- 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
Initial comment: After you publish your blog post, review it to make sure it can be easily read. You have some text with background that blocks it out. I have to select the text to review it. You also have some text that has lost it's text-wrapping function so it disappears off the page. I'll make do this time, but for all future posts, you need to make sure I can read your work. I will ask you to correct this before reviewing.
ReplyDeleteZulu: Good environmental description! But don't be afraid of being explicit in identifying the key points requested in the guidelines. In this case, the key environmental stressors would be solar radiation and heat stress.
Great discussion and explanation on the Zulu physical and cultural adaptations. It's important to note that the clothing adaptations wouldn't work if they didn't already have the melanin adaptation to solar radiation stress.
"African" is a continent, not a race. Recognize that there are many different races that live in Africa, so this term doesn't identify any specific race. How about "black"?
Andean: Careful here... the environment of the lowlands of that region could be identified as "tropical", but the Andean Indians live predominantly at high elevations which is NOT tropical. They experience high levels of solar radiation, high altitude stress and cold stress.
Great description of their physical adaptations to high altitude stress.
Good discussion of the irrigation techniques, but your image shows the terracing technique they use for farming. Isn't this another adaptation to high altitude?
Regarding race, again, don't confuse a geographical location with "race". Race is usually defined by external phenotypic expression, such as skin color. How about identifying them as indigenous native Indians? It is difficult to identify an accurate race, isn't it? Why is that?
Summary: On the right track with your summary, but take it further and discuss the issue of "explanatory power". Can you use race to *explain* why a culture looks as it does and acts as it does? Does race explain why Zulu have lots of melanin and why the Andeans terrace their crops?
Race is not based in biology but is a social construct, based in beliefs and preconceptions, and used only to categorize humans into groups based upon external physical features, much like organizing a box of crayons by color. Race does not *cause* adaptations like environmental stress do, and without that causal relationship, you can't use race to explain adaptations. Race has no explanatory value over human variation.
Hello Ariel, you did an excellent job describing the environment for the Zulu tribe. You went into great detail about the range of temperatures, and you made sure to explain it very Thoroughly. It was very interesting to see what information you were able to gather. In regard to physical adaptations, you did a relatively good job. I'm going into quite a number of details with excellent picked photos to go alongside what you had to say. When you talked about the Andean Indians, he did a fantastic job explaining their seasons alongside a company photo of what their life looks like. You explained their physical adaptations and went into a great deal of information which led us to the conclusion about how they take oxygen within their high altitude. Your summary was very well worded, and I learned quite a lot from your post.
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