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Mesopotamian American Culture Essay

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The Maisin people of Papua New Guinea have lived for generations making their living from handmade horticulture gardens, subsidised by hunting, fishing and gathering. The labour in the production of food is divided with men doing the work of clearing the gardens as well as hunting and fishing, while the women do the longer and tasks of gardening, gathering and making clothes. A garden, once clear, is used for around two years before the thin topsoil is used up and it is left to be reclaimed by the jungle. These gardens are used to grown taro, sweet potatoes and other crops as well as wuwushi, a tree whose bark is used to make clothes, that are central to the Maisin both culturally and are used for trade. Furthermore, the economy of the Maisin is based on sharing and mutual trust. …show more content…

This constant giving and taking insures resources are spread through-out the village. It also binds the community together through moral obligation to those who help each other. This mentality caries on past local neighbourhoods and into the entire society, men who help other men to build their house will expect both food and the favour in return, clans who give a young woman as a wife to another will receive feasts and gifts for the children she bears. With the introduction of money into this culture relations became more complicated but the root of the system remains the same. Young people who go off to work and make money bring back gifts of clothes and other amenities when they visit home for the entire village. They could also host family members at their city houses for months at a time. In this culture the greatest threats are those who refuse to participate out of greed, these selfish people are a threat to the community and would be considered dead to even their own

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