Yanomamo Tribe

The Yanomamo My name is Eric Dunning and this is my proposal to go and study the Yanomamo tribe in the rain forests of Brazil. I have compiled a historical outline of the Yanomamo tribe and some of their religion and culture, ranging from marital status to the type of food they eat. I have chosen this tribe because according to many anthropologists the Yanomamo are perhaps the last culture to have come in contact with the modern world. The Yanomamo people of Central Brazil are one of the oldest examples of the classic pre-Columbian forest footmen. The Yanomamo live in almost complete seclusion in the Amazon rain forests of South America. The Yanomamo live in small bands or tribes and live in round communal huts called shabonos, which are actually made up of individual living quarters. The Yanomamo language consists of a variety of dialect, but no real written language. Clothes are minimal, and much of their daily life revolves around gardening, hunting, gathering, making crafts and visiting with one another. These small tribes hold their men in high ranks. Chiefs are always men who are held responsible for the general knowledge and safety of the group's women. The men are able to beat their wives if they feel the need to and are able to marry more than one woman at a time. This loose form of polygamy is a way of increasing the population of the tribe. Yanomamo people rely heavily on a system of political alliances based upon relationship. As part of that system, they have incorporated a complex feasting and trading system into their culture. One of these methods of forming political alliances is feasting. Feasting is when one village invites another village for a feast or dinner. During the feast there is a lot of social activity. The Yanomamo dance and mingle with each other along with eating a different variety of foods. The only catch is the other village must reciprocate a feast by one village. This feast is more like an American dinner party in which members of family or social group invite others to attend. A feast however can be dangerous and or fatal for those who attend. The Yanomamo can be very conniving and deceiving. They pretend to be loyal friends and invite the other village for a feast. The other very village very trustfully attends the feast not knowing that this might be their last meal. After the feast when the guests are helplessly resting in their hammocks they are attacked and brutally beaten to death. The Yanomamo live in a constant state of warfare with other tribes and even within their own groups. Marriages are often arranged according to performances of one's relatives in battles. Ideal marriages are thought to consist of cross cousin marriages and the males of the family and the religious leaders of the tribe perform all marriages. In addition to their strong kinship ties, political alliances and thirst for revenge, the Yanomamo have a detailed religion, based on the use of hallucinogenic drugs and the telling of mythical tales. The religious beliefs of the Yanomamo are quite complex. According to Yanomamo wise men, there are four levels of reality. Through them, the Yanomamo believe that things tend to fall or descend downward to a lower layer is demonstrated. The uppermost layer of the four is thought to be pristine and tender. It is called duku ka misi and the Yanomamo believe that many things originated in this area. This layer does not play much of a role in the everyday life of the Yanomamo. It is considered to be just there, once having some vague function. The next layer down is called hedu ka misi and is known as the sky layer. The top surface is supposedly invisible, but is believed to be similar to earth. It has trees, gardens, villages, animals, plants and most importantly, the souls of the deceased. These souls are said to be similar to mortals because they garden, eat and sleep. Everything that exists on earth is said to have a counterpart on this level. The bottom surface of the layer is said to be what the Yanomamo on earth actually see: the visible sky. Stars and planets are attached to this bottom surface and move across it on their individual trails. Humans, or Yanomamo, dwell on what is called this layer, otherwise called hei ka misi. This layer was created when a chunk of hedu broke off and fell down. This layer has jungles, hills, animals, plants and people who are slightly different, variants of the Yanomamo who speak a dialect of Yanomamo that is crooked, or wrong. Finally, there is the surface below this layer which is formally called hei ta bebi, which the Yanomamo say is almost barren. They believe a variant of the Yanomamo live here. These people originated a long time ago when a piece of hedu broke off, crashed down to this layer, creating a hole and eventually falling through to become it's own layer. Here, they have no game animals and have ruthless cannibals. They send their spirits up to this layer to capture the souls of children, which are carried down and eaten. In some Yanomamo villages, the shamans contend with the people on the bottom layer, attempting to discourage their cannibalistic ways. In recent years, the influence of gold miners, lumber companies and missions have altered traditional Yanomamo life. Some Yanomamo have become fluent in Spanish and have become Christians. Others have developed relationships with miners or lumberjacks and have entered the cash economy. The introduction of rifles and other western devices have influenced the way the Yanomamo live. Western diseases and medical methods have made the Yanomamo dependant on missions to survive. In my quest to learn more from the Yanomamos I will need to bring a suffice amount of supplies. Sense the language can vary I will need a book on different languages preferably a Spanish dictionary, considering that to be the most spoken language. I will also need a tape recorder to record all the variations of dialect so that I can decipher them later. A Polaroid camera will be needed to make exchanges with the Yanomamo. I give them pictures of themselves and they in turn help me to understand their culture better and faster than without means of trade. A large food supply will be needed for I don't know how long it will take to have studied these people and have gotten a good inside look at their everyday life. As far as clothing I hope to fit in as much as possible and not stand out so if that means wearing the standard cloth from my bed than I will. I hope to contribute much of my knowledge to them as I hope they will to me. I think that my knowledge on medicine and engineering can help them to build stronger dwellings able to withstand the Amazon rain forests weather. I would also like to teach them simple first aid and give them simple medical supplies so that they can live through the spreading Western diseases that make there way to the Yanomamo. Perhaps even introduce some sports from the American culture, knowing that the Yanomamo people are and aggressive tribe I should probably not teach them really competitive sports, as long as I want to stay alive. I want to contibute to the Yanomamo because hopefully they will contribute to me and we can learn from one another, without ruining the beliefs and original culture of the tribe.

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Western Medicine's Impact On The Traditional Beliefs Of

The people of the Kandoka village, located in Papua New Guinea, have quite a unique way of life that differs from that of Western civilization in several ways. They are essentially a simple society based on subsistence horticulture and occasional hunting. With a population of approximately four hundred people, the Kandoka village is the largest of the five coastal villages of Lusi-Kaliai speakers. Travel between these different communities is achieved by foot or sea and usually requires a substantial amount of time. This can be quite problematic in cases of medical emergency. Although a registered nurse is located at an Aid Post a few miles from the village, more serious cases are often referred to hospitals quite far away. The Kaliai have now been in contact with Western culture for over a century and with Western medicine for almost fifty years. They have still managed to maintain their strong cultural beliefs and practices while at the same time integrating certain aspects of Western culture into theirs. In this essay I will discuss how the availability of Western medicine has affected how the Kaliai perceive and explain causes of illness and methods of treatment, when they seek this type of treatment, and how they explain and deal with it's failure. I will then proceed to comment on how and when traditional treatment is exercised and what happens if this method fails. The information used in the discussions is provided in a series of case histories documented by Drs. Dorothy and David Counts. It is from these cases we find that the people of the Kandoka village have generally accepted Western medicine and use it in varying combinations with traditional practices. Western Medicine's Impact on Perceptions of Illness With the introduction of Western medicine into the Kandoka village came new ways of explaining illness and providing treatment. Contact with Western missionaries had established a great deal of respect for their culture through both their kindness and their exciting different way of life. When Western medicine became available near by at a relatively low cost the Kaliai experimented with these new methods of treatment. This new system of health care differs from traditional Kaliai care in that it is based more so on scientific facts and discoveries. Illness and disease are diagnosed according to what symptoms the victim possesses. Once the diagnosis is established the associated treatment is administered. From the information presented in the case histories it does not appear that the Kaliai were unwilling to seek aid from Western medical care providers. Several of the victims mentioned in the cases sought advice and treatment provided by Westerners. In the majority of situations this was even the first avenue explored by them. Such was the case with Paul, Tina, Nathan, Bruno and Christy. It generally appeared that this method of treatment was selected over traditional medicine especially when symptoms were recognized as being similar to ones that had been cured through Western medicine in the past. Examples of this involve the infection of Paul's thumb, Tina's high fever, and Nathan's swollen face. Shortly after the symptoms appeared, Paul approached the Counts for first-aid treatment. With this infection continuing to worsen, his next action was to travel to the mission clinic to see if they could heal him. In Tina's case her parents wanted to take her to the Health Centre but bad weather prevented them from travelling there. They, like Paul, then approached the anthropologists for help. In Nathan's situation he was administered treatment at the Kaliai Health Centre and was then paid a visit by the Counts. The anthropologists, and their pills, were credited with predicting the time of his recovery and with his cure. These cases suggest a high level of confidence in Western medicine's ability to heal. Unfortunately, in Paul's case he was unable to get to a better medical facility in time and ended up needing to have his thumb amputated. Drs. Dorothy and David Counts were often consulted both because of their close proximity and because they were highly respected by the villagers. The other common place travelled to for treatment was the Kaliai Health Centre staffed by trained nurses. Although the people of the Kandoka village hold a generally positive opinion of Western medicine there were some instances in which this type of treatment was perceived to have failed. The most obvious example indicating this relates to Bruno's sudden death. The boy's family took him to the medical centre where he was diagnosed with symptoms consistent with malaria. The nurse there did everything she could to try and save him but his body was unable to fight the illness. This was perceived a failure not only because he died but also because his family was unable to accept that Bruno could have contracted the disease and were unfamiliar with the treatment he received. A similar conclusion was drawn in Christy's case. The nurse claimed that her retardation was the result of cerebral meningitis as a child. The Kaliai could not understand this and therefore looked for an alternative way of explaining what had happened to her. What was found in both cases was discovered to relate to traditional medical explanations. Kaliai Traditional Medical Beliefs The Kaliai's traditional beliefs relating to illness and healing have been culturally embedded into every member of society over countless generations. The Kaliai are highly spiritual people who believe in the presence of powerful extra-human intelligent spirits. Certain members within the village are known to practice sorcery and witchcraft. These people have the ability to cast spells and inflict harm on others. The reverse is also true for they are often approached by the ill or injured seeking a cure for their ailment. The Kaliai hold enormous respect for the spiritual world. An example of this relates to the case of Michael and Melissa and their disrespect to the 'masalai' (bush spirit) in their garden. The villagers unanimously agree that their child, Wanlek, was born deformed as a direct result of them cutting down the tree and enraging the spirit within. No thought was given to the fact that the malformation may have been the result of any number of other variables. Insufficient data is provided in the cases, but it is possible the birth defect was caused by inbreeding due to the small population of the village, random mutation, or the use of alcohol or some other harmful substance during Melissa's pregnancy. Another case relating to the spiritual world involved the young infant Tina. The child's sudden and mysterious illness seemed unaffected by Western medicine, which prompted her mother to take her to another woman in the village for traditional treatment. The woman, Cookie, decided it was necessary to contact the spirit of ginger to determine what was wrong with Tina. With the assistance of Leo, who was known to be on good terms with the spirit, they concluded that her recently deceased uncle had possession of her spirit and was unwilling to give it back. This conclusion allowed Cookie to perform a ritual to pull Tina's spirit back to her body. Miraculously, the child made a full recovery shortly thereafter. This case further reinforces the Kaliai's great respect for powerful spirits and the supernatural and their ability the inflict harm upon or heal somebody. In addition to the spiritual world, the people of Kandoka also use sorcery and witchcraft as a way of explaining why people become ill. The case histories of Christy and Paul provide evidence of this. The following discusses how Christy's condition was ultimately explained according to the Kaliai. It is believed that when she was two years old her spirit became trapped in the kisinga (protective spell) of a well-known sorcerer. Her spirit's prolonged entrapment is said to be what caused her retardation. Villagers accused Christy's parents of thoughtlessly allowing her to come to close to this powerful sorcerer in the first place and then again by not approaching Bou and asking him to release her spirit sooner. A similar explanation was used to account for Paul's injury and subsequent severe infection. Western medical attempts to heal his thumb had not appeared to have any effect on his condition. He is believed to have been a victim of the iha aimata 'fish eye' magical lock placed upon a house under which he sought shelter during a storm. His inability to recognize this cause and seek the owner of the house's aid in breaking the spell quickly are the reasons used to justify him still requiring amputation. As mentioned earlier, Bruno's family searched for another way of explaining the young boy's tragic death. Sorcery was the explanation they found. A ritual ceremony was performed in which the ghost of Bruno appeared to identify the person who had brought him his poison. It was discovered that his father was responsible because Bruno had come into contact with some material that his father had sorcerized. Bertha, another resident of the Kandoka village, and her husband Lawrence were suspected to be the victims of witchcraft. Another woman, furious that she could not marry Lawrence, maliciously contaminated him by mixing her menstrual blood with something he ingested. This is said to be the cause of his tuberculosis and subsequently Bertha's through her contact with her husband. The information discussed above deals with how and when traditional methods are used to define and cure illness. Although there is only a limited number of cases in question, a pattern seems to have developed. It appears that the Kaliai will in most cases attempt using Western medicine first and resort to traditional beliefs of the spiritual world or sorcery when the Western methods fail to cure them or provide an acceptable cause of an illness, deformity, or death. Not enough information exists, so I can only tentatively state that when the circumstances surrounding the time and location of the illness seem suspicious, the Kaliai are more likely to turn to traditional sources of explaining events. Wanlek and Christy's parents, as well as Paul, were all aware in advance of the presence of powerful spirits and sorcerers, which likely made it easier to find an explanation as to what happened after the fact. It is because traditional medicine is generally approached after Western medicine that it is harder for the Kaliai to explain what happened when it fails. One explanation for why their traditional method did not work involves Paul. Loa's attempt to cure him was unsuccessful therefore it was claimed that he had waited too long to seek her assistance. Similarly, Christy's retardation is said not to have been the result of her spirit being caught in Bou's kisinga but because it remained inside for so long. The people of the Kandoka village have accepted Western medicine into their way of life. This new form of medical treatment is founded on a much more rigid foundation of diagnosis and scientific cure than their traditional practices. From the case histories provided it appears the Kaliai seek Western medical care first, especially when the symptoms of illness look familiar to ones that have been previously cured by this method. Western medicine, however, is not always able to explain sickness in a manner the Kaliai can understand or accept. It is in these situations that they are likely to revert to traditional medical beliefs involving sorcerers and the spiritual world to form a conclusion as to the cause of illness. Even these long-standing traditional beliefs are occasionally challenged when they fail. In instances like this excuses are often made, such as too much time was wasted before treatment was sought, or the person was foolish to disrespect the spirits. The people of the Kandoka village use Western medicine to compliment traditional practices and vice versa. Different cultures have different sets of values and beliefs that make up who they are as a culture. The medical beliefs and perceptions of illness are just a small part what make up the Kaliai.

Words: 1993

Tzotzil Maya

This paper introduces the Tzotzil Maya by establishing some of the essential information about them. The home of the Tzotzil Maya lies in the highland region of central Chiapas in southeastern Mexico. Their territory has increasingly started to overlap with the Tzeltal, which are also Mayan indigenous people. This has caused them to influence each other culturally, linguistically, and politically. The habitat of the Tzotzil is highland, with mountains, volcanic outcroppings, and valley lowlands. The climate at high altitudes is cool to cold, and summers are very wet. The native Tzotzil live mainly in the higher reaches. Chiapas is rich in natural resources, generating 35% of the nation's electricity from hydropower, producing 35% of Mexico's coffee, and the second state in livestock production and maize. The south and eastern parts of the state are rich in forests. The rocky highlands are a region that was never considered by the Spaniards as being resource rich and was largely left in the hands of the indigenous groups. The highlands served as a source of cheap labor for commercial agriculture in the more fertile estate lands of Chiapas. The region is going through complex changes in response to population increase, which has encouraged people to move to less populated areas of the territory. Thirty years ago the indigenous population was highly concentrated in the highlands, dispersed in small communities in the rainforest, or along the borders with Guatemala and Oaxaca. Today, the Tzotzil have expanded northward and into northern urban areas. The particular demography of the highlands is shaped by the movement of the Tzotziles and the Tzeltales. Since they have developed overlapping territories even within the same municipalities, and because their languages are closely linked, they have developed ties among younger adults, even though community boundaries remain separate. After the 1940s, the highlands experienced rapid demographic growth. Between 1950 and 1990, the population of the region tripled. In the Altos, the Tzotziles are organized into communities, each with their own social and cultural unity. Each community has their own identity with a patron saint as protector and benefactor of its members, its own particular language characteristics, a body that governs it, and annual rites including celebration of the festivals for the saints. The inhabitants of the Altos identify themselves by their community of origin. The communities are organized in barrios. The barrio can function as a ceremonial unit, provide justice in minor offenses, decide use of land, maintain demographic statistics, and assign representatives for the municipal government. The Tzotzil have mediated land access by maintaining communal land structures through inheritance of land through the paternal line. Nonetheless, it is possible that inside a community, members can buy or sell land. Each family owns small parcels in different agro-ecological zones that are used for different activities such as collection of firewood, plants and animals and some cultivation of crops. They occupy communal territory in dispersed settlements known as parajes which represent a social as well as territorial system of organization. . The Tzotzil are agricultural, growing chiefly corn (maize), beans, and squash. Fields are burned to clear them and planted and cultivated with the hoe and digging stick. Vegetables and cash crops such as peaches are also raised. The production of maize produces low income, since production of one ton of maize requires 150-300 labor-days compared to 17 nationally. All farmers supplement their income with day labor outside the community. In the north, coffee covers 10,000 acres, introduced by indigenous laborers experienced in working the commercial coffee estates. Guatemalan refugees, who accept cheaper wages than Mexican indigenous workers, have largely replaced Tzotzil workers on the commercial farms. Sheep are kept, primarily for their wool, and there are occasional chickens, turkeys, and pigs. There is also some hunting and fishing. Pottery is made in some areas, and weaving is universal. Baskets, nets, hammocks, hats, and rope are made of fibre products as well. Carpentry, stonework, and leatherwork are skills of the Bohom (Chamula) region. Houses are built of a variety of materials, including wattle and daub, poles, and lumber. Thatched roofs are usual. Households are generally congregated loosely around a central village. Clothing styles vary a good deal from community to community, but basically they consist of shirt, short pants, neckerchief, hat, and, for warmth, a wool poncho for men while women wear a blouse or huipil (long overblouse or tunic), long skirt, sash, and shawl. They are very meticulous weavers and often their huipiles are bordered in bright colors. Colors, styles, materials and decorative elements of clothing vary considerably. In some communities, men weave straw hats, make hammocks, or other crafts depending on the availability of natural fibers. The Tzotziles of Chamula provide furniture for many homes in the region, and have begun to diversify their production. The Tzotzil of Chiapas call their own language Bach'i K'op. There are several dialects, considered different languages by some, and in all there are 265.000 speakers in Central Chiapas. The Tzotzil are one of the indigenous groups represented in the Zapatista movement (the most numerous one, after the Tzeltal), fighting for their rights. Two religious movements expanded in Chiapas from the 1970's onward. One was the Catholic movement of liberation theology based on the social goals of the Second Vatican Council and the Protestant movements fostering individual reflection and self-improvement. These movements found fertile ground in a set of communities with decreasing available land per family, landed traditional authorities who preferred to maintain control by requesting ever more expensive community services from community members, rather than responding to changing needs, and a group of young adults who through access to temporary labor had income to invest. Unable to confront traditional authorities on their own, these people and their families converted to more open-ended religious sects. They then migrated to the colonizing areas and formed new communities, often expulsed by the traditional Catholic community members who resented their unwillingness to maintain tradition. In San Cristobal, the expelled population has founded a number of new localities in urban areas, centered around a series of Protestant religious organizations, a form of re-indianization of the urban space and a recomposition of the indigenous community outside of their traditional territory. BibliographyThompson, J. Eric S. 1954 [1970]. The Rise and Fall of Maya Civilization. 2nd Edition. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press Thompson, J. Eric S. 1970. Maya History and Religion. 1st Edition. Norman OK: University of Oklahoma Press 1988. The Encyclopedia Britannica. 4th Edition.

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The White Balloon

T h e W h i t e B a l l o o n Moiz Bhinderwala I. Give a short summary of the film in which you tell: - where and when the story takes place - who the main characters are – protagonists and antagonists - how their lives are affected by the culture they are in The story is set in a modern Tehran – just two hours before the start of the traditional Persian New Year -the first day of spring, March 21st, is New Year's Day in Iran. The whole story revolves around Raziah, a determined seven-year-old girl who wants nothing more than a certain beautiful goldfish to decorate her family's house for the New Year- (the first day of spring, March 21st, is New Year's Day in Iran) Though it's tough to convey the excitement of such a simple plot in words, her quest for the fish is surprisingly moving. This is partly because the adorable Raziah, who shouts all her lines, is so utterly appealing; and partly because the market of Tehran, where she ventures out to buy the fish with her mother's money (under strict instructions to bring back change). seems like no place for a little girl to be wandering by herself – (underlines the fact about restriction on women in this culture) A sense of threat accompanies Raziah on her journey. First, some snake charmers - a bunch of men that she has been warned not to look at, by her parents - manage to separate the seven-year-old from her note. With the help of her sturdy vocal chords she manages to get the money back, only to lose it again. There's a subtle feeling that Raziah might be paddled by her parents if she doesn't get her money back - her brother, who convinced their mother to give his sister the money in the first place, shows up at one point with a black eye. The adults who surround the two children can't seem to understand how dire it is that they get their money back, but the kids themselves are quite certain of the gravity of their task. With earnest concentration, they try a variety of techniques to retrieve the bank note that has fallen through a grating into a cellar. Her search to recover the cash becomes intertwined with the lives of vendors, merchants, an indignant tailor, a friendly soldier on leave far from home, an Afghan refugee selling balloons and Raziah's own brother. The film takes place in real time, heightening the sense of living inside a child's world. Though the adults can't understand how important it is for Raziah to get her goldfish or to retrieve her money, it becomes very clear to us that these are matters of immense importance. The White Balloon conveys that deep, even timeless, childhood feeling of being thwarted at something you really want, of how something like a bowl of goldfish can be a life-or-death matter! The movie also brings out the various aspects of the Iranian Moslem culture in which the plot is set. The very fact that Raziah’s parents warn her of places that girls are not supposed to go – indicates that in this culture there are restrictions on girls with regards to entertainment. The scene where Raziah engages into talk with the friendly soldier, she is shown re-arranging her dress time and again, this also points out the strict dress code that women in this culture are supposed to stick to. II. As an anthropologist you are trying to understand this culture based on what you have seen in this film. - What differences are there between your culture and the culture presented in the film? I come from India, which shares an Asian culture with Iran. Moreover since my religion is Islam which is the same as the one of all the characters in the movie, it is difficult to me to narrow down the differences between my culture and the culture portrayed in the movie. However, the one differences that I noticed between the two cultures, in the movie was the dress code. Women in Iran are supposed to follow a strict dress code in which they wear longer dresses so as to cover their hands and legs, and are supposed to cover their hair at all times. In the modern Indian culture there are similar rules, but they are not as strict. Women don’t necessarily have to cover their hair with cloth at all times. Even men’s clothing, as shown in the movie is different. -What are the major values of this culture? - The major values of this culture are as follows Festivals, Occasions : We see that in this movie on the occasion of New year, people wear new clothes, friends and families exchange gifts, distribute sweetmeats get together and celebrate. People even save their money to buy gifts for their relatives and friends, like Raziah’s mother does. People get new clothes stitched for such occasions. Social relationships: I also saw that on occasions like New Year, the people of this culture exchange gifts, they even save up their money to buy gifts for their friends and relatives, which goes to show that social relationships between people are very important in this culture. Trust: In the movie, in various scenes, the helpful nature of the people is very evident. In one of the beginning scenes, where one of the neighbor’s kids comes and asks Raziah’s mother for a goldfish for their new year decorations, Raziah’s mother trusts him and allows him to take the goldfish for free. Which shows the trust that exists between neighbors in this culture. Another account where trust between people is evident, is when the shop-keeper of the fish-shop tells Raziah that she could bring in the money later and still take one of the goldfishes. Helpful nature: In other scenes where Raziah is still trying to recover her lost note, an old lady helps Raziah out by listening to her problem, she then comforts Raziah, helps her in finding the note. As the story progresses, the shop-owner of the shop right next to the shop in whose cellar Raziah’s note has fallen down, helps Raziah too. He attempts to get the note from the cellar for her, then in a later scene, even lends Raziah and her brother the metal rod (used for closing down shutters of shop) so that they can try removing the note with the help of the hook at the end of the rod. Then even, after the unsuccessful attempts of Raziah and her brother to remove the note from the cellar, the shop-owner also gives her brother the address of the person who owned the shop where Raziah’s note had fallen. The shop-owner of the shop in whose cellar Raziah’s note had dropped also does his bit for helping Raziah and her brother out. On being approached by Raziah’s brother at his home, he gets ready and comes from his home to his shop to open his shop just so that the two kids can recover their lost note. Role of men and women in society: The movie portrays a poor household, to which Raziah belongs. Her father seems to be very strict. In the beginning scene, when her father is in the shower, he asks his son to get a shampoo bottle. When as a mistake, his son brings soap instead, the father is furious. He throws the soap out of the window. This can be interpreted as that the men in this culture have the liberty of exhibiting such anger. It could also mean that just Raziah’s father as an individual is a bad-tempered person. This shows the dominance of males in this society. Seeing her husband’s anger, Raziah’s mother, doesn’t get angry nor does she fight with her husband or retaliate for behaving that way, instead she gives her son some money to go and get the correct shampoo this time. This could mean two things that either just Raziah’s mother as an individual has good temperament or it could mean that women in Iran are not supposed to argue or raise their voice against their husbands- they are just supposed to follow orders- in which case it would mean that this is an accepted pattern of behavior in this culture. Respect for elders: In the movie, in the scene where the elderly tailor argues with his customer about the stitching of a shirt, it can be sensed that the elder person has more command in the argument. Which shows that the people of this culture value age and experience of people a lot. Laws: Another account of the bad temper that Raziah’s father shows is the scene where Raziah’s brother is shown with a black eye. Which means that he was hit by his father for some mistake that he committed. Which also brings forth another aspect of children’s’ rights! It shows that there aren’t many rules governing child abuse in that culture. - What is the source of conflict in this film? This story brings out the underlined facts about the lives of children and the anxieties of everyday life which sometimes lead to conflicts between their desires and the reality of life. In The White Balloon the source of conflict is a little girl's desperate desire for a plump goldfish. The little girl- Raziah somehow with the help of her brother wheedles her mother into giving her money for buying the goldfish. She is also instructed strictly to bring back the remaining change of money, since the money given to her was a huge amount in the form of a currency note. Raziah loses the note in a cellar of a shop on her way to the goldfish shop. Which leads to anxious moments for her and her brother, who desperately need the note to return it to their parents. - How is the conflict resolved? Once Raziah gets her money back, she rushes to the goldfish store to buy the goldfish. The movie ends right there. It is not shown if she really buys the chubby goldfish or the skinny one. But the conflict is certainly resolved, when her desire to get the goldfish is fulfilled. Because now she no more faces any anxiety or fear of not getting to buy the goldfish. - Who has the most power or prestige in this culture? Why? In this particular culture, men have the most power and prestige whereas children have the least, especially girl children have the least privileges. In this culture men have the most power and prestige. It is clearly evident in the beginning scene where Raziah’s father is furious with his son’s mistake. It clearly shows the privilege that men have when it comes to showing anger. But Raziah’s mother does not seem to have any such privileges… Power and prestige rests more with elder men than it does younger men in this culture. This can be seen in the scene where the elder shop-keeper argues with his young customer about his shirt. Finally the young man has to give in. It is also evident in the rules that Raziah has to stick to about not going to certain places like seeing the snake-charmer’s act, going to the marketplace alone. Her mother says that it is not an appropriate place for girls to be- which means that males have more privileges over females, in this particular culture. Then again, women are restricted through their dress codes. In the scene with Raziah and the friendly soldier, Raziah keeps straightening her frock, this clearly shows the rules that have been inculcated in her mind, even at the age of seven! Although Raziah does, she does not have the privilege of wearing her new dress until new year celebrations in their family.


Words: 1978

Structures Of Resisitance

The nature of interaction between traditional agrarian society and the ‘modern world’ has remained a controversial debate amongst anthropologists, sociologists and political theorists. It remains contentious as to whether the dominance of modern values over traditional is desirable; whether the arrival of the market and modern commerce betters or worsens the conditions of rural society and its relationship with the metropol; whether such change is received with apprehension or optimism by the members of rural society. Joel Migdal, for example, puts forth certain arguments proposing the concept of ‘culture contact’—‘that exposure and contact are the causes of change.’ Migdal identifies three reasons suggesting why such change would be likely to occur: (1) The benefits of the modern far outweigh the benefits of the traditional. (2) The individual is free from severe institutional restraints which would prevent him from making an unimpeded decision. (3) Those individuals who select the new are rational and are optimisers, and those individuals who do not accept the modern fail to do so because of “wrong” or nonrational values.’ Most theorists, however, tend to agree that modern society, for good or bad, is clearly encroaching on traditional agrarian society and gradually moulding its values, economic systems and sociopolitical institutions into variants of the modern equivalent. However, this consensus fails to account for one extremely significant fact: that despite the overwhelming economic, political and cultural dominance of the modern world, traditional agrarian structures continue to persist in various forms: the feudal estates of Third World countries, plantations and latifundismos in Southern Italy and much of Latin America, and so on. The questions thus arise: why do such traditional social relations persist in spite of the modern impulse? Why do customs and rituals and social codes play such an important part in determining rural society? Why do inefficient labour-intensive technology and archaic labour organisation systems continue to determine the process of economic production? And why do state attempts at modernising rural production continually face defeat and fail to effect conclusive change? This paper attempts to answer these and other questions through an analysis of two similar anachronistic structures that exist in the contemporary world: the Italian latifondo and the Latin American latifundismo. Both structures are organised in a very similar manner, and an analysis of both presents a holistic picture of their social and economic organisation. The paper begins by describing the administrative structure of the latifondo, and then goes on to suggest that the socioeconomic peculiarities of the enterprise may be at least partially explained by the rational voluntarist behaviour of the landlord, who allows old structures to persist in light of their cultural peculiarity. In The Mafia of a Sicilian Village, Anton Blok describes the Sicilian latifondo as being ‘in its main features “involutionary”’. Blok invokes this term while alluding to a complex process in which certain structures undergo internalisation and fixity, as suggested by Clifford Geertz in Agricultural Involution. ‘Involution’, according to Geertz, refers to ‘the overdriving of an established form in such a way that it becomes rigid through an inward elaboration of detail’. Blok’s study of the latifondo leads him to conclude that this agrarian enterprise underwent such a process at both the social and the economic level. Before further exploring this process, however, it is necessary to first understand the power structure and organisation of the Sicilian latifondo. According to Blok, the latifondo was typically leased out to a gabelloto, who in turn hired a number of permanent employees to manage the enterprise. These administrators generally comprised an overseer (soprastante) and a number of field guards (campieri). The overseer was the gabelloto’s ‘man of confidence’ — ‘he dealt with the peasants set to work on the estates and took care of the general protection of the enterprise.’ The campieri assisted the overseer in his work, and ‘constituted a kind of private police force which, in the absence of an efficient formal control apparatus, claimed to maintain law and order in the countryside.’ This hierarchical structure is replicated in Latin American latifundios, as described by Ernest Feder in ‘Latifundios and Agricultural Labour.’ Feder further describes the Latin American latifundismo as being characterised by ‘absentee landlordism’. He asserts that ‘for the rural worker almost every estate owner is an absenteeist, as the bulk of the large estates is managed by administrators’; the latter appearing to be Latin American counterparts of the soprastanti. This administrative structure has several important repercussions for the socioeconomic structural evolution (‘involution’) of the latifondo. James C. Scott describes ‘involution’ in agrarian enterprises at the economic level as involving ‘the shift to more labour intensive techniques in return for minute, but vital, increments in yield per unit of land.’ Essential to note here is that this shift is likely to occur even while more productive, capital intensive technologies are available. Whereas capital investment in agrarian technologies by cultivators or entrepreneurs could potentially boost agricultural productivity and allow for greater agricultural surplus production in the long run, they prefer instead to intensify the ‘established form’ and concentrate on traditional labour intensive techniques, which are only able to provide a limited return. It is this voluntary adherence to traditional labour intensive technologies in the presence of more productive alternatives that characterises the process of ‘involution’. This peculiar behaviour may be explained in light of the administrative structure of the latifondo as described earlier. The primary characteristic of indirect management (Feder’s ‘absentee landlordism’) is the administration’s lack of long term goals regarding farm productivity. Such visionary objectives may only exist when the administrator forges strong ties with the land, be they in the form of active involvement of resident owner-cultivators or tenure security for sharecroppers, so that there exists an incentive to incur sunk costs in the present for future gains. The existing land arrangements, however, left little need to incur such costs. Whereas the owners of the Sicilian latifondo were generally absent from the picture, having leased the land to gabelloti, the latter were merely entrepreneurs who preferred to indulge in conspicuous consumption and refrained from long-term investment. Meanwhile, ‘the Sicilian sharecropping peasant . . . lacked any security of tenure over time. In fact, his position with regard to employment did not basically differ from that of the landless labourer’, thereby leaving him too with little incentive to undertake productive investment. Consequently, the latifondo characteristically faced a lack of investments from the side of both cultivators and entrepreneurs. The latter . . . engaged in ruthless exploitation of the land and labour rather than undertake long-term investment. As true rent capitalists they “skimmed off the proceeds.” . . . [P]rofits did not return to the land, but instead were used to acquire more land or were spent on urban living. Finally, the indirect character of management (functioning through the gabelloto-soprastante administrative heirarchy) further impeded institutional change, as the soprastante was allowed to operate only ‘within a strictly limited sphere of action’ and therefore had no jurisdiction (and little incentive) to induce any radical managerial reform. Feder concludes: Absentee landlordism is a guarantee that customary methods of farming are strictly observed though they may be antiquated. Most administrators are not allowed to introduce changes in the farming pattern, and landlords hesitate to introduce them because this may require changes in the tenure status of the workers. Therefore the high rate of absenteeism is an obstacle to technological progress and improved farming. Management practices cannot improve beyond that permitted by the sparse interest and knowledge of farming of most absentee landlords, and the limited abilities and responsibilities of administrators. Meanwhile, the status quo suited the gabelloti on various other fronts. For example, ‘[a]ll contracts were arranged with the obvious aim that the gabelloti share only minimally in the risks of production, which largely devolved upon staff and peasants.’ Consequently, the former had little desire to introduce any technological change that may subsequently cause renegotiation of contracts. At the economic level, therefore, the latifondo continued to function with antiquated technology and rigid management. Instead of evolving, it underwent an ‘involution’ whereby traditional technology, organisation and administration increased in complexity, became more rigid and inflexible, but did not alter in any significant way. Traditional means of operation were constantly reified and labour effort intensified in an effort to extract the most surplus out of a decadent system. This intensification met little resistance: ‘[n]ot living on the land and even physically separated from it by fixed residence in agro-towns, the peasants could less easily lay claim to it and thereby challenge large landownership’. Eugen Weber even goes on to question whether such radical action would have any appeal for the peasantry, to whom ‘innovation was almost inconceivable. Routine ruled: the structural balance attained by a long process of trial and error, reinforced by isolation and physical circumstances.’ Such routine ‘connoted not mindless labour but precious experience, what had worked and hence would work again, the accumulated wisdom without which life could not be maintained.’ A similar argument is put forth by James Scott in The Moral Economy of the Peasant: Scott suggests that in opposition to the accumulative preference of urban capitalist society, the primary concern of the peasantry is subsistence. Because of a tendency towards leisure preference and the sheer lack of economic security, Scott explains the peasant’s reverence of custom and tradition as reflections of an ingrained risk-aversiveness developed over the ages. ‘The safety-first maxim, a logical consequence of the econlogical dependence of peasant livelihood, embodies a relative preference for subsistence security over high average income.’ Scott further argues that ‘this security mindedness make[s] abstract economic sense [and] finds expression in a wide array of actual choices, institutions and values in peasant society.’ It is therefore a vast break from tradition and custom for the peasants to collectivise and attempt to resist the landlord; such instances of organised revolt, as suggested by Scott, are few and far between. With oppressor and oppressed buying into the structure, it is hardly surprising that the economic ‘involution’ of the latifondo was closely accompanied by a social ‘involution’, which exhibited similar trends towards complexity and inflexibility. Feder argues: Besides being complex, the social structure of the estate tends to be rigid from the point of view of economic development. . . . An autocratic organisation is well adapted to having orders from above carried out efficiently . . . However, this efficiency is the highest when matters go their usual way, in a routine manner. . . . [W]hile the landed elite has no interest in the peasants’ aspirations and keeps aloof from their world, it is still keenly aware of its obligations to keep the peasants in check and subservient. It can achieve this simply through inaction—as the social structure automatically ensures obedience up to a point—or actively, through coercion, sanctions and total hostility to any peasant organisation. The peasants’ obedience of tradition thus made the landlords’ job easier; where grievances did arise, they could be ignored, or at worst suppressed, without having to significantly alter the social structure. Blok, for example, suggests that ‘the fragmented occupational structure of the peasant class . . . stifled the emergence of class consciousness and enduring interest groups among the labour force’. This lack of desire and ability to organise collective action was reinforced through the evolution of an entire culture of violence, deriving its roots from the criteria underlying the process of administrator selection. ‘As a rule, strong men were recruited for this post, from those who were able to “make themselves respected”—inspire fear—among the people of the state as well as outsiders.’ The overseer’s authority was ‘reinforced by strong-arm men, a private police force.’ The post of overseer was sought after by most, because it was permanent, came with various benefits and allowed for tremendous social power. As the ability to ‘inspire fear’ was a prerequisite to attaining this post, dominating and violent behaviour began to be perceived as desirable. This resulted in the evolution of a social code of honour that laid down strict rules and criteria for the functioning of society; in Sicilian society, this code was known as the mafia. Blok asserts: mafia provided the large estate with its mainstay. . . . [P]hysical violence dominated the social relationships through which the large estates were exploited. In this way mafiosi kept restive peasants in submission, while opening up avenues for upwardly mobile peasants who qualified in the use of violence. It is important to note that this social code evolved in response to a need to maintain the status quo, and was subsequently complicated and institutionalised till it came to dominate all spheres of life in Sicilian society. This was the social ‘involution’ associated with the latifondo—‘inward elaboration of detail’ of an ‘established’ social need, making it ‘rigid’ and codifying it in social norms. Although the social rules by which the mafia operated remained for the large part unwritten, similar processes of social involution elsewhere went to the extent of actually transcribing these laws. Scott Anderson’s study of Albania, for example, reveals such a codified set of social norms: ‘[T]he traditional laws and loyalties of the village . . . are spelled out in the kanun . . ., a book of rules and oaths. By the dictates of the kanun . . . one’s primary alliance is to clan and community, not to the state.’ The implications of such socioeconomic ‘involution’ are manifold. At an economic level, it appears that one reason why rural areas appear hesitant to adopt new technology is because of the ‘involutionary’ administrative structure and organisation—new technology means change and change is unpopular with the adminstration; consequently, the enterprise is so structured as to prevent change. Social codes evolve to complement this process of ‘involution’, becoming codified in the culture of the society and forming a rigid institution which embeds itself firmly in the social structure and becomes more and more elaborate with time. The socioeconomic institutions resulting from this ‘involution’ thereby display increasing complexity and inflexibility, and become extremely resistant to outside pressures. This further implies that nothing short of revolutionary and committed intervention would be able to significantly alter these institutions. If such intervention is attempted in a half-hearted manner by the state, which is at the best of times completely alien to rural society, it is bound to have only limited success. Blok describes various attempts by the Fascist government to introduce new agrarian technologies and to implement agrarian reform; as may be expected, the ‘new techniques of cultivation were applied on a small scale’, ‘the Fascist agrarian policy did not promote the development of more intensive methods of cultivation and inhibited the expansion of a more balanced agriculture’, and even after the post-Fascist agrarian reform law of 1950, ‘the type of agriculture that had always characterised the inland region did not substantially change . . ., even though huge funds were allocated for improvement.’ It is testament to the longevity of ‘involutionary’ enterprises that the latifondismo of Sicily ‘manage to survive’ to date. Of Albania, Anderson similarly concludes: ‘Communism never actually modernised Albania, but merely put the old ways, the village ways, in a kind of deep freeze—much as Tito did in Yugoslavia following World War II. The collapse of the state and the national economy has led many Albanians to once again openly embrace the . . . kanun’. We may therefore conclude that such socioeconomic structures, which at first glance appear to be anachronistic in the extreme and anomalous in the context of contemporary modes of production and social organisation, appear to defiantly face the challenge presented by modern society by undergoing a process of ‘involutionary’ change. This process involves the rigidification and complication of existing structures and a strengthening of the implicit social relationships, making these structures less vulnerable to the advent of commercialisation and state intervention. Enterprises based on these structures constitute a subculture in the larger society, and codes of social conduct evolve that present an opposition to prevailing legal and social organisation. Attempts by the state to enforce institutional change are unlikely to succeed in the absence of radical and committed reform and a breaking-down of such ‘involuted’ codes—till such institutional reform occurs, it is unlikely that rural society will ‘modernise’ per se. BibliographyBlok, p. 72. Blok, p. 73. Blok, p. 79. albeit due to State patronage of the owners. Blok, p. 84. Anderson, p. 5.

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Ruth Benedict & Margaret Mead

Ruth Benedict & Margaret Mead After high school, Ruth Benedict took a year off to travel overseas. Upon returning home she was unsure of what she wanted to do with her life. Years later, she married Stanley Benedict, a Biochemistry Professor at Cornell Medical School. In the fall of 1919, Ruth went back to school and began to focus more on anthropology. She studied under the famous diffusionist Franz Boas and became his assistant. Ruth taught Margaret Mead. Ruth and Margaret became good friends and developed a shared need of each other. Ruth concentrated most of her efforts on researching and studying different cultures on which many of her writings were based. She wrote of the differences between the cultures around the world and talked about different patterns related to culture and behavior. Ruth was very talented in summarizing and clearly arranging facts which were characteristic of her writings and ultimately her approach to anthropology; this, perhaps, may be the reason many of her reviews were published in professional papers and magazines throughout her career. Ruth Benedict was a very important figure in early anthropology and even more so in cultural anthropology. She was one of the first female anthropologists of her time. Her books serve as a referral of humanistic thought in the 20th century. Ruth Benedict has helped shape the discipline of anthropology not only in the United States, but also for the rest of the world. After a year at Depauw University at Greencastle, Indiana, Margaret Mead, entered Barnard College, Columbia University. It was here that she decided to make anthropology her major. She later received her B.A. degree. She also got her M.A. degree in psychology. In 1929, she received her Ph.D. Dr. Margaret Mead is a specialist in what she herself describes as “conditioning of the social personalities of both sexes.” She had several field trips. First, she was in the Samoan Islands and than the Manus tribe of the Admiralty Islands in the West Pacific Ocean. In 1930, Dr. Mead went to study an American Indian Tribe the identity that is hidden by the name of “the Antlers” in her book noting her findings and conclusions. Between 1931 and 1933, Dr. Mead went in the New Guinea area to do research on three contrasted tribes, the Arapesh, the Mundugumor, and the Tchumbuli. For three years, starting in 1936, Dr. Mead was busy on fieldwork in Bali and New Guinea. She has always found her profession so different that she has not felt the need for a hobby; she reportedly enjoys the theater and reads good poetry.

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Pygmies

Pygmy groups are scattered throughout equatorial Africa, from Cameroon in the west to Zambia in the southeast. In Zaire, there are three main groups of Pygmies: the Tswa in the west, the Twa between Lake Kivu and Lake Tanganyika, and the Mbuti (also referred to as Bambuti or BaMbuti) of the Ituri Forest. According to Schebesta, the author of the earliest reliable reports, only the Mbuti are true Pygmies, i.e., under 150 cm. in height and relatively unmixed with neighboring peoples. The other groups are referred to as Pygmoids, being highly intermixed with other peoples both physically and culturally (Turnbull 1965A: 159-B). The following summary refers only to the Mbuti Pgymies of the Ituri Forest in Zaire. The Mbuti are located at lat. 0 degrees-3 degrees N and long. 26 degrees-30 degrees E. Their territory is a primary rain forest. The Mbuti have conventionally been divided into three groups, which are distinct from each other linguistically, economically, and geographically. Each of the three groups speaks a different language (which corresponds to the language spoken by neighboring villagers), practices different hunting techniques, and is territorially distinct. The Aka speak the Mangbetu language (Sudanic family), hunt primarily with spears, and live in the north. These spear-hunters have not been extensively studied. The Efe speak the Lese language (Sudanic family), are archers, and are located in the east. The Efe were studied by Schebesta. The Sua speak the Bira language (Bantu branch of the Benue-Congo family), hunt with nets, and live to the south. They were studied by Putnam and Turnbull. The most profound difference between the three groups, the linguistic difference, is, according to Turnbull, of recent origin and is purely accidental (Turnbull 1965B 22-23). Furthermore, in spite of the fact that the three languages are very different, there are enough similarities in intonation to make it possible for Pygmies to recognize, if not comprehend, each other. All of the Pygmies of the Ituri Forest recognize themselves by the term Mbuti, and the only political identity they have is in opposition to the village cultivators. The Mbuti as a whole are clearly distinct from these village neighbors both racially and culturally, and, Turnbull says, the economic differences between the three Mbuti groups mask a basic structural unity (Turnbull 1965B: 22-23). Since there has never been an official demographic census, it is impossible to give an accurate estimate of the total Mbuti population. From discussion with missionaries and administrators and from his own experience, however, Turnbull guessed that the population was approximately 40,000 in 1958 (Turnbull 1965B: 26). The Mbuti live in territorially defined nomadic bands. The membership of these bands is very fluid. Bands have no formal political structure; there are no chiefs, and there is no council. An informal consensus among old respected men is the basis of decisions affecting the entire camp. In spite of Turnbull's insistence on basic structural unity, the differences in hunting techniques aqppear to have considerable effect upon the nature of the band organization. Net hunting is a cooperative venture, requiring the cooperation of the whole band, including the women and children. Archery, on the other hand, is primarily a family venture, requiring only two or three men. The most obvious distinction resulting from the economic differences is that of band size. Archer bands average about 6 huts per band, while net-hunting bands average about 15 huts. The Mbuti maintain relationships with surrounding village cultivators whose languages the Mbuti have adopted. Many accounts indicate that the Mbuti are highly acculturated and have adopted many features of villager lifestyle beyond language, such as the clan system and certain religious observances. Turnbull feels that these features are quite superficial, however. The relationship between the Mbuti and the villagers is maintained on several different levels, centering around trade. The Pygmies bring the villagers honey and meat in return for plantation products. This economic exchange can occur on several levels: between the band and the village as a whole (capita/chief), between lineage and lineage (lineage elder/Kpara), or between individuals (kare/kare). The first type of relationship does not occur very often, exchanges being more easily conducted on an interpersonal basis. The lineage relationship is hereditary on both sides. The kare brotherhood is established in nkumbi initiations. In the nkumbi initiation, male villagers and Mbuti are circumcised. The relationship established in the initiation is continued throughout life and centers around economic exchange. The religious life of the Mbuti is not at all clear. Early reports state that they had no religion at all, and later reports dwell on whether or not the Mbuti relationship to the supernatural structurally constitutes religion (usually defined by belief in one supreme being) or magic. In any event, there appear to be two ceremonies of importance, both of which are concerned with resolving crises and returning the band to stability. The molimo ceremony is performed primarily by men and is associated with singing and the use of a particular type of horn, called the molimo horn. The molimo is particularly associated with death, but it may be performed at any crisis, such as a poor hunting season. The elima ceremony is performed primarily by women and is associated with life-cycle crises of particular concern to women, such as birth, puberty, marriage, and death.

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Pastoralism

Pastoralism is an economy based on herding. Pastoralists maintain herds of animals and use their products to support themselves directly and to exchange with other civilizations. It is especially associated with such terrain as steppes, rolling hills, grasslands, and the like-areas of low rainfall where cultivation is difficult without irrigation, but where grasses are plentiful enough to support herds of animals.1 Pastoralism was originally founded in the old world. Pastoralists are generally nomadic and usually follow their herds in search of food and water. Pastoral civilizations tend to be warlike and they have a difficult time trying to live at peace with settled agricultural populations. In areas where pastoralists and cultivators are in contact , the pastoralists generally have the advantage in prestige due to their superior military striking power.2 I will illustrate a few examples of pastoral groups that are warlike to prove that the first half of the statement is true. The Masai live among the wild animals on the rolling plains of the Rift Valley, one of the most beautiful parts of Africa.3 The Masai are strictly cattle herders. They do not farm the land, believing it to be a sacrilege to break the earth.3 In contrast to their peaceful and harminous relationship to the wildlife, however, the Masai are warlike in relationship to their neighboring tribes, conducting cattle raids where they take women as well as cattle for their prizes and they have been fiercely independent in resisting the attempts of colonial governments to change or subdue them.3 The amount of land that the Masai require for their enormous herds of cattle is not appreciated by people who use and value the land more for agriculture than for pasturage and for herds of wild animals. Many people view the Masai as thieves, but they do not believe in stealing material objects. They have strict laws against those that do steal material objects. They believe that when they raid other villages and steal their cattle it is seen as returning the cattle to their rightful owners. This belief stems from the notion that all cattle on the earth are theirs, and any cattle they do not presently own are only temporarily out of their care, and must be recaptured.3 It from the basic belief, an entire culture has grown. The ground or area that the cattle graze is considered sacred, everything from the grass the cattle eat to the water they drink. This is why that it is sacrilege for them to break the ground. The Indians of the Great Plains can be considered pastoral or nomadic group. They hunted the buffalo or bison on the plains. The buffalo regulated their lives, they followed the herds since it was their main source for food. They would move when the buffalo moved setting up camps with the herds. The Indians of the great plains were definitely warlike. They raided other tribes for women, horses, and food. They would extinguish anyone who crossed their land and attempted to raid their village. They performed war dances or ghost dances to get themselves prepared for war. The premise of warfare was common among all tribes on the Great Plains, but it goes hand in hand with the buffalo herds. The Hittites of Ancient Mesopotamia were a pastoral group that herded sheep, goats, and camel in the desert region located on the outskirts of Mesopotamia. They were one of the first nomadic groups to domestic the horse. Once they domesticated the horse it spelled doom for the groups in the surrounding areas. The Hittites could move farther and faster with their herds. They would destroy everything that got in the way of their herds. They destroyed several agricultural city-states and wiped out several cultures in the process. On the other hand it is true that pastoralist societies cannot live without agricultural societies because pastoralism is not a self-sufficient way of life. Pastoralism is a highly specialized form of food production involving the care of large animals. It has survived mostly in places which cannot support agriculture but can provide sufficient pasture for a herd, as well as secondary hunting-gathering opportunities. Even though they are nomadic pastoral societies tend to be more stratified and have more social differentiation for instance, craft specialization--than those dependent upon food collection.1 There is also an interdependence between the pastoral group and agricultural groups in this area.1 This involves trade, which generally plays an important role, since a pastoral economy is often not self-sufficent.1 Finally pastoralist are vulnerable to food shortages, because their climates are subject to variations in rainfall. The Basseri are a prime example of a pastoral tribe that is not self- sufficient. The Basseri are a tribe of tent-dwelling, nomads living in southern Iran. They raise sheep and goats, though donkeys and camels are employed for draft work, and the more wealthier men have horses for riding.1 They have a specified route and schedule that they follow. The route refers to the localities in the order they are visited and follows the existing passes and lines of communication; the schedule regulated the length of time each location will be occupied and depends on the maturation of different pastures and the movements of other tribes.1 Hunting and gathering play no major role in their economy( though hunting is a popular sport among the men).1 Agriculture and trading are a very important aspect to the lives of the Basseri. The wealthier Basseri practice agriculture indirectly. However, most tribesman must obtain through trade the necessities and luxury items that are not produced within the community.1 The staple items they sell are butter, wool, lambskins, rope, and occasionally livestock.1 In conclusion, I am in agreement with the statement that I chose. Pastoralist societies are warlike and they do have difficulties living at peace with settled agricultural populations. Pastoralism to me seems to be an alternative to agricultural, but since pastoralism is self-sufficient, pastoralism is never independent of agricultural societies. I found it interesting to learn that some nomadic and pastoralist groups, such as the Basseri, do practice agricultural developments. I also agree with the statement that pastoralism cannot live without the agricultural societies. If they do not raise vegetables or some type of food they will usually acquire them through trade.4 All in all pastoralism is a efficent means of extracting energy from a harsh enviroment, it actually does produce less energy per acre of land than agriculture does. Finally, I found the statement interesting, after I started to research on the topic I found some facts and statements that that I found really intriguing and they contributed to me comprehending the material easier.

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Neanderthal-Homo Sapiens Hybrid

Implications of Neanderthal-Homo Sapiens Hybrid from the Abrigo do Lagar Velho (Portugal) In a recent excavation at Abrigo do Lagar Velho in Portugal, Duarte et al (1999) unearthed what was later to be recognized as early human skeletal remains which pointed to interbreeding between Neanderthal and Modern Humans during the mid - upper Palaeolithic transition. The morphology of the remains, belonging to a child of approximately 3-4 years old, indicates a Neanderthal typology in post-cranial features, and more modern cranial features. The find has been cited as evidence of hybridization between the two traditionally separate human lines, and offers an explanation to the question of Neanderthal extinction. (Trinkaus 1999) Anthropologists are now offered a line of evidence pointing to the contemopranity of Moderns and Neanderthals in parts of Europe and assumptions can be made about their contact: The discoverers…are making a ground-breaking claim, that the skeleton shows traces of both Neanderthal and modern human ancestry, evidence that modern humans did not simply extinguish the Neanderthals, as many researchers had come to think. Instead the two kinds of human were so alike that in Portugal, at least, they intermingled…for thousands of years. (Kunzig, 1999) By examining the theories of human evolution, and looking at the cultural evolution of tool technology as well as the biological transitions and differences between the two types of humans, we can see that this hybridization just might be the answer. Perhaps this find will be able to tell us what exactly did happen to the Neanderthals. Firstly, it is useful to have an overview of the different theories of human evolution, or I should say the two most widely accepted views as accepted by palaeo-anthropologists in the field. For some years now it has been the contention that the origins of modern humans stem from either a continuous evolution from archaic to modern humans in local regions from an earlier dispersal of Homo erectus, or conversely from modern humans evolved in Africa only which then dispersed to replace those hominids in said regions. These two theories are known as the Continuity or Regional model and the Replacement or Out of Africa model respectively. The fossil (skeletal) and cultural (technological) evidence thus far has pointed to convincing arguments on both sides, which proponents are quick to defend. Neanderthals can be distinguished from anatomically Modern Humans by the presence of prominent brow ridges, low forehead, occipital bun, facial prognathicism, large nasal aperture, and shorter, sturdier skeletal features most notably, distinguishing them from Moderns who were taller and had longer limbs, higher foreheads, lass prominent browridges and rounder skulls. It should be noted that the cranial capacities of both were comparable, with the Neanderthals being even slightly larger. (Klein: 1989) Many proponents of a regional theory claim that such morphological differences show a continuity and depending on how they are viewed can be seen as evidence of variation within a species, not distinct species. This would mean that the Neanderthal morphology developed as an adaptation to the colder glacial climate of Europe and elsewhere. (Wolpoff:1980) From a replacement standpoint however, these differences in morphology are too distinct to be variables on a theme and in conjunction with dates provides evidence supporting that view. (Mellars and Stringer:1989) Neanderthals occupied Europe and the Middle East during a time range usually agreed upon as ranging from roughly 130 kya - 35 kya to as recent as approx. 26kya. Modern populations are seen as early as 100kya in the Middle East and around 40 kya in Europe. At some sites in the middle east, both populations lived in very close proximity to one another for what is thought to be a time range of about 40 000 years. (Akazawa et al:1998) Recent developments in genetic studies have begun to open new lines of evidence in the relatedness of Neanderthals to current modern human populations. By studying the genes of both, we can compare the similarities and differences and calculate whether the two are close enough to say there is a relation or not. This line of research had been theory mostly because the skeletal remains on record had no organic material available from which to extract genetic material (i.e.: collagen in the bone). DNA from a Neanderthal specimen would be able to confer or oppose the Mitochondrial Eve theory put forth by Cann et al in 1987 (Foley and Lahr 1992: 526; Klein 1989:352) which stated that the common ancestor for modern human populations could be traced to approx. 200kya in Africa. When DNA was finally extracted from a Neanderthal specimen, this could be addressed. The DNA in question, retrieved from the original Neanderthal find from Neander Valley, is mitochondrial. Mitochondria have their own DNA outside of the nucleus and are inherited only through the mother. Unlike nuclear DNA, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) does not recombine with reproduction. The variation that exists between two mtDNA sequences is instead solely the result of mutation. Because mutations are thought to occur at a set rate, the amount of time that has passed since two mtDNA sequences diverged can be calculated). Researchers can then trace the lineage of that gene, and find how old it is, or rather how far back that particular gene goes. The results from the Neanderthal mtDNA show an ancestor which goes back much farther in time in Africa, and would seem to refute any connection with Modern populations after that time. There are some flaws with the mtDNA studies though and further research is needed. Other lines of genetic research include R.M. Harding's studies which look at variation in the betaglobin gene Harding found that one major betaglobin gene lineage, thought to have arisen more than 200,000 years ago, is widely distributed in Asia but rare in Africa, suggesting that archaic populations in Asia contributed to the modern gene pool. Studies of the Y-chromosome by M.F. Hammer, indicate migrations back and forth into Africa. (Harris and Hey 1999:84) In a nutshell, the technological differences between Neanderthal middle Palaeolithic technology and the Modern upper Palaeolithic technology can be narrowed down to flake and blade technologies. The transition between the two can be viewed again as either gradual or sudden. Some middle Palaeolithic tools in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, regardless of the hominids associated with them can show a variety of technologies. Certainly, at about 30 000 years ago, there was a shift in technologies to include art and personal adornment along with the finer micro-blade technologies. However, it is debatable as to whether these features were practiced by preceding Neanderthals or whether these innovations were brought into Europe by Moderns who would replace them. (Thorne and Wolpoff:1992) The question of the transition from the middle to upper Palaeolithic surrounds whether or not the transition was gradual or sudden. Evidence of burials within Neanderthal populations indicates that such cultural indicators were derived from those populations by other successive modern populations. The remains discovered by Duarte et al at Abrigo do Lagar Velho in Portugal present a mosaic of European early modern human and Neanderthal features according to Erik Trinkaus (1999). It is this blending of features that implies interbreeding between the two. It could be that the replacement model is somewhat supported in that it was the hybrid which gradually replaced pure Neanderthals, or that the regional model is somewhat supported in that the Neanderthals, or rather their descendants, indeed became fully modern. The translation of this evidence depends on who is looking at it, and what view they support in the first place. This brings up the issue of bias in the field and indicates that the study by its nature cannot be exact and is certainly open to interpretation. It is apparent that there can be no consensus as yet to the fate of the Neanderthals. Arguments on both sides can be quite compelling, but perhaps the most compelling is that of the third hypothesis, the middle ground, being that there needs to be further investigation into the possibility of hybridization between Neanderthal and Modern populations. Erik Trinkaus, staking his reputation on the claim, has lent his support to this hypothesis: If you have two populations of hunter-gatherers that are totally different species, that are doing things in very different ways, have different capabilities--they're not going to blend together, Trinkaus says. They're going to remain separate. So the implication from Portugal is that when these people met, they viewed each other as people. One group may have looked a little funny to the other one--but beyond that they saw each other as human beings. And treated each other as such. (Kunzig 1999) Evidence which could be used to corroborate such a theory include further DNA research, including both mitochondrial and nuclear extractions if possible. Obviously one sample from a single specimen is not enough to base a clear argument on. Perhaps with more research, the archaeological record will be corroborated by the biological record, and show that indeed the transition from mid to upper Palaeolithic was gradual and due to the interbreeding of two types of humans, which replaced the local population from which much of the technology was derived. Further excavations which produce similar remains as that of Abrigo do Lagar Velho may also show increasing evidence of hybridization. Only by seeking to expand the fossil record, and exacting reliable dates will we be able to tell the whole story of human evolution, for which the Neanderthal question is but a small part. By answering this question though, we can piece together the real story of our origins and begin to understand the whole picture of hominid evolution. Bibliography: Bower, B. 1993 Neanderthals take a big step back in time. Science News 143(15):228-230. Flanagan, Ruth. 1996 Out of Africa. Earth.5(1): 26-35. Harris, E.E. and J. Hey 1999 Human demography in the Pleistocene: Do mitochondrial and nuclear genes tell the same story? Evolutionary Anthropology 8(3): 81-86. Klein, Richard G. 1989 The Human Career. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 1992 The archaeology of modern human origins. Evolutionary Anthropology 1(1): 5-14. 1998 Why anatomically modern people did not disperse from Africa 100,000 years ago. In Takera Akazawa, Kenichi Aoki and Ofer Bar-Yosef, editors, Neanderthals and Modern Humans in Western Asia, New York,: Plenum Press, pp. 509-521. Kunzig, Robert. 1999 Learning to love Neanderthals. Discover 20(8): 68-75. Leitzes, Nicholas 1994 Brutes or brothers? Earthwatch: The Journal of Earthwatch Institute 15(3): 22-26. Mellars, Paul 1995 Neanderthals in perspective. Antiquity 68(260): 656-658. Rouhani, Shahin. 1989 Molecular genetics and the pattern of human evolution: Plausible and implausible models. In P. Mellars and C. Stringer, editors, The Human Revolution. Princeton: Princeton University Press, pp. 47-61. Shreeve, James. 1994 Phenomena: Comments and notes. Smithsonian 25(6): 7-9. Stoneking, Mark and Rebecca L. Cann. 1989 African origin of human mitochondrial DNA. In P. Mellars and C. Stringer, editors, The Human Revolution. Princeton: Princeton University Press, pp. 17-30. Stringer, C.B. 1989 Documenting the origin of modern humans. In Erik Trinkaus, editor, The Emergence of Modern Humans: Biocultural adaptations in the later Pleistocene. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 67-96. 1998 Chronological and biogeographical perspectives on later human evolution. In Takera Akazawa, Kenichi Aoki and Ofer Bar-Yosef, edotors, Neanderthals and Modern Humans in Western Asia, New York,: Plenum Press, pp. 29-37. Stringer, C.B., J.J. Hublin, and B. Vandermeersch. 1984 The origin of anatomically modern humans in Western Europe. In Fred H. Smith and Frank Spencer, editors, The Origins of Modern Humans: A World Survey if the Fossil Evidence. New York: Alan R. Liss, Inc., pp. 51-135. Tattersal, Ian and Jeffrey H. Schwartz. 1999 Hominids and hybrids: The place of Neanderthals in human evolution. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 96(13): 7117-7119. Thorne, A.G. and M.H. Wolpoff 1992 The multiregional evolution of humans. Scientific American 266(4):76-83. Trinkaus, Eric 1989 Issues concerning human emergence in the later Pleistocene. In Erik Trinkaus, editor, The Emergence of Modern Humans: Biocultural adaptations in the later Pleistocene. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 1-17. 1999 The early Upper Paleolithic human skeleton from the Abrigo do Lagar Velho (Portugal) and modern human emergence in Iberia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 96(13): 7604-7609. 1999 Direct radiocarbon dates for Vindija G1 and Velika Peina Late Pleistocene hominid remains. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 96(22): 12281-12286. Wilson, A.C. and R.L. Cann 1992 The recent African genesis of humans. Scientific American 266(4): 68-73. Wolpoff, Milford H. 1980 Palaeoanthropology. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 1989 The place of Neanderthals in human evolution. In Erik Trinkaus, editor, The Emergence of Modern Humans: Biocultural adaptations in the later Pleistocene. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 97-141. Also see: http://www.anatomy.usyd.edu.au/danny/anthropology/sci.anthropology.paleo/archive/september-1995/0106.html

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Media & Culture - Sign Symbol

A sign system is representation through communication which in turn leads to a shared meaning or understanding. We hold mental representations that classify and organise the world (whether fact or fiction), people, objects and events into meaningful categories so that we can meaningfully comprehend the world. The media use sign systems through newspapers, magazines, television,internet, and the radio etc. The conceptual map of meaning and language are the basis of representation. The conceptual map of meaning, are concepts organised, arranged and classified into complex relations to one another. The conceptual map of meaning although allows you to distinguish your own individual interpretation of the world, at the same time as holding similar views to that of other people in your culture. As the meaning is produced and constructed and in turn learned by a particular group of people. Therefore sharing conventions and codes of their language and culture. Signs can only convey meaning if we possess codes which allow us to translate our concepts into language. These codes are the result of social conventions which lead to the shared maps of meaning. These shared meanings are learnt unconsciously as we become members of a culture.If we have a concept of something in our minds we can say we know the meaning of this concept. However we cannot express or communicate this meaning without the second system of representation, language. Language is the only way in which meanings can be effectively exchanged between people, as people within the same culture are able to interpret the sign of language in the same manner. As the meanings become natural through the conditioning of culture. For example the word white in Australia represents a colour of purity, however in China it is the colour of death. Demonstrating that different cultures have not only have different meanings in their shared conceptual maps, but a different language to express it. As meanings change rapidly throughout cultures to really understand another culture you must live there and speak the language for some time. Cultural, social, political, and linguistic conventions are learned over time. The three theories of representation, reflective, intentional and constructionist approaches explain how representations through language work. The reflective approach is where language functions as a ÔmirrorÕ of the particular elements perceived meaning. The intentional approach, is where the authors individual views of the world are expressed. Whereas the constructionist approach is where we the audience construct the meaning through our shared conceptual maps and language. The media use these sign symbols so that an association can be made to the object, person, event, or idea etc. With this information of representation and language the media can familiarise people with many things, such as cultural knowledge. As advertising surrounds consumers, concern is often expressed over the impact on society, particularly on values and lifestyle. While a number of factors influence the cultural values, lifestyles, and behaviour of a society, the overwhelming amount of advertising and its prevalence in the mass media suggests that advertising plays a major role in influencing and transmitting social values. In his book Advertising and Social Change, Ronald Berman says; The Institution of the family, religion and education have grown noticeably weaker over each of the past three generations. The world itself seems to have grown more complex. In the absence of traditional authority, advertising has become a kind of social guide. It depicts us in all the myriad situations possible to a life of free choice. It provides ideas about style, morality, and behaviour. While there is general agreement that advertising is an important social influence agent, opinions as to the value of its contribution are often negative. Advertising is criticised for encouraging materialism, manipulating consumers to buy things they do not really need, perpetuating stereotyping, and controlling the media. The media must consider the cultural variables of each country, such as the complexity of learned meanings, norms, language, customs, tastes, attitudes, religion, traditions, education, lifestyle, values, and the ethical/moral standards shared by members of each society. These variables must be learnt by the media as not to offend the group they are portraying. Cultural norms and values offer direction and guidance to members of a society in all aspects of there lives. Every country exhibits cultural traits that influence not just the needs and wants of consumers but how they go about satisfying them. The media must be aware of the connotations of words and symbols used in their messages and understand how advertising copy and slogans are translated. Advertisers can also encounter problems with the connotative meaning of signs and symbols used in their messages. However within a given culture there are found smaller groups or segments, whose variables (as listed above) set them apart from the larger cultural mainstream. Known as subcultures the media must also learn about their variables as they are just as important due to their size, growth and purchasing power. Such as the Asian or Italian communities in Australia. The study of culture has led to generalisations that may apply to all cultures. Such characteristics are known as cultural universals, which are manifestations of the total way of life of any group of people. These include such elements such as bodily adornments, court-ship, etiquette, family gestures, joking, food, mealtimes, music, personal names, status differentiation and trade. These activities occur across cultures, but their manifestations may be unique in a particular society, bringing about cultural diversity. Common denominators can be found, but how they are accomplished may vary dramatically. These elements are both material and abstract. Primarily through the media these images are where we find references to conjure images of other countries representations. These signs are made common to the masses through the media, which in turn through repetition reinforces the image as common. The media use repetition and consistency of a few stereotypical elements to reinforce the central role of the image, linking it to a specific culture. These stereotypes produce ÔothernessÕ from the dominant culture, by focusing on a few different attributes of another culture. This often gets reduced to easy to digest differences such as food, clothes, appearance and music. Which suggests that culture is based on material things around us, a culture of possessions. However these representations avoid important issues that could be very different between cultures. Advertising perpetuates some of the myths associated with certain cultural groups such as, African American men are good at sports, The French are arrogant and Australians are lazy. As Chiara Giaccardi said in TV Advertising and Social Reality;Advertisements tend to capitalise upon recurrent images and forms of presentation; in so doing they reinforce them, not so much through the individual texts as through the accumulation and repetition of ÔritualisedÕ representation during the entire advertising flow. Advertisements refer not only to things and situations but also a way of seeing and interpreting them. Advertisements constitute a repotoire that viewers can draw upon both for representing and understanding themselves and for making sense of their external reality. Advertising shapes reality to serve capitalism and the Ôpost modernÕ position, according to which advertising offers a pleasurable synthetic experience as a surrogate for reality.(Chiara Giaccardi,TV Advertising and Social Reality) Advertising is therefore meaningful as it creates a sense of familiarity with the ways of experiencing it in a represented form. However as Gillian Dyer states in Advertising as Communication;We must recognise that the images conveyed by the media have, over the last thirty years, become so sophisticated and persuasive that they now organise our experiences and understanding in a crucially significant way. Advertisements encourage extravagant expectations because they are more dramatic and vivid than the reality - reality cannot match up to the image. Therefore cultural knowledge is obtained through the mediaÕs sign system. Which is evident through my knowledge of many countries and cultures without ever travelling overseas. Stereotypical elements of particular cultures shown through the media allow me to have perceived meanings and understandings of other cultures. However the stereotypes of culture portrayed through media signs are predominately tourist stereotypes. There are many advertisements in the print, audio and visual media that portray cultural knowledge. Particular signs that we can link to specific cultures, due to the familiarisation with them through the media. For example the television commercial for Simpson washing machines which showed Indian Dhobi washer women banging their clothes against a washing machine to clean them, instead of a nearby rock. Using the tag line ÒThe hardest working appliances in the worldÓ, suggesting that the product is trustworthy and has stamina. The sign systems that the media used where firstly the opening shot of the Ganges River in the foreground with Indian temples in the background. You then see a mass of Indian women in traditional dress washing clothes in a traditional manner. Although hard working the commercial suggested that their product was also as strong as a rock. The use of the washing machine as a rock for clothes washing and the dumbfounded look on their faces when they saw the electrical plug, suggests that India is a third world country and the people do not have electricity. Although they did not know how to use the machine they continue to use it in place of a rock. Throughout the entire commercial traditional Indian music was played. The music and appearance of both the people and the structures clearly suggests to the viewer that it is India. However these signs would not have been recognised without prior media familiarisation. Therefore through cultural stereotypes providing cultural knowledge. Another example is the West End Gold beer commercial. Animation is used to view two mosquitoes talking to one another. The setting is a barbecue with a group of stereotypical macho male friends getting together after a hard days work to eat food and drink beer. The mosquitoes are happy that the men are now drinking mid strength beer as they are not falling asleep, making fools of themselves, and they are able to drink more blood. Although referring to themselves it was clear they were actually talking about the men involved. Suggesting that they can spend more time with their friends, consume more beer and have more fun. The commercial was set in a middle class backyard, which features a run of the mill Australian barbecue in which the beer is helpful to people with subtle humour. Traditionally Australian beer commercials have portrayed beer as a reward for hard manual labour or driving through the desert, such as the Victorian Bitter campaigns. The Australian cultural signs used were the image of the macho male ÔokkaÕ, drinking beer, having a barbecue with only male mates. I believe these images are used to promote the Australian barbecue culture. These images are also known across the world due to the movie ÔCrocodile DundeeÕ. Another example is the use of the Mexican cultural stereotype to promote a new McDonald's burger. As the burger had an added sauce that was spicy the advertisers used the Mexican image to portray this. As traditionally the Mexicans eat very spicy food such as Tacos. You instantly know that the characters are Mexican due to their appearance, dark skinned, long moustaches, wearing ponchos and sombreros, riding horses through the desert. The music and appearance of the characters are the main signs used to recognise Mexico. However the poor dubbing of their voices and the words Ôondelay ondelayÕ are also common cultural signs portrayed in the media. Italian signs are also often used to sell food products such as pizza and pasta. For example the Dolmio commercials that use to be on television. They showed a large Italian family(Italians like large families) having pasta for dinner(traditional Italian meal), they had napkins tucked into their shirts(suggesting they were going to eat a lot of food in a messy manner), the characters were primarily large, they used the words mama and papa(Italian words for mum and dad) and the main character had pasta sauce on his mouth with the tag line Ôdo you wear the Dolomio grinÕ. All of which are signs the media use to portray Italian people. Once again the music also played a major role in recognising the cultural stereotypes. Even the name Dolmio sends a linguistic message of Italianicity. If the media do not understand the cultural characteristics of a country they would not be aware of the shared cultural values of the community and could easily offend the country. For example the eating of beef in India is not practised, the colour white is a symbol of death in China, and the left hand in some countries is known as the toilet hand. This demonstrates the differences in culture that could be very embarrassing for companies. The simplicity of colour or a name could be very offensive and have disastrous implications, which demonstrates the necessity for market research. However I believe that cultural values also need to be lived to be learned, for more accurate results. The media are a very powerful tool of communication. They are used as a tool to educate, inform and entertain people all over the world. However the common sign sytems in which they use to portray many groups are often sterotypical. I know that Australian men are not all like what is portrayed in the beer commercials, due to experience of the culture. However all I know ofd the other cultures around the world is what the media portray, therefore providing me with my cultural knowledge. BIBLIOGRAPHY Hall Stuart (1997) Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices Sage Publications Chapter 1 Dyer, Gillian (1982) Advertising as Communication Routledge London & New York Chapter 5 Giaccardi, Chiara (1995) Television Advertsing and the representation of Social Reality: Theory, Culture & Society, Vol.12, pg 109-131 SAGE, London, Thousand Oaks and New Delhi Wiliamson, Judith (1978) Decoding Advertsing; Ideology and Meaning in Advertsing Marion Boyars, London Kline, Stephen(1995) The Play on the Market: On the Internationalisation of ChildrenÕs Culture,in Theroy Culture & Society, Vol.12, pg 103-129 SAGE, London, Thousand Oaks, and New Delhi Berman, Ronald(1981) Advertising and Social Change, pg 13 SAGE, Beveley Hills and California Czinkota, Michael R and Ronkainen, Ilkka A (1996) Global Marketing Dryden Press Boone, Louis E and Kurtz, David L Contemporary Marketing Plus Eighth Edition The Dryden Press Chapter 7 Wells, William, Burnett, John & Moriarty, Sandra (1995) Advertising Principles and Practice Third Edition, Chapter 5 Prentice Hall Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey


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Israel

Teams of archaeologists were excavating in Israel when they came upon a cave. Written across the wall of the cave were the following symbols, in this order of appearance: A woman, a donkey, a shovel, a fish and a Star of David. They decided that this was a unique find and the writings were at least three thousand years old. They chopped out the piece of stone and had it brought to the museum, where archeologists from all over the world came to study the ancient symbols. They held a huge meeting after months of conferences to discuss the meaning of the markings. The president of the society stood up and pointed to the first drawing and said: “This looks like a woman. We can, therefore, judge that this race was family oriented and held women in high esteem. You can also tell that they were intelligent, industrious, inventive, and resourceful. The next symbol resembles a donkey, so, they were smart enough to have animals help them till the soil. The following pictograph, the image of what appears to be a shovel of some sort, which indicates that they had tools at their disposal to make their work more efficient and purposeful. Even further proof of their high intelligence is the next picture, that of a fish, which clearly means that if a famine had hit the earth, whereby food did not grow, they would take to the sea for food. And finally, the last symbol, evidently a Star of David, although somewhat primitive in design, indicates that these early inhabitants were indeed Hebrews.” The audience of archaeologists applauded enthusiastically. Suddenly, an old man stood up in the back of the room and said, “Idiots! Hebrew is read from right to left! It says: ‘Holy Mackerel! Dig the Ass on that Woman!’”

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