Gender Socialization and Religion

In every culture there is a moment in a girls and boys lifes when they become adults. In each culture it is something different. I never thought of it as a a Cultural Universal until it was explained to me. In the mexican culture it's their Quincenñera. For Americans it can be  turning eighteen among other things. For men in the Machiguenga it is being able to hunt squirrels. Also  a Cultural Universal is religion/spirituality. Everyone has some mystic being they believe in. No matter what Culture everyone has a greater being or a plcae they will go when they die. For Catholics it is God, For the Machiguenga it is the moon spirit. These are two important points that are Cultural Universals. I enjoyed learning about these examples and making connections to life today. When you look at things today they are still considered Cultural Universals because rights may cahnge, but no matter what each culture will always have their Gender Socialization and Religion.

The Yanomamo

We watched a documentary on The Yanomamo tribe. They are a tribe on the Venezuelan, Brazilian border. We learned about a girl from the tribe her name is Yarima and she was promised to an ethnographer Ken Goode at the age of ten. He was a thirty six year old man and she was just ten. They ended up marrying and having three kids. I was shocked to hear of this tradition. She was only ten and it was even more appaling that an American promised to marry her. You watch her struggles away from home when she moves with Ken to New Jersey. It was fascinating to see how lost she felt, because things at the Yanomamo tribe are completely different. She wore spears through her face and hunted, most ran around barely clothed. However, what the documentary focused on was the Cultural Universal: marriage. It is present in all cultures, but so different. You can see the huge difference here in America if a thirty six yearold man tried to mary a ten year old it would not go over smoothly. He would most likely have gotten arrested had he been in the United States. It made me see though, that marriage really is a Cultural Universal still today. Different cultures have something unique in their weddings. For example in the Jewish culture they stomp on glass to seal the ceremony. You see it in every culture, but they all have the same outcome marriage.

Cultural Behavior

I had never heard the phrase cultural behaviors before, so when it came up in survey class I was quit suprised. You cultural behaviors are all around us. When he introduced the concept we watched videos from colleges showing foreign students how to adapt. The first thing they taught was to not stand too close to an "American". That when someone comes at you with their fist, they probably just want a fist bump. It was a histerical video, but it was so true. Different cultures have behaviors that are common to them and so strange to others. It made me stop and think, because when someone said culture I always thought of their heritage, Italian, Polish, German etc. I quickly related it to my golf team, and laughed because we really are a culture. We are the kids who can sit and watch golf for hours (most people think its boring), we have our own language, and we are the quiet yet out going type. Everyone has a culture and I even remembered earlier that week that my friend had said to me. She was telling me about band and how each intrstrument had their type. The flutes are quiet, shy, and smart. The horns and trumpets were just full of themselves. Then their was the clarinet section that she was in. She said she is outgoing, hardworking, but also wants to have fun. I started to see things differently and opened my eyes. Every where we look there are Cultural Behaviors, and I am glad I now know that they are there and can point them out in my head.

Anthropology

It's amazing how much we  don't know about Human Evolution. Sitting in class at the beginning of second sememster we were told we were studying Anthropology, or the study of Human Evolutions. Going in I didn't realize how ignorant I was on the topic. We were quick to learn that now a days teachers are allowed to teach Human Evolution verses Behavioral Evolution. Behavioral can't be taught in schools, because the Supreme Court ruled that schools cannot promote religion (for example the Adam and Eve story). Today we study Human Evolution and primates to get a better understanding of what our ancestors or cousins could have been like millions of years ago. Some examples are "Project Nim", and "Keeli and Ivy". To chimp experiments that prove today that Chimps are smarter than we give them credit for. Today we are still discovering new fossils changing the way we look at Human Evolution and how far we have truely come. This all relates back to one important thing, our history. We are still trying to put the puzzle pieces together to understand our past fully, but that could still take years. We may never know, but the exciting part is finding out more new and exciting things bringing us closer and closer to truely understanding.