Language Experiment

      In part 1 of my language experiment was very difficult. The conversation was with my 10 year old daughter and I found that I could respond to what she was saying but I couldn’t start a conversation with her, meaning I was unable to start a new idea/topic and it was frustrating.

I could see that my daughter was getting impatient with me but as far as her altering her communication she would talk to me normally but when she would ask me a question and she didn't understand my response she would get slightly agitated.

If we were from different cultures trying to communicate and we were meeting for the first time it seems that it would be hard to get to know each other and learn from one another.

I believe the culture that is able to speak has the advantage in communicating complex ideas. It is extremely difficult to convey an idea when you cannot speak or use a symbolic language. It seems that the speaking culture would feel dominance over the culture that does not use symbolic language possibly thinking that they are less intelligent.

I think that within our culture people with autism have difficulty communicating our spoken language and I feel that people communicating with an autistic person might think that they are not even worth talking to or what they have to say is not important or without meaning but that is false. People with autism have valid feelings and ideas that they just have a hard time expressing.

     In part 2 of my language experiment where I was able to speak but without the use of physical embellishments I found to be much easier than part 1. I was able to communicate exactly what I was feeling and I had no trouble lasting for 15 minutes in fact I went over about 10 min. It was a bit difficult not using any inflections or body movements because I talk with my hands a lot and when I use my hands and facial expression. it seems to help get my point across so not using it was hard.

My daughter was able to communicate with me much better or I should say I was able to communicate with her and it was easier for her and she didn't show any frustration or agitation towards me in this conversation. She would look at me kinda funny because of my lack of facial expression.

In this experiment it shows just how much we use signs in our language and how it helps us to get our point across. By using inflections and the use of facial expression makes it so the person we are talking to understand the essence of our conversation like if we are upset, sad, or happy.

I believe that there are people who have difficulty reading body language. People who have the ability to read body language makes it easier for them to understand the intentions or actions of the other person.

I think that in any environmental condition body language is beneficial I wouldn't say that is wasn't. I really cannot think of a certain environmental condition where body language would not come into play and be beneficial. It helps us to understand where the person is coming from even if it is different from the words are saying.

     Part 3 of the language experiment is the importance of written language and I feel that it in part 1 it would of made it possible for me to convey what I was feeling and wanted to say. I could ask questions and discuss issues of importance with the use of the written word.

The culture that has a written language ensure that their language will not be forgotten and it gives other people and future generations the ability to learn the language of that culture.

The impact that written language has globalization is that we are better able to communicate and understand and learn from people all around the world and without it we would be very isolated in our ways of thinking and our understanding about different people and their cultures.

The Zulu & Andean Tribes

The Zulu tribe lives in the region of present day KwaZulu-Natal on South Africa’s east coast. . The environment is mountain coastal, It is an area that receives snow in the mountains in the winter and in the summer it can go from rain to very hot and humid temperatures from the coast.  The Zulu tribe utilized the fertile soil and amount of rainfall they received 1000mm annually and agriculture became a very important way of life. The difference in temperature from the harsh hot summer to cold winter cam be challenging and making it difficult to maintain homeostasis.

The clothing the Zulu’s wear is a physical adaptation of their environment. Men will mainly wear cow hide just to cover the front and back of the private area of the body and young women simply wear beads around their neck. This is how they combat the heat.

The cultural adaptation of the Zulu tribe is affected by globalization. The Zulus all lived in huts now most of them live in modern houses which have improved the ability to maintain homeostasis.

If I had to pick a race I would pick African American because they look similar to the African Americans in our culture, they have very few   similarities other than that though.

The Andean Indians live in the Andes range in South America, all the way from Ecuador to Peru to Chile, and including both the coast and the mountains. They mostly lived in an area that was 10,000 – 13,000 feet above sea level. In the High cold planes it is summer every day and winter every night.

The wool from the llama and alpaca was used to make warm clothing so the Andeans could survive in the freezing winter nights in such high elevations.

The Andean’s had to learn to survive at high elevations, having 200-300 frost nights a year; they had to figure out a way for supplying food. They developed a way to freeze dry meat, fish, and vegetables to maintain their food supply for their community that will last them. They created food storage shelters for their freeze dried food.

I would describe the Andean Indians as Spanish, because they most resemble them although they are mixed with white, Indian and African.

I do not like to categorize cultures based on the physical attributes, it doesn’t give you much about who they are or what they are about. I believe to use the cultural adaptations is the most useful approach for Anthropologist to use.

http://www.kznonline.gov.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=82&Itemid=174

http://www.zulu-culture-history.com/

 http://www.south-africa-tours.com/zulu-culture.html#clothing

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/23548/Andean-peoples

http://journeytoforever.org/farm_library/price/price14.html

The Nacirema Tribe

5 words to describe the Nacirema:

 Ritualistic The Nacirema would build shrine rooms in their homes so each family member could perform daily body rituals in private. "While each family has at least one such shrine, the rituals associated with it are not family ceremonies but are private and secret. The rites are normally only discussed with children, and then only during the period when they are being initiated into these mysteries."

Hygienic Oral mouth care is of the utmost importance to the Nacirema. They are obsessed with having a clean mouth! "The Nacirema have an almost pathological horror of and fascination with the mouth, the condition of which is believed to have a supernatural influence on all social relationships. 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."

Avaricious The medicine men will not see you until you give them a significant gift and in order for you to be released another gift must be given to them. "No matter how ill the supplicant or how grave the emergency, the guardians of many temples will not admit a client if he cannot give a rich gift to the custodian. Even after one has gained and survived the ceremonies, the guardians will not permit the neophyte to leave until he makes still another gift."

Devotional The Nacirema believe so much in their medicine men that even though they know once you see them the chances of you surviving are slim to none, they still continue to trust and have complete faith in them. "The fact that these temple ceremonies may not cure, and may even kill the neophyte, in no way decreases the people's faith in the medicine men."

Modest The tribe mostly never shows their bodies and are very private people. Husbands and wives rarely see each others bodies and pregnant women hide their pregnancies and many do not even nurse their children! "Natural reproductive functions are similarly distorted. Intercourse is taboo as a topic and scheduled as an act. Efforts are made to avoid pregnancy by the use of magical materials or by limiting intercourse to certain phases of the moon. Conception is actually very infrequent. When pregnant, women dress so as to hide their condition. Parturition takes place in secret, without friends or relatives to assist, and the majority of women do not nurse their infants.

 1. As an American, I feel I was pretty spot on with my choice of words used to describe the Nacirema tribe. Ritualistic, hygienic, avaricious (greedy), devotional, and modest, I do believe that describes us Americans.

2. Since there is no stopping it, my choices do show ethnocentrisim on my part. My own cultural basis is of that of the Nacirema so for the most part I am free of judgment based on my knowledge of my own American culture. I am not saying it is right but it is what it is.
Avaricious is my bias word I used to describe the Nacirema. Avaricious means greedy, I feel that the Medicine men took advantage of the people by making patients give them significant gift in order to be seen and released.
Hygienic is one word that I used that was unbiased. The Nacirema dedicated a lot of time and effort in to having good oral care.
3. I am having a little trouble with finding a word that describes being greedy without bias possibly necessity, If I look at it as it being a necessity to pay or give a gift rather than the Medicine are trying to rip me off then I have would have a better understanding of them.

4. Avoiding of ethnocentric judgements is very important when decribing other cultures because it will give us a false sense of that culture because we are basing our judgment/analysis on our own personal culture not on theirs. Ethnocentriciasm is hard to avoid because we do not even realize we are doing it most of the time. Describing cultures free from personal bias will ensure that we are getting accurate information on the culture without putting our own beliefs in the way of what their culture is all about.
Anything is possible but the chances of a Cultural Anthropologist being free from personal bias is a hard one because enhnocentricism can happen without us even knowing it.