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Comparing and contrasting europeans and native americans
Comparing and contrasting europeans and native americans
Native american culture vs european culture
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Reflection Essay In the essay, Eating Christmas in the Kalahari, it displays how important understanding a culture can be. A simple misunderstanding by the anthropologist, Richard Borshay Lee, caused him to fear and to practically leave the !Kung people. By the end of the article, Lee’s explains how he begins to understand the !Kung culture and how they view themselves. By enriching his knowledge in the !Kung’s culture, he was able to understand the idea of generosity better. The key point of this article would be that Lee needed to understand the culture better to understand how they interacted with each other. By the !Kung Bushmen insulting the ox Lee had purchased, it was showing respect and how their culture functioned. “When a young
In John Barker’s Ancestral Lines, the author analyzes the Maisin people and their culture centered around customs passed from previous generations, as well as global issues that impact their way of living. As a result of Barker’s research, readers are able to understand how third world people can exist in an rapid increasing integrated system of globalization and relate it not only to their own society, but others like the Maisin; how a small group of indigenous people, who are accustomed to a modest regimen of labor, social exceptions, and traditions, can stand up to a hegemonic power and the changes that the world brings. During his time with these people the author was able to document many culture practices, while utilizing a variety of
Marjorie Shostak, an anthropologist who had written this book had studies the !Kung tribe for two years. Shostak had spent the two years interviewing the women in the society. The !Kung tribe resided n the Dobe area of Northwest Botswana, that’s infused with a series of clicks, represented on paper by exclamation points and slashes. Shostak had studied that the people of the tribe relied mostly on nuts of the mongongo, which is from an indigenous tree that’s part of their diet.
the symbol of honesty in the native culture. Herb’s first impression of the Native culture,
In the book titled Around the World in 30 Years, Barbara Gallatin Anderson’s makes a precise and convincing argument regarding the acts of being a cultural anthropologist. Her humor, attention to detail, and familiar analogies really allow for a wholesome and educating experience for the reader. Her credible sources and uniform writing structure benefits the information. Simply, the book represents an insider’s look into the life of a cultural anthropologist who is getting the insider’s look to the lives of everybody
The Return to Laughter is a fictionalized account by Elenore Smith Bowen about her experiences with the Tiv culture in Africa. It describes her struggles to learn and understand the local culture and beliefs, and juxtaposes her own conflicts, morals and beliefs. Bowen engages in what anthropologists termed participant-observation. The anthropologist made a few mistakes that provided revelations about herself and the Tiv people. Language difficulties provide the greatest barrier: as when the researcher is trying to understand the context of the conversation, while still struggling with the intricacy of a difficult language. Secondly, like most anthropologists Bowen knew that social relationships are a research requirement: informants are needed, yet she quickly realized that identification with one family, status or group in the society could hinder other critical relationships. These lessons are among a few that the anthropologist seeks to overcome. This essay will discuss that culture and language are dependent on each other and how forming social relationships can propel research and reveal insightful knowledge into a culture, while possibly hindering other useful information.
Chinua Achebe ,who is one of the most eminent post-colonial writers, readers can predict what this novel is going to talk about. This book is mostly concerned with the coming of imperialism to a tribe called “ Igbo” in Africa and its social complexity. When I first read this book , I see a lot of similarities and differences in comparison to “Fasting , Feasting”, which particularly focuses on life in India after the period of colonialism. Anita Dasai , the author, is also a remarkable post-colonial writer so I decided to discuss about the similarities and differences of both books. This paper is going to point out 2 major subjects which these novels share the similarities and differences.The first is the attitudes of native towards the colonizer including the outcomes of cultural clash and second, life of women in both societies.
The !Kung San of the Kalahari Desert are one of the most highly researched groups by anthropologists. They refer to themselves as the Zhun/twasi, which means, “the real people”. The !Kung San people inhabit Southern Africa, and are commonly referred to as Bushmen. Being that the !Kung San are a nomadic people; their bands are usually only seen as being fairly low in population. These people, who also inhabit parts of Zimbabwe, Botswana, Angola, Swaziland, and Mozambique, have a fascinating lifestyle due to the hostile environment that the Kalahari offers (Bushmen, 2011).
It is hard to believe that tribal societies can have a better life than the luxurious modern wealthy societies. In the book Tribe, Sebastian Junger stresses on the deterioration of mental health in modern wealthy societies, which is caused from the loss of people interacting with each other as a community. Unlike the modern wealthy societies, Junger utilizes tribal communities to show how being active within the community can promote mental stability. The author uses the !Kung tribe as evidence to compare the difference in mental health to the modern wealthy societies. The !Kung tribe is a nomadic group of people who lived in the Kalahari desert. The tribe work extremely close together in order to survive. Since each member is reliant on one
Among the many cultures in Africa, one of the most well known cultures would be the Kung San. The Kung San are a very unique culture and are the most studied foraging society in the world. As with numerous other cultures around the world, the Kung San are faced with many problems. But one problem the Kung San don't face is that of being a nonentity, partially because of the popularized view of the Kung San shown in the movie The Gods Must Be Crazy.
Gordon accurately depicts the varied and vibrant Asian culture, by showing the reader this world instead of simply describing it. Each of the men whom Gordon uses to tell the story undertakes expeditions which are mixed with hardships and triumphs. The varied spectrum of Asian cultures is covered. Readers will find Gordon’s take on tackling this topic fresh and straightforward.
Ruth Benedict’s anthropological book, Patterns of Culture explores the dualism of culture and personality. Benedict studies different cultures such as the Zuni tribe and the Dobu Indians. Each culture she finds is so different and distinctive in relation to the norm of our society. Each difference is what makes it unique. Benedict compares the likenesses of culture and individuality, “A culture, like an individual, is a more or less consistent pattern of thought or action” (46), but note, they are not the same by use of the word, “like.” Benedict is saying that figuratively, cultures are like personalities. Culture and individuality are intertwined and dependent upon each other for survival.
Watching The Hunters provided the ability to visually make observations of life and culture of the indigenous band society the !Kung Bushmen in the Kalahari Desert in South West Africa. There are some estimates that only 250,000 hunter/gatherer people today still live by this subsistence strategy throughout the world. Though, it is unlikely in today’s time that there are many (if any) of these clans that have been untouched by some aspect of “modern” times.
“The Rain Came” by a renowned African writer Grace Ogot, is a story developed on the background of cultural reality of the people called ‘Luo” in Kenya. She has tried to picture out the traditional culture of African people prior the European civilization influenced it. The story enlightens us how traditional people blindly believed in baseless and rootless practices without any judgment of rationality of their activities. Their faith in myths and reverence towards their ancestors who are no more on the earth is greater than their lives. They are ready to sacrifice their beloved ones and to be sacrificed but can not go against the faiths they have been adopting for long. Similarly, the story is attempting to reveal and show the cruel and selfish stain smeared in human heart to grin even in others’ trouble if it benefits them.
Description: I had an opportunity of visiting a village fair held in our neighboring village on the occasion of Bengali New Year’s Day. It took place around a large banyan tree. I went to the fair along with two of my cousins. We found hundreds of booths, stalls and tents in the fields around the big banyan tree. I came to know that the traders, craftsmen and other interested people come to the place the previous day. People of all walks of life rushed to the fair. There was an ear-deafening bustle of the crowd all around. There were a great variety go goods such as toy’s, dolls, earthen wares, fluted balloons, baskets, imitation ornaments etc. in the fair. Foods of all kinds were also available in the
In the novel The River between, Ngugi give a good account of the effects that colonialism had on the Kikuyu people. Ngugi goes on to demonstrate how the ideas of the modern Christian-European ways come into conflict with those of the traditional Kikuyu people and how for the Kikuyu, maintaining these traditions mean more than just following the path of their ancestors, but also about maintaining their identity as a people. Ngugi shows the complications and obstacles that arise when people on both sides fail to unit for a common cause and are unable to adapt and evolve their way of thinking to form a new way that benefits all.