Art as a culture

Art as a culture

1. A.  I believe the artist’s were building a place of worship. The artist was painting the animals that provide food for them and a few of the animals who could be dangerous to the people, such as a bear or large cat. The artist was trying to honor the gods, so the gods would provide food for the tribe and honor the spirits of the animals. I believe also the predators that were painted were painted so the magic could protect the people from the predators.

b. I believe the animals that were painted on the wall, were animals that the tribe had killed for food and the tribe honored their spirit by painting them. I believe this because the cave was underground and so many lamps had to be used to paint the animals. The lamps used animal fat for fuel and the animal fat was difficult to get. So the tribe had to supply the fat. The paintings had to have something to do with shamans and spirits, People were not used for food, so it wasn’t necessary to paint them.

C.The paintings tell us that the people had skills for producing light for long periods of time. Which proved that they lived in a tribe; it would take more than one person to provide light and fat for the lamps. That they probably had a religion or belief in something divine, the caves were used for other reasons then living in. This tells us that the caves were painted for a particular purpose and not just for decoration. It would be too work intense, to paint the caves without a specific reason.  The people who painted the caves were intelligent, because the paintings were detailed and painted with certain advanced techniques.  The people were aware in detail of the animal life around them.

D.The first difficulty would be to find the pigment and make it for the paintings. Another difficulty would be to find a way to reach the ceilings and the paintings that are located too high. The painters would have to build some kind of scaffolding or a ladder. It would be difficult to provide the lighting for the caves, so the painters could see to paint.

3. 1.The artists could be painting a place to do magic in. The shaman could use the paintings to invoke the spirit of the animals.

 The paintings could be used to tell a story about the hunt and let other people know how the animals were killed, which animals were dangerous.

 The paintings could be used to decorate their life and as a thing of beauty. Maybe, the cave was a special magical place to help the people with getting food, by honoring the spirits of the animals or bringing game to the area.

 The cave paintings and the Sistine chapel could have the same function. The Sistine chapel lets us feel that we are in a holy place and in awe of God. The chapel also tells the story of our God and the paintings honor are beliefs. The cave paintings could have been used for the same functions. When we are praying we are invoking the divine. The cave paintings also could have

been used in a ceremony to invoke the divine.

There is some speculation that the cave paintings were not painted by humans, but Neanderthals. Some of the carbon dating of items found in the cave,shows this could be a possiblilty.

1.       My art form I would like to introduce is the making of a katana or Samurai Sword. There are only a few sword masters left and the katana is unique and beautiful. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwQqtf86qOc . 

The function of the Katana provides an identity to the samurai. Without his Katana he cannot be a samurai warrior. It is believed the katana has a spirit of its own. It could be a deadly evil demon spirit or a helpful heroic spirit. The art of making a Katana is a master level art that is complicated. The culture of the Samurai has strict rules, and disciplines. A samurai definitely had a form of dress. The samurai wore rich silk clothing and had a certain hairstyle to show their rank. There are customs involved in the giving of the sword. The Master dressed in white for death and in a traditional ceremony bequeathed the sword to the Samurai.  The sword was only allowed to be carried by Samurai; the function of the sword was to fight, to identify the person as a high ranking individual and an individual who lives by a strict code or budo. The sword as well as the individual protected the people around them and were honored for doing so. The detrimental effects of the sword were that it was used to kill people. Sometimes just for a rudeness or offense. The sword’s spirit could either help or hinder the Samurai in its use.

Blood Revenge

1. The Yanomamo people do not have courts or laws or juries of their peers. In western society most of the time a person will be punished for killing another person. Also revenge killings are punished, not as severely, given the circumstances, but punished. A judge is the deciding factor on how a killing will be punished. The Yanomamo have a headman who decides if a revenge killing will take place. Most of the killings take place over sexual issues, coercing woman, taking women, infidelity or jealousy. In our society these issues do not usually warrant killing, however passion killings are not punished as severely as other killings.

2. The Yanomamo people engage in progressive fighting. Shouting matches, chest pounding duels, side slapping, club fightings, fighting with machetes, and finally bows and arrows. If dueling occurs within the villages, village fission takes place and then both parties begin raiding each other.

3. There are many benefits for Unokais the first benefits is the Unokais have more marriage partners, Ferociousness is considered a benefit for family and the marriage partners. All headmen are Unokais. So raiding can increase a man’s social status. Unokais have more children because of the availability of marriage partners.  And finally if retaliation is swift it can act as a deterrent and keep the mortality rate low. A man who is a non-unokais may survive to live another day, However he is often ridiculed and his women are prey to sexual advances and seduction.

4. The headman or Pata is always a Unokais. Political status- Since the decision to raid is up to the headman he carries status and some political control. Social Status- the Yanomamo organizes their villages around patrilineal kinship groups. Unokais is a gives a person social status. Non Unokais are ridiculed and lose their women. Being strong and fierce is looked upon as providing safety for the village. Economic support- The headman is treated with respect and usually in tribal societies the people will give him extra food or possessions in accordance with his status. Also, the wives do work and provide, so if he has more wives, more work will be completed for him.  Kinship- The kinship is patrilineal and if there are two descent lines often the people will marry within the descent lines. This gives the headman many close kin. Which in turn will raid with him and make his village strong and the mortality rate lessen, because of the swift retribution and the reputation of being fierce? Marriage- A Unokais has more marriage partners, either by coercing or seduction or attractiveness. The larger the descent group the more protection for his kin and the more attractive he will be for marriage. The Unokais will have more children than non-unokais.  The revenge killings influence the all the areas of, social status, political status economic support kinship bonds. It is believed the revenge killings occur for competition for women and food, thus insuring the survival of someone’s genetics or inclusive fitness.

5. We need laws to prevent killings because our society is a huge multi-cultured society. One culture may have different standards than another culture and the group cannot control the behavior of so many different value systems. When a situation arises where the needs of a group is based on limited resources, such as food or land, conflict will arise if the benefits of the conflict outweigh the costs. It is a biological imperative to reproduce and insure our genetics will be carried forward. Conflict for sexual rights and privileges takes place in many cultures and is based on the theory of inclusive fitness.

Family and Kinship

My interviewee is named Sandra, She is my mother. She is a grandparent and a great-grandparent. I should mention that my Mom is 78 years old. The year she lived in Kittredge was in the 30’s, 40s and early 50s. She was born in Kittredge Colorado. Kittredge is a small mountain town, where everybody knows everyone.  The main form of entertainment is horseback riding, rodeos and fishing. The cultural is like small town USA. Most of the men had jobs outside of the home and the women stayed home and took care of the children. The town is mostly white, German descent. Socialization took place all the time. Neighbors would drop in during the day and in general people helped each other.

2. I interviewed my Mom at my kitchen table over a cup of coffee. I was relaxed and happy most of the time. Sometimes, I was sad, especially hearing about a cousin that had passed on, or family trials that happened.  I did not feel awkward during the interview at all. I talk with my Mom all the time. I think that if I interviewed someone unrelated to me it could be awkward. Family is always a sensitive subject. It seems personal details always come out, divorces etc. that can bring up painful memories.

3. I realized that our kinship bonds are maintained by the women, especially the Grandmothers. We use the bilateral system of descent to identify our kindred. Most of the holidays were spent at the grandmother’s houses. The Grandmothers often raised the grandchildren at one time or another. One of the patterns I identified is that all the women are alloparents to the children. My mom stated that I have now taken over the role of the Grandmother. She is too old to cook and raise kids, so the family holidays now take place at my house, with all the nieces and nephews attending. Mom sits at the kitchen table and each person that enters the house will sit with her and talk to her until the next person comes in. This goes for friends as well as family members. It is a sign of respect as the eldest woman in the family. The males in the family are content to let the women arrange the social events and they are more distant in communicating with each other.  The males will help each other out when needed. For instance when someone is moving or needs a major house repair. In times of distress, family members will stay with each other. My Mom’s grandmother always had someone living with her that was not related to her. She would take in people who needed help. This has followed down the generation. We all have at one time or another had person who was not a relative live with us. Mom stated that our family is a multicultural family. My great great aunt was full-blooded Blackfoot Indian. Mom’s other daughter; married a Native American and her children have married Hispanics. My one niece is married to a Russian, and my other niece is married to a Persian. Mom stated that she was always very open to the mixed races in our family. Our family size has progressive grown smaller. My Mom had five kids, three survived. In my generation two children were the most common and the younger generation has one child.

4. I know most of my relatives fairly well on both sides of the family, my father’s side I knew mostly when I was younger. I do not socialize with my cousins. All of my cousins live very far away and are difficult to socialize with. Also my Grandmother was the person who integrated the family and she has passed on. I make most of the family decisions in my family. I have inherited the role of family integrator, so I am the connective link for the older and younger generations. All family members are treated equally once they have become a part of the family. However, it takes a while to become a member of the family. Marriage partners are treated somewhat formally until some time has passed. The women in my family are very assertive and strong. The men of the family seem to complement this strength, so there is not much difference in the respect level in regards to gender. I have learned that the women in the family are the integrators of our family system. This role is generational. Also the women in my family have a strong tradition of helping others in need. This also seems generational.

Subsistence and Economy

Subsistence and Economy
Week 4

There are two main subsistence patterns.  The first one is hunter-gatherers and the second pattern is the agriculture.  There are positive and negative aspects to both patterns.

1. Hunter-gathers have a more nutritional food base. Agriculture societies tend to grow only a few specialized crops,  Hunter and gatherers have a wide range of nutritional food available to them. This keeps them more healthy because of a balanced diet. Hunters and gathers work less hours per week.  The work week including non-food related jobs averages out to 33 hours a week. (Cultural Anthropology Chap 7) The rest of their time is spent with family or religious ceremonies.  The society of Hunter-gatherers is egalitarian
There is some gender specific jobs based on the needs of the nursing mom.  There is no shame for a man to do a womens job etc. There is no status because of the accumulation of wealth.  Accumulating wealth is looked on as a deviant behavior.  Food is shared with everyone in the tribe or family. Groups have home ranges and the food is available to all. This subsistence pattern society is less aggressive and more peaceful.

1. The benefits of agriculture are, more food for more people.  Agriculture can support a larger population of people.  Food producers settle down close to their food source, which contributes to the sharing of ideas and innovations. The pattern of agriculture allows some to farm and others to do specialized jobs, such as , Priests, builders etc. Math, Astronomy and many aspects of science were discovered because individuals had the time to think. Agriculture opened up trade lines, so many people had access to goods, such as silk, salt etc.

2. There are disadvantages to both subsistence patterns. The hunter-gathers must have a water source. Water is an important factor.  The available water must be fairly close or the energy to fetch the water is more than the emerge from the food provided.  The groups size is small in hunter-gatherer societies. Sometimes food gatherers must travel long distances, following animal migration and food growth patterns.
2.  There are more disadvantage to agriculture then hunter-gather societies. In agriculture people are tied down to the area they live in. Also the agriculture can support a large quantity of people. People come into contact with infectious diseases.  The trade of surplus food can introduce diseases into the community, where no immunity has been built up.  Agriculture needs land and land is a priority. Wars are used to gain more land which brings suffering to the people involved.  Land ownership creates a society of haves and have nots, with the wealthy on top controlling the distribution of the resources and keeping the workers in poverty. The crops grown in an agriculture society are limited. So nutrition is not as balanced and a lot of people suffer from malnutrition because they lack variety in there diet. Agriculture societies can not always feed the populace that has grown around the food source.  Famine weather etc can cause the crops to fail and people will starve.
3. The hunter- gather’s diet is much more nutritional.  The food sources are more varied. They have different kinds of food in their diet with some meat which provides the protein they need.
4. I think the transition from a hunter-gatherer to agriculture, happened by accident. I think it started small and then caught on and shared from one member to another, from one tribe to another.  Maybe a time of famine, came or the animals left etch and the hunter-gatherers planted food to help stave off starvation.

Part two.
If an agriculture society only produces enough to feed his own family or tribe, then he can not trade the extra for goods or products. So if a surplus is not available then trade can not take place.  If a person can grow a lot more than a family or culture can use then the excess amount can be traded either locally or long distance.

2, The first benefit of trade is to obtain items that are not home grown, such as salt or silk. Some of the items like salt can be used to preserve food etc.
Another benefit of trade is the exposure to ideas and inventions, such as better tools etc. Also maintaining social connections in the marketplace, which helps build alliances when problems happen.
3, One negative aspect of trade would be the inequality of wealth between people. The rich elite can control the worker, by taxation or tribute and demand so much that the worker is in a state of perpetual poverty. In our society the goods we receive are often produced by underage children, who have to work to help feed their families.  The children are employed because it is a cheaper labor source.
4, When most of societies used a hunter-gather subsistence pattern. The societies tended to be peaceful ,small and collective.  When agriculture developed, Wealth status, land ownership started. Agriculture through  trade started cities, and complex societies. As trade moved from local markets to further and further distances more complex society and civilizations arose.  Agriculture and trade built the industrial societies we have today.