Sex-Role Differences In The Mundugmour Tribe

Mead was accused of bias in the way she interpreted her findings. The exaggerated the similarities between the sexes in the Arapesh and Mundugamor tribes. She also under-stated the fact that males were more aggressive than females in all of the tribes. Even in the Tchambuli tribe, it was the men who did the majority of fighting in times of war. This may support the theory that some gender –specific behaviours are innate.

Several decades ago the idea of women as subordinate was considered to be a universality by the aforementioned white, Western male anthropologists who lead the field. Despite an anthropologist’s endeavor to be unbiased, the fact is these traditional anthropologists came from a culture where many aspects of human life were male dominant. Though many studied

Anthropologist Margaret Mead addressed the differences in temperament found between men and women in her book Sex and Temperament in Three Primitive Societies (1935). In this study she concluded that sex has no bearing on social traits and the temperament of an individual. Her research looked at whether masculine or feminine traits are innate or learned. She also questioned whether men and women differ because of nature (heredity) or nurture (socialization). She concludes that cultural conditioning is more important than biology in shaping the behavior of women and men. The observed differences in temperament between men and women are not a function of their biological differences. Rather, they result from differences in the socialization

The Sonqo people and the Yanomamo people had their differences, but in the end were a lot more alike than you would think. They both portrayed gender distinctions in everything they did. One gender was always superior than the other, in this case the men seemed to be. Men were always the high and almighty, given way more power than women. As I read more, I began to find some answers as to why this might be so. Each group, the Sonqos and Yanomamos, have their own beliefs and their own way of organizing their pack. This all is different for each group depending on the natural environment they were brought up in and continue to live in. It was very interesting to learn more about these two groups and to see what they all had in common and what they did differently. I enjoyed searching for the frequently asked question as to why they do what they do and if there is any meaning behind it. In the paragraphs to follow, I will be talking more about why gender distinctions develop and also how different environments can shape who you become as an individual and as an united community.

At the same time there is a certain amount of equality between the men and women. Women can perform much of the same tasks that the opposite sex does without much, if any, chastisement or ridicule. Females have about just as much say when it comes to the inner workings of the society like marriages, child rearing, child birth, and ownership of goods and land. Most females are the initiators of divorce as explained in the book. Sexual equality is probably the most apparent amongst the tribesmen and women. Women are at times are forthcoming in their wants and needs when it comes to their sexual appetites and advances.

This group is a derivative from Mohican and Munsee Indians originally from Delaware. Mohicans where deep-rooted to woodlands, but chose to construct their homes close to rivers for a food source in addition to means of transportation. Stockbridge-Munsee tribes have a rich culture in which traditionally men were revered as great warriors while the woman took immense satisfaction in the child rearing, caring for the home, and gardening. They also carry with them the knowledge and skills of fishing, hunting, but also creative aptitudes such as basket weaving and storytelling. Storytelling was one of the many ways they passed on their heritage and culture to the children of the

First Generations: Women in Colonial America by Carol Berkin, explains to us how different seventeenth century women’s lives were from what we know today. The seventeenth century women didn’t have many civil liberties. Carol Berkin gives us a view of life experience that these Colonial women and Native American women went through. This helps us perceive why many Colonial women may have chosen to stay with their Native American captors. Seventeenth century colonial women had little civil rights, especially after being married.

Live Indians were seen as problematic because they refused to die out and they were not wanted in society (61).

The author’s purpose in writing this article was not to show the “Nacirema” as an example of how extreme human behavior can become, but how an outside perspective can affect your perception of an alien culture. If one were to look at the “Nacirema’s” cultural behaviors regarding physical appearance and health without any insight or knowledge of the specific beliefs or values of that culture, they might seem bizarre and even incomprehensible. By showing behaviors and “rituals” performed by this unknown tribe, Miner allowed others to see that the way studies were representing distinctive cultures was narrowminded and defective. Without the proper comprehension of the basis of any society, huge cultural misunderstandings could occur. Of

Geologically ‘almost’ centered in North America, Mandan Indians occupied “the heart of the world”, present day North Dakota, where the Heart River joins the Missouri River. They were once cradled prosperous human settlements, but Mandan Indians are only mentioned in History when Meriwether Lewis and William Clark spent the winter with them in 1804-1805**. Elizabeth A. Fenn took a trip to North Dakota in 2002, and she had an urge to write about Mandan Indians. For twelve years, she spent time to gather and learn every aspect that can bring Mandan Indians. She learned archaeology, anthropology, geology, climatology, epidemiology, and nutritional science, anything that could bring Mandan past. Winner

The Menominee tribe had lived in what is today Wisconsin and the upper peninsula of Michigan (Schmittroth and Ryan, 6) for what is arguably

The plains people were separated by patriarchal bands - groups of 50 to 100 individuals, connected by marriage or kinship. The men hunted, led religious ceremonies and were the medical experts. Each band was lead by a single man, the headman who exemplified the behavior the plains people wished to have. Each band had around 40 tipis made of animal hide, that were portable and easily constructed.

Horace Miner writes about the Nacirema, a culture steeped in magic and superstition. Their ways of life are portrayed as uncivilized and barbaric. The Nacirema perform rituals and rites that are strange to us here in the civilized world. The description and portrayal of this tribe make it very hard for the reader to connect or even begin to understand such a strange people. Miner starts of the article creating an atmosphere of wonderment; “if all of the logically possible combinations of behavior have not been found somewhere in the world, he(anthropologist) is apt to suspect that they must be present in some yet undescribed tribe”(Miner:1956:503). And that tribe is the Nacirema, a foreign and strange people to whom we in the western

Through this detail, the film supports the “theory of acculturation,” one which attributes any Neanderthal cultural complexity as being directly influenced through an observation of AMH, rather than through the possibility of independent invention. , Overall, the Ulam are portrayed as an inferior species, an element which is in direct contradiction with evidence that argues that Neanderthals would have demonstrated more than enough cognition to independently

Deep in the Mukogodo forest located in west central Kenya is where you will find the last of the Mukogodo people. Throughout history there have been significant changes for the Mukogodo people as they try to transition their culture and ethnicity to be Maasai. Before the transition in the early 1920’s to Maasai, Mukogodos were foraging, bee keeping people with their language, Yaaku, and lived in rock caves. Now they are pastoralists who speak only Maa, and no longer live in caves. Sadly even after all the changes they have made, Mukogodos are still not accepted as Maasai and are viewed as the bottom rung of the regional hierarchy.