Communication

Part 1
     I enlisted the help of my 18 year old brother for this part of the assignment. It was easy in the sense that carrying out the actual assignment wasn't very difficult; I don't know any ASL so all I had to do was not talk. However, actually communicating effectively with my brother was extremely difficult.
     For the first few minutes, my brother found it entertaining to ask me questions that he knew I had no chance at answering without speaking like "What brand of shampoo do you use?" but eventually he began just making statements and seeing if I had positive or negative reactions. I noticed he slowed down his speech, enunciated more, and spoke louder- almost like he would to someone who had difficulty hearing. I tried communicating to him mostly by pantomiming and making sound effects. My brother would then repeat what he thought I was trying to say and then wait for me to have a positive or negative reaction to tell if he got it right. After only a few minutes we started being able to actually get some two way thought exchange and he started talking a little more like normal.
     My brother definitely had the advantage in communicating complex ideas. After several minutes of exasperated pointing and gesturing I managed to get him to understand "Talk about your girlfriend" and then in that same amount of time he was able to tell me about what he liked about her, a recent date they had, and what what she did that day. However, his communication using a symbolic language is only as effective as my understanding of it allows. If we really were from different cultural backgrounds, neither one of us would really be able to understand much of the other, although I'd imagine that if I was used to not communicating with symbols I would be a little better at expressing thoughts to him because it is a more familiar form of communication. He, however, could see me as simple minded for not being able to get across larger thoughts.
     My cousin Glen was born completely deaf and, like so many other deaf Americans, has faced significant obstacles overcoming communication barriers. He relied on sign language when he was young to communicate with his immediate family, but since the majority of America does not know ASL, he worked very hard to become good at reading lips and actually speaking. People still talk really loud with simple words when talking to him, even though volume has no effect on his ability to understand what they're saying, and he is not lacking in intelligence. In our culture, a common sign of intelligence is being able to speak well. For instance, most Americans automatically assume that people with British accents are smart just because of how they talk. So when people like Glen communicate a little differently or have speech impediments, they can automatically be seen as less intelligent. This can be overcome, though, as people become more familiar with each other and how different people speak, just like my brother began speaking normally with me once he got used to my new way of communicating. 

Part 2
     I managed to get through the majority of 15 minutes using only my words to communicate but I did have moments where my voice would show some emotion, I would make a face or my hands would somehow become involved in the conversation. My two younger sisters and my brother talked with me during this part of the assignment, and like any younger siblings, they were more than eager to point out every little time my monotone stillness broke. They also tried their best to make my composure break. However, their speech was largely unaffected by my way of talking, unlike in the previous experiment. While they thought my almost robotic voice and blank face were funny, they were otherwise completely normal in what we spoke about and how they talked. 
     I think the fact that my monotone gestureless way of talking didn't really affect my siblings shows that we are used to having symbolic language be our primary means of communication. This is also supported by how we exchange ideas mostly through writing, whether it be in the form of a text message, letter, book, or website. However, if I had to continue speaking in such a limited way I think other problems would have surfaced. We rely very much on tone a verbal ques to carry across messages. I would begin to seem detached, antisocial and almost sociopathic if I only used words to express meaning.
     Autistic people can have a very hard time reading body language. One of my good friends has a younger brother with mild autism and they have to work very hard to help him understand certain non verbal ques, especially facial expressions. Understanding other people's body language can be an adaptive advantage for several reasons. It can help a person tell when someone could possibly wish to harm them so they know when to back out of a situation. And, as demonstrated in any teen girl's magazine, it can even help you find a mate. It can also allow a person to tell what kind of effect they are having on someone else- like are they making them nervous, excited, angry, pleased, or threatened. The only way I can see not being able to interpret body ques as an adaptive advantage is if society as whole begins to rely less on nonverbal signals and more on symbolic language. This could help in that it allows for clearer communication but it requires everyone to have a strong grasp on the meaning of the symbols and rather open honesty when communicating.

Part 3
     Communicating with my brother for part 1 would have been incredibly easier if I was able to use written language. While writing things down can be slower than just saying them, it still allows for clear, if not even more specific, communication of complex thoughts and ideas. It is still very much language, and word I know how to speak I can at the very least write out phonetically for my brother.
     Written language is essential for cultures to advance in most ways. Writing down ideas and experiences allows for them to be preserved, studied and built upon by later generations. It allows for specialization of tasks because a lifetime is not required to learn the necessary knowledge to perform a task, like farming or building. Previous knowledge can be drawn upon and what took someone else years to experience and learn can be absorbed in an instant.
     Written language has also helped with globalization because it can be learned and shared easier. As complex as various written languages can be, ultimately they are systematic and can be learned and therefor translated into other languages. Ideas also become portable when they are written down. Say an important event happens and news of it needs to be spread, someone who witnessed it can write it down, make a few copies, and have them delivered to several different places. This spread the story much faster than if they went from place to place themselves to tell what they saw. It also allows for people to know exactly what the witness knows without having to go through a messenger who could possibly corrupt the accuracy of the story (anyone ever played telephone??). Written language is essential for the sharing and expansion of knowledge, and even though the majority of it is digital today, it is still written communication.

Race...?

The Zulu of South Africa

Their homeland: 
The Zulu people are the largest indigenous group in the country of South Africa. Since the 16th century, according to their history, they have lived in the subtropical hilly country. The area has hot and tumid (but not harsh) summers with average temperatures ranging from 75-86 degrees Fahrenheit, and pleasant mild winters with daytime temperatures in the high 60's and low 70's, but it drops to about 50 at night. Average annual rainfall is 50in but that can vary widely. Overall, it is a much more lush and temperate (comparatively speaking) environment than other African tribes have adapted to.
However there are a few factors that could prove difficult for homeostasis. Altitude, humidity, and sunlight are the three that have the biggest effect on homeostasis.

Their Adaptations:
Physical- The Zulu people have darker skin due to a greater melanin concentration in their skin cells. Since their home climate is temperate and humid, little clothing is worn. The increased melanin helps prevent exposed skin being damage by the sun.

                                                 

Cultural- The Zulu homestead is a great example of adapting to an environment. While the weather is not necessarily a danger, the wildlife in the Zulu's territory is. Their houses are made out of plant material and provide adequate shelter from the colder winter nights, but they are also sturdy thanks to the use of manipulated tree saplings and protect against animal predators. Huts in a village or in a family homestead are arranged in a circle, and the position denotes social standing. This is also beneficial however, as it allows for them to keep precious livestock protected in the center of the circle and also offers protection for the people. There is safety in numbers.
 

 

Their Race:
The Zulu people fall under the Bantu race. While Bantu is a broadly used description for hundreds of African ethnicities, it does offer some distinction from other African races. Africa, and the people that live there, are extremely diverse and can't all be put into one category solely due to skin color, just as white skin Europeans have racial differences from white skinned Asians. Bantu places them in the group that genetically they have had the most contact with and also refers to the common ancestry of their language and culture with other Bantu groups. It is typified by dark skin and broad round facial features, possibly with some European features as well due to their contact with traders along the coast.


The Andean Indians
Their Homeland:
They are natives of the Andean Mountains that run through Equator, Peru and Bolivia. The average temperature is 60-70 degrees Farenheit although in certain regions it can be below freezing while in others it is sub tropical. For the majority though, the climate stays rather cool and dry, and the majority of the drinking water comes from glacial melt. This poses many dangers to homeostasis. The cold, thin air and lack of available drinking water and edible plants pose the greatest threats.

Their Adaptations:
Physical- Many early European explorers noted the "barrel chested" appearance of the Andean natives. This physical trait allows for increased lung capacity which is greatly beneficial in the low oxygen air of the high mountains.

Cultural- The domestication of the llama is an example of cultural adaptation to the Andes mountains. It can live off of the scrubby bushes that grow there and produce milk and meat for farmers. It's wool is also very useful for making vitally important wool clothing. Carrying heavy loads is easier with a pack llama when traversing the steep hills at such high altitudes.

 Their Race:
I would say that the Andean Indians are of the "Native South American" race- although I don't know if that actually is recognized as a race. Since there are no longer any true Inca left, only people of mixed Inca/Spaniard descent, they could be call Hispanic, although that implies more Spaniard than traditional native origin. I would describe them as being short and stocky in stature with dark tan colored skin and black straight hair. They have broad faces and prominent straight noses.

Summary
Describing adaptations is a far more useful tool for identifying a people group than racial descriptions. Pretty much anything you can glean out of a racial description can be attained from their cultural and physical adaptations. Race is just too vague. It can also be subjective. What we might see as one race is actually seen as several different races to others. Understanding adaptations is much more useful to anthropologists because it can help one understand why a certain people group do certain things. The Zulu, for instance, haven't developed anything like the complex fabric weaving that the Andean natives have because they do not need clothing made from warm insulating fabric. They are, however, capable of using vegetation for a much broader span of uses than the Andean natives because of the resources they have available to them. 

Race is also too vague, and my descriptions above are a perfect example. My description of the Andean Indians could be used for Pacific Islanders or even some Southeast Asian peoples just as well. If anthropologists want to truly identify people, then they should study why they are they way they are, not just what they look like.


Zulu Culture
http://www.zulu-culture.co.za/index.php

African People; "People of Africa"
http://www.africanpeople.info/

KwaZulu-Natal
http://www.zulu.org.za/index.php?home

KwaZulu-Natal Department of Agriculture; "Bio Resource Groups of Kwazulu-Natal"



http://agriculture.kzntl.gov.za/publications/production_guidelines/veld_in_natal/veld_4.1.htm

Blue Planet Biomes; "Andes Mountain Climate"
http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/andes_climate.htm

Genetic Approaches to Understanding Human Adaptation to Altitude in the Andes
http://jeb.biologists.org/content/204/18/3151.full.pdf

Step Away from the Bathroom Vanity

Insecure
It seems like the Nacirema people are constantly self conscious of their bodies. Their ideal body is unattainable. Their culture teaches them that if they left their bodies in their natural state, it would lead to decay and other miseries. This is ironic, however, since their rituals meant to benefit them keep their bodies in a constant state of decay and sickness. They so desperately seek what they do not have that they are blinded by it.

Lonely
This characteristic was not directly implied in the article but I think that this must be something that many of the Nacirema people feel. Mothers are not bonded to their children through nursing, children are afraid of what their parents will do them in pursuit of bodily perfection, parents are blamed for their children's problems, and married couples are to worried about their own bodies to be truly intimate with each other. Who do these people find closeness with if they can not have any intimacy between mother and child, husband and wife, or friends that they fear could abandon them because of their teeth?
  
Private
Each person's body ritual is personal and private. It seems to me like each person has their own slightly different ritual attempt different goals with different methods. They only truly expose themselves to the medicine men and are extremely secretive even to their own family.

Desperate
These people are desperate to achieve what they have been taught to perceive as good and desirable. They will do anything, no matter how painful or destructive, and believe anything, no matter how counter-intuitive, if they are given any glimmer that it will make them clean, desirable, or safe.

Ignorant
I truly mean this word for what it means. They do not know any better so they destroy themselves because they do not understand how to achieve the bodily perfection they so desperately desire. If they only knew how the human body really works, and how dangerous and counter-productive their superstitious rituals were, they might change. But they are blinded by their desperation, and are misled by sadistic leaders, so that would be difficult.

I think I see where this article is going though. The Nacierma people are meant to be an example of what our body conscious culture could look like to someone who is not familiar with it. In anthropology, we need to be able to step back from what we know and observe people and their cultures with as blank of a slate as possible. This can help us see the flaws in the ideas that we can cling to as normal due to how our own culture has shaped us.

Part B
1. I feel like quite a bit of what I said is actually applicable to most Americans. However, the hypothetical example of the Nacirema is a bit hyperbolic compared to American culture- at least, the American culture that I'm familiar with. Also, there was a very large emphasis put on the "Nacirema" people's blind trust in sadistic superstitions, which were meant to represent our faith in hospitals, doctors, pharmacists, and nurses. This I also feel is slightly misleading because in the Nacirema essay, it was frequently implied that there was absolutely no support for going to a hospital, or subjecting yourself to medical procedures because in the end people just die in hospitals anyway. In actuality, we go to hospitals because we know that there are people there who have thoroughly studied and learned about the human body and how to best preserve it, due to scientific study. The bit about dentists randomly drilling holes into perfectly good teeth was amusing- I don't think I've ever met a single person that has had MORE dental decay thanks to frequent dental visits.

2. Perhaps my choice of the word "ignorant" is a bit ethnocentric. It could very well be that what I see as a lack of proof and factual evidence for a belief or idea that another culture holds to, they might actually have a greater understanding than I actually know. However, for the most part, I feel that my words were actually accurate observations. I'm pretty sure that if you asked one of the people described in that essay "Are you content with your appearance?" they would say no. Same goes with most all the other words other than ignorant. I think that essay itself was ethnocentric. It fixated an entire culture on one of its aspects and portrayed it in a negative, sadistic/masochistic, twisted way. THAT is ethnocentrism.

3. I think maybe "misguided" or "mislead" would be a better substitute for "ignorant" because the people are only following what they have been told is good and beneficial. Ignorant is too broad a word to accurately describe it.

4. I can see how crucial it is to avoid ethnocentric thoughts regarding other cultures because that can make it easy to fixate on a few aspects of a certain culture and use it to characterize them as a whole. That's what leads to things like stereotyping. Like I said, I think that were the Nacierma people real, the author of that essay could be described as ethnocentric. They chose on aspect, "the body ritual", of a culture and gave it a very clear spin (negative) and presented it that way. Ethnocentrism can make it too easy to glorify or despise based on only a few traits of a culture. I think that it is absolutely impossible for a cultural anthropologist to be completely free from ever carrying bits of ethnocentrism with them in their studies because we are all human and are all already molded by the culture we grew up in. However, I do think it is possible for them to fight it, and keep fairly well unbiased by reminding themselves of the temptation to insert their culture's thoughts on another.