Language Blog Post

Part 1

I found that this experiment was a bit difficult but more easy than anything. It was difficult at parts because I am used to using my voice to explain things and basically talk but not using it was very weird. It was easy as well because I always use my body, and hands to help describe things am talking about or trying to explain. They were confused at first with what I was trying to tell them but as I kept going on using my hands and body they started to catch on. They tried there best make it work through the whole 15 minutes we were doing this, but found it to be hard to keep going and guessing what am trying to tell them. I would say that the speaking culture has a definite advantage than the non-speaking culture. The speaking culture might try to help the non-speaking culture understand what they are saying by speaking slower and clearer to them by emphasizing the pronunciation of some words.

Part 2

            In this experiment I was able to last through the whole 15 minutes but it was very hard for me. The difficulty of this part was not being able to use my body or hands or even a piece of paper to help write down what I was talking about because I am used to using my body, hands and paper when talking and trying to explain things. My partners found it easy in a way but also hard. It was easy because this time I was able to use my voice to talk to them, but when I was trying to explain something to them they kept asking to write it down or draw it on a piece of paper, but I couldn’t do that so it was hard when they didn’t understand me even though I was using my voice. I would say that non-speech language is also very important along with spoken language because it helps us go beyond our voice of explaining things to people we are talking to. I think there are a lot of people who can’t read body language that well than others can. I would say the benefit of understanding body language is a good one because you can tell what people are talking about not only by there voice but how there body goes along with it and it makes it easier to understand the person.

Part 3

            I think if we were able to use written language in part 1 to go along with everything else would have been easier because its another way we talk other than our body and hands and it would have just helped out a lot throughout the 15 minutes. The advantage of written language is a great advantage to the culture who developed and uses it because they passed down something of there’s to everyone else and now it’s used everywhere. The impact of written language throughout the globe has been a great impact. People have another way of talking rather than using there voice. If they cant find the words to say they can write it down and that’s how we got books, magazines and other forms of written language throughout the globe.

Environmental Adaptations, Zulu and Andean Indians population

Population A: Zulu

            The Zulu tribe lived in inland regions that were mainly cold and filled with thunderstorms. In the daytime the temperature would be up to 28 degrees Celsius, and by night time it dropped to 11 degrees Celsius. The thunderstorms were very frightening to the Zulu tribe that they didn’t do any work, any talking, and any cooking because they thought doing all that would attract the lightening to them. The physical adaptation throughout the Zulu tribe is the men were the leaders for everything. They took on most of the roles around the land and the women just had to respect and bow to that. They are self sufficient and separated by gender when it comes to working on the land. Women take care of domestic responsibilities while the men take care of defending the homestead. A cultural adaptation would be that some of the Zulu people live in rural communities but also some have migrated to urban areas. Even so, they remain strong and have a mixture of western and traditional ways that are seen throughout the Zulu people. As a race I would say that the Zulu tribe is like the Mexican American race. There religion goes back to believing in a god and ancestors as well. They incorporate these gods and ancestors in there daily routines and lives everyday. The physical and cultural adaptations are different from the race I chose for the Zulu tribe because as a Mexican race there is not just one person running the household, everyone contributes in one way and that’s working together. Although believing in a god and ancestors is like the Mexican race and heritage, the women never had to bow down to what the men say. Looking back at the physical and cultural approaches the Zulu people have, as an anthropologist, the cultural aspects of the tribe would be a more useful approach to learning about the tribe and what they do.

www.photius.com/countries/south_africa/society/south_africa_society_zulu.html

www.everyculture.com/wc/rwanda-to-syria/zulu.html

The Zulu men working on the crops as they are said to do.

Population B: Andean Indians (Native American)

            The Andean Indians lived mainly in the mountains. The lowlands were very hot and they had heavy rainfall that supported the dense forest. A physical adaptation would be that the men took on most of the roles, like the farming with the extensive number of crops to be planted and grown. Most of the transportation was done on foot with no animals to help carry the food. For long trips they had canoes to travel them to island to island. A cultural adaption with the Andean Indians is that they have chiefs to run the villages, whether it was small or big. The chiefs were men brought down from generation to generation. When one passes away the next son was to be the leader of the village. As a race, I would say that the Andean Indians are like the Mexican American race. The Andean Indians were religious just like the Mexican heritage having there own religion and beliefs, believing in there own gods and having rituals that they go through. There beliefs are used throughout there everyday life and daily routines. Just like the Mexican race, a lot of the Andean Indians had migrated in many places to better there life’s. There whole village was run by one chief where as the Mexican race only had gods everyone believed in not just one place or person. As an anthropologist, it would be useful to look at the race between the Andean Indians and the Mexican American race because there are many similarities between the two than differences to look at.

www.britannica.com/ebchecked/topic/102247/central-american-and-northern-andean-indian

An Andean Indian chief that would run a whole village whether it be small or large.

Cultural Descriptions, Part A and Part B Questions

1. Dissatisfaction-Paragraph 4, lines 1-3, "The fundamental belief underlying the whole system appears to be that the human body is ugly and that its natural tendency is to debility and disease. Incarcerated in such a body, man's only hope is to avert these characteristics through the use of ritual and ceremony"
In this paragraph Miner is describing to us that the Nacirema believe that to them, there whole body is not beautiful, its ugly to them. They put themselves through many different types of rituals that are very harmful, painful, and almost torturous to them just to make the body more appealing.
2. Trauma-Paragraph 11, lines 4-8, "The holy-mouth-man opens the client's mouth and, using the above mentioned tools, enlarges any holes which decay may have created in the teeth. Magical materials are put into these holes. If there are no naturally occurring holes in the teeth, large sections of one or more teeth are gouged out so that the supernatural substance can be applied".
What they call "the Holy-mouth-man, is what we would call a dentist fixing our teeth if there's a problem with them and making them perfect. In there case there is no problem with there teeth but with such a fascination of the whole entire mouth they use these rituals to make the mouth perfect even if there's no problem what so ever. The thought of  loosing any teeth is what leads them to go through these rituals.
3. Showpiece-Paragraph 15, lines 1-4, "The supplicant entering the temple is first stripped of all his or her clothes. In everyday life the Nacirema avoids exposure of his body and its natural functions. Bathing and excretory acts are performed only in the secrecy of the household shrine, where they are ritualized as part of the body-rites".
Men and women are stripped of there clothes in order to enter the temple and go through with the ritual. It is a shock to wives or husbands to see there loved ones full body exposed because they don't show there bodies, they keep it all covered up from each other. In other words, they are put in front of certain people as to be some sort of, Showpiece, to them.
4. Discomfort-Paragraph 16, lines 3-6, "The vestals awaken their miserable charges each dawn and roll them about on their beds of pain while performing ablutions, in the formal movements of which the maidens are highly trained. At other times they insert magic wands in the supplicant's mouth or force him to eat substances which are supposed to be healing"
There beds are not comfortable, mostly hard and painful. They could be very well to were that's all they can do but lie on the beds until they are awaken and have someone come to them ad have them go through more rituals that are said to be healing to the human body.
5. Reliance-Paragraph 17, lines 4-6, "The patient simply tells the "listener" all his troubles and fears, beginning with the earliest difficulties he can remember. The memory displayed by the Nacirema in these exorcism sessions is truly remarkable".
The "listener" is simply to us like a therapist, someone you can tell everything to and have some of trust with them. To them talking to the "listener" is just another ritual to get rid of all the exorcisms and bad memories that someone may have gone through when they were growing up or when they were really young.

Cultural Descriptions, Part B
1. I feel that my descriptive words fit right for the article.
2. On my part i don't feel like the words i chose are to be to used as ethnocentrism because the words i chose are none different from the Nacirema and American cultures. They don't exhibit any judgement towards any of the rituals or behaviors being described in the article or by the words i chose nor do they exhibit anything bias towards the Nacirema, but one. All the words i chose are not bias in any way, but one of them, because as us Americans, we experience the same things. There rituals are like every day things to us. We look at ourselves in the mirror and may see some dissatisfaction with our face or entire body and we may want to fix that. We go through types of trauma that can be hurtful and shocking to us. We go through discomfort or pain in our bodies so we take medicine to help that just like the Nacirema would do when they were awoke from there hard beds. We like to rely on people that we can trust, talk to and get help from. I would say that the word, showpiece, i chose is bias and judgemental in a way because we don't purposely show people off in front of everyone just to do it, we don't force them in any way to do so. The fact i chose this word is judgemental towards the Nacirema because am judging a ritual of there's that they do everyday.
3. The word showpiece can be switched with the word, expose, and not be bias in any way because in both cultures, the Nacirema and American, do expose ourselves out there but in own will.
4. In this experience, it is best to avoid being judgemental because you shouldn't just judge something right off the bat even if you have some background about it. It's best to learn more about it and know the complete reason why. It is important to describe another culture free from bias as possible as you can in a good manner because the way other cultures do things may seem bad or wrong but its not best to judge that right away. As an anthropologist, it is possible to avoid being bias but we may use words or say things that are bias and judgemental but its nothing out of hate or looking bad upon when we say or do things.