee feels powerless when he arrives at the pig farm, owned by white men. The white men use their high ranking in the society to gain power over non-white people. For example, Lee and Andries, who are both black, wait in a line for a very long time to purchase crackling and when they finally arrive at the front of the line they are treated with disrespect. Lee addresses the white man politely by saying
the story in the Phillip Whitten and David E. K. Hunter anthropology book of No
Parents and adults transmit their culture, for the purpose of its perpetuation and preservation, by demonstrating culturally relevant routines, practices and concepts to teach a principle to the children (Miller 1/24/2018). Adults shape children for success as defined by their culture by teaching them about what is culturally acceptable in terms of diet, religion, social interaction and daily life (Lenkeit 2011: 31). Biologically, humans are able to perpetuate culture in this way because of their ability to speak and talk. Humans, unlike most other animals, have the perfect combination of enormous brains with specialized centers of speech, vocal cords that sit in just the right place, a mouth, and a muscly tongue that is capable of forming sounds and words (Miller 1/24/2018). The Nenet adults of Russia transmit the custom of eating raw reindeer meat by demonstrating for foreigners and their freshly weaned babies how to pick up the bloody bones in an effort to engage and introduce them to the culture. Eating raw reindeer meat is one way the Nenet culturally celebrate an event or a person, thus by teaching their babies, they are transmitting information on this piece of their culture and preserving this specific tradition (Pavlova 1991: 30-31). The rituals of the Nacierma people of the North American continent take place in family shrines inside their homes, and are private, secret, individual practices that are only transmitted and taught to children through demonstration and discussion on the use and beliefs behind their shrines when the children are being initiated. The parents transmit their personal knowledge and shrine habits to their children so that they may too partake in their sacred and private rituals, thus preserving the practices of their culture (Miner 1956:
As an expression of gratitude towards the !Kung Bushmen and there families for there cooperation, Ontah purchased the largest meatiest ox he could find for the Christmas festivities. After living with the !Kung Bushmen for three years, with experience and observation of the Tswana-Herrero custom of slaughtering an ox for Christmas, makes it apparent that Ontah’s ox was not the choice of a novice.