The Mongols: Now or Then?

There are many cultures in the world. Each one has its own environment, cultural and physical adaptation, and other factors that are unique. The study of a specific culture is extremely important in order to see the physical and cultural struggles they went through. It is also beneficial to be able to know about another culture, different the one we are individually a part of. By studying some different cultures, one can see the similarities and differences within the cultures.

The Environment

The Mongols is a name referring to a culture in Mongolia and North of China. The Mongols actually include almost sixty separate tribes. There are almost six million Mongols that are in northern China. The Mongols live in two different types of geographical areas. To the south of Mongolia, the geography includes the Gobi desert while to the north and the west, the geography includes cold and mountainous regions. However, much of Mongolia actually includes what is called the Steppes. The “steppes” is another word for Grasslands. 

This is an image of some of the land the Mongols lived on

The Mongols live through hot summers yet extremely cold winters. In the winter, the temperature experiences a drop of below freezing point. Their summers are short while their winters are long. In the summer, that is when the Mongols have their precipitation. The highest precipitation occurs in the north at about an average of 200 to 350 millimeters while the lowest occurs in the south with the average of 100 to 200 millimeters.  In the winter, Mongolia occasionally goes through what is called a “zud”. A zud is a term used by the Mongolians to describe the extremely snowy winters they go through. In this condition, much of the livestock in Mongolia die because of the cold and because of starvation. The zuds have a very negative effect on Mongolia because their economy depends on the farming of the livestock. Since livestock dies during the zuds, their economy also dies during the zuds.

The Mongols live in a country that is dominated by Ulaanbaatar, the capital city. In the 1979 census, it was said that 51% of the Mongolian population was urban. Before the twentieth century, most of the people living in Mongolia were nomads. Even in the 1980s, a percentage of Mongols were still nomadic, with more becoming urban. Up until 2002, about 30% of people living in Mongolia rely on the breeding of livestock.  Most of the ethnic population consists of the Khalkha which is about 86%. The other 14% is a mix of other nationalities.

Mongolia, despite the complications of the weather, has a variety of existing livestock and plants. The livestock of Mongolia includes horses, sheep and goats, camels, cows, and reindeers. They also have wild livestock which includes marmots, wolves, Przewalski horses which have been extinct for many years already, snow leopards. Also, 15% of the country’s territory is known to be forests that consist of pines and birches, bushes and shrubs. The steppes they live in have flowers that include edelweiss, gentians, geraniums, eyelets, delphiniums, peas, asters, and more. The deserts in Mongolia have bushes with thorns, very deep roots, and no leaves.

The Mongols endure difficult weather and temperatures which is a stress to them. As mentioned before, since most of people depend on the breeding of livestock, their economy suffers a lot when most of the livestock dies of the cold and starvation. The weather condition such as the zud is one example of what the Mongols have to go through. Also, since their year consists more of the cold winters, it is another stress the Mongols have to deal with. If it was just rain, they can live fine. However, they have temperatures that fall below freezing point, a temperature that is extremely difficult to live in.  

Climatic Adaptations

One of the most important ways the Mongols maintained survival was being able to adapt to the stress of the bizarre weather conditions they went through. One of the physical adaptations that enable them to survive the cold winters is having short limbs and noses with flat faces. This was beneficial to their bodies because it decreased the body surface area. Having a smaller surface area was great because the Mongols were able to circulate the warm blood faster in the body as a way to cope with the cold. Another physical adaptation they developed also deals with having a smaller body. The smaller body allows for faster blood circulation which allows the Mongols to survive in the harsh cold.

Having to live in their environment, one of the most important cultural adaptations the Mongols developed was also to help with the cold weather. They used the livestock they herded to make fur to cover their bodies. They used the wool of the sheep, goats, and camels to make cashmere clothing and covers. Another cultural adaptation of the Mongols was the animal herding itself. This allowed them to be able to get food and dairy products that is necessary for a healthy diet. This pastoralist style they developed as part of their lifestyle was due to the environment around them. Another adaptation they developed goes alongside with the pastoralist style. It is their use of horses for transportation and riding. This was important during the cold weathers in order to move from a very cold place to a place that is a bit more tolerable.

The horse here shows their source of cover that helps the Mongols deal with the cold

Language

The Mongol’s main language that is spoken is called Mongolian. It is the language that is spoken by Mongolians in Mongolia. This language alone has about five million speakers in the world. In China, the Mongols dialects are called the Chahar, the Oyirad, and the Barghu-Buryat. Even though Mongolia is a language spoken in China, it is very different from Chinese due to their different grammar and structures. The Mongolian language is part of the Altaic family language, which includes other languages such as the Turkic and Manchu-Tungus languages.

The Mongolian language also comes in written form. However, it has many different writing styles. Foreigners use their own writing style of the Mongolian language. When the Mongols took over China with their empire in the 1200s, Genghis Khan or the Chingis Haan created a writing system for the Mongolian. This writing style was based on the Uyghur script and later on became the first official writing system of Mongolia and in the Mongol Empire. The fact that the Chingis Haan ordered the creation of the writing system shows that he was aiming at full cultural invasion in China. Also, since the Mongols created their own language and their own writing system, it shows their refusal to adopt or to adapt to the Chinese language. This shows their independence and their desire of control.

A foreigner might be able to distinguish this language by the number of vowels it contains. This written language has more vowels than most other languages. Due to the many vowels this language has, it is often difficult to be able to tell apart the different sounds. Aside from the vowels it contains, this language also comes with its own set of rules of how to use the vowels and the consonants. 

Gender Roles

In the culture of Mongol in China, there are the two specific genders, male and female, or man and woman. The men were given the responsibility of taking care of all external affairs which include the military, trade, and administrative business. Also, men were given the responsibility of animal herding, hunting, and the slaughtering of the animals. Some of their jobs also included taking care of the animal shelters, fixing and handling tools, carts, and weapons. The women on the other hand were mainly responsible for any housework such as cooking, washing, taking care of the children, and sewing. Other jobs for women include milking the animals and making dairy products. 

While animal herding was known to be the men’s main jobs, in the households where it mainly relied on herding, the whole family would take part in taking care of the herds and increase the herds. Still, the older people took care of the repairing of the tools and the cooking and sewing. There was no penalty for the crossing over of the roles. As long as the proper knowledge and training has been achieved, switching of gender roles did not come with any repercussions; although men were looked down upon when performing women’s task. The women were seen as valuable because of their role in producing offspring. In the Mongol culture, fertility was preferred over virginity. This means that the purity of women was not given as much importance like the importance it is given in the Islamic cultures in Asia. This idea of fertility over virginity was the basis for the equality between men and women. Because children helped their mothers at their young age, gender roles were taught by being passed down. Until the appropriate age, a child, whether a girl or a boy, would always be with the mother. This ensured that each child knows their role. When the boys reached the appropriate age, they would begin to take on the role of the man.

A woman milking a goat

The main biology relation to the Mongol’s culture and the gender roles is fertility. One of the most important parts of being born a woman is being able to give life to another child. However, if a woman was to be infertile, then she would live a difficult life. She would have a very difficult time marrying someone as all men seek fertile women. I think the protagonist in “The Blessed Curse” would be accepted in the Mongol culture. This is because this culture placed equality between men and women as long as the woman was fertile. Even though the protagonist did not choose a specific gender to live by, if they chose to be a man, he would have to be responsible for the male’s tasks. The only problem this person would face if they chose to be a woman is if this woman was not fertile. Other than that, I think this person of both sexes would be accepted in the Mongol’s culture. 

Subsistence

The traditional subsistence pattern of the Mongol culture is pastoral. This means they attain their living by herding animals and survive off of the products of these animals. Mongols raise the animals in order to be able to get the meat from them. Because of the harsh weather in Mongolia, Mongols have a hard time with agriculture as the temperatures are low most of the time. The pastoral style they live by is the nomadic pastoral. This is because Mongols roam and move around in search of the better climatic conditions. Horses are used not only for riding, but also for food and drink sources. Horses give the Mongols their most preferred drink, the airag, a slightly alcoholic mare’s milk. The cows give the Mongols the meat and the milk. The milk from the cows is made into other dairy products such as yogurt, cheese, or dried cheese which is the main food of their diet in the summer. Sheep are also used for the meat and the milk they give. Hunting was also a part of their subsistence patterns. Therefore, it is concluded that the basic food of the Mongols is meat and milk. Because they have a hard time with agriculture, their diet lacks the fruits and vegetables that are appreciated for the vitamins they provide. Therefore, although they have a lot of sources for protein and milk, they lack the healthy nutrients. They did also use irrigation to grow wheat, corn, potatoes, garlic, onions, and carrots. However, that was seasonal since in the winter, irrigation and dry farming was impossible.

The Mongols divided their labor based on social class, sex, and age. The peasants were the ones in charge of growing the above mentioned food in the land. However, the main division of labor was based on sex. The males were in charge of herding the animals, hunting, caring for the animals, and collecting the hay. They were also in charge of the slaughtering of the animals for their meat. The women and children were in charge of milking the animals, making the dairy by-products, churning the butter, and cooking. 

The importance of livestock to the Mongols.

Economic Systems

Due to the fact that the Mongol’s subsistence system is mainly the herding of animals and acquiring their food and goods from the livestock, their economic system also deals with the products of the livestock. Other than the meat and milk the Mongols attain from the livestock they have, they are also able to acquire other animal by- products such as wool, sheep skin, fur, and cashmere. These animal by-products are actually of surplus to the Mongols. Therefore, they are used for trade. In trading, the Mongol’s export the livestock, cashmere, wool, along with copper in exchange for fuel, cars, other food products, chemicals, materials used for building, and machinery and equipment. Up until the 20^th century, the former Soviet Union was the main trade country for the Mongols, just as the Mongols were becoming important as the source of animals and animal by-products. China was another trade partner for the Mongols, with other countries contributing to the trade with Mongolia. The main specialization of labor for the Mongols was during the industrial period. During this period, industrial working became the specialized labor, along with the work of the peasants. The currency that the Mongols used was called the tögrög or the tugrik. This tugrik was equivalent to one ruble from the Soviet Union. It was introduced in 1925 and became the main legal currency starting in 1928. The trade that the Mongols engage in was of benefits to them because they were able to acquire the products that they were unable to produce themselves. The main useful product they were able to get was fuel and the machinery as they were necessary for their industrial period. 

The geographical location of Mongolia make the Soviet Union and China the trade routes

Marriage

Marriage is an important aspect for the Mongols. In fact, they place more importance on marriage than on birth and death. That is not surprising as the typical Mongol family is made up of a husband, wife, and the children. The Mongols are monogamous where there is only one partner in the family. The Mongols marry at a very young age; they get married as young as 11 or 12 years old. The marriages are usually arranged as there is not dating traditions. The boy who wanted to marry the girl would live with her and her family for one year as a way to pay for her hand in marriage. After they get married, the new couple lives on their own, but remain close to home. As a way of protection, when choosing the partners, parents usually choose a person of a different tribe in order to be protected from that tribe.

 There are various economic exchanges when asking for a person’s hand in marriage. When the boy wants to marry the girl, he first sends her gifts in a handkerchief which include sugar, tea leaves, and pastern. If the family accepts the gifts, is signifies that they accept the request in marriage. However, the proposal does not stop there. Once the family of the girl accepts the gifts, the boy, along with his family, go to the bride’s house with more gifts including hada, milk liquor, and sugar blocks. They do this several times before the proposal is accepted. After that, the groom has to send the family of the bride wine three times and then they will be married. This long process in asking for the girl’s hand in marriage shows that the women are of great value. This is because the Mongol’s place great importance on fertility. Also, marriages are important because the man needs to be the head of the family, occasionally asking for the advice of his wife.  It was important to live near the family of the children after marriage.

Homosexuality was not something acceptable for the Mongols. The only accepted marriage pattern for the Mongols was between a man and a woman. In fact, homosexuality was highly discriminated with no laws protecting the rights of homosexual marriage. Even now, there is no public acknowledgement of homosexuality for the Mongols. 

Kinship

The traditional Mongols’ descent was patrilineal meaning it was through the male line in the family. The descent would be passed down from the father to the sons. This shows that the Mongols placed importance on the men of the family to hold the power and control of the family. Also, it shows that the Mongol males came to help the relatives in time of need. However, they do not ignore the women’s value as they are important for their fertility. For the Mongols, the male hold the authority of the family and they have the most power in the house. That is not to eliminate the power of the woman completely as then wife is essential for the man as his source of advice.

While women were able to inherit some of the family property, most of the inheritance went to the sons in the family. The oldest son inherited some of the family’s wealth when he got married while the remaining family wealth was given to the youngest son at the death of both of the parents. The main kinship groups for the Mongols are the nuclear and the extended family.

Social Organizations

The Mongols had a stratified society where not everyone was equal. This was possibly because they were a nomadic culture. Their society was organized with social classes such as nobility, herders, artisans, and slaves as well. However, this was not set in stone as social mobility was possible. This was possible through the increase of the herd size and wealth levels. Social status was seen through the ownership of materials such as headdresses, jewelry, saddles, and other personal objects. In the modern Mongol culture, wealth was shown through the purchasing and displaying of goods from the Western countries. Social classes were also based on gender as men had a higher social status than women. 

Political Organization

The government under which the Mongols lived was modeled after the government of the Soviet Union. Until the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Mongols were politically similar to the Soviet Union. For the Mongols, the legislative body with the highest status was the unicameral parliament names the State Great Hural. This parliament had 76 members who were elected. The state was lead by the president while the government head was the prime minister. The president was elected by popular vote and was the president for a term of four years. Local government leaders were also elected at a provincial and district levels. Any crimes that were committed against the state were punished harshly. There were laws created with the name of “yasa” which dealt with military discipline, criminal law, and societal customs. 

Role of Violence

                The Mongols placed great importance on the violent acts that were committed. One of the most serious violence that was extremely prohibited was violence against women. While there were no laws against rape of the spouse, other violence against women was taken very serious. The person committing the crime is to be prosecuted with formal charges made. Although it is a serious issue, many people see the domestic violence as family problems and don’t do much about it. Another violent action that occurs within the Mongol culture is child abuse. Studies have shown that 70% of child abuse was due to alcohol abuse. Even though women have tried bringing the issue of violence to end, there were no known government actions that were taken against such violent acts.

 Religion

There is one main religion that is practiced by the Mongols. The name of the religion is called Lamaism and it is in part the Yellow Sect of Buddhism. However, up until the 16^th century, the main religion practiced by the Mongols was shamanism. Shaman was a term that originally referring to medical religious specialists. However, when the Mongols preferred the men to become monks rather than warriors, they changed the religion practice to Lamaism. The religion of Lamaism was important to the Mongols that the importance of temples grew rapidly. Each family had to send at least one of the sons to be raised in the temple in order to become a Lama. In these temples, lamas were able to study astronomy, astrology, mathematics, and medicine. Since this religion that the Mongols practice is a sector of Buddhism, it focused on the ideas of attaining good Karma and being saved from reincarnation.

Though the temples were very important to the Mongols, upon socialism, many temples were destroyed, with some still standing. The importance of the temples was seen during the deaths of some people. Upon a death of a Mongol, the lamas were given gifts in order to the pray for the well-being of the spirit of the deceased. The lamas were important for their consultation which was important in order to prevent future misfortune to the family. Therefore, religion was very significant to the Mongols.

Art

The artwork of the Mongols was influenced by their nomadic lifestyle. Their art includes saddles, horse blankets, storage chests which were very decorative. The other type of art such as paintings and sculptures were found in the permanent buildings such as the temples. Music in the Mongol culture included herding songs and work songs. The purpose of the herding songs was to call the animals back or to have songs while setting up camps. Performance arts for the Mongols include operas, plays, ballet, folk music and dancing. The government was even supportive of the arts of the professional and amateur theatre. The most important instrument that was used was the morin khuur which was a horse-head fiddle. Mongol men were expected to know how to play this instrument. Other instruments include the drums, flutes, cymbals, gongs, and tambourines.

The Mongols also had religious art because they were in the temples. The place to find the most extensive collection of the Lamaist paintings and sculptures is the Museum of Fine Arts in Ulaanbaatar. They had scroll paintings with the name of “tanka” which would depict the gods and saints of Lamaism. The tankas were painted on cotton and on silk. The tankas were popular and it became a tradition to include them in the homes of the Mongols.  Poetry was also a form of art that the Mongols had. The most famous poem was called “The Secret History of the Mongols” which was a poem describing Genghis Khan’s rise to power. Literature also contained folktales where the Mongols talked about love, heroism, and supernatural acts.

Conclusion

Just like most other cultures, the Mongol culture was an influence on other cultures while being influenced by others. One of the negative effects of the Mongols were the invasion of China. To the Chinese, the Mongols were seen as a threat and were seen as barbarians. This was because no country or culture desires another one taking over their traditions and the basis of their culture and having to change. However, the Mongols were not only harmful. The trade and the products they exported were of great benefits to the other countries. While trade can have negative impacts such as decrease of needed  labor, and other negative effects, trade is mainly beneficial as it provides the country with the products it is unable to produce on its own. Other impacts of the other cultures on the Mongols is the government system they adopted from the Soviet Union. 

I don't consider the culture of the Mongols to be healthy as some of its aspects are not thriving. for example, under socialism, the temples were destroyed which is basically a destruction of their religion. Also, since the government does not take much action in response to the domestic violence against women and children, the Mongol culture is definitely not a very healthy one. 

Although Mongolia had thrived during the early centuries, it does not play a significant role in the modern world. The main role of the Mongols in the modern world is the trade. It is still a trade source for minerals which is always going to be necessary and beneficial. However, besides that, the culture has no strong influence on other cultures. 

Sources: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zud

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongolia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongolian_t%C3%B6gr%C3%B6g

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Mongolia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_Mongolia

http://www.china.org.cn/e-groups/shaoshu/shao-2-mongolian.htm

http://gossamerstrands.com/Hist100/lecture13.htm

http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/language/about/mongolian.html

http://www.everyculture.com/Ma-Ni/Mongolia.html#b

http://www.everyculture.com/Russia-Eurasia-China/Mongols-Orientation.html

http://www.everyculture.com/Russia-Eurasia-China/Mongols-Economy.html

http://www.everyculture.com/wc/Mauritania-to-Nigeria/Mongols.html#b

http://countrystudies.us/mongolia/43.htm

http://www.theancientmongols.ewebsite.com/articles/the-mongols.html

http://www.everyculture.com/Russia-Eurasia-China/Mongols-Kinship-Marriage-and-Family.html

http://www.chinaculture.org/focus/focus/minzuwang/2007-08/14/content_383147.htm

http://www.photius.com/countries/mongolia/economy/mongolia_economy_trading_partners.html

http://www.e-mongol.com/mongolia_nomadiclife.htm

http://workmall.com/wfb2001/mongolia/mongolia_history_historical_setting.html

http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/mongols/main/transcript.pdf

How Does Art Reflect Culture?

Part One:
This week, I was lucky to get the experience of a walk through online visit of the Lascaux Caves in France. Within the cave, there were multiple images of different animals and a few images of people. Through the images, the artists of these images were trying to reveal their culture. Often times, culture is explained to another person using words and stories told out loud. However, in this case, the artist used a different method of explaining their culture. Using the animal images, this shows that their culture depended heavily on animals; whether they were used for food or for sacrifices. The artists also "said" that they are a hunter gatherer culture that relied mainly on hunting of animals. Also, within the cave, at the very very end of it, there were the animals that were shown to be carnivores. Because the carnivores did not want to be known to be carnivores, they did not make it public. Artists explained their desire to stay on the down low by placing the images of the carnivores at the end of the cave, where it was not the first think people walked into.

I think there were so many animals in order to show which animals were gathered, useful, and which ones were sacrificed. Since there were so many animals, I think it was a way of emphasizing the importance the animals had on their culture and how it was part of their daily life. I think there were not as many people in the paintings in order to avoid misjudgment. It could be because artists did not want to portray humans in the wrong way or for people to think a specific way about the people through their paintings. Also, I think it could be the artists way of not lowering down the humans value to the animals value. This is to show that humans were not hunted and were not used as food and were not used as sacrifices as the animals were.

The paintings tells us that people spent a lot of time in the caves and around animals. Dwelling in the caves shows that their live style was simple and they were each others only company. Because they did not have money or cars or technology as we do now, their lives were simple and the families were very close together as they did not have any other distractions. However, through the cave, it shows that humans had some difficulties in painting the pictures. First, there was very little source of light which is a very limiting thing. They had to create their own tools in order to get some light since they did not have lamps. Another difficulties was the 3-Dimensional aspect of the paintings. These humans did not have all the tools that enabled them to portray the animals in 3D. Therefore, they had to do their best in painting realist pictures.

This art has many functions. One function is simply taking the role of storytelling. Instead of explaining the culture verbally and through stories by mouth, pictures do the job of telling their stories. Another function is to bring people together. This is done by this art by having a place for people to go to together and see their own life style and realize their accomplishments. Finally, it is used to show their strength and struggles as hunters and cave dwellers. Nothing shows more who people are and how they live than pictures do, and these paintings do just that.

Part Two:
The early forms of art are extremely different than the modern art we have today. Part of the early art includes dances and music specific to each culture that tells their stories and their strengths. Most early forms of art, whether it is paintings or music revealed their culture as strong and able, never really showing their weaknesses. Still, they do show their struggles but they show them followed by conquering these struggles. They also show their simple lives and their strength against their enemies.
Today's modern art is very different. Music is not intended to show weakness or strengths but it is used to show power and money. I am not attempting to use my bias but many songs nowadays include money, sex, alcohol, etc. This is not how it was in the old days. The media today shows that modern life is not as simple as it was back then, but rather emphasizes fame. Even modern paintings are very provocative and are often times used to get money.
That is not to say that all modern art is to be portrayed in such a negative way. Some paintings, like the early form of art, tell stories that the artist does not want to say out loud. Stories include struggles, stories of love and loss, and stories of success. Some forms of music in the modern art could also be used as a way to show a part of the modern cultures, just like how the music of the early times tell the stories of their cultures.

Part Three:
The form of art I chose to explore is the traditional Arabic dance called "El Dabke". This dance is practiced among all Arabic cultures. It is one of the traditional Arabic dance that was introduced in the countries of the Middle East. One of the functions of this dance is to gather up all of the members of that culture in one dance where everyone needs the help of the other person next to them. This shows that in the Arabic culture, unity within family and close relatives is extremely important. This dance unites everyone at the parties or gathering to dance together. You never see one person dancing this dance alone. There has to be at least five or more people in order to dance. This dance requires special songs, most of which are traditional songs with the specific beat that the dancing goes along with. Also, within this dance, there is the leader of the steps and everyone follows. Usually, the leader knows the dance the best. This emphasizes that people within this culture are expected to follow the correct steps and if they were to go out of these steps, it would literally mess up the whole dance, causing chaos.
The traditional parties in this culture where the Dabke took place involved everyone wearing similar clothing. It was the traditional clothing called the "Abayeh" which covered the person completely. This clothing is an important part of this dance that up to this day, whenever people dance the Dabke, there is at least one person who wears the "Abayeh" to show the origin of the dance.
This dance does not have direct effects on society. However, it does bring people together and in today's parties, other people from other cultures are always encouraged to join with the dancing. It brings unity to the party and causes less judgement between people. It is not a very difficult dance to learn and as long as you are able to follow the steps of the person next to you, it is a very enjoyable dance!
Here's a link to a video of one of the Dabke dances in Lebanon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTM2k3u_LfA&feature=related

This picture shows the dance and shows the traditional clothing, the "Abayeh".

Violence, Is it Worth it?

Violence is not something to be proud of. It is also something people do not want to be part in. Most people would not want to kill another and I can almost guarantee no body wants to be killed. However, violence is still a part of our lives. In this post, I will be discussing the different reasons for violence, the violence in the Yanomamo tribe and how it compares to the violence in the western societies, and the relationship between killings and culture in the Yanomamo.

In the Western countries, there are many laws against killings, rape, and any other type of violence. The laws forbid such actions to take place. However, having these laws do not necessarily stop such actions to be made. Due to that, there are punishments for such behavior. If a person is found to be guilty of raping someone else, in the Western countries, they would be arrested and put in jail. After being put in jail, each different crime is sentenced a different sentence depending on how many people were victims of this rapist and other extents. If a person is found to be guilty of homicide, there is also varying punishments such as jail time or even being sentenced to death. For whatever crime there is, there also follows a proper punishment. However, in the Yanomamo tribe, that wasn't exactly the case. For a killing, there followed revenge from the kinship of the one who was killed. In their tribe, violent acts were due to raping a woman, stealing a woman from her husband, infidelity and suspicion of infidelity, and not giving the promised girl in marriage. In the Yanomamo culture, vengeance is considered the main reason for killing, and it remained a legitimate motive for killing. So unlike the Western culture where the police and law handled such crimes, the Yanomamo villages handled the crimes on their own. Because of their way of handling such crimes, it seems to me that killings were simply a cycle that never ended as the family of those who were killed would always seek vengeance. The revenge killing was not a very complicated process. If a man from one village got killed for whatever reason, the village that he belonged to, or his kinship would go and kill one of the members of the one who killed the first man. However, some people took longer to retaliate against the initial killing. The ones who were the fastest were often seen as a bigger threat and therefore were less likely to be attacked. If the family or the village of the one who was killed did not attempt to get their revenge, they were seen as "cowards" and because of that, they would seek help of a stronger village.

An unokais is a "man who had killed". One of the benefits of the unokais is quite obvious, they are still alive with the satisfaction of having killed their enemy. They appear to be tougher and stronger. According to the article, it is said that an analysis of the reproductive rates comparison between an unokais and a non-unokais states that an unokais is more successful. This gives men a great reason to become an unokais. But why? It is because being an unokais means that the man has killed someone. By killing some other man, this man was able to forcefully attain the other man's female. Also, they appear to be more attractive which is why more females accept them.

Revenge killings have an effect on all aspects of the Yanomamo culture. For one, it allows for, in my opinion, an unstable political system. Their political system has no laws that prohibit the acts of killings and they do not have laws that punish killers. Because of that, I see their political system to be unstable and in a way, unhealthy. It is no justification for a killing to have occurred because a previous one had occurred. Not only do these revenge killings affect the political system, but it also effects the social organization and marriage. It is quite strange to praise those who kill. However, in that sense, the unokais are respected by more females and therefore marry more and this is why more men desire to be unakais. That has a negative effect on the society because in order for more men to be unokais, more men would need to be killed, and killing is not a thing to be praised. In my opinion, if they had the necessary laws to stop the killings or have proper punishments for killing and violence, their tribe would be a much different and safer place.

Laws are necessary because of accidents. According to the article, even if an accident occurs, the accident killing will be followed by killings for revenge. This is why there is a need for a law to punish a killing so that revenge back and forth would not have to be executed. Imagine living in a place where there were no laws to prohibit someone from killing another in retaliation. It's a very scary thought and I would not want to be a part of a society where vengeance alone is a legitimate reason to kill someone. I believe that there is never a good enough excuse to hurt someone, but since not everyone believes as I do, we need laws in order to maintain order and peace to a certain extent.

My Family Through My Mother's Point of View...

Part of the study in Cultural Anthropology requires interviewing people in order to gather some information and data. For this week, we were required to choose a family member to conduct an interview with and discuss the topic of kinship.
I decided to interview my mother. My mother was born in Jordan, during a time when technology was not as well developed as it is today. My mother was able to finish only two years of college as her parents did not permit her to stay in a school where males also attended it. She became a physical education teacher for almost 25 years. Being a P.E. teacher was did not allow for my mother to have high economic state. My mother married my dad at the age of 26 and together, they maintained an average middle class social living. Along with me, my mother also had three other children, all of who are older than me. My mom belongs to the Arabic culture, a very conservative culture that differs greatly from the American culture. Due to the fact that my mom was born into the Arabic culture, she also lived and taught my siblings and I the morals and values of the Arabic culture. My mother and father sought a more stable financial state of living; they decided to move into the United States to seek better work opportunities. Up until today, my mother considers herself a part of the middle class and a part of the Arabic community and culture. 


Due to the fact that my mother was born in Jordan, her primary language is Arabic. She has had difficulties learning the English Language as she moved to the United States at an older age. Because of this, the interview was conducted in Arabic. As an interviewer, I had to make sure to translate the question to Arabic very well in order to get the precise answer I needed. The interview itself was very comfortable because it was with someone who I knew very well. Because of this comfort level, I feel like this interview was very thorough and complete. Also, since my mother was unaware of the reasons behind this interview, her answers were very honest and did not include any false information. If I was interviewing someone who was not related to me, I feel as if the interview would have some awkward moments. Also, I would not be very confident that they would answer all of my questions as thorough and as honest as I would want them to. 


The main description for my mother's kinship pattern would be "patrilineal descent". This means that the power and authority is transferred through the male line in the family. My mother was born into a household where the family's decision was maintained by her father, who's father also controlled the family's decisions. Because of that, when she married my father, who's family also gave the power to his father, she was not granted very much power. Instead, my mother carried on the role of making the decisions for the household. Because of that, my brothers assume most of the control in my house. Due to the fact that my mother was born into the Arabic culture, her family belongs to the eskimo system where it is important to identify the mother, father, brother, and sister in the family, while catagorizing the other relatives as uncles and aunts. Aunts and uncles have different Arabic terms depending whether they are from the mother's side or the father's side.


Within my mother's family, there seems to be stronger bonds between the females than the males. While my mother is close with all her siblings, her brothers are not as close to each other. When asked who my mother would turn to in time of need, she said she would seek her sister's help. When I asked why, she said because her sister is the only one who is living in the United States as well. I, then, followed up with the same question but asked her to exclude the distance factor. She then answered that she would seek all of her sibling's help because, once again, she is close to all of them relatively the same. My mother's kinship has a common characteristic of kindness. Her siblings and her are very kind and sweet to everyone else. However, they have different expectations of the children depending on their age. While all children are expected to attend school and college and maintain excellent study ethics, older ones are also expected to maintain excellent work ethics and to work hard to gain whatever they desire. All children are also expected to stick to their traditions and culture and to remain respectful to the elderly. There are no ethnic differences within the family which limit the social differences within the family. When I asked my mother what impacted her family to stay together and maintain great social interactions, she responded with "all thanks to my parents who made sure we loved each other and made sure we always counted on each other". This is the reason why my mother tries to continue this pattern and tries to create a great relationship between my siblings and I.

Speaking from my point of view, I would say that I am not as familiar with all my relatives as I thought I was. I am familiar with my aunts and uncles from my mother's side, not from my father's side. Due to family fueds in the past, most of the communication between my family has been with my mother's side of the family. This is why I am most familiar with them. While I may know the names of my uncles and aunts from my father's side, I do not know them as well as I know my aunts and uncles from my mother's side. This shows that the relationship that parents have with their relatives has a great impact on the relationship their children have with those relatives. Since the move to the United States, I have only been able to socialize with my aunt who lives here. There are some phone conversations I have with my other uncles, but it is not the same. I think this is influences by the geographical distance. My aunt here is only a few minutes away from me, while my uncles and aunt in Jordan are across the world from me making it harder to socialize.

Before coming to the United States and seeing the cultural pattern here, my father had the most influence in making the decisions for the family. This is because that was the typical case in the Arabic culture. However, that changed when we made the move to the USA. While living here, my mother learned that both the husband and the wife make mutual decisions regarding the family and began to make the decisions with my father as well. This is part of the cultural adaptations that my family adopted.

Treatments in the family differs from gender to gender. For example, while males are allowed to go out more and allowed a later curfew, the females are not allowed to stay out late. This is part of the Arabic culture that tries to protect the vulnerable and "innocent" girl. However, there is no different treatment towards those who are married into the family as marriage brings in a new family member that is still respected and loved by all.

Through this experiment, I was able to learn the reasons for why my mother acts a certain way towards me, and why out family socializes more with her side of the family. I also learned of some deaths in the family that I was unaware of since I was born after all the deaths occurred. This was a very helpful experiment because I was able to see my family from my mother's point of view which is a very reliable source.

Subsistence and Economy

Part One:
There are two types of subsistence, Hunter gatherer and Agriculture societies.

Hunter gatherers, just as the name says, are people who hunt for and gather plants and wild animals for food.  One benefit of living like this is not having a need for money to purchase food. Since it is hunting, the food you can hunt and gather is the food you consume. This also allows for families to stay together; although they are working which some might see as a negative thing, they are together still and they get to spend time together. Another benefit could be that they have a good amount of food and it also comes in variety depending on what the person gathers.However, hunter gatherers have a disadvantage of relying on the environment. Since they do not plant the crops and they mainly rely on dogs, they might not have all the food they want which leads to nutrition deficiency. Their only source of food is what the environment allows. Another disadvantage is their  bodies might become weaker from the intensive labor that they carry out. It is almost impossible to not have an occupation in this type of subsistence. 


Agriculture societies are the societies that cultivate plants and food in order to attain their source of food and fuel and fibers. They also raise animals and fungi for their protein and meat source. One benefit from having this type of culture is the ability to grow the food that you want and limit the amount of unnecessary food. Another benefit from this type of culture is that farmers can sell their products in return for profit. This brings the tie between subsistence and economy. Another major benefit is the consumption of healthier food that is well taken care of and that farmers spend time on. However, the disadvantage of this would be the fact that food is purchased from the farmers. This means that the consumer who is unable to farm needs money in order to be able to be well fed. Another disadvantage is the long hours spent working in the fields and the hours spent on raising the livestock. Also, the limitation of having a vast area for crops could lead to limiting the variety of food produced which might have a negative impact on the health.


Choosing between these two subsistence patterns, I would say that agriculture patterns would lead to better health. Being able to drink milk and eat meat that is well taken care of is a major plus for the human health. Yes, there is less room for variety, but at least there are crops and food that have very good minerals and the fact that they are raised by farmers means that they are better than just hunted food. One may argue that it takes a while for the agriculture system to be well developed, and I would agree. However, it has developed in a way that leads to the decrease of use of antibiotics on the crops, which means that the food that is being consumed is much healthier. 


I believe that humans made this transition into agriculture because having the hunter gatherers system meant that everyone in the family was doing the same type of job. This was a good thing until it became apparent that the culture was limited on development. With agriculture, different people would have different jobs which leads to more room for development. Also, who wouldn't want healthier food? moving into agriculture allowed the people to have healthier food which is a legitimate reason to make the transition.

Part Two:
Trade is the act of exchanging goods for some type of profit or other goods. "There is a direct relationship between the availability of surplus and the ability to trade". This is true because in order to trade and exchange the surplus, it needs to be there. Also, the more there is of something, the more there will be for trading purposes and the less likelihood for the shortage of the surplus after trade. For example, if I was a farmer of tomatoes and cucumbers and I wanted to trade with someone in exchange for oranges and bananas, both of us need to have the crops available or else we would not have anything to exchange.


One benefit of trade is being able to attain products that are unavailable. This leads to specialization which is a major component of civilization. With trade, there is no need for one person or one country to be able to produce all the needed goods; instead, they can specialize in producing one type of good and then exchange it for either profit or the other goods that are unavailable to them. Another benefit of trade is the increase of efficiency. The specialization in the production of one product means that it is more efficient to produce it; it is faster and cheaper to have a focus on less products. With trade, the specialization leads to an increase in efficiency which is another major component in civilization.

However, trade is not only beneficial. One disadvantage of trade is the growth of dependence on one producer for the product. While this is a result of specialization, if this producer stops the production of the specialty product, then all the countries and people that need this product will have a shortage. For example, if the farmer who is growing apples for all the other farmer suddenly stops growing apples for whatever reasons, all the other farmers who traded with him or her will have shortage of apples and have to start producing apples themselves. Another negative aspect of trade is the spread of diseases. If one product is contaminated with the disease, then everyone who trades for that product will catch that disease which is almost like trading diseases. 


The development of agriculture has a direct effect on the development of trade. Agriculture started out very basic but eventually began to develop to the point where many farmers were able to produce more products than needed. However, with trade, the excess products did not go to waste. Instead, they were exchanged for other items. This is how specialization could have started and therefore it had a major effect on the development of trade. 

What is Language?

Language is not just speaking. It is the body movements, facial expressions, American Sign Language, written language, and other sounds we make. Imagine not being able to communicate with someone using any of these ways, can you do it? I know I can't.

For this assignment, I was asked to conduct an experiment in which for 15 minutes, I was in a conversation with someone else, but I was not allowed to use ant kind of language. Personally, I found the experiment extremely difficult. I was about 5 minutes in and I found myself having to bite my tongue in order to not talk. The person I was talking to knew that I was conducting the experiment, but even she didn't like it. I found my partner looking around for things to talk about because she wasn't sure what to talk about. After about 7 minutes, she was silent for a bit but then decided to tell me about her day. After the 15 minutes were up, she was so happy that I can talk. According to her, my absence of communication made her feel that whatever she was talking about was uninteresting to me and that I seemed like I didn't want to hear about it any more. If my partner and I represented different cultures, then I definitely think the talking culture has the advantage of communicating complex ideas. Because they can speak, they can introduce their culture and allow whatever they want to be known delivered to this other culture. I feel that in our culture, the individuals who are only able to speak in sign language might have the most difficulty in communication because not many people are familiar with this language and therefore they would have a much more difficult time expressing their feelings and ideas. In a way however, it might also make the people who do not sign feel very helpless because the other person might think they are not interested and misjudgments can occur, like how my friend misjudged how I was feeling about her stories. 

For the second part of the experiment, I was allowed spoken language, but no physical language. Although I was able to last the whole 15 minutes of using only speech, It was extremely difficult. I felt that I sounded boring with no emotions and I had to constantly remind myself to not change my tone of voice and to not use my hands. Once again, my partner felt that she was talking to someone who was very uninterested and according to her, she felt "stupid". In the beginning however, she couldn't help but laugh because she was used to me always using hand gestures while speaking. This experiment shows that body movements and facial expressions are sometimes more significant in communicating what we want to be communicated better than spoken language. They show motions such as happiness, anger, sadness, especially using different tones of voice. Body language has becomes a part of our daily language and communication that being able to read such language is crucial to our lives. However, being able to read the language is different for each person. While some people can read most body languages, others are only able to read some. The benefit of being able to read it is obviously being able to communicate in a much deeper way. You can hear the emotions and see them without having to hear all the words. Therefore, I can not exactly describe conditions where it is more beneficial to not be able to read body language. 

I think that if I was permitted to use written language, it would not have made a significant difference in difficulty. The conversation was a very casual conversation while spending time with my friend. In order for me to use written language, it would mean that I have a paper and pen, or a computer where I can write or type what was actually going on in my head. Such behavior is not part of a natural conversation and it does not occur often. However, it is important to be able to communicate using written language. Written language can be chatting on the computer, sending a letter to a dear friend, or sending a business email. All of the ways that written language has been used for are important in our lives today and without it, there would definitely be some lack of communication. The use of written language has made room for the spread of ideas throughout the world as people are publishing their ideas on the web with the rest of the world having access to them. People seek such written language on the web to solve problems in their lives and without the ability of written language, it would be much more difficult to have the spread of the ideas. 

The Population of Nacerima

After reading the article by Horace Miner, the five words to describe the Nacerima culture are:
1. Shallow

I say they are shallow because they believe that having their shrines is substitution for beauty. According to Miner, the main belief of the culture is that the human body is ugly, and is only meant to become sick. I believe that the human body is beautiful in every way possible and it is a blessing from God that it exists. No amount of money or shrines will substitute for the true beauty of the human body.

2. Wealth-seeking

The Nacerima culture is a market economy, where according to Miner, "much of the people's time is devoted to economic pursuits". While it is normal for people to seek wealth and financial stability, dedication of time to the economy is a bit strange. To them, however, it is nothing to be looked down upon and to be ashamed of. The reason to this believe of theirs is because they feel like they need money and to be wealthy in order to cover up the ugliness of their bodies.

3.  Superstitious

The Nacerima culture has a belief that there is a connection between the rituals of the mouth and social relationships. According to Miner, "were it not for the rituals of the mouth, they
believe that their teeth would fall out, their gums bleed, their jaws shrink, their friends desert
them, and their lovers reject them". Of course, that is a very superstitious belief. In fact, it could be seen as a strange believe as well. However, this could be used to have the need for the "holy-mouth-men" which relates back to gaining as many shrines as possible. The holy mouth men require something in return for their services which are often sought by the people of Nacerima.

4. Conservative

This culture could be seen as very conservative. According to the article by Miner, the people of this culture don't expose their body for unnecessary reasons. In the article, it is explained that the only time they will get rid of their clothes is under the secrecy of their own household and their own shrine. Because of that, when they have to expose their bodies when entering the temple to be "healed", they are very uncomfortable and the females feel victimized of possible sexual assault.

5. Ritual-based

I say this because after reading the article, I felt as if there is a ritual for everything that they consider to be wrong. One of the most interesting ritual I read about is the one to make fat people thin and thin people fat. Another ritual is to get rid of the "devils" that they believe mothers put in the children. While these rituals are normal to them, to an outside person reading or seeing such rituals would be somewhat in disbelief.

Part B:
While it didn't cross my mind in the beginning that Miner was actually speaking about Americans, I figured it out at the end and that is when I went back and analyzed it based on the observation.

1) I am from another country. I was born in Jordan and I have been living here for the past eight years. Within those eight years, I have been exposed to the American culture. Now that I know that this was about the American culture, I would still keep my answers the same. I feel as my answers do describe the typical American; that is not to say it with a negative connotation.
2) All of the words that were said before are free of bias. While I was answering the task of the first blog, I was only responding to what I read, but not what I thought at the end. If I had known that it was about the American culture, then a bit of biased opinions might have risen.
3) Again, none of the words chosen above had any bias to them
4) I think it is extremely important to describe other cultures without any bias. I believe so because each person is different and hold different values and therefore, having bias in their writing about other culture does not really provide the truth about the culture. I think that it is very difficult to avoid bias as a Culture Anthropologist because they know from the beginning which culture they analyze. If they were in my position where I didn't know what culture I was reading and commenting on, then it would be a lot easier to avoid bias.