The Himba

Himba

Environment and Human Adaption

 

Namibia

                                                                              Desert elephant 

Let me take you to an incredible and beautiful yet cruel and unforgiving place. On the lower west side of Africa is a place called Namibia. Within Namibia is the Kunene region. It’s a harsh environment to survive in. Temperatures run about the low 70’s in the winter up to the high 90’s in the summer. In the last two hundred years the climate has been changing and becoming warmer and more unpredictable. Droughts are common for prolonged periods of time. The Kunene region sees as little as 250mm rainfall annually. However, with the weather being so unpredictable it may receive up to 450mm of rainfall, which causes devastating floods. This was the case in 2010 where people lost their livelihoods and buildings along with homes when they were destroyed by the flooding. The rainfall is heavy at times, but still short lived and far in between. With the high temperatures rising and little protection as far as shade from the intensity of the sun, the environment is very dry and scarce on water. Thriving in this environment are Lions, Giraffes, Ostriches, and Zebras, along with Desert elephants, and Black Rhinoceros, both of which have been trying to grow from near extinction. The semi-desert like environment's flora includes the famous Welwitchia plant, Aloe Zebrina, Baobab tree, and the Mopane tree.

Showing the size of the Welwitchia plant

Since the Kunene region is so cut off from the world, due to its size, and ruggedness of the access routes, the people who inhabit this land live in rural villages. The one best known group of people is the Himba. They are able to survive so well due to a couple physical adaptions they have acquired. First the melanin pigment they have is like a natural sunscreen for the skin. It helps prevent skin cancer by protecting them from UV rays.  They also have longer limbs to help cool them off. Their limbs grew longer so their bodies could have more surface area, which allows more body heat to be lost. Along with physical adaptions there is still a need for cultural adaptions as well. The Himba make a paste-like substance called otjize. They mix butter fat, ash, and ochre.  Twice a day they rub it all over their bodies to help with the harsh sun exposure. They also wear very little clothing, so they don’t over heat. The men wear loin cloths and the women wear mini like skirts made out of goat skin. They rarely come across westernized clothing.  When they do, the men are the ones that wear it. Being a nomadic tribe, when resources become diminished in an area, the village will pack up and move to new grazing lands with a new water source. That way they never run out of the essentials to survive in such a climate. They are so isolated from big cities, globalization, and urbanized populations that the Himba people have managed to live almost exactly the same way for centuries.

                                                               Isolated Himba village

Language & Gender Roles
The Himba people speak a language called Otjihimba. Centuries ago the Himba and the Herero were once united as one. In the middle of the sixteenth century they came from Angola but split into two tribes. This is why they share the same language. After other marauding tribes that took almost all their cattle they escaped back to Angola. Since the 1920’s the Himba have reestablished themselves in the Kunene region. At the end of the 19^th century a missionary named Gottlieb Viehe translated the bible into the Otjihimba language using script based on the Latin alphabet.  

Himba alphabet

The Women work very hard every day. They take care of the livestock, do all the gardening, care for the children and the elderly, make all the clothes and jewelry, prepare the food,  and milk the cattle. They also walk long distances to fetch the water for the village. It’s common to not find the men in the villages. They are either tending to the grazing animals away from the village or more recently moving to the cities to find work. The children are very independent compared to most other societies. At twelve months they are seen walking, running, playing, feeding all on their own. The children will stay close to their mother till the age of three. Than they move in with their other siblings. The children are looked after by all members of the village. They help with the chores around the village.

A Himba woman milking the cattle

Himba mother and child

                                                                                                          Family

Subsistence & Economy

The Himba own livestock but only eat meat once sometimes twice a week. Their cattle is very precious to them which is why they eat mostly maize flour or just mealy mixed with curdled milk or they just have curdled milk similar to plain yogurt. Making this meal requires hard work. They wake up in the morning and milk their goats or cattle. They place the milk out into the sun to curdle, and then they spend hours mixing it. They eat few vegetables and almost no fruit. Sometimes during the droughts when the cattle are at risk, they are able to survive off of the nuts from the ongongo trees. Now with the tourism in Africa increasing the Himba are able to make some money and now it’s becoming more and more often that you will find the Himba men at bars and the women at the grocery store.

At the store

The only food that the Himba produce is from their livestock. It’s what helps them survive. They don’t trade it because it’s about their only food source. They are so in touch with their livestock that they only milk two of the four teats, so the calfs can drink from the other two. They spend most of their days grazing their livestock making sure there is water and food for their cattle.

The woman looking after the cattle

The Himba women make incredible jewelry, Beautiful necklaces and bracelets that they sell to tourist sometimes for Kwanza. With the money they earn they can go to the stores to buy food and sometimes medicine. Since they are able to buy medicine the Himba are starting to lose their old remedies and soon it will be lost in their culture. When visiting a Himba village it is customary to bring them pasta, flour, sugar, coffee or tobacco.

                                                                       Jewelry

Marriage & Kinship

When Himba girls are at a pre puberty age, they wear their hair in 2 to four braids in front of their face. Once they hit puberty the braids are then styled in to smaller strands that still cover the face. Once she is of age to marry, her hair is lengthened using goat hair extensions and tied away from her face. When the boys are of age to also marry they wear their hair in braid that sweeping the back of their heads. Once they marry the women put on a head piece and the men wear a turban on their heads. Because the cattle are of such importance the Himba want to exchange their livestock with matrilineal or their patrilineal kin. They take on the endogamy rule. And since it will cost the husband to be 20 head of cattle they want the cattle to stay within the family. This is why they prefer to marry cross cousins. Once a girl is born her husband is already picked out for her and she will marry between the ages of 15 to 17. The Himba culture is polygamists that are encouraged to have more than one spouse. The richer the man with cattle marries multiple times so that the women can help take care of the livestock.   

Himba girl

Himba boy

The Himba don’t just pick one decent line over the other. Their family linage is the bilateral descent. Both sides are equally important. This makes them an egalitarian culture. The leader of the clan is the oldest male. He keeps the family ancestral fire burning and speaks to their ancestors. But, when wealth is distributed it doesn’t go to the son. It is passed on through the maternal uncle's instead. They acknowledge both sides.  

Social & Political Organization

Himba villages are set up in districts. The districts cover large areas and each district has a chief. Each village has a male elder called the headman. The headmen make up a senior council. If there are problems with the village the headman will go to the chief to work them out. The chief helps the villages within his district sometimes even going to the government to make sure his district is taken care of. They are there to stop wars and keep the peace within the villages. The headmen are the chief’s advisors but, if the chief is not doing his job the headmen can kick him out and pick another replacement.

Himba headman

The Himba are not involved with too much violence and law breaking. If there is a dispute over cattle, like which cattle belongs to who between the villages, the headmen bring this dispute to the chiefs and he calls upon both parties involved and works it out. If a man is caught in the act of rape, he is to pay the victim and may receive a severe beating.

Belief Systems & The Arts

The Himba religion is a monotheism religion. They believe in one god named Mukuru but also worship their ancestors. They believe that Mukuru is so busy that the ancestors act as his representatives. They believe that man; woman and cattle were produced by Mukuru hitting a tree with lightning and out they came. They have managed to contain the fire produced by the lightning and make sure that it never goes out. The headman of the village is the only one to tend to the fire due to its importance. His hut is the only hut allowed to face the fire and no one is allowed to walk between the fire and his hut. Once every week the headman uses the fire to worship these ancestors and ask for rain, reproduction amongst the cattle and wellbeing and blessings.

The Himba are known for the red tint on their skin. Also doubling as sun protection the butter fat and ocher mixture is beautiful to the people. Like eyeliner, mascara, and lipstick, the Himba consider the mixture as their makeup. They apply it every morning before they leave their huts like we apply ours before we go out. They even rub the mixture in their hair to style it like we style ours.

                                                             Getting the Ochre ready for mixing

The Himba spend a lot of time creating crafts to sell to tourists. This includes jewelry, dolls and carved gourds depicting animals.  

                                                                  Hand made Himba doll          

  

Himba crafts

                                                       Traditional Himba dance and singing

conclusion

The Himba people are considered one of the last true traditional cultures still out there. But no matter how true to their traditions they are, with the increasing number of tourists and missionaries that tread on their way of life, they are starting to lose their way. In some ways it’s a positive thing. More and more Himba children are becoming educated due to the traveling schools and the women are able to make some money selling their crafts to the tourists. They are able to buy medicine that will aide in issues they couldn’t help before. But with the positive also comes the negative. The educated children are leaving their homeland to experience more. The men are leaving the village more to go to the cities and work, but they are also going to the bars and getting drunk. The men are preforming adultery, and with the aids epidemic in Africa, are spreading aids in the villages. Now that they are going to the stores to buy their medicine their traditional ways of medicine will be lost. And with practicing less and less of their old ways it will eventually lead to their disappearance.  

Unfortunately the Himba culture does not have a huge influence on modern societies. They are very tight knit and work together as a community. The women help take care of not only their children but the children of others. They all cook together and take care of the livestock. They remember and pay tribute to their ancestors unlike the modern world who mourn the loss of a loved one but more often then not will be less appreciative and start to forget them as time goes on. The modern world seems to think that they need to influence the Himba culture. People bring them candy when they don’t have a dentist or tooth brushes and translating their religious beliefs into the Himba language causing the Himba to question or forget their own. Others need to realize that just because they seem primitive it doesn’t mean they are not happy.  

                                                              Little Himba boy with a lollypop



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http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0401/feature2/
http://www.namibian.org/travel/namibia/kaokoland.htm
http://www.namibian.org/travel/namibia/population/himba.htm
http://www.discoverafrica.com/kunene-region/
http://www.ywamafrica.org/South_Central/Angola/Kunene/about-h/about-h.htm
http://www.on-the-matrix.com/africa/himba.asp
http://traditionscustoms.com/people/himba-people
http://www.newafricanfrontiers.com/countries/namibia/people-of-namibia-himba-tribe.htm
http://www.gregdutoit.com/index.php?page=beautiful_people_ftf
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/2008/0205/p20s01-woaf.html/(page)/2
http://www.himba-trust.org/publications/himba_info.pdf
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/herero.php
http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Namibia/Kaokoland/blog-108633.html
http://www.palkiewicz.com/ekspedycje/index.php?p=himba
http://books.google.com/books?id=SsPO7wYv1VkC&pg=PA301&lpg=PA301&dq=himba+marriage+patterns&source=bl&ots=JpsId49VbE&sig=PFjlwGI8O4YkAUcTIvT8GQhgt3I&hl=en&sa=X&ei=OMQMUKygGpTzqwH01uDMDA&ved=0CGEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=himba%20marriage%20patterns&f=false
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwQ0SivVOQk

 

Art as a culture

The Lascaux Caves

A.      The cave artist in my opinion was trying to tell others what they cherish. I think in drawing the horses first than the bulls and so on show that the artists were trying to show which animal ranks the highest. All the animals were drawn in different proportions but some horses and bulls were huge in size up to 5.6 metres (meters) long.

B.      I believe there are more animals depicted in their drawing over other plant life and humans because animals were important to them. Important to their survival by using their flesh for food, their skin for warmth, and the fat for fires. Their lives evolved around the wildlife. Not even plants were drawn because they didn’t eat much of them.

C.      The paintings tell us how advanced the people were. It was assumed that they were not capable enough to figure out a way for a light source but soon hundreds of handmade lamps were found in the caves. Also the drawings Show the artists as being creative when it came to showing their talent in drawing a horse rolling on the ground or using the walls to their advantage when drawing depths in the animals or wanting to give a certain appearance.  

D.      It had to have been very challenging for these artists to paint. First lighting was an issue. There is no light in caves. So they made a kind of lamp to help and torches to light the way. Also, the walls in the caves were not flat like a canvas. The artist had to adapt the every section of the walls. Different techniques had to be used. Either by using a brush, engraving or using a spray technique. Even getting to the paintable surfaces was challenging. There are not only paints on the walls but high up and even on the ceilings. It was said that scaffolding had to be used.

E.       I believe they used this art as a form of teaching others of the wildlife. They are showing the animals of importance down to the least important like the bears and felines. I also believe that it might be a way of keeping a record of the animals. Almost like a time capsule to remember. Last I think in some of the pictures like the charging animals and the rolling horse to the arrow with the collapsed stag are a form of storytelling.

It thinks even in modern day people still draw things that mean sometime to them. Life is more complex now compared to early humans. To them it was about survival and wildlife was their key. Don’t get me wrong survival is important to us but so is our music, love, and self-expression. These are things that we draw, sculpt and sing about. We want to remember and teach others. Cherish and pass on like records to the next generation.

I love Urban Art! I love going down to Venice and watching the street artists or driving in Hollywood and seeing all the art people have made on the sides of buildings and under freeways. And NO I don’t mean gang signs that are indecipherable letters or numbers scribbled on the side of a trash can or porta potty.

A.       Urban art was born and represents city life. Like most art it’s a form of expression. You draw what you feel. It can be a simple random thought or a feeling.

It can also be a quick image in your mind of something beautiful.

Sometimes you could be screaming in your head and have to get it out in a flash of colors.

Or you want to get the word out on a political subject.

This form of art has an international cultural following from the U.K to Berlin. There are annual art shows all over the word representing this form of expression. Banksy is a famous urban street artists who have sold his work for millions of dollars to people like Brad Pitt and Angelina.  Urban artist tend to travel the world creating images for everyone to see. Its function is to represent city culture and sometimes spread the word on political or environmental issues. This type of art is relatively newer than most art forms and some people consider it to be vandalism. It tends to be illegal because most of the time they paint on other people property without permission for all to see. Sometimes they create in galleries, but what they create is beautiful and full of expression and feeling.

Yanomamo

Yanomamo

Unlike the western culture, the Yanomamo lack the police to punish, judges to sentence and prisons to incarcerate. They don’t have the laws that most countries have. Laws that that discourage the murder of another person. In western societies when someone is killed, the killer is arrested and personally punished either by the death sentence of years in prison. If a Yanomamo kills another Yanomamo the victim’s family retaliates on the killer and his kin. Killing the first person they see, sometimes more. But, by retaliating they than make themselves targets for the same violence. When taking revenge on others, you benefit by striking quickly. That shows you as being aggressive and others will fear you to much to attack back.

The status of a Unokais is enticing because of the benefits of being considered an aggressive, responsible, ambitious person and willing to take risks for you kin. They are characteristics you want to posses when trying to acquire a mate. And with a mate comes offspring and since children are encouraged to be aggressive and valiant, it is likely that they will also become Unokais. Villages with the most Unokais are feared more and attacked less than the villages that have more non-unokais and are considered cowards.

Each village has one or more political leaders. These men are polygynous and are able to produce multiple offspring. They are the men who decide actions taken after a killing. In order to be a leader one must be a Unokai.

By performing revenge killings and being the most successful, insures you village s having a higher status versus the weaker ones who have not participated in the raids.

With revenge killing, the village with the most kinship density has power in numbers over smaller villages. It’s like when you go into battle you want to know that you have the advantage and there will be people there to have your back if something goes wrong. More people who will revenge your death if you are slain. This causes a close bond with fellow kin and a good reason to stay in that village.

It has been noted that from data collected and analyzed, that men who have taken part in revenge killings and have lived under their belt are more desirable as mates. Building an alliance with a skilled Unokais who have already proved successful in raids is beneficial to the family.

The laws that western cultures have for killing help the murders from getting out of control. If someone were to harm m family I would want justice. If I knew that there wasn’t going to be any I would take it into my own hands. “Hushuwo” is an overwhelming feeling and makes people do things they may regret.

Kinship Interview

Kinship Interview



    I decided to interview my father, John Barrios, for my Kinship interview. He knew little about most of his Grandparents since all but his Grandmother Maria Barrios passed away before his first birthday. Except that both Great Grandparents from his mother’s side were born in Germany and both his Grandparents from his Father’s side were born in Mexico. He was incredibly close to his only surviving grandparent, Maria, till the time he was 21 when she passed away. She was a devoted catholic and attended mass every Sunday like clockwork. Not having much money, she lived in a small 1 bedroom house in Los Angeles, CA. Every Saturday she would make an elaborate dinner for her kids and their children. Everyone would pile into the small kitchen and living room to have a feast. He remembers despite her always counting her change, she would have these huge get together. The last handful of years of her life she was unable to host such events. She was like the glue that held the family together. His Father, Ramon Barrios, Aunt Stella and Uncle Albert didn’t have the same family loyalties as his Grandmother did and so no one picked up the Saturday tradition. As soon as she fell ill his Aunt Stella moved her five kids and herself to Fresno, CA and stayed there. By the time he married his wife Theresa Barrios, he knew little about his Aunt and cousins. He knew that she gave birth to two more little girls but soon after the babies were born, the father kidnapped them and fled to Mexico. As far as he knows his Aunt Stella never heard from them again. The rest of his cousins from his Aunts side stayed in trouble always in and out of jail, he decided to follow in his father’s footsteps and sever ties with them. To this day he knows almost nothing about them. He did however stay in touch with his Uncle Albert who had three children all about the same age as him. The oldest cousin being Gary, the middle Linda and the youngest Allen. Despite his grandparents being very religious, His father nor his Uncle raised their children in a setting were Church was required and prayer was said at every meal. His parents worked hard for what they had. His father worked at the DMV and his mother worked for the police department. They gave birth to a son named Dan and five years later gave birth to him. Born in Glendale, CA, he was raised along with most of his family in Los Angeles. He met his future wife in High School when he was only 17. They married when he was 25 and soon after had a son also named John. Three years later they had a daughter and named her Kimberly. By the time his son John was born, His mother and father relocated to Anaheim, CA. He pursued a career as an X-Ray technician and his wife became a Nurse. They raised their children in Los Angeles till his youngest was 21 and the last to move away. Now living in Pine Mountain, CA, he is now retired and his wife is still hard at work as a Nurse. He considered his brother, Dan, to be his best friend. Unfortunately Dan passed away unexpectedly five years ago. Now the only relatives he keeps in contact with are his brother’s children and his Uncle Albert’s kids, Linda, Gary and Allen.

    The Interview went very well. For most of it I felt very comfortable and relaxed up until I started asking questions about his Aunt Stella and her kids. As soon as I showed interest in them he seemed to get angry. Like he was remembering things that he didn’t want to share. The only thing he really said about them was a brief sentence on his cousin Paco stealing something from him and how much he hated him for it. This made me curious about that side of the family but the more I pursued it, the less he was willing to talk. I think that If I wasn’t related to him I would have accepted his unwillingness to tell and moved on. But since he is my father I became angry and protective. I didn’t even know what was taken from him but I wanted to know in hopes that there is something I could maybe do about it.

    I think there is more emphasis on the paternal side only because His mother was an only child and her parents passed away long ago. No traditions were passed down, No Aunts and Uncles or far off cousins were known about. Now as far as his family being larger or smaller, I would have to go with smaller. He does have a large decent group but only considers about half to be his true family. I don’t believe ethnic differences had anything to do with the family’s lack of social interactions. I believe that somewhere along the lines social differences caused the differences. They may share the same blood but that’s it.

    When it comes to my family there are a lot of members that I don’t know. I don’t see my extended family for holiday and never send or receive even a Christmas card. That goes for both my parent’s sides. There are a few cousins that I am close to on my father’s. But there are much more of my cousins that I wouldn’t even recognize on the streets. My mother’s side lives in Michigan and is very religious. My mother growing up never agreed with their religion and because of that tension she left and never looked back. When it comes to the decision maker in my family I would have to say my grandfather on my father’s side. I was only four when he passed away but, whenever he is brought up in a conversation tears are sure to be shed. Being so young I don’t have much memories of him but my older cousin’s talk of him as being like the Godfather.  Surprisingly other than my parents most of my father’s side of the family is single or divorced. But, as for my sister in law and my husband being married into the family they are not treated differently than those of us born into the family. They are showed just as much love by my parents as my brother and me. As far as different attitudes based on gender I would say yes.  That is only really based on memories of my childhood. I remember growing up in Los Angeles my brother was only three years older than me. He was allowed to walk to his friend’s house around the corner by himself at seven years old. I couldn’t wait to have that kind of freedom and after three years when I wanted to go to my friend’s house I was denied because I was only seven. Now looking back I see how ignorant I was. But, I was angry and felt that I was treated unfairly because I was a girl.

    I knew that my family like most has issues. But conducting this Kinship interview really made me look at how much anger and sadness is present.  I hope that in my family’s future there is less hostility. I envy my husband’s family where everyone knows everyone and holidays consist of forty plus over for dinner. At first it was over whelming but now I realize how important family is.    

   

Language Experiment

Part 1

     This experiment wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. I did pretty well using facial expressions alone. My conversation partners were able to tell when I was happy, displeased, angry and unsure. I did throw in a few loud grunts when my dog started to bark at the door. Funny thing was he even knew what I was saying to him without using the word “No”. The conversation had to be very generic. We talked about my husband and me looking at apartments. I was unable to go into detail about price and location but they were able to tell how I felt about it. What I liked and didn’t like. It didn’t take long before they realized they could only ask certain questions and not others. Questions that only required a yes or no answer. If I was a different culture than them I think they would have the advantage in communicating complex ideas. I could only grunt Use body language and hand gestures. My culture wouldn’t even be able to ask them where the bathroom was.  I think the speaking culture. After time, would get frustrated with my culture. Talk to me like I was a child because that’s the only way I could communicate. They wouldn’t be able to ask me where I’m from or what my name is. There would always be a disconnection between us. There are many examples of this issue today. The deaf society has always struggled to communicate with others. They would only be able to agree or disagree, yes or no. People treat them like they are children and some even try to speak louder and slower like that would help.  Another example, in a way, is immigrants. They have their own language but if it’s not the same as the other culture you would see the same issues. Questions would have to be simplified and there would always be a disconnection between the two cultures. I believe for the most part, Prejudice is just people reactions to not understanding.

Part 2

     Personally this was the hardest experiment out of the two. People have told me my whole life that I’m an open book with my expressions. I use facial expressions even when I don’t realize it. So we spent a lot of time on this conversation but, after starting and stopping repeatedly, I was unable to go 15 minutes without moving my eyebrows. My conversation partners knew I would have difficulty with this one. So at first they asked questions that they knew would get a reaction out of me. But when I was able to keep a straight face and arms down to my sides, they were a little freaked out because it violated a norm. Even the word creepy was thrown around a few times.

     I think that if you were able to speak, kinesics isn’t that important in a conversation if you really think about it. But, now it’s such a norm in our society that it seems unnatural when we don’t use it. True, I wouldn’t be able to point and tell you it’s over there. But, I would be able to describe the location of it.

Part 3

     If both cultures shared the same written language than, yes, it would have made the first conversation easier. I could have just written down any answer that required details. They would have been able to read how much the rents were and what the addresses were. They would have had to simplify their questions. Written language is so important to the cultures that use it. Not only is it a way of communicating when you are not around. It’s a way of recording your culture and documenting things past and present. When no one is left from that time period, we would be able to read and be able to look back on past events.   It helps the families of those who have passed to be able to deal with one’s estate and belongings. It lets doctors go back and know your past medical history and procedures to better treat you. The internet allows us to read about and understand other cultures all around the world. If it wasn’t for the written word and the internet’s ability to reach all over the word. I wouldn’t be able to write my Ethnography project. I would have had to travel to South Africa to study and spend months to years understanding a particular culture. But now I’m able to read up on and understand better through another’s research.

Zulu & the Andean Indians

Zulu

The Zulu population mostly resides in the KwaZulu Natal province of South Africa. Temperatures here are on the warm side with plenty of humidity with brief intense rain showers.  Temperatures can range from 97 in the summer months to 73 in the winter months. Even the ocean waters only reach about a low of 62 in the mid-winter. To help maintain homeostasis with such warm weather and little rainfall, the Zulu are slender and have very dark skin. Due to the intensity of the sun, having the darker skin melanin helps protect them from harmful ultraviolet radiation that the sun produces. This is why lighter skinned people are 10 xs more likely to get skin cancer. 

                                                      Zulu Men

Zulu farming

I would pick the African race when describing the Zulus because they are from Africa. Also even though there are white africans, when one thinks of an african, they think of some one who has a darker skin color.

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http://izmo.tripod.com/project/zulu.htm

http://www.bigmyth.com/download/zulu_culture.pdf

http://www.southafrica.com/kwazulu-natal/climate/

http://www.southafrica.info/travel/advice/climate.htm

http://anthro.palomar.edu/adapt/adapt_4.htm

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Andean Indians

The Andes Mountains is the longest mountain range in the world. Located in South America, the Andes Mountains run along the continents western coast, north to South.  With peaks as high as 22,834 feet.

Andes Mountains

Because the Andes Mounts run for 4,500 miles, it’s no surprise that the region holds so many different climates. The closer you are to sea level, the warmer the weather is. The higher up the mountains you go, the cooler it gets till you reach snow covered peaks. Due to the higher elevation, hypoxia affects many tourists. The lower air pressure makes it harder for one to take in the oxygen needed. Hikers that climb higher elevations use oxygen tanks to breath. The Andes people have lived in these higher elevations for thousands of years. Their lungs have a larger capacity to allow them to take in more oxygen and stronger hearts to withstand the pressure.

When in higher altitudes and not being able to take in the proper amount of oxygen, fatigue sets in pretty quickly. You get winded for doing little amount of physical work. The Andes all carry around small pouches of dried coca leaves. The alkaloid in the leaves aide with any pain or fatigue.

A mother giving her child coca leaves



If I were to choose a race when describing the Andean Indians I would pick American Indian. Just on physical appearances with the dark black hair, the dark eyes and a darker complexion.

American Indian girl

Andean Indian girl

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http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/andes_climate.htm

http://www.andeanawakening.com/andean-culture.html

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The way a culture adapts to their surrounds is much more important to an Anthropologist than categorizing them into a race based on physical appearance. Appearances don’t explain why people do what they do. The color of one’s skin or the bone structure in their face doesn’t explain how they survive in the harsh environmental conditions or how they interact with one another.

Cultural Descriptions Part A

    Part A

    In Miners discussion he talks about a North American group called the Nacirema. He describes this group as being Self-Centered. Engrossed with ones appearance not for spiritual reason but for health and  that "The human body is ugly" Spending most of their day focusing on preventing and/or slowing down the natural affects of ageing while trying to add on some extra years. They would do these almost obsessive activities alone, not with ones family. For something that takes up such a great part of ones day, it is only discussed with the kin when they reach a certain age.
    The Nacirema are in a way materialistic and show conspicuous consumption with the idea that the more shrines you have set up in a home shows the wealthier they are. Miner talks about having an abundance of shrines means an abundance of power in that society.
    They keep all of their most treasured possessions in chests hidden in the walls. Expensive elixirs of sorts and charms that the Nacirema can't live without. They are a hypochondriacal society that provide substantial gifts to acquire these things. These boxes overflow with these elaborate potions from medicine men and herbalists. The Nacirema are so concerned with health and appearance that they obtain to many charms and elixirs to even keep track of.
    Nacirema are obsessed with the upkeep of their mouth and teeth. Fearing that if one were to neglect their mouth, they would be shunned by their peers and lovers. Miner describes the fear they have of gums bleeding, loosing teeth, and even their jaws shrinking if one does not visit the "holy-mouth-men" along with their daily ritual to maintain their mouth. These are medicine men who specialize in helping with the up keep of ones mouth. These "holy-mouth-men" preform unthinkable, painful, and even mangle ones teeth to arrange them so that society will except them.
    Miner talks about the Nacirema as being superstitious. They believe the when a person is raised, their mother invokes a demon inside their head. cursing them and troubling them into their adult years. They go to these "witch doctors" or "listeners" to just simply tell them their life story. The listeners can give the Nacirema an almost outer body experience and take them back to their childhood and even as far back as their birth. Allowing the individual to remember and see what may have contributed to these curses so they can be corrected.
 

Part B

    I was so shocked when I found out that Miner is describing Americans. Looking back I cant believe I couldn't see the similarities. I feel that I was harsh for choosing the words that I used. Hypochondriacs, Self-Centered, and Obsessed are not words that describe positive things. I only felt this way after I was informed that I was describing my own Culture, Not when I thought it was another. That's not something i am proud to admit. The descriptive words that I used, very much, exhibited ethnocentrism on my part. It was hypocritical for me to pass judgement. I brush my teeth everyday twice! Not only do I brush, but I floss and use mouthwash. It comes so natural that I don't even realize that it takes up a total of 20 min of my day. Its something I was taught as a child and know that not engaging in such ritual is nasty and lazy. But when I was unaware of it being as simple as brushing teeth, it sounded obsessive and horrible. A painful experience and almost self mutilating. Looking back I feel so judgemental just because I didn't know what they were doing, I assumed that it was pointless and barbaric.
   Instead of using Hypochondriacs as a negative word for the amount of medicine they had, I should use Health conscious. Instead of obsessed when it came to the rituals of the mouth, I should have used routinely.  Also instead of Self-centered I think self conscious would be a more appropriate word. These words mean the same thing but are less bias and more understanding.
    It is very important to try and avoid ethnocentric judgements because sometimes the cultures are not that much different from one another. We just go about looking at it and doing it in a different way. It doesn't make one culture better than another. Being ignorant, closed- minded and judgemental are not good qualities to posses. I don't think its completely possible to avoid altogether cultural bias. But one can sure try and it will make a huge difference on how you see thing and help understand others and avoid such negative assumptions.