The Zulu People VS. The Andean Indians
The Zulu People:
The Zulu people are known to be the most recognizable group in Africa. They mainly in a province in South Africa called KwaZulu-Natal which is roughly between the Indian Ocean and a mountain range called Drakensber. The location is near the bottom of the Africa continent and below Zimbabwe. When it comes to the living conditions, most of the rural areas do not have the basic services, also a typical family is patriarchal, meaning that the man is the head of the household and the figure of authority. When it comes to temperatures based on the location, during the summer which is May-September, the temperatures are warm and rainy between 55-82 degrees Fahrenheit. During the winter, which is roughly between June-August, the temperature then changes to cold and dry between 57-89 degrees Fahrenheit. The wet season, however, which is the rest of the year, meaning October-April, the temperature drastically changes to hot and humid to 95 degrees Fahrenheit and over. Two conditions that would put physical stress on the human body making it difficult to maintain homeostasis, which means balance, would be the dramatic changes in temperatures meaning changing from high heat to cool throughout the year, and also the physical location in where they are living meaning the high altitude. Since the Zulu people tend to live in high altitudes, it will affect them differently apart from someone living in the desert or valley as the air pressure is lower the higher in altitude.
One physical adaptation that they demonstrate that helps the population resolve stress and maintain homeostasis is their dark skin color. The darker the skin color a person may have, the higher the melanin count. By having dark skin, their skin color helps them against UV rays and also gives sun protection.
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One cultural adaptation that they demonstrate that helps the population resolve stress and maintain homeostasis is their clothing. According to the description of the Zulu people from the website Countries and their Cultures, the everyday clothing of the Zulu people are traditionally more colorful. The people as accessories usually wear beads as accessories, however, the traditional clothes are only worn on special occasions. Since the Zulu people live in higher altitudes, which limits to heat a majority of the year, clothing is limited and not necessarily needed.
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The one race that I would use to describe the race of the Zulu people is African. The reasons are simply because of the skin color and also the color of the clothes, which is more colorful and vibrant colors.
Sources:
www.everyculture.com/wc/Rwanda-to-Syria/Zulu.html
www.gateway-africa.com/tribe/zulu_tribe.html
The Andean Indians
The Andean Indians are known to inhabit most of Central America and the northern part of South America. Like the Zulu people, the Andean Indians live in high altitudes along the Andes Mountains, hence the name Andean Indians. When it comes to the temperature, like the Zulu people, the temperatures fluctuate depending on the time of year. Since the Andean Indians live within the tropics, their seasons are marked by how much it rains. The average temperature year round is roughly 63 degrees Fahrenheit. Depending on what part of the mountain range the people live, the north have more warm and rainy, the south have more cold and rainy, while the rest are in the middle with warmth, but are very dry.
One physical adaptation that they demonstrate that helps the population resolve stress and maintain homeostasis is their hemoglobin concentration. Compared to other populations that live in the lowlands, their hemoglobin concentration is higher. Since the Andeans have been in the high altitudes for many generations, they have developed enlarged lung volume and increase in both red blood cells and the thickness of their tissue.
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One cultural adaptation that they demonstrate that helps the population resolve stress and maintain homeostasis is their dedication to find and gather food for the times when rain is scarce. Also because of the fact that they live in higher altitudes, food is more scarce then in the lowlands. Families of the Andean tribe have to learn to savor the food that is brought when rain is more prominent, then save when water and food are scarce.
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The one race that I would use to describe the Andean Indians are Latino. I would use this race merely because of clothing that is typically worn in the Latin American culture and also skin color and tone.
Summary: Adaptation vs Race
When it comes to the explanation of describing different cultures, having a deeper meaning of a culture based more on adaptation to the environment rather than an outward appearance. Learning more about their environment and how a certain culture were able to adapt to that environment opens up the door to the explanation of their biology and skin tone and also their way of living and why they do things a certain way. The most useful approach for anthropologists in my opinion is to lean towards the adaptation rather then their outward appearance to get more insight into the different cultures and their way of living.
Sources:
http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ab59
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Andean-peoples
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/02/0224_040225_evolution.html
The Zulu people are known to be the most recognizable group in Africa. They mainly in a province in South Africa called KwaZulu-Natal which is roughly between the Indian Ocean and a mountain range called Drakensber. The location is near the bottom of the Africa continent and below Zimbabwe. When it comes to the living conditions, most of the rural areas do not have the basic services, also a typical family is patriarchal, meaning that the man is the head of the household and the figure of authority. When it comes to temperatures based on the location, during the summer which is May-September, the temperatures are warm and rainy between 55-82 degrees Fahrenheit. During the winter, which is roughly between June-August, the temperature then changes to cold and dry between 57-89 degrees Fahrenheit. The wet season, however, which is the rest of the year, meaning October-April, the temperature drastically changes to hot and humid to 95 degrees Fahrenheit and over. Two conditions that would put physical stress on the human body making it difficult to maintain homeostasis, which means balance, would be the dramatic changes in temperatures meaning changing from high heat to cool throughout the year, and also the physical location in where they are living meaning the high altitude. Since the Zulu people tend to live in high altitudes, it will affect them differently apart from someone living in the desert or valley as the air pressure is lower the higher in altitude.
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One cultural adaptation that they demonstrate that helps the population resolve stress and maintain homeostasis is their clothing. According to the description of the Zulu people from the website Countries and their Cultures, the everyday clothing of the Zulu people are traditionally more colorful. The people as accessories usually wear beads as accessories, however, the traditional clothes are only worn on special occasions. Since the Zulu people live in higher altitudes, which limits to heat a majority of the year, clothing is limited and not necessarily needed.\
The one race that I would use to describe the race of the Zulu people is African. The reasons are simply because of the skin color and also the color of the clothes, which is more colorful and vibrant colors.
Sources:
www.everyculture.com/wc/Rwanda-to-Syria/Zulu.html
www.gateway-africa.com/tribe/zulu_tribe.html
The Andean Indians
The Andean Indians are known to inhabit most of Central America and the northern part of South America. Like the Zulu people, the Andean Indians live in high altitudes along the Andes Mountains, hence the name Andean Indians. When it comes to the temperature, like the Zulu people, the temperatures fluctuate depending on the time of year. Since the Andean Indians live within the tropics, their seasons are marked by how much it rains. The average temperature year round is roughly 63 degrees Fahrenheit. Depending on what part of the mountain range the people live, the north have more warm and rainy, the south have more cold and rainy, while the rest are in the middle with warmth, but are very dry.
\
One cultural adaptation that they demonstrate that helps the population resolve stress and maintain homeostasis is their dedication to find and gather food for the times when rain is scarce. Also because of the fact that they live in higher altitudes, food is more scarce then in the lowlands. Families of the Andean tribe have to learn to savor the food that is brought when rain is more prominent, then save when water and food are scarce.
\
The one race that I would use to describe the Andean Indians are Latino. I would use this race merely because of clothing that is typically worn in the Latin American culture and also skin color and tone.
Summary: Adaptation vs Race
When it comes to the explanation of describing different cultures, having a deeper meaning of a culture based more on adaptation to the environment rather than an outward appearance. Learning more about their environment and how a certain culture were able to adapt to that environment opens up the door to the explanation of their biology and skin tone and also their way of living and why they do things a certain way. The most useful approach for anthropologists in my opinion is to lean towards the adaptation rather then their outward appearance to get more insight into the different cultures and their way of living.
Sources:
http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ab59
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Andean-peoples
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/02/0224_040225_evolution.html
Zulu: Okay, just an initial comment:
ReplyDelete"The Zulu people are known to be the most recognizable group in Africa. "
Science papers don't need this type of conjecture statement. Just stick with the facts without too much elaboration or editorialization.
Otherwise, good discussion of the environment of the Zulu.
How does darker skin help protect against solar radiation? A little more explanation is needed here.
For your cultural adaptation for the Zulu, remember that you are explaining how the cultural adaptation helps address the environmental stress. So how does colorful clothing help with that? Or does it? Is that possibly explained by other factors (sexual selection/mate attraction/conspicuous consumption, etc.)? You mention limited clothing but don't expand upon this.
"African" is not a race, but a geographical location. Keep in mind that there are a lot of different countries and races in Africa and not all of them look like the Zulu, correct? Probably the most common choices here are "negroid" or "black".
Andean: For the most part, good discussion of the environment the Andean population, but wouldn't limited access to oxygen need to be part of the description here? You go onto explain the higher levels of hemoglobin in their blood cells in response to this stress, so that should have been part of that first paragraph.
Good explanation on the physical adaptation.
Good discussion of the cultural adaptation. Food is one of those topics that seem to cross the line between physical and cultural. Animals also have seasonal patterns of migration to resolve this issue. Where do physical adaptations stop and cultural start?
Again, "Latino" is an ethnic group, not racial. The text and assignment submodule has information on possible races. The most common choice is likely indian.
I agree with your final summary, but why *doesn't* race work for this? Compare the two options. Using the adaptive approach, you can explain why people look and act as they do. With race, you are only characterizing them, not explaining. In science, labeling has limited benefit. What we need to do in order to understand cultures and behaviors and appearances is to explain them. Race doesn't help with that. Only understanding traits (physical and cultural) through the lens of their function in a given environment can understand the culture.
Thank you for your response, much appreciated!
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