Week 7: Art As A Culture

1.     Functions of Early Art:

a.      The cave paintings were trying to tell a story of the animals that surrounded that area and of the people and their interactions with other animals or other people. Sort of like a first generation picture book.

b.     The animals traveled in packs always and sometimes people would not. They were probably more fascinated with the animals as well. They also made more paintings of animals probably to tell the story of when they would be hunting.

c.      By the way the Paleolithic people painted the men and their weapons you can tell that they traveled in the nude sometimes and their weapon could be as simple as a spear. The way they would paint the animals showed a slight feeling of fear of the animals as well. That the animals were praised more than they were.

d.     They would ground up colored rock (yellow ocher and red oxide or charcoal, specifically) and then they would add spit, water, or animal fat to create a paste when mixed and help it stick to the wall. To spread the paint onto the walls of the caves they would use their finger, twigs, moss, or horse hairbrushes in order to put it on. They also blew paint through bone tubes or reed pipes onto the walls.

e.      Early humans use this art for display of their success or story of hunting, spiritual communications, and a call for help. They had thought sometimes that this was a way of calling out to their spirits to help them or tell them of tragedies or as for guidance.

2.     The Commonalities in Art:

The commonalities between the early humans and modern humans regarding art was that some paintings now tell stories as well and the abstract way of painting is still used today. The other common interests between then and now is the finger painting. It is still used today a lot and is encouraged for kids to do.

3.     Introduce us to your favorite art: (Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18MFUE0Vpgw  )

a.      Lyrical dancing conveys a huge message through body language. It can be done in a large body of people or individually or even as a duet. But the main focus is the body. It reminds me of hula dancing sort of because hula dancers always tell a story too but mainly with their arms and hands. Lyrical dancing tells a story through the whole body as well as facial expressions. It tells you the story behind the song playing.

b.     Hawaii is known for hula dancing and this has some elements of lyrical dancing but lyrical dancing on its own is used in many cultures. It tells the story it just has become more complex since modern day. The only language is the body language going with the fluctuation in the vocals and music and the lyrics for the tone of the performance. The usual dress for a lyrical dance performance involves tights, with no shoes, and shorts and a top or a petite dress.

c.      The only detrimental effects of lyrical dancing would be for the one doing it. You have to be very graceful and precise yet messy and chaotic at other points and go back and forth from slow motion to very rapid motion to make a statement with what feeling you are trying to portray and that can be very strenuous or painful and you have to have an abundance of muscle. I feel it benefits society as another form of art that is beautiful and also tells a story just like any other form of art though this form goes by more what the song says instead of what the performing artists makes up with words but the body movements are all theirs.

Week 6: Politics and Violence Post

It is said that the laws are universal regarding violence and killing within different cultures but when it comes to the Yanomamo Indians there is some differences in how they deal with issues. They Yanomamo don't have many formal laws or guidelines to uphold. They don't even have a chief or judges. When they deal with an issue it is delt with more within the family and on their own rather than by going to the law to settle it for them. They don't have a written language or number system really so this just shows how much differences they have with most all cultures as well. 

In the Yanomamo population revenge killings are usually a result of sexual jealousy. This can be from any form between sexual infidelity, rape, or failure to give a promised girl in marriage, and others. The process is done in various ways. Some involve shooting with bows and arrows with the intent to kill. The most common motive behind the original killing is women and the most common cause behind the raids that follow is for killing the first time so it goes around basically. The raids are usually the aftermath of a revenge killing within the village. 

The revenge killings are of course life-threatening for those who are involved, obviously but those who obtain the title of unokais. To gain this title it means you are a man who has killed and then once you have killed you have to perform a ritual purification called unokaimou. This ritual helps deflect any supernatural harm that might come the killer's way from the soul of the one whose blood he shed, this also is a form of honor to them because this means they become an unokai and that it is widely known who they are and who they killed. Recruitment is on a self-selective basis though boys are rewarded for signs of aggression. The benefit of an unokai member seems to be that they are not as likely to be killed in the raids because of their status. This is proven by the statistics that the unokai populate most of the village because the rest have suffered in the raids. The benefit of a non-unokais is that they don't have to go out and risk their life to have a killing on their hands if they do not wish to be of this status so they are not as in the danger as others would be.

There are many ways the Yanomamo culture's revenge killing's effect their political structure, social status/ social organization, kinship, and marriage and reproduction. The revenge killing's influence political structure because they deal with their issues through families so when they are involved in revenge killings in the form of a raid they can be risking the strength of their group politically and socially because if they die then that means their group becomes weaker in society as well as in politics of the Yanomamo population. The influence that revenge killing has on kinship is not in their favor for the most part. Though it sometimes adds to the number of people behind a group that is involved in a raid if they have kin they are close to, but this also will risk the lives of the kin that are involved which will create once again a smaller group politically and socially and will end with no kin because they are the main scapegoat for actions of those who do revenge killing when it comes time for raids since they are close to those who may have done the killing before. Now in reference to marriage and reproduction men are more likely to be polygynous and have many wives within their lifetime and this will create more kin for their raids because they have more supply as in women. The ones who are more likely to have more kin are the political leaders who marry each others families if they are equal in leadership of a village. This builds a stronger force for raids. 

I think it is very important to have laws and consequences for something that we "shouldn't want to do" because killing others based off revenge is an instinctual feeling of a mammal. We can cover our instincts with these laws that we know will only damper our happiness and not theirs but if we don't have these strict laws then some of us will become more violent and vengeful people. It is hard to control or communicate the feeling of losing someone dear to you because of someone else unless through anger, hate, and hurt. So if it is fresh in your mind and someone you love is to pass because of someone else whether it was premeditated or accidental, the idea of taking what they took from someone you love will probably cross your mind because when in that situation it seems there is no better justice than to take a life when they took a life first, but we have to remember we don't want to live in a society like that because in the end after you do your justice you still won't have that person back and now you will feel like you are just as bad as the person who killed first and this will not only lead in a lot of homicides but suicides as well and we would start to become our own extinction. 

Kinship Interview

1. 1.  My interviewee by choice was my mother, Crystal Rosenlund, whose maiden name is Richardson. She is a sister to two younger, twin brothers and who was born in Ohio on September 15, 1974. She grew up in this area and in Arizona and California as her father was involved in the military. Her mother was mostly home and father left after she was age fifteen. Both mother and father were from pretty average sized families and my Grandmother Carolyn, her mother, was the youngest of three children. My Grandfather Alfred, her father, was one of two children from his mother Buela who my mother was very close to. She is still alive and well at age 90 and her other grandparents from her mother’s side are also still alive. Mildred Scott, her grandmother was also someone she was pretty close to. My mother was raised in a family with thick twang accents and of the Catholic religion but never really fit in to this belief as she is now Mormon. She was always the calmer of her siblings as her two brothers were big troublemakers all growing up. Her family consists of descendants from a European and Native American ethnic background. 

2.   2.   I was pretty comfortable during this interview because my mother and I have discussed family history quite thoroughly a handful of times, yet it always is a little bit of a deep conversation when brought up because her father left her and her brothers when they were still kids and was abusive to her mother. So bringing back these thoughts were a little painful to think about for us both as is thinking about who she was closest to because her Grandmother Buela was who she was closest to and now she is getting much older so she worries about her. If I were to have done this interview on someone I was not related to I believe it would have been harder to be as interested in all the information and easier to not get so attached or effected by the answers. I feel like the thoroughness of this interview went well because we are able to open up to each other about everything but it would have been harder to get personal with someone unrelated maybe.

3.3.     I never met my Grandfather on my mother’s side so I cannot speak too much for him, but the socialization level on my Grandmother and mother’s side is apparent by them both. They both tend to have very nervous laughs and may seem very sociable but are more introvert than outgoing. My mother even more so than my Grandmother as well as my uncles. They are more closed off with people than someone who is super outgoing per say. My mother always felt more of a closeness to her father even though he left them at a young age because she always wanted to rekindle that relationship and always felt maybe it was her and her mother’s fault for why he left them but my uncles have seemed to favor their mother more so, knowing of how harsh their father was with them and their mother.  My mother was his “favorite” so to speak when he was around so I think it confused her most. It seems that in my mother’s side of the family the maternal roles take the lead more so. In her side of the family there is a trend of an average amount of kids everyone has but in my mother’s case she broke that trend with her 7 children. Within her family there are some ethnic differences within her cousins as some are also African American but this has not shown much of a difference in the way they socialize since they all come from the same area so they all are adapted to that environment specifically.

4.    4.  I know my mother’s and father’s relatives both pretty well, but I have not socialized an equal amount with all of them unfortunately. My mother’s relatives all mainly live in Ohio and I live in California so that basically speaks for itself. My father’s relatives are pretty spread out and some have passed now so I only got the past years I had with them to look back on. I would say that my Grandfather on my father’s side is the biggest influence in decisions that side of my family makes because he is the one that is kind of a crutch for all of the children and their children when things get tough and is always thinking of every possibility to make sure things run smoothly. On my mother’s side there is not really a decision maker for that side of my family because they all kind of do whatever they feel like no matter how crazy and no one listens to each other whether it’s advice or an order, including the children. My mother would definitely be the most level headed from her side of the family though. On my mother’s side family members that are married into the family does not really occur often since most are not married but my mother is and her husband is treated more friendly than my grandmother’s actual children as if he is still always a guest or friend of the family, but on my father’s side I have an Aunt Gayle that was married into the family as well as an Uncle Brian married into the family and Gayle is treated like she is one of their own, but Brian is secretly out of the loop more so from the group of family members that are closest but that is mainly based  off of his personality. There are huge differences I have noticed within the two sides of my families regarding gender. On my mother’s side it seems as though the boys in the family are always favored and babied more so but most of the boys on this side are not very independent and this may be why. On my father’s side the girls are more favored in the adults it seems though they are independent just majority are girls and the men on this side adore them all. I have really gotten to analyze my family a lot more within this assignment and I actually enjoyed doing so a lot I am able to understand the differences in character and why a lot better in each side of my family.  

Subsistence and Economy

Subsistence and Economy

Part 1: Discuss and compare the costs and benefits of the two different subsistence patterns of hunter

gatherers and agriculture, addressing the following questions in full:

1.      Identify the benefits of both types of subsistence patterns.

Hunter gatherers have the advantage of more food as in they can grow crops and hunt and have more so they are able to trade as well, for other things they might need. Agriculture has its perks because they don’t have to work so hard to catch their food when they can just grow it as well as being able to grow and abundance to be able to also trade crops for other things instead of only being able to round up a couple animals from hunting.

2.      Identify the costs (or disadvantages) of both subsistence patterns.

When hunting, it is more dangerous and you have to be a lot stealthier you can’t just water a plant and wait for food to come to you, you have to be steady and quiet and if you are hunting a strong animal then you have to be careful they don’t catch you first. With farming, the disadvantage is it takes a long time for the crops to be ripe and sometimes they die if aren’t taken care of properly and this can depend on the weather.

3.      Which subsistence pattern provides a healthier diet? Explain.

I feel like both are sometimes needed but maybe the crops would provide a healthier diet and if they needed meat they could use cows, chicken, or pigs which are easier to manage than a more wild animal. They can even feed these animals healthy things so that the meat is nicer and they won’t have such a bad diet from what the cow ate in its lifetime. Plus you need the nutrients of fruits and veggies.

4. Discuss why you think those early human populations 12,000 years ago made the transition into

agriculture? Think like an early human, not a modern one! Your answer should not mention

“machines” at all.

I believe a reason an early human would turn to agriculture in place of hunting would be that hunting was very dangerous without the right weapons and back then there wasn’t many and the weapons they would use would be a weapon you would have to use up close compared to now. So there would be a chance the animal would hunt you instead. Also, hunting could take a long time in that you would have to patiently wait for your choice of animal to appear and if you make a sound they might run off before you have a chance.

Part 2: Economics and Trade:

1. There is a direct relationship between the availability of surplus and the ability to trade. Explain

the meaning of this statement.          

When you make trades there is an opportunity to gain more than you gave. Just like in a business if you sell things for more than they were worth you got them you increase your income. So when making trades you may retrieve something that is of more value to you than what you gave which is more value to the other than what they gave you.

2. Identify and describe two (2) social benefits of trade.

The social benefits of trade is if they like your product they will come back for more and you will get something of greater value in return or word of mouth happens and more people or in some cases more countries want to make trades with your country if you have good supplies and then you will get more variety of supplies based on what the other countries may have.

Another benefit is that you make allies with the countries you trade with which is a positive for any disputes with other countries you may have because then everyone wants to be on your countries good side and will help you out in a crisis so that you do the same for them.

3. Identify and describe two (2) negative social results of the development of trade.

The negative social results of trade come from either one side thinking they were cheated and that they gave something of more value or quantity than the other. Another way that it can be negative is that there can be sharing issues. Maybe one side wants the other sides goods all to themselves and won’t allow others to join in on the trade or try to take over the area of the goods and this causes problems and has multiple times in history, one time was about China so they made the open door policy then.

4. Given your answer in the question #1, explain the relationship between the development of

agriculture and the development of trade. Again, think like humans 12,000 years ago.

The development of agriculture definitely increased trade because the more crops the more things to trade for those who are going hungry but have materials for things like shelter or warmth. I feel like growing crops helped spread the idea of trading because in some areas crops could not survive because of the climate changes and in other areas it could so it left a lot of room for trading and I believe the two go hand and hand in helping each other especially 12,000 years ago.