The Yanomami Tribes

                                        The Yanomami Tribes

Environment & Climate Adaptations 

The Yanomami are  tribes of about 38,000 people that live in the mountains and rainforests of southern Venezuela and northern Brazil. They are the largest relatively isolated tribe in South America. The weather in the rainforest can fluctuate between extreme bouts of rain to extremely hot and humid. The extra melanin they have making their skin brown helps protect them from the sun rays, they are also shorter in stature which helps them climb and hide when they are hunting in the jungles but also helps them be more agile on mountainous terrain. Being smaller in stature also allows them to be able to consume fewer calories which is helpful in places where food can be scarce such as a mountain or poor soil qualities within the Amazon Rainforest.

                     Language & Gender Roles

Yanomami do not have a written language, only an oral one, this is a Xiriana language, there are different types spoken by other South American tribes the particular one they speak is Yanomaman. Some of their words and meanings are, Urihi a pree which means “ Great Forest Land” and can also be described as the world, thepe urihipe  which means the “forest of human beings”, napepe which mean “ strangers, enemies or white, yanomami thepe which means '' human being”, yaro means “ game animals”, yai means “ invisible beings”, xapiripe which means “ spirits”. Although men and women are often designated to different roles, no role is seen as more important. Men are responsible for hunting and gathering plants used for poisons whilst women typically tend the gardens and other daily tasks. During summer seasons men, women, and children all fish together as well as other Yanomami tribes. When the men hunt they will not eat the meat they catch, that meat is for the village, instead they will share in someone else's catch.

                            Sustenance and Economic Systems 

The Yanomami typically use slash and burn agriculture for their sustenance. They also hunt and fish. They hunt animals such as deer, monkeys, and armadillo, in order to catch large quantities of fish at a time they will put poison on to a bundle of vines and smack the water stunning the fish, causing them to rise to the surface allowing it to be easily scooped into baskets. Over 500 types of plants are used for medicine, food, clothing, and housing materials. Some plants are foraged while others such as bananas and tubers are grown in the gardens that surround their homes called yanos. The Yanomami also gather important items from trade, raw honey and cotton are some of the most important items for for trade, the honey is used for many things including medicine and the cotton is used to make hammocks, slings, and rope.

                                   Marriage and Kinship

Bilateral cross cousin marriage and polygamy are practiced within the Yanomami tribe, marriage between patrilineal relatives is forbidden. The term for father and his brother is haya, but for the mother's brother it is soaya. Aunts from the mothers side are called naya, Aunts from the fathers are called yesiya.  Parallel cousins and siblings are eiwa for male and amiwa for female. Cross cousins are soriwa for male and suaboya for female. The distinctions in the names are to tell which side of the family they are apart of since parallel cousins and siblings are not allowed to marry each other but they are allowed to marry cross cousins. The Yanomami have many cross cousin terms in their marriage system . A man's term for his female cross-cousin, suaboya is also the term for wife. The term for male cross-cousin, soriwa is also for his brother-in-law, because ego's wife's brother will usually be married to ego's sister. Women use the same type of classification but different terms, male cross cousins and husbands are called heroya, and female cross cousins and sisters-in-law within natohiya. 

                                 Social and Political Organization 

     Each Yanomami is an independent political entity, free to make independent choices, however unions between villages are important but tend to be weak and short lasted. The Yanomami are an egalitarian society but age, sex, and personal achievements are important in differentiating status. In order to achieve high status you have to be courageous in combat and battle, give good speeches, or be a shaman, high status cannot be inherited only earned. Older men tend to be in positions of political and religious power. Elders in the village are also held at a high status, they often regulate marriages and settle disagreements within the villages. The headman/men are the highest authority in the villages, they come from the largest local patrilineages. There is multiple headmen when a village is very large or when there is another equally sized patrilineage. The headman is expected to be able to settle disputes and disagreements, represent his lineage with honor, and keeping allies and enemies in order.

 

Role of Violence

    Conflicts are typically caused from accusations of being unfaithful, an engaged woman not showing up for the wedding, verbal assault, greediness, or thefts of valued garden crops such as tobacco and peach-palm fruits. For men, if a conflict moves escalates past a shouting match a set of variously graded duels will take place. If a fight becomes to serious, respected men of the village may step in to keep more people from jumping in, the duel often ends in a tie. Women don't often duel instead a more immediate attack will take place, they will fight with hands, feet, and makeshift weapons. The Yanomami also face warfare caused by large family feuds often due to sexual or marital issue. Normally only the family members take place in the fight, but nonfamily members may fight to show support against the enemies. Quick raids are the most common form of warfare, the main goal is to quickly kill as many of the enemy as possible as well as taking women if possible, and return home. Sometimes villagers who are not involved in the attack are killed when they are unable to safely reach the village elders. Each village needs at least one allied village to help during times of conflict, increase in distance and size of a village can be signs of conflict. Peace between villages usually happens, if  there has been no conflict for a long period, and when there is a common enemy. Often a series of ceremonially festive visits are held, these visits may lead to joint raids and cross marriage between villages that make the alliance stronger. 

                                                                  Religion and Art

    The Yanomami tribe practice animism, which means they believe everything in the forest has an animal spirit. These spirits are called xapiripe, they are also called hekura and hekurape. In order to see the spirits the Yanomami use a hallucinogen called yopo or ebene which comes from the bark of the virola tree. These rituals are normally done after the work of the day is finished, strong tobacco and the yopo are mixed together and then the smoke is blown into the nose from one person to another, this is seen as a transfer of energy. Shamans use the yopo to control the xapiripe, allowing them to use their powers to heal friends and harm enemies. They express their beliefs with intricate desgins on their body paints and on their food baskets called shotos. In the designs they uses lines, curves, dots, circles, waves, and spider webs, to make the red color they use crushed onoto and for the black they use masticated charcoal. Painting the body is celebration of expressing feelings, when a Yanomami stops painting himself they are said to be lost.

                                                                   Conclusion

The Yanomami tribe have been greatly affect by outside groups of people over the years, in 1975 the Brazilian government found the presence of gold ore in the Roraima region in Brazil. This caused miners searching for gold to invade the Yanomami territories, by 1987 a full gold rush was in progress, Over 30,000 prospectors and over started over 100 mining operations. Over 2,000 Yanomami were killed due to massacres and disease such as malaria brought by the miners, not to mention mining causes adverse affects to the land and wildlife. Chemical runoff from the operations cause mercury build up in the wildlife eaten by the Yanomami causing birth defects and abnormal child development. Harmful introductions of alcohol and other negative western goods has also had a negative impact on the Yanomami tribes. Due to the increasing crisis of the miners in 1992 the Brazilian Government made federal indigenous reserve, the miners retaliated in what is now known as the Haximu Massacre where a group of miners tried to kill a whole village, at least 16 Yanomami were killed in the attack. The miners were sentenced to 19 years in prison, the government still faces push back from the mining community to reduce Yanomami territory. It is also speculated that anthropologist Napoleon Chagnon and his geneticist James Neel were also accused of committing atrocious acts such as causing a measles epidemic in order to study natural selection on a "primitive" society. Chagnon was also said to have  made fraudulent accounts of the Yanomami being violent people when he in fact staged and instigated the fights by introducing weapons and goods. Although the Yanomami people have face a lot of turmoil many efforts are being put in place to preserve the Yanomami people and the Amazon Rainforest. Davi Kopenawa is an Yanomami leader as well as an activist that has helped make and maintain the lands of the Yanomami people. The Yanomami are important in todays society because we use their culture and others like it to help us try and understand how early humans may have lived before modern times, as well as being and important part of the Amazon Rainforest. 

https://www.survivalinternational.org/tribes/yanomami

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Yanomami

http://www.amazon-indians.org/yanomami.html

https://pib.socioambiental.org/en/Povo:Yanomami

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/world/yanomami/

Cave Art and More

                                                               Functions of Early Art

•  I don't think there was a specific message they were trying to send or say but that the art in the Lascaux Caves was most likely a combination of a nice way to pass the time for early humans as well as a way to record information. Some of the paintings could also be warnings such as the depiction of what looks like a man either getting ran over or attacked in some way by a bison. 
• I think there might be more animals then people in the cave paintings because the people might have  just recorded depictions of the wildlife in the area as a way to keep track of the various species in the different places they were travelling. Knowing what wildlife was around might have been more important then knowing what people were around at the time and given that it was hard work to make these art work they most likely chose to depict the most important things. 
• The cave paintings can tell us that the people in Lascaux Caves valued nature and took the time to make the animals very detailed to the point they used varying techniques and tools in order to create these cave paintings. There was also evidence of shells that were used as jewelry and were most likely an item used for trade.
• Some of the difficulties the cave painters faced were the differences in the wall textures, because the walls were different textures they had to come up with different tools and ways to paint the walls such as five grinding stones, three mortars, twenty-three limestone and schist plates, sixteen shells, flint tools for engraving and wood work, and bone tools such as assegais, eyed needles, awl, spall, a modified reindeer antler beam, and brushes. All of these items had to be used in order to make the amazing cave paintings not one item could be used throughout the cave.
• I think one possible function of the art for early humans, as stated above, could possibly be for a pass time, the paintings themselves are nice to look at and could've been nice decoration for the caves they stayed in, and they could also be used to help tell a story. Another use could have been for recording information about important or dangerous plants and animals in the area. The pictures could also been used as a sort of land marker showing they had passed through for other groups of early humans as well as for themselves to remind themselves where they had been.

                                                          Commonalities in Functions

• There are many commonalities we can see in the Lascaux Cave paintings and within modern art works such as having an appreciations and love for wildlife which is depicted in many modern pieces especially by famous artist John Banovich. We see the commonalities as well in art work depicting danger or battles like the man and the bison and art work of  our own battles and wars. We also have art work today of important landmarks and places as well as specially decorating important places and land markers which could have been a function of the cave paintings. Modern at serves many functions from self expression, a message, or just sharing some beauty which I believe is the same reasons for the cave paintings.

                                                       Introduce Us to Your Favorite Art

• My favorite type of art would have to be music, I can find a song I like in just about every genre of music. My top favorite genres would have to be rock and rap/ r&b.  The functions of music is to express yourself by telling a story, the story can be about your own life experiences, the experiences of those around you or completely made up. There is a lot people say with their music, music can be about falling in love or out of it, social and political issues, crimes, parties/celebrations, life changing events such as having a child or getting married, it can be about death and all of the up, downs and in-betweens of life. Music is so powerful that there doesn't even need to be words for it to send a powerful message. Different types of music definitely have their own culture. When you think of rock you tend to think or dark clothing maybe some scary imagery, loud, leather, studded belts and a disgruntled attitude towards the  establishment and conforming to societies rules. Within rap you get a similar dislike of "the man" and the powers that be as well, attire can be much different rap and hip-hop tend to use really bright colors and have cloths that are baggy opposed to tighter like in some genres of rock, big flashy jewelry and cars. Pop culture is known for sparkles, pastel colors and flashy costumes, a carefree attitude. All music has it's own culture as well as the actual different cultures from around the world that influence and create different types of music rap from around the world sounds different as well as rock, pop, country, and so many more. Going back to my two favorite music genres rock and rap I'd say the positive impact rock has on society is that there are many songs celebrating the under dog and songs about perseverance there is also many anti self harm and suicide songs within rock, some of the more negative influences of rock are the glorification of objectifying women and drug use one of the most synonymous sayings is sex, drugs and rock n roll which has a negative impact on the youth. There is also racial tensions at times caused by the constant argument and prejudices that rock is solely for white people and the counter argument that black people invented rock n roll. The positives of rap/ R&B is that it allowed the black community to speak and tell the world about the injustices that were going on as well as the up and downs of everyday life. The negatives of specifically rap come with the era of gangster rap and never really ceased, this type of rap changed the narrative to let me tell you the bad things that are going on, into do bad things and be a bad person. It helped perpetuate a negative depiction of the young black man and caused the rise of gang and drug violence within the black community.

Language Experiment

15 Minutes No Symbolic Language

1. I personally really enjoyed this experiment it was very interesting and amusing and frustrating at times. It was difficult when I had questions about something during the conversations but I couldn't figure out how to properly convey the proper message. My partner struggled with trying to figure out how to engage and start the conversation, they initially started out basically talking at me like telling a story opposed to conversating. When I tried to engage in conversation by making confused gestures when they got to a point when I needed more clarification they struggled to figure out exactly what I needed clarification about causing the conversation to turn into a guessing game.
2. In my experience I felt that the speaker had the power, they were able to choose the conversation and the direction of the conversation. As the non- speaker you can't explain which parts of the conversation you agree or disagree with and why you can only give signs that you object or agree to something but very non specific. One benefit about spoken language is that you have the ability to voice your opinions at any time and make choices, as well as properly convey any message you may have.
3. If me and my partner were two different cultures meeting for the first  I would definitely say my partner had the advantage. They were able to properly convey their ideas and messages smoothly without a problem, where-as I was unable to properly express what I needed to say leaving them confused. The speaking culture may experience feelings of frustration or annoyance with the other culture. They may also make assumptions about the others cultures intelligence leading to negative stereotypes. People within our culture that struggle with spoken communication are babies/young children, non-verbal persons on the spectrum, deaf people, and people who have had damage to their throats and vocal cords. I feel like this experiment can mirror their own experiences in life because I am sure there are plenty of times in their lives where they have struggled to convey a non-verbal message even with the use of sign language. Especially babies and young children who not only lack the ability to speak but also lack the intelligence in most cases to figure out another way such as writing to convey the message.

No physical embellishments

1.  I wasn't able to last the full 15 minutes with this one, surprisingly it was harder then I had anticipated. I never realized how much I use my body to communicate, I use a lot of hand movements and really full body movements at times to fully express thoughts, emotions, and information. The other thing that made it challenging was trying to be monotone on purpose, it felt so unnatural that it made it really hard not to laugh every time I would try to speak.
2. My partner expressed that the second conversation was definitely more awkward than the first one. They said that this version of the experiment made them feel as if they were talking to some one who was bored or slightly irritated opposed to speaking to someone who might have a disability. They also said while the first experience was a bit more frustrating at times this conversation felt colder.
3. This experiment says a lot about body and non speech language in the sense that it seems to go hand in hand with speech, it gives us the ability to fully express our meanings we are trying to convey. Voice fluctuations and facial expressions help to tell what emotions some one is feeling, as well as body movement. We can also use non-verbal signs and movements to discreetly send information or for those who are speech impaired. Body language is so important we often use it during conversations in everyday life to determine whether the information being to told to us by some one is truthful. We look for signs like nail biting, excessive sweeting, fidgeting are all signs that some one is nervous and may be lying. Signs such as stick your chin or chest out when you talk, putting your hands on your hips. wagging a finger van all be signs of irritations or frustration.
4. Some people do struggle with reading body language, I think this happens because of a mixture of poor observation as well as a mixture of a lot of possible other things. An environmental condition where it might not be a good idea to read body language would be at a boring job meeting. You would not want to show signs of being bored or uninterested in front of your boss or important people within your work space.

Part 3

1. Part one would have been significantly easier if I could have written out or even drew what I was trying to explain. Writing or drawing would have given a visual representation of the message even if I wasn't able to say it. The advantage written language gives to the culture that develops and uses it first is that they get to decide what everything means and how it's used. Written language has given us the ability to see the thoughts and ideas of ancient cultures. It has also given us the ability to send any kind of message to any one any where around the world especially thanks to inventions like the mail services, the printing press, and the email.

The Zulu and The Andean Indians

1.  Environment-The Zulu Tribe of Southern Africa live in an area between the Drakensberg and Kalahari borderland where the environment tends to differ. Also called Zululand, the Zulu climate consists of a warm sub-tropical climate for most part of the year. Summer temperatures (November to February) are hot, ranging from 24 to 30 degrees Celsius (about 80 degrees Fahrenheit). The winter temperatures tend to be around a comfortable 20 degrees Celsius (about 70 degrees Fahrenheit). The winter night temperature dips to around 11 degrees Celsius (about 52 degrees Fahrenheit). The rest of the year has very hot days and high humidity levels due to the fact that the Zulu population is subject to sunlight throughout the entire year. The total number of average rainfall days in Zululand in one year is 115 days.

2. Physical Adaptations-Zululand is located just south of the equator, resulting in lots of sunlight reaching this part of the Earth. Due to this abundance of sunlight, the Zulu people's skin have stayed darker over generations of time unlike other groups of people whose skin have lighted over time. The trait to produce more melanin is what produces tan and darker colored skin. This darker colored skin allows for more ultraviolet radiation blockage, which is prominent where the Zulu people live. Although this shielding of light is good, complete blockage of ultraviolet radiation results in negative effects for the Zulu people. A little bit of the radiation needs to be absorbed by the body to keep adequate amounts of Vitamin D. New evidence suggests that vitamin D may help prevent a wide range of cancers, including those of the colon and breasts as well as rickets disease. Since the Zulu people experience high sun exposure, an increase in melanin production helps maintain their homeostasis. 

 

 

 

3.Cultural Adaptations-Being that the Zulu culture is subject to year round sunlight, the Zulu have adapted their way of dressing by using clothes that show a lot of skin in order to keep them as cool as possible. They craft their clothes from the natural environment around them. The use of minimal clothing in the warm temperatures allows the Zulu people to remain at a normal, homeostatic body temperature. If they were to wear large furs all year long like some cultures they could risk heat exhaustion or death.

4.Race-If I were to describe the Zulu people by race I would definitely say African. I would say this because they are dark skinned people who live on the continent of  Africa. People from Africa tend to have darker skin and fuller lips with a wider nose, which is what these people look like. They also have hair with tight curls which you can see even with the hair being short.

1. Environment-The Andean Indians live south of Guatemala and the northern coast of South America. The area is largely tropical where the seasons are classified by extreme changes in rainfall and temperature. The lower parts of the Andean environment tend to be hot, while the elevated regions maintain cooler temperatures. Areas of heavy rainfall support dense forest, whereas a few dry regions support little more than sparse grass. Elevation is a key role in the environment where the Andean Indians live.

2.Physical Adaptations-Since the Andean Indians live in highly elevated places, they have developed physical traits that counteract the effect of oxygen deprivation at high altitudes. Common humans began to lose oxygen at an altitude of around one to two miles. Some regions in the Andes are up to three miles high. The Andean Indians have developed a larger lung capacity over thousands of years that give them the advantage to live at such a high altitude. The Andean Indians have a red  tinge to the skin because they are making more red blood cells to get the needed amount of oxygen to their tissues. The lungs increase in size to facilitate the osmosis of oxygen and carbon dioxide.  There is also an increase in the vascular network of muscles which enhances the transfer of gasses. These adaptations help the Andean people survive in their unique environment.

3. Cultural Adaptations-Since the Andean people live at high altitude in the mountains, most farmland is hard to find because of the slope or the elevated areas. Sporadic periods of rainfall make it even tougher to find the right times to farm. This makes it very difficult to grow adequate food for proper nutrition. To aid these tough conditions the Andean Indians have come up with a system.

They build cisterns and irrigation canals that snake and angle down around the mountains and cut terraces into the hillsides, progressively steeper, from the valleys up the slopes.

4.Race- The race I would describe the Andean people would be indigenous Central Americans. They have light to medium dark reddish brown skin. Their eye shape is more slanted and they have darker straighter hair. They also have smaller noses that are wider at the bottom.

5.Summary-I personally feel that giving a description of a culture based solely on race gives to many limitations. I feel this way because all groups of people vary in size, height, and color, even certain characteristics such as eye shape and hair texture and be very similar or very different. I feel that giving a description based on the cultures environment and adaptations gives a broader and more in-depth look into a culture and is much more useful within Anthropology. After all there really is not multiple races only the one human race with many different adaptations.

Sources:

  

Zulu Environment: http://www.zulu.org.za/index.php?districthome+29++57984 

Zulu Environment: http://www.zoover.co.uk/south-africa/kwazula-natal/zululand/weather 

Zulu Physical Adaptation: http://anthro.palomar.edu/adapt/adapt_4.htm

Zulu Cultural Adaptation: http://www.zulu-culture.co.za/zulu_clothing.php

Zulu Race: http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/society/A0860612.html

Andean Environment: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/102247/Central-American-and-northern-Andean-Indian

Andean Physical Adaptation: http://anthro.palomar.edu/adapt/adapt_3.htm

Andean Cultural Adaptation: http://www.des.ucdavis.edu/faculty/orlove/New%20Publications/2002%20American%20Scientist.pdf

Zulu Race: http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/society/A0860612.html

A Look Inside the Nacerima People

     One word I would use to describe the Nacerima people is very devote. I would use this word to describe them because they have a very strict set of rituals and ceremonies that they preform on a daily basis as well as annually and so on. They believe if they do not perform these rituals and ceremonies that terrible things will befall them such as losing friends, family, and health. Men, women and children all have their own rituals to preform. All people of the community have shrines in their homes that contain a charm box including the wealthy. The wealthy usually have multiple shrine rooms in their homes, most contain so many charms they forget the uses for them but fear throwing them out.

    This culture is also deeply magic based. All of their rituals and ceremonies are preformed by a series of magical practitioners or they give out the charms and instruction on how to preform each ritual. There is the holy-mouth men, the Water temple priests, and the Listeners. Every aspect of their lives has a magical ritual attached to it even events such as using the bathroom, intercourse, and pregnancy as well as child birth. Their belief in these rituals and the medicine men is so powerful that they continue to perform said rituals regardless of the negative outcomes which tend to occur including death.

    The Nacerima people seem to be very private and secret people. Although many rituals are apart of their daily lives almost all rituals are done alone within the privacy of your own home. Privacy is so important that husbands and wives rarely if not never see each other in the nude. Intercourse is viewed negatively except for on planned occasions set up by the medicine men and solely for procreation purposes. Pregnancy and child birth are also to be kept secret, women must wear clothing to conceal their pregnancies and once it is time to birth the child they must do so on their own with no assistance. They only time in which this privacy is taken away is once they go to the Latipso. The Latipso is the temple of the medicine men, where the ill go to get healed if they can offer a wealthy enough set of gifts and offerings. Here they will be striped of all their cloths and undergo brutal examinations and procedures.

    Unique can be used to describe the Nacerima people. Although ceremonies and rituals as well as the belief in medicine men is not uncommon through out the world, acts such as actively trying to stop and prevent pregnancy to the point that conception is infrequent for the whole people is uncommon. They are also unique in the sense that their beliefs are widely centered around a disgust of the human body due do the aging or decaying of the body over time. There is also much discomfort when it comes to how the body looks especially the female body. 

    The last word I would use to describe the Nacerima people is satirical. Nacerima is American spelled backwards. Everything Minor described in his writings was a satirical take on the American culture . Not only that but it teaches us that all cultures can seem barbaric in nature to some one looking in from the outside and that we should try to understand each others cultures before making harsh judgments. 

1. I tried my best to accurately describe the culture and stick to the facts that I read.  
2. I have to admit that when I first began to read I felt like the culture was very barbaric and extreme, with that being said I really had to think about ways to describe what I was reading without being rude or judgmental. I feel as though unique is biased because what we may find unique or out of the ordinary may be everyday life for someone else.
3. I would change the word unique to uncommon, I feel as though uncommon is a better word because it states that something does not happen often but is not inherently strange where as unique is more leaning towards strange or odd.
4. It is important to avoid being ethnocentric as a cultural anthropologist and just in general because it clouds our view point. This makes it impossible to properly learn and understand another's culture because we end up focusing on the differences and making judgments instead of just trying to learn and seek knowledge. I personally believe description is apart explaining and understanding but it is how you choose to describe that matters. If you only want to see bad in a culture and your purpose is solely to judge then your descriptions will reflect that.