Women in the world of men

Women are often expected to be ranked lower in the social hierarchy of sexes in the world, often we see women as a house keeper, a material to play tons of roles like mother, sister, daughter, a friend, and every other role that is necessary in the world but not ready to be filled by men. But does this mean that a man and women cannot understand one another’s social and personal role in the society and in their lives?

For our Anthropology class we read a book for our course named Nisa which was written by Marjorie Shostak. She being a woman herself looks at and studied the lives of women in the !Kung society. Looking at what and how the roles of the sexes were divided between societies and how the women were treated in the society. She did this as the movement for women had started in her own society and the hype of equality between women and men was one of the important topics.

 Shostak being a women wrote about female lives in the !Kung society. It may have been much easier for her to write about women being a woman herself. Even though she studied a society much more different than her own she must have been able to relate to things with women. Even with the vast differences Shostak has been able to see the major differences between the women of the two societies and also how they were treated within the society itself.

 However, studying men may be a challenge according to me. It is not the difference in the way the two genders think and work, it the basic fact that one gender cannot truly imagine and feel the way the other gender works. Our concepts may be different, our basic idea of living is different. A women writing about a man and how they think or how they function is truly going to be much more different than what a man will have to say and what a man will write. The feelings and the understanding level may not be the same. Instead of getting answers for our core questions, we may just build up our curiosity. Of course this is supposedly positive, being inquisitive is a good sign however how long is it going take before we are filled with questions and not enough answer. It is simply how we are, we may not be able to truly understand what something means. The priorities may be different between the two sexes, the conception and the perception may be varied therefore this may be a harder task as we may not be able to understand what the other gender says as we don’t feel the same way about the issue, we may simply not be able to grasp the concept that they have put forward or even simply because we don’t see things the same way.

It may not be all true but this is what I feel about the idea of studying about male and masculinity. However, there are pros to this as well, the first one being, if a woman studies about men we may be able to see things differently, reading about en and masculinity through the eyes of a woman may be completely new and may open up a window for more ideas, we may also be able to see things as how a woman feels to what a man says.

 There are many possibilities to this subject and as the world believes we may never be able to truly comprehend what the other sex is trying to make us understand but this shouldn’t fail us from trying to understand. 

how cooking frees men

1)      How did the cooking of food allow our ancestors to restructure the working day?

Cooking food helped our ancestors as raw food was very hard to eat and digest. It is estimated that 42% of the day or just over 5 hours a day in 12 hours, was spent in just trying to chew and digest the food. This would lead to less time for hunting and gathering.  Cooking food helped in chewing and digesting food easily therefore saving time.

2)    What is the sexual division of labour and why does its evolution centre on hunter-gatherers?

Sexual division of labour refers to the different activities to contribute to the household and economy done by males and females. Its evolution centres toward the hunters and gatherers. Gender division work for labour is present universally. The work division depends and varies on the culture as well.

3)     What are two major feature of the sexual division on labor represented by the Hadza?

Hadza are modern people from Africa who still engage and practice foraging. The hunting was primarily done by men and gathering was done by women. However in the end it was feasted by both the sexes.

4)    How has the division of labor by sex been thought to have affected society as a whole?

The division of labor by sex has been affecting the society as a whole because it was thought to have promoted ethical standards in all the societies. It has also created strong bonds in family. The division increases productivity as it allows the opposite genders to work on what they are skilled at.

5)     Why does the author believe that cooking food was an essential factor in allowing for the sexual division of labor?

Cooking food, in the perspective of the author is an essential factor in allowing sexual division of labor because the food was edible once it was cooked, it was easier to chew and digest, which saved more time for the people. Therefore the time spent chewing, eating and digesting food was minimised which resulted to ore time for hunting and gathering by men and women.

Patterns of Subsistence

Patterns of Subsistence

Pastoralism: pastoralism is when people make lives by the help of tending herds and large animals. Pastoralism includes animals like horses, cattle, camels, etc as a part of their herd. There are two ways of migration under Pastoralism, they are Nomadism and Transhumance. Nomadism includes not permanent settlements and the migration pattern vary as well, the people are self-sufficient as well. Whereas Transhumance has people moving to and fro from two places. The houses and the village settlement is permanent. Both these societies are male dominant and work division is based on gender.

 Foraging: Foraging is an ancient pattern of subsistence of humans. They depend upon the environment and what it offers. They do not have animals and also don’t engage in agriculture. The men are hunters and the females are gatherers, therefore this was a male dominated society. The activities mostly depended on the gender where as some didn’t and the dwellings were temporary rather than permanent. The availability of food and water played a huge part in the choosing of a place to stay. The community sizes were limited. Their way of hunting and gathering was divided into three Pedestrian which was diversified hunting and gathering on foot, Equestrian which was hunting for large animals on horsebacks and Aquatic for fishing. Most ancient form of subsistence. They have domestic dogs so that they protect, detect and help in hunting.

Horticulture: is a small scale farming with low intensity, it was also part time planting and tending of domestic plants. However, hunting and gathering was a part occasionally practised. The productivity is higher and it also has more population than foraging and pastoralism. They don’t only farm but also exchange goods and sell in markets for living. The trade is only done by a few. They don’t use pesticides or large machinery and do most of their work by hand. They also have particular shifting patterns.

Intensive Agriculture: this is the subsistence of large and populous societies and are modern large scale societies. It is primary food production pattern and is developed and is developing. This has increased by a large amount in the last century. It uses pesticides, chemicals and large machinery. Most of the work is performed through the usage of machines now. These are permanent settlements and this increases job opportunities amongst people.   

Hey bloger’s,

   As a Manangae teen and a part of Nepal , where English has taken over all the cultures of Nepal and it has come into my realization how much of an affect English as the lingua franca of the world has made  on my culture and my heritage as well as all the other cultures in Nepal . English is widely spoken all around the world and from the internet to trading and everything English is the language used. It is very hard to speak my mother tongue and when I try to speak my mother tongue I tend to make a lot of grammatical errors and suffer discomfort while speaking it.  We have learnt in TOK that how we tend to always think in English and then translate it in our minds and make a lot of mistakes while speaking it in our mother tongue.

The language of English is like a communicable disease and has spread all over the world by missionaries and etc. Such as in India, after the British left the country, they realized that the language of English was an important factor they brought into India and it is due to that India has come to be known as one of the leading countries in the world. There are also other countries such as China, Africa in which the language of English has taken over but have developed it in their own accent. English is so important and necessary in this modern world, that every president, prime minister, government of countries have broken laws and gone against the religious heritage of that country in order to make the youth of that country a necessary English speaking and learning country.

My parents always tell me  that I should get engaged more into the society of Managaes and focus more on the language and things going around the society, but as a modern child  I made my own decision to stay away from the Managae society functions and cultures and be more active towards the us world and follow their activities and functions and cultures, cause later on in my life it is English language that will get me IB diploma at the first place , a college, a job and for communication skills. I always go against my parents in this matter and encourage my parents as well as my grandparents that they too should learn English, by which they can be well aware of the things going around the world. I strongly believe that the gap that has been created between the younger generation and the older generation is a good thing as it will help us to have a brighter future. There are still kids and teens of my age who are forced to learn their mother tongue and follow their own cultures and not English. On this modern world no one can afford not to learn English in other to do something. It is really hard for me, when I try to communicate with my grandparents, they do not understand English and it is very hard for me think in English and speak it out in Manangae. There are not even specified words in the Manangae language, like there is no word for dinner and many other things. Because of this it is really hard to communicate and try to express what I feel and want to say to my grandparents and it is not a big problem for me only, but for majority of the Nepalese. They also tend to think that the trend, fashion, culture we follow is a bad thing since they have bring brought up with such strict and cultural rules

We should not think that taking ones culture as second language as a bad thing, or the gap that has been created, it has been said that after ten to twenty years later, English will take over almost all the places in the world. Words like “yes” “no” are so familiar to almost every language. English has spread itself around the world and people are all trying to learn English as a part of their school or college or even outside so that communication gap between people isn’t created. Till date I have been asked to follow and learn the language and cultures of my parents, but I take pride in learning English and it cultures. Although I get a lot of criticism from the older generation, I realize the loss of culture but along with that I am learing something new each day. The English language has been a parasitic language and is a parasitic language due to this it is easy for everyone to adapt to its culture. The flexibility of the language is high and how it includes words from Latin, Sanskrit, Arabic, etcetera, makes it even more comfortable to use. Considering the twenty first century and the lifestyle that we have adapted to and live in, we have to follow the English language and not some cultural language and till date there are places where people are not allowed to talk English or take it as a offense if someone of that place does talk so. In conclusion, I would say that the loss of my culture is a sad thing, however being a part of a culture which helps me be a citizen of a global village compensates to my loss.

Truth About Generation Differences

Hi to all my bloggers and readers,

As a Nepali teen who is a part of a world that is dominated by English language I have come to realize how much of an affect the Lingua Franca of the world, English, has made on us and our culture as a whole. English is a widely famous and spoken language and used as the primary medium of communication between people of nearly all nations. In English class last week, we discussed as to how widely spread English is and its status as a parasitic language. I took time to think about how English has been a dominant language as it has come to my notice of how, even when I speak my mother tongue, I naturally tend to use English words to replace the ones I can’t express in Nepali. I was rather amazed by myself, how could this be that I was comfortable with not my native language but English?

English has affected not only one language but, being the ‘parasitic’ language that it is, English itself derives words from a myriad of other tongues. After the British Empire spread out to India, China, Africa and the New World, it appropriated words from these languages and made them the Empire’s own. The English words are mostly derived from languages like Late Imperial Latin, Germanic Anglo-Saxon and Norman French. Due to this, English can be easier to speak as it consists of words from almost every non-tonal language. The English language derived words from almost every nation that the British Empire colonised.

So now let me tell you all a story based on what I myself experienced. The idea as to Nepal’s status before the English language spread around the globe made me very interested. When I told this to my parents. Referring to the fact that I am living in the 21st century they told me how I could actually experience it myself. To my amazement it was all possible by interpreting videos in a way which would make me feel like a part of a world where English wasn’t the lingua franca. My experience as a student of the IBDP and part of a culture to which English is important, made it rather difficult in even simple situations like asking for directions to not use English. People all around me were talking in various ethnic languages. English words that were so commonly used, even between people who had very little or no knowledge in English like “please”, “sorry” “yes” and “no” or even in a where most of the people started their phone conversation with the English word “hello”  hearing basically no English words in conversations astonished me.

The huge communication gap that was created through English being a secondary language for most of the youth in the 21st century was not evident and having very little personal knowledge about English and a deficiency of Nepali vocabulary was a huge problem for conversing. The wide usage of words from the English language while communicating in one’s native language is evident and is prominent when I speak Nepali.  When I try to communicate with my elderly family members or people around me I have a difficulty relating to them or understanding how they feel. In turn they feel the same way about me, they cannot relate to how I feel about certain situations and how I cannot understand some issues that only they can.

 It is said that language shapes one’s mind and how one thinks of situations. Language also sets boundaries as to what one can think or feel. Insufficient vocabulary confines ones thinking capability, example: the words “nakalli” doesn’t exist in the English vocabulary therefore cannot be understood by a native English speaker. Due to this the idea of this word is not there in the speaker therefore one cannot think of such a situation where this is to be used.

In my perspective, having a deficiency of understanding and speaking a mutual language can create not just a communication barrier between people in terms of speaking itself but also loss in understanding ones feeling or ideas. I as a person am much more used to and at ease speaking English rather than Nepali where as my grandfather has a low understanding and usage of English, this has created barriers between communications due the loss of understanding in languages. I communicating with someone who cannot understand English decreases my opportunity to understand how they feel about the situation through their cultural insight. Therefore, as I communicate with people around me who don’t have an idea as to how the English language works, the communication gap is large as they and I don’t share the same idea to situations. Our insights and ways to assess situations automatically have differences. Our cultural values and notions are also different due to which we may differences in our cultural norms and we may also have disagreements. To avoid this people of different generations may not have to converse about. The communication gap that has been built between the generations is due to the youth of Nepal having more usage of social media and English being a compulsory language to learn in schools. The amazing truth about how the world is evolving as a global village is evident through the usage of English being the lingua franca and how people of different ethics groups, cultures or countries and on the run to learn English and to make it a medium of communication with people of different nations.

With this I wrap up my blog for this week, see you soon. Till next time…

rites of passege

rites of passege 
”A ritual or ceremony signifying an event in a person’s life indicative of a transition from one stage to another, as from adolescence to adulthood.”

N.p., n.d. Web. <http://www.thefreedictionary.com/rite+of+passage>.

the tribe of Yanomamo

       Yanomamo reaction paper

Yanomamo tribe is found in Venezuela and Brazil. The Yanomamo fall into the category of Tropical Forest Indians called “foot people”. They don’t have any writing but their language is very vast and complex. The Yanomamo tribe has a village which is very open and therefore public, one can hear, smell and see almost everything happening in the village. Very less privacy is available amongst the tribe. The clothes that they wear is also very different, it covers minimal skin and they also use cloth that they tie around their ankles and wrist. Aggression also plays a large part in the shaping of their culture. Much of their lives revolve around hunting, gathering, collecting and gardening. Each village however is the replica of another in this tribe.

 The Yanomamo people have settled near interfluvial plains of major rivers and avoid large rivers. This is caused because the Yanomamo tribes believe that large rivers can only be crossed in dry seasons. They traditionally avoid large rivers, thus also avoiding contact with other people who come from the river. This shows that the Yanomamo tribes try to avoid outside contact and rather stay with their own people. However, the tribe does abandon their large village (the shabono), for a few weeks. In this time the tribe camps in other places and make temporary huts and shacks with the help of branches and leaves. Each family makes and lives in a separate hut during this time.

Two major seasons dominate the annual cycle of the Yanomamo tribe, the dry season and the wet season.   The dry season is also the time when raiders can travel and strike silently at their unsuspecting enemies. The Yanonamo are still conducing inter village warfare. In their perspective, this is not ritualistic and a lot of men died due to this. This seems very alien to us, yet this is practised without any hesitation by the Yanomamo tribe. The war is usually due to marriage or girl child amongst the tribes. However the fights are not blind and uncontrolled, they have series of graded forms of violence.

The marriages and kinship largely decides the social status in the tribe, however there are lesser women compared to men, due to both, lesser birth of girl child and the fact that many men have more than one wife. The marriage is arranged by older kins, usually brothers, fathers and uncles of the girl. Fights also occur within the village usually due to the lack of delivering the girl child promised for marriage.

In the perspective of the author, he describes how he thought that the Yanomamo tribe was just extremely alien and that they were somehow shocking but after discussing this with his other colleagues he found how similar all their situation was and how they all had accepted these cultures even if they were a world apart. What I realised in this book was how cultural relativism, etic and emic all have played a huge part on the experience of the author. He learned the language and the lifestyle of the tribe and by the end of it he realized how charming and nice his experience actually was. Not only did he face problems in the beginning, they tribe must have also felt awkward how a very different man was styding them but even in the midst of the lifestyle like the Yanomamo tribe they managed to be cultural relativistic.