Anthropology Essays

The expression ethnography has come to be associated with almost any qualitative study project where the objective is to offer a detailed, in-depth depiction of daily life and practice. Ethnographers generate understandings of customs through illustration of what people call an emic viewpoint (Fetterman 12), or what could be described as the internal's point of perception.

Human beings are also credited with holding and owning material things according to their capability and knowledge of the worth of the things. This brings into view the assertion that some things and materials have more value than others. As further described by Gregory (1997, pp 1), ‘values are those invisible chains that link relations between things to relations between people’.

The Natchez tribe has been one that has reached the brink of extinction. Its populous has declined severely since they came in contact with the European colonists, who brought diseases such as; measles, smallpox and the bubonic plague, to which many of the Indians succumbed. It declined even worse after the 1730s, after the wars with the French.

An important aspect of this tribal arrangement is presence of male head in a corporate descent groups making this tribe patriarchic while staying matrilineal (Sanday n.p; Taylor n.p). Women of the clan choose one of their uncles or older brothers to be the head of the clan who is responsible for negotiations, economic decisions and conflict resolution. 

Ethnography studies the social interactions of people within a given society, their perceptions, as well as, their behaviors in relation to particular communities, organizations, teams, and groups. The roots of this study trace down to the anthropological studies of rural minute areas, usually from a very remote setting.

Whilst people may acquire a confined reputation, a profession’s aggregate conveys significant trust warrant and authority. Legitimacy is attained by the competent advance of national health. For example, health professionals can provide credible data, recommend and validate medical claims, and should be leaders and be honest always.

Evidence of the evolvement of Homo sapiens from Homo erectors has mainly been provided through analysis of human fossils that have shown that certain changes did occur in the brain and body size, diet, movement The changes in the millions of stone tools and footprints have also helped in the understanding of the evolution of Homo sapiens.

Individuals have needs and expect the people in the position of power to delegate strategies that support healthy lifestyle. The leading environments in the global society have been those that present sustainable policies to support their members. Various countries marked as developing and developed systems have proved the implementations in strategies in health care and government policies to be the needed measures to offer sustainability.

Marriage is a social union in which created kinship among the parties involved in sexual and intimate relationships is acknowledged. Arranged marriage is a situation in which the couple to wed do not make the choices of the person to marry. In this case, courtship process is curtailed and avoided.

Tylor (1877, 1881). Both anthropologists were of the view that there many areas of similarity which could be seen in many different cultures around the world. They both developed parallel typologies and broke down cross culture into different patterns. They came up with three basic evolutionary stages: savagery, barbarism and civilization.

My mother’s experiences are very similar to the experiences and challenges that I faced in my interaction with fellow African American friends of mine, both in the present and the past. Additional research can be carried out regarding the passing on of culture to the succeeding generations within immigrant families of the first generation.

Every year the success evaluation is done by covering the said areas. According to Brent.R (2010, p.217) a dialogical model of our heritage is what pushes us to consider the relationship between heritage and other social, political and environmental issues implying that these fields are not separated but instead are interconnected in fundamentally complex ways.

The bride price is paid in cash rather than using gold and sheep. Apparently, it is also acceptable to use checks, money and bank transfers. As a matter of fact, the bride price is dependent on the financial muscle of the family and its influence. After the presenting part of the dowry, the bride has to have the henna party.

Currently, Fulani people remain to be cattle farmers all over West Africa. The Fulani people mainly occupy the plain areas of Niger, Mali, Guinea, and Burkina Faso. The following is a Fulani people background research, which explains their culture, origin, classes, an area where they live, their relationship with the cow, and religion.

Moreover, there are also perceptions of a family that differ in societies, and the ones, which result from migration to thrive or else stop in their current societies. As a part of socialization and an essential establishment key to the makeup of society, a family is an item of analysis for sociologists of the family.

Zeus’ wife Hera hated Hercules so much for he was considered as an illegitimate son of Zeus. Originally, Hercules was named Alcides but his name was later changed to Heracles to please Hera, but in vain. When he was still young, Hera sent two snakes to his cot but he ended up strangling the snakes and playing with them as toys.

This was a particularly calculated move since the super power would not want other states to exercise power in these strategic islands. Subsequent to these changes, military bases were established on some of the islands but no real intervention came until 1961 when the U.S.

However, forty years ago when Spain initiated major economic, political, and social changes, the country is currently one of the leading technological giants, most democratic and equal society for citizens and visitors. In addition, Spain is one of the largest tourist destinations globally.

What makes one human? The ancient humans walked and climbed trees. This flexibility aided them in adaptation to changing climates and to have diversity in their habitats. These people butchered animals many years ago. They also made spears that were used in hunting large animals.

These traits are collectively referred to as the ‘Human Condition’. The existence of cultural universals signifies that despite visible differences, human beings share basic values and beliefs. These common values and beliefs can be used to unify the human race.

Having no way to characterize those that they met, they began to refer to them by different names, and out of this came the term “race”, to categorize the differences among those that they met during these journeys (Smedley, 1999). The meaning, even over the past two centuries, has not deviated much from its original purpose, and is today used in differentiated populations of different areas (Smedley, 1999).

The title of the book refers to refugees as “human cargo” which emphasizes the way people are turned into objects in the minds of officials, and passed from one authority to another, with little regard for their dignity and their physical and mental wellbeing.

The scientific study of the physical and social structure of the two non-human primates, i.e. gorillas and chimpanzees offers an intricate relationship with ancient and modern human behavior. Evidently, scientific research has revealed that gorillas exhibit D.N.A makeup that is a 98% match to that of the humans.

Men have always had more social and physical power accorded to them than their counterparts; women. Men and young boys are expected to uphold their society alongside making rules and laws, which govern all people living there. They hold public offices and the best or all job positions in the job market and simultaneously, control the women in all their activities.

Your Name Your Professor’s Name Subject/Course Date Wampanoag: The People of Dawn The Wampanoag, or the wopanaak in their own tongue, is a Native American tribe. The name literally means People of Dawn. It can be loosely translated as Easterners too. They occupy the American Northwest, around Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket.

Men seem to specialize more in work that pays outside their homes. Social norms, cultural beliefs, and stereotypes influence the division of labor. Most cultures adorn men with a lot of powers as compared to women. Men are always considered the stronger sex, better and efficient managers and sharp thinkers who can handle any tough job patiently.

Companies like Wal-Mart recruit immigrants extensively; whether they are recruited knowingly or unknowingly is a different question altogether, in the year 2005 the company had to pay a whopping $11 million to the US government when it was found that hundreds of thousands of employee working in Wal-Mart were illegal immigrants.

Patients of cell transplants may not clearly understand the consequences of the transplants as sometimes it may make their conditions worse. There are controversies that these trials should not be done on people, and proof of principle should be proved using animal models. The involved risks and benefits should be discussed realistically with the participants.

Most of them promote theocratic government as a concept and usually view the West and its forms of government as decadent and ungodly (Lawrence 11). Most of the terrorists in the Middle East are probably also fundamentalist Muslims. However, they do not share a lot with their fundamentalist counterparts.

Heinrich (2011) in the article A Cultural Species: How Culture Drove Human Evolution explains how natural selection influenced human learning and how this resulted in cultural evolution and coevolution of the cultural gene. According to Heinrich, before agricultural evolution, humans spread throughout the globe.

The flute symbolizes the effort of the people to communicate with the forest and protect them from adverse situations. The fire signifies the spirit of the forest. The ritual demonstrates the association of the tribe to the forest and fire, two important things of their life. According to Moore, the rituals are done to protect the community and foster community ties.

New questions now can be asked that penetrate well beyond the metropolitan and colonial mindsets that have prevailed so far. In 1964, Dr. John Compton had the foresight and the stamina to devise a now-standard format for listing every shipping arrival and departure, vessel by vessel, visit by visit.

It is fair to say that Margaret Mead is one of the most influential cultural anthropologists of the century gone by. Although some of her inferences have been proven to be flawed, she is a pioneer in the field who opened new vistas within the field of anthropology.

Several debates and discussions on the similarities and differences between humans and their closest relative, the chimpanzees, have been held over the years but still, the question remains - what defines humans? Despite the many similarities they both share, human still stands out a distant different from the chimps.

To help us understand evolution within a specie or population level, let us define first species and population. According to Haviland, Prins, Walrath and McBride, species are the smallest working units in the system of classification and are composed of populations which are capable of interbreeding and producing viable offspring; population, on the other hand, is a group of individuals within which breeding takes place (29, 41).

Wealthy Sandy Springs dwellers substantially differ with the poor. Lifestyle is one of the differentiating factors between the dwellers. Although religion and beliefs play a significant role in differentiating people in Sandy Springs, its impact is rarely, felt like that brought about by the wealthy and the rich in the society.

According to the ideologies, men and women constantly struggle for dominance. Male domination subjects women and women’s interests. As depicted in the transcript, men always like to talk about women whenever they are in a discussion. This is directly related to Bird’s discussion of hegemonic masculinity.

The author states that there are four distinct sub-fields in anthropology, each with additional sub-branches. These are social, cultural, biological or physical, and linguistic anthropology. While the four sub-fields overlap frequently, they all use different techniques and methodologies. Cultural anthropology is the study of culture.

Continued surveillance on cases of coccidioidomycosis points out that the infection does occasionally occur, especially after events that loosen up large quantities of soils (Friis & Sellers, 2009). Last experienced outbreaks occurred among military trainees, archeologists, and people living in the earthquake and dust storm struck endemic regions.

Social Organization of Orangutans, Gorillas, and Common Chimpanzees Name Instructor Course Date Most of the animal kingdom have in one way or the other an organized and coherent social structure through which they manage their affairs. Considering that social organization involves a complex structure of association, it must also be noted that most of the social organization differs from one animal to the next and there are similarities depending on the class of the animals.

A chromosome is a structure that has a DNA molecule that consists of many genes. Offspring receive their genes from their parents. Half of the genes are inherited from one parent and the other half from the other parents. Both parents are thus responsible for the traits displayed by the offspring. In mitosis, the daughter cells are identical to the parent cells without any differentiation.

The novel is set against the background of the time period of 1937 and centres round the saga of love and soon launches into the paradigm of national movement. Thematically, the book celebrates the importance of the forgotten and the by-gone days and events and it is celebrated through a love story of Amabelle and Yves that grows and gathers strength to save them from the turmoil of the revolution of Dominican Republic.

She created her observations through her reactions to the environment, her beliefs in how they lived stemming from the experiences that she had with the community. The following discussion will focus on religion and kinship systems as they relate to the family. Cultures often have an idea, it is every day that truly determines the nature of society.

Human beings had to learn to adapt to changes in both of these areas and this is the main message of the film. The realistic depiction of the shift from a nomadic, hunter-gatherer lifestyle to a more settled village and town based existence based on agriculture, and eventually also animal herding, shows how the physical environment dictates certain parameters for human society.

The future life of a person is influenced by his or her background to a great extent. The family background, childhood activities, friends, school life, customs, economic activities of the community and the career profession will all impact his or her life in one way or another.

The author believes that the cultural beliefs play a vital role in gender roles, especially in the role of women in the society or in a specific culture. It can be inferred that in some cultures, women are important in the manner of continuing the lineage of the family; however, they are also given limited power to choose for their future.

The aristocrats of Russia who hired international chefs replacing their Russian Cooks, and who started importing items from outside Russia to fulfill their desires, opened the way for Russia to follow the same. Those chefs completely changed the outlook of the traditional Russian cuisine by their national dishes and people liked it.

Young boys and girls are allowed to engage in the practice of “uku-hlobonga” which is the name given by Zulus to sex without any penetration. If penetration occurs during the practice of uku-hlobonga, it is usually considered the fault of the man if an unwanted pregnancy occurs. He is supposed to pay a beast in the form of a penalty to the parents of the women.

Most terrestrial mammals use four limbs for locomotive a purpose that is they are quadrepedal humans and other great apes (though circumstantially) use their limbs to locomotive purposes. Fossil evidence of hominid ancestor’s bipedalism is constructed to imply that it existed about 3.5 million years ago and among living primates, only humans are bipedal.

Direct teaching of a culture is done; this is what happens when you don't pay attention, mostly by the parents, when a person is told to do something because it is right and to not do something because it is bad. For example, when children ask for something, they are constantly asked "What do you say?" and the child is expected to remember to say "please."