!KUNG Women Birthing Tradition

"When a child hits fist inside the womb"

Expecting mother leaves the village alone,

Then she prepares a cushion of leaves below her as she leans against a tree trunk and gives birth

Sound of baby cries attract people from the village

The Ache and Bari

Birthing Traditions

View conception as a process, not an event

Father who had sex with mother near the time of conception are believed to be fathers, nevertheless, the Ache also recognize the partial paternity of any man who engages in intercourse with her

Two types of fathers: Real- sperm donor and Secondary- all men who had intercourse with her at that time

Child birth is a public event that is witnessed by everyone in the band, or village

Austrialian Aborigines

Conception

Traditonal Austrialians believe sex as incidental reproduction, man encounter spirit child in a dream and directs it to his wife, sexual intercourse mat help prepare the way for the child to be concieved, main element is MAN RIECTS CHILD IN DREAMLAND

One man, Broome District: accepted a child born to his wife during their 5 year separation because he had met with a spirit-child in a dream

If father leaves bc of infirtility, the mother is forced to locate REAL father

People of New Guinea 

Theory of Conception

Chimbu: Believe conception is a result of successive acts of copulation, if pregnancy follows after one act she is suspected of having sex with others

Kutubu: believe in differential contributions by men and women to the fetus. Th flesh and soft parts are formed by marternal blood and the hard white parts formed by paternal semen

The Bari and Ache People

Terms:

Primary and Secondary Father

Primary Fathers: Had sex with childs mother 1 months before her first missed period.

Secondary Fathers: Had sex with childs mother during pregnancy. 

Trobriand Islanders

Theory of Conception

Malinowski reported that ISlanders did not know the connection between sex and reproduction

A woman concieves when a waiwaiai (spirit child) brought by a Baloma (unnamed matrilineal ancestor spirit), enters her body. Men are not thought to play any part in conception

Weiner couldnt fined any Trobrianders who still believed this- EXCEPT found women would claim virgin births to hide wrong doings

The Common Signs of Bad Omens

(1) Breech Birth

(2) Natal Teeth

(3) Red Hair

(4) Multiple Births

(5) Upper Teeth Erupt First

Justifications for Infantcide

Ache People: 12% of infants died before 1st birthday

!KUNG (southern African hunter-gatherers) 15% infant mortality rate

Baby is unlikely to survive

Baby threatens older siblings survival

Twins

Not of desired gender

Traits of abnormalty

Signs present of bad omens

Infancy

86% of societies postpone full human identity untiul some postpartum milestone or ritual occurs- at this point the child is named

China: new birth not celebrated until the baby is one month old

Bemba (central Africa): the "taking of the child" by the parents occurs at 4 months

Ayoreo (Bolivia): No child is considered completely human until he can walk

Jewish Tradition: the bris milah takes place on the 8th day after birth, establishes a covenant between body and soul

Zoroastrians: a lamp of ghee is lit at end of 5th and 7th months of pregnancy- after birth it is lit for 3 days

Coming-of-Age Rituals

(Examples)

Africa: Circumcision, selusion and isolation- initiates learn rules of being a man

Passtoral Maasai of Kenya circumcisw together all men born during the four year period- creates and age set that has specific name- helps identify relative age

Amish practice Rumspringa

Sambia go through 6 stages: separation, and others involving marriage and fatherhood

Separation

The First Stage in Rite of Passage

Individual leaves the stage they had occupied and prepares to enter a new one

Taken out of the ordinary setting in which everyday activities are conducted and enter into a separate ritual setting

Liminality

Second Stage in Rite of Passage

Also called Transition or Margin

From the Latin Work Limen (Threshold)

Between stages, occupying neither

Neither dead or alive, can be called Invisible

Reintegration

Third Stage of Rite of Passage:

Also called Aggregation or Incorportaion.

In this phase- participants are brought back into normal social life, and new status- may have new rules

Rites of Passage

Rituals which accompany every change of place, state, social position and age- occur in all societies, especially traditional small-scare societies

Status: any position in a society that can be filled by an individual- occupy stage wihtin category. Ascribed Status- Age, Gender, Race and Achieved Status- Education, Profession, Marital Status

Methods of Interactiong with the Supernatural

(1) Prayer (Most common, simplist, asking for help

(2) Physiological Experience (altered states 90%)

Wade Davis: nots that 120 hallucinogenic plants have been identified worldwide

Yanomamo absorb ABENE through nasal passages

Causes & Consequences of Kuru among the Fore

The Fore: Enemies of the Samba, Horticulturalists, practiced endocannibalism- consuming bodies of their dead, in the mid 20th century, began to exhibit a deteriorative neurological disease;

KURU: Fatal disease involving loss of motor control- takes 9 months to die, about 2,500 people died between 1957 and 1968 - mostly adult women and children of both sexes

Blamed KURU on Sorcery, medically we know it is a prion disease: abnormal proteins that misfold, causing deterioration of brain tissue- Very hard to destory, can cross species

Other Prion Diseases: Scrapie, Bovine, and Jakob Disease- can cross spevies-- often by eating the brains of infected individuals

New adoption, and men got best cuts, leaving the women with undesirable parts- the brains and organs

Cannablism stopped in 1940's, Kuru deaths peaked in 1960's, even today some elderly individuals get it

Decline matched the time they started EVIL SORCERY, so they feel their explanation/solution was sufficient

Gadjusek: arranged for 56 Sambia boys to study in US, then later found guilty of child molestation and served a year in prison

Differential Kinds of Cannabilism

Anthropophagy

Anthropophagy: a.k.a Cannablism

Two Kinds:

(1) Survival: i,e, Donner Party "Alive"- necessary for nutrition

(2) Ritual: Endocannabalism (eating memvers of own group) and Exocannibalism (eating members of other groups) Nutrition is NOT the main purpose

i.e. Yanomamo: Endocannibalism: cremate the deceased, then boil the ashes with plaintains to make soup. Men killed in battle- only women drink ashes, on the eve of a revenge raid

i.e. Wari of Brazil: practiced both types, enemies considered no different than animals, shown no mercy, Endo is considered sign of respect- barbaric to bury body in the ground, deceased often eaten by in-law kin but never by blood. Cannablism to Wari helps reinforce the relationshikp between them and the animals they are dependent on for food

Zoroastrians

Parsees

Zoroastrians: early monotheistic religion, founded by Zoroaster about 8,000 years ago in Persia (modern Iran)- still exists today

Disposed of their dead by putting the bodies on scaffolding in a Tower of Silence to be consumed by carnivorous birds

Parsees: Zoroastrian Community in India, name is "corruption of Persian", A Tower of Silence has existed in Bombay since 1673, Local vultures consume dead and they are on the decline- may implement breeding

3 Cross-Cultural Methods of Disposing of Bodies

Inhumanation, Cremation, and Excarnation

Examples:

Tlingit of Alaska: must recover the body for reincarnation to occur

Nuba of Sudan: men are circumcised after death- a prerequisite for afterlife

Inhumanation: most common, simple burial- dates back to Neanderthals

Cremation: burning

Excarnation: leaves the bodies out for consumption by scavangers- Tibetans practices Sky Burial- cutting corpse into small pieces, also practiced by Native American Tribes- body placed on wooden scaffold

Life after Death

Idea of the SOUL: the noncorporeal, spiritual component of an individual

Some cultures have no afterlife, but reincarnation

All cultures: observe rituals at death, arrange for disposal of body, and other specifics vary widely

Olympian Religion

Animism: Belief in invisible spiritual beings

Olympian Religions: the priesthood, like the state, is hierachially and bureaurocratically organized

i.e. Some Priets have more authority are more imporant

Polytheistic: many gods - Pantheon of Gods, gods are powerful and anthropomohpic (human-like) Includes: Ancient Greece/Rome, Aztecs, India (Hindu), plus several African and Asian kingdoms

Origins of Religion

Impossible to be sure

60,000 years ago: earliest burials of Neanderthals

30,000 years ago: earliest art- may have been religious, indicated symbolic thought, Venus Figurines found

Malinowski: Trobriand Islanders

In the 1920's, he addressed the role of Magic in Primitive Societies

Reacted bc belief was being spread that savages resort to magic because they are incapable of rational thought

Kiriwina Islands- New Guinea: Horticulrualists, Fishing is Important, Matrilineal system

• He found they were in fact often logical and empirical
• They understand hard work, and costs and benefits
• Very hazardous parts of their live which involve rational though: open sea fishing, ship building, garden growing
• In cases where success or failure is perceived as being out of their control, they use magic to try and tilt the odds in their favor- reveals anxiety in face of uncertainty

Magic; Religion & Healing

(Examples)

Cross-Cultural study of 139 societies: all but two had the belief that god or spirits could cause illness

In 56 societiesm gods or spirits were seen as the major cause of illness

In major socieites, sorcery is valid explanation of illness (I.E. death of big man in Ongkas Big Moka)

South African study revealed 11% thought AIDS was bc of sorcery and another 21% were unsure

MAGIC: Illusion & Fantasy- we recognize them as not real but many trust them as manupulations of supernatural for good or evil

Shamans & Preists 

Shamans: Part-time religious figures who mediate between people and supernatural beings and forces- usually male but not exclusively, Shamanic religions are associated with Foragers, have fairly high status, often involved in healing, NOT hierarchial, Egalitarian Societies tend to have equal religions, Shamans get blaimed for mishaps and can lose followers

Priests: Full-time male specialists who officiate at public events, have very high social status, sometimes obtain status through inheritance or political appointment, More book-based and literal than Shamans, Reliance on memorized rituals, nothing is ever priests fault

Religion: Supernatural

Religion is Universal

Beliefs vary across cultures

Religion: Any set of attitudes, beliefs, and practices pretaining to supernatural power

Supernatural: Powers believed to be non hukman and/or not subject to the laws of nature

i.e. Illness and Death can vary across cultures as viewing it as natural or supernatural magic

3 Kinds of FGM

Kratz- Female Genital Modification

Survey in Chad showed Women favored 68.5% and men supported only 63% Study found that women are repulsed by it but feels it is a cultural tradition

1. Sunna Circumcision: reduces the size of the clit by cutting off part of the prepuce (hood), least severe form, favored by Mohammed
2. Clitorectomy: removal of the clit as well as labias, considered an "intermediate" form of FGM, occurs in areas where most extreme forms have been abolished by law
3. Pharaonic Circumcision of Infibulation: the clit and labias are surgically removed and infibulation occurs 

Patriarchy & Violence

i.e. The Simbu of New Guinea

Marriage creates individual ties and obligations outside of clan which are not wholly voluntary, various points of life cycle payments are obigatory

Marriage patterns have changed to "luv marriages" and no longer exchange wives because of introduction of Western trade goods- no longer need to travel, or foster trade relationships

Fewer Kinship in neighboring villages led to increased warfare

Points out importance of Kinship and Marriage in putting social "brakes" on violent behavior and containing peace

Podolefsky's reading:

"Mul residents trace kinship throuh males, and their social links are patrilineal. Hierarchial segments link themselves as father/son, while parallel segments are seen as brothers. " 

In Albania, men are given a bullet at their wedding, to symbolize their dominance over their wives

Violence against women is associated with low status for women, which is more common in patrilinean/patrilocal societies

U.S. & Pakistan: Majority of women killed are murdered by husbands

Horticulture Matriarchies

Horticulturists as Matrilineal and Matrilocal

Men are dispersed

Women have more control over inheritence/use of resources, political positions, ect

Social identity is traced through matriarch

Local warfare was uncommon

Gender & Subsistence Patterns

(Foragers)

Men hunt and women gather - relatively little gender stratification

Stratification is most prominent when men contribvute much more to the diet than women

Often classified as "bands"

I.E- The Inuit

Gender Stratification

Domestic/Public Dichotomy

Gender Strat: linked to the strength of the domestic/public dichotomy- a.k.a the private/public contrast

Doesn't necessarily mean Gender Inequality- simply different task performances and expectations

"Public" work: politics, trade, warfare, or paid work- have greater prestige than domestic ones

*Greater Stratification when Domestic and Public spheres are clearly separated

Sexually Dimorphism

Sex Vs. Gender

4 Types of Kinship Systems

1. Eskimo System: All cousins lumped together, Aunts/Uncles called by same gender specific name but are distinguished from mom and dad, Members of nuclear family have unique names that are not used for any others
2. Hawaiian System: Least complect of the 4, all males are "dad" all females are "mom", Brothers and Male cousins/Sister and female cousins lumped together, Found in Polynesia, associated with AMBILINEAL DESCENT
3. Sudanese System: Most complicated, does not lump any together, each category is distinct, Found in Sudan, Turkey, and other Patrilineal Descent and Socially Complex Societies
4. Native American Systems: (1) Omaha System- patrilineal, (2) Crow System- mirror of Omaha, and (3) Iroquois System- found in patri and matrilineal systems

Kinship Terminology

* The Yanomamo are very adept at placing their neighbors into the appropriate kin category- Men  use the term "wife" to refer to female cross cousins and "brother-in-law" to refer to male cross cousins

Patterning of use of terms varies across cultures

Cross Cousins

Parallel Cousins

Cross: Children of my parents opposite sex siblings (Clint, Sam)

Parallel: Children of my parents same sex siblings (Kristin, Court, Shauna)

*It matters in some socieites because parallel cousins are in the same descent group- making them kin and marriage is incestuous

*Cross cousins are in a different descent group- and thus are not kin and can marry

Political Systems

Bands: Small kin-based groups, foragers- nuclear families that live and rely on eachother, fairly egalitarian, fluid

Tribes: Associated with Horticulture and Pastoralism, villages and descent groups- not fluid, can be kinship based or non kin based linkages

Chiefdoms: Unlike bands or tribes, characterized by permanent political regulation of territory, control large area, permanent political offices, no longer egalitarian, differential access is tied to kinships- special treatment

States: A form of sociopolitical organization based on a formal government structure and socioeconomic stratification, Kinship no longer very imporant- people owe allegiances to the state, no to their kin

4 Kinds of Descent Groups

1. Patrilineal Descent: reckoned through male line, brothers & sisters belong to fathers patrilineage and to his fathers, female ancestors do not count, daughters called "dead ends", most common form found in 2/3 of cultures
2. Matrilineal Descent: reckoned through female line, male ancestors do not count, NOT MATRIARCHS, women do not hold dominat political power, often a mans "heirs" are his sisters children, not his own
3. Ambilineal Descent: Not a unilineal system, some groups affiliate kin through both male and female ancestors- Double Descent 

Unilineal Descent System: one direct ancestor in each generation
Bilateral Descent: Many societies dont have lineal descent- dont trace kinship groups from a common ancestor, both sides are equally imporant (United States)

5 Patterns of Post-Marital Residence

1. Neolocal Residence: Son and Daughter leave to start new home- US system of living
2. Patrilocal Residence: (Virilocal) Son stays at home and daughter moves in with in-laws 67% of all societies: Asia, India, Middle East, Austrailia, and Europe. Sometimes girls move FAR away
3. Matrilocal Residence: (Uxorilocal) Daughter stays home and son comes to live with her damily. Men don't usualy move very far away
4. Bilocal Residence: Married adults live with or near their parents, depending on circumstances- 7% of societies and found in Hunter & Gatherer cultures
5. Avunculocal Residence: Married adults live with husbands mothers brother (Maternal Uncle)- 5% of socieites. Found in Americas and Africa

Bride Abduction

Stealing a bride, grabbing her off the street literally

Found in: 

Ethiopia

Kyrgystan

Yanamamo- Horticulturists in Brazil

Nepal- Ritualistic Bride Capture

Arranged Marriage

(Examples)

Betrothal may take place when spouses are children, or before birth, and often the spouses do not meet until they marry

Occur when the joining together of two kin groups to form new social and economic ties is SO IMPORTANT that it CANNOT BE LEFT to free choice or romantic love

Occurs in India, China, Japan, and eastern & souther Europe

India: prospective families may connect through newspaper advertisements, then meet on nuetral ground

Exchange of Females

(Examples)

In some societies, a female relative of the groom is married into the brides family

Each lineage loses a daughter, but gains a daughter-in-law

Most common amoung: Egalitarian Horticulture Societies (6% overall)

Gift Exchange

Gifts of equal value are exchanged by the two kin groups that are to be linked by marriage

Found in 11% of societies

Dowry

Dowry:

• Very expensive exchange for marrying off a daughter
• Still practical in parts of southern and eastern Europe, and India
• Outlawed in India in 1961, Revised in 1986- making it illegal to give or to receive a dowry, but "wedding gifts" can be accepted 
• Occurs in cultures where women are perceieved as a burden and have low status

Bride Price;

Lobola

Bride Price: 

• Gift of money or goods from the groom to his bride's kin
• Occurs in 59% of traditional socieites
• Grants groom right to marry bride and have kids
• Usuaully a substiantial amount of money
• All over the world, especially Africa and Oceania
• XHOSA of South Africa: bride price is called LOBOLA, traditionally paid in Cattle (7), now- paid in cash or a cattle/cash mixture

Economic Aspects of Marriage

Most socieites, a marriage invoves not obly the union of spouses, but the ecchange of resources

In a sample of traditional socieites:

12% had no explicit economic transatction at marriage, 88% has one or more explicit transactions,

68% had more than one kind of transaction

Incest Taboo

Cousin Marriage

Incest: Most common taboo- parent/offspring and sibling marraiges

Exceptions: The Lakher of Southeast Asia, spanning India and Myanmar- Extreme Patrilineal System

Children of different dads are considered unrelated

Reasons for Diversity in Marriage Patterns in Tibet

Very harsh ecological niche: high altitudes, very little aravle land for crops

42.7% monogamy, 5.6% Polygyny, and 51.7% Polyandry

Practice Formal Polyandry to maintain estates, also need for diversified household economy

If a family has one son- he would be monogmous

If a family had many- they would be Polyandryous

One daughter, no son- Monogomy

Many daughters and no sons- Polyandry and spread out

Dowry Death

Dowry in India:

If dowry is perceieved as insufficient, it may lead to the bride being killed! (Dowry Death)

Most common method: the bride is doused with kerosene and set on fire, often in the kitchen- usually recognized as suicide or accident.

Estimated 500-2500 women die each year

Dowry is less commnon and cheaper in areas where women participate a lot in agriculture and are therefore more essential and useful

2 Conditions Favoring Polygyny

Polygyny occurs when either of the two conditions are found:

(1) An imbalanced sex ratio

(2) Late age of marrige for men (Austrial Aboriginal Groups)

Ethnocentric Examples of Marital Systems and Differentiating Number of Spouses

Monogomy

Polygyny

Polyandry

Group Marriages

Same-Sex Marriage

Royal Incest

(Examples)

Occurred in Ancient Egypt, among the Inca, and among the Hawaiian Royalty

The rulers were "gods" not humans, so they were allowed to break laws against sibling marriage

Cleopatra: Result of 7 generations of brother-sister marraige. Her Brother/Husbands included Ptolemy XIII and Ptolemy XIV

Westermarck Hypothesis:

Incest Taboo

All cultures have a prohibition against incest

Culturally Universal, but the details on which relationships are considered incest vary across the map

Westermarck Hypothesis: People are not sexually attracted to people they grow up with- therefore people avoid mating people they know well

Israli Kibbutzim: Children raised on collective farms, but are not closely related despite being encouraged to intermary by their parents, they almost never do

Consanguineous Marriages: Legal First Cousin Marriage

Common-Law Marriage

Most states allow marriages only to be established by statutory procedures (ceremony)

9 states and DC. recognize Common Law Marriage: People are considered married if they agree that they are, they live together, and present themselves as husband and wife

Tradition to prevent abandonment- to provide security for women and children

Oklahoma recognizes ones established before November 1998

5 part test in Oklahoma to clarify common law status- if clear and convincing evidence is lacking- request will be denied.

Taramiut Inuit

The man moves in with his betrotheds family- if a baby is born within a year or so, they are considered married, and the couple moves to the husbands camp

4 Ways of Specifying Parents

(1) Mater: Socially recognized mother, the mater is usualy the biological mother as well

(2) Genitor: The biological father

(3) Pater: Socially recognized father, Pater usually has social responsibility for the child

(4) Chuckold: A man raising a baby that is not his

Fatherhood: sperm donor, adoption, infidelity, or genitor

6 Rights Conferred by Marriage

Noted by Edmund Leach- 6 Rights that are allocated by marriage in different socieites

1. Establish legal father of a women's children
2. Give either or both spouses a monopology on sexuality of the other (not hidden)
3. Give either or both spouses right to the labor of eachother
4. Give " " over the other's property
5. Establish a joint fund of property- a partnership- for the benfit of children
6. Establish a socially significant Relationship of Affinity between spouses and their relatives (in-laws or Affinal Kin)

General Features of Marriage

About forming alliances between groups of people

Marriage converts strangers into kin

Exchange of Vows

Marriage

In America

1970: 89% of women ages 25-29 had been married at least once

2002: 60% of women " "

2009: the median age at first marriage was 26.5 for women and 28.4 for men

Oklahoma has 3rd lowest median age- women is 24.4 and 2nd lowest for men- 25.7

Overall, 90% of people may by age 45

Hispanic;

Latino

Hispanic: Linguistically based ethnic group (not a race)- covers people from Spain, Spanish speaking countries of Central and South America and the Caribbean (Can be black, white, brown, or any variation)

* 35.3 Million Americans identify as Hispanic

LATINO: Broader category which includes Portuguese speaking people

I.E. A Brazilian born person of Japanese Ancestry (1.6mil) could identify as Latino, even though they appear Asian

Ethnicity

Much of what we call "racial variations" is actually ethnicity, not race

Ethnic Group Members share beliefs, values, habits, customs, and norms

They define themselves by special cultural features: language, religion, historical experience, geographic placement, or race

Ethnicity is SOCIALLY CONSTRUCTED

Race in the U.S. Consensus

Has been fathering data by race since 1970

*Constitution specified that a slave counted as 3/5's of a white person

*Indians were not counted in 1st Consensus; they were not taxed, very explicit instructions to Consensus enumerators not to count the Indians

Race in Brazil

Fluid Concept: historical mixture of Native Americans, African Slaves, and Europeans

No Hyperdescent Rules: Use of over 500 Racial Terms

Ones Racial Category can change over time due to achieved status, developmental biological changes, and other irregular factors

32% of Brazilians identify as Moreno

The multiplicity and overlap to Brazilian race labels allows one individual to be more than one race

Full siblings can belong to different racial groups (If they look different)

Jared Diamond:

Alternative Racial Groupings

Lacto Intolerant: Random throughout the world, not realted to race

Fingerprints: Some types are more common in some populations than others

*Arch Race (Central Europeans), Loop Race (Europeans and Africans), and Whorl Race (Mongolians)

*Use of phenotype trats apart from skin color creates very different racial groupings

*None of Diamonds suggestions of racial groupings correlate with each other or with our preconceived racial notions

Race in South Africa;

Apartheid

The African National Congress is the dominant political party

Apartheid: Afrikaans word meaning "separateness"

• Strict policy of racial segregation
• Official Government Policy from 1948-1991
• First Non-Racial Election (everybody could vote): 1994 Nelson Mandela Won- ANC Party
• Second Election in 1998: Mandela stepped aside
• Thabo Mbeki won for the ANC
• Jacob Zuma since 2009

Hypodescent Rule

Children of Mixed Races are Placed in the Minority Group

I.E. Obama, Halle Barry, 

In the past- In parts of the US, one was legally a "negro" if they had one black great-grandparent (7/8s white and 1/8 black- but considered "black")

3 Reasons why Race is not Biologically Meaningful

(1) Traits show CLINES: (gradual differences from region to region), there are no sharp lines delineating one group from the next, rather there is a continuous smooth graduation- cant decipher between groups

(2) Different Traits Are Not Correlated With Eachother: Cant build racial categories on one trait- there is more variation WITHIN each race than there is BETWEEN different races.

(3) Using Differnt Traits Results in Vastly Different Groupings: If races are real bio constructs, then using different criteria to define the races should result in roughly the same groupings- but thats not what happens.

Subspecies

For nonhuman species, RACES refers to VARIETIES or SUPBSPECIES

*What Darwin was referring to in his works

*These subspecies can interbreed (otherwise they would be different species) but they may differ morphologically and behaviorally

Franz Boaz

Father of Anthropology 

"Context is everything" 

Created concepts likfe Cultural Relativism, Primitive, and Barbaric

"Every culture is a unique creation of its history and interactions with other groups"

Cultural Relativism

The attitude that a society's customs and ideas should be described objectively and understood in the context of that society's problems and opportunities

Scientists constructed "scales", with "more primitive" socieites at the bottom and European societies at the top (most evolved)

Extreme Cultural Relativism

Because morality differs in every society, all cultural patterns are equally valid

*Many anthropologists are no longer comfortable with this view

*What about universal human rights? Slavery? Torture? Rape? Genital Mutilation?

RACE - Not Simply a Question of Skin Color

If it were, Austrailian Aborigines, New Guinea Highlanders, and People from India would be grouped with Black Afriancs (All very dark, but are from different parts of the World)

In United States, "Race" is based on both skin color and geographical origin

RACE:

Scientific Racial Categories

Can we form scientific racial categories?

NO

Skin Color is used because it is convenient an easy to judge, not because it is meaningful

 It is a phenotype that is easy to measure

RACE

With humans, has an important POLITICAL dimension

"Race" is often used to justify political or economic discrimination

Racial Classifications are often confounded with RACISM- the belief that some races are innately inferior, or superior, to others

RACE

Real Biological Concept

If race is a real biological concept, then you should be able to create scientific racial classifications:

I.E. Phenotypic trait that cluster together

*Should be able to assign races ambiguously

RACE

Not Biological Meaningful

People can all have children, there is no genetic separation between racial DNA, and 98% of our genomes are identical!

The main point is:

Any biological definition of race is ARBITRARY- you get different racial categories depending on which traits you use

From a scientifict view: Cannot create distinct groups- rather, traits from different populations gradually merge into one another

South Africa:

Racial Groups

Codified Race into 4 Distinct Groups:

(1) Whites (European Ancestry - 10%)

(2) African/Black (78%)

(3) Coloured (Mixed White/African Ancestry - 9%)

(4) Asian (Indians, Chinese- but Japanese were considered White - 3%)

Race in Japan

Dominant racial ideology describes the country as racially and ethnically homogeneous- based on presumed biological differences (but like race elsewhere, these clearly defined groups have blurred edges)

10% of population in Japan are minorities of various sorts

*Aboriginial Ainu- original inhabitants

*Annexed Okinawans

* Outcast Burakumin

* Children of mixed marriages

*Immigrant Nationalities (700,000 Koreans)

Race Categories in 1800 Consensus

3 Categories:

(1) Free White

(2) Free Colored: African but not slave, mixed with slave/white (Mulatto) , mixed with slave/white/indian, and "melungeon" (had dark skin and white features)

(3) Slaves

RACE in 1900 Consensus

5 Categories:

1. White
2. Black
3. Chinese
4. Japanese
5. Indian

1990 Consensus Race Categories

1. White
2. Black
3. American Indian, Eskimo, or Aleut
4. Asian or Pacific Islander
5. Other Race
6. Or Separately Asked- Hispanic Origin

2000 Consensus

People weren't allowed to check multiple race boxes

Very controversial decision

Some social scientists have wanted to add a multiracial category to the census for years

2.3% of the population (7 million) checked more than 1 box anyways

DIVORCE in America

Nationally, divorce has declined 3.7 per 1,000 people in 2004

Highest: Nevada with 8.5

Oklahoma: Tied for 4th place with 6.0

Lowest: D.C with 2.1 followed by NY with 2.5

About 19 divorces occur per 1,000 marriages per year

*Nationally, about 50% of marriages end in divorce

Cohabitation

In the US, most marriages are preceded by Cohabitation- living together before marraige

About 1/2 of couples who live together will marry within two years

most of the rest will break up

What is Marriage?

Socially approved sexual and economic union

Involves reciprocal rights and obligations between the spouses and their children

Male-Female "pair bonds" are uncommon among mammals (only 5% of species)

40% of Primates

90% of Birds

Kwoma of New Guinea

(Cooking)

The woman moves into the mans home, his food is prepared by his female kin, after a while, if the mother apprves the match- she will arrange for the woman to cook his food, after he eats, moter tells him that his wife cooked it and now they are married

Bengali Weddings 

(India)

Bengali is tied with Aravic as the 5th most widely spoken language in the World

Weddings: 5 days of feasting, formal wedding on 3rd day. Husband and wife do not eat all day until the evening, then tied together with a long scarf, and spend the night awake with relatives

Polygyny Terms

Sororal Polygyny

Non-Sororal Polygyny

Sororal: Co-wives are all genetic sisters

Non-Sororal: Co-wives are not sisters (Usually more problematic)

* Tom Green had 29 Children and 6 Wives

Polyandry

One woman married to several men

(5% of societies)

Fraternal Polyandry is most common (Co-Husbands are also brothers)

Found in traditional Tibetan Populations (No longer practices, found in ethnic Tibetan groups in Nepal and India that still practice)

3 Types of Kinship

1. Consanguineal Relations (Blood)
2. Affinal (In-laws)
3. Fictive (God-Parents)

Descent Groups:

Lineage:

Clan:

Lineage: A descent group with demonstrated descent-members can recite genealogies from the apical ancestor through the present

Clan: A descent group with stipulated descent- members claim they share an apical ancestor but they do not trace the actualy links- may be mythical ancestor

Horticulture Patriarchies

Female status is lower

Women are dispersed and men stay together

Associated with scarce resources and high levels of warfare - Male relatives stay together bc they make strong allies in battle

Women isolated from public domain

I.E. Yanomamo

Horticulturalists

Gender stratification varies- women often do major food production work and the work is valued

50% of hort societies- women are the primary cultivators

17%: men are primary cultivators

33%: equal contribution to cultivation

Matriarchies

No True Matriarchies: societies ruled by women

Some societies have high female status, low gener stratification, increased female participation in political activities

All societies are Patriarchies and ruled by men to a greater or lesser extent

Feminization of Poverty

Women earn less than men in the US (77 cents to every male dollar)

Woman-headed households are much more likely to be in poverty

Child Preference:

Son vs. Daughter

Many societies show prefences for males, because daughters are less valued

Sex ratio at birth is biased in favor of males: Globally, about 105 males to 100 female live births

In many socieites, couples will keep having children till they have a son

I.E. in TAIWAN (1973): 55% of couples with 4 sons, no daughters had no more kids, vs. 31% of those with 4 daughters and no sons

Opposing Data in US: Couples with two daughters more likely to have third than couples with two sons

FGM

in Kenya

Practice of FGM became associated with the anti-colonial movement, because FGM was opposed by Christian Missionaries

This, maintaining female circumcision was a way to assert your identity as a Kenyan, and support the anti-colonial movement

Increasingly becoming political issue, framed in terms of human rights

Ache Childbirth

Paraguay: know they are pregnant when teeth begin to hurt, also- nausea. Childbirth is a camp-wide event, Hill and Hurtado

When labor begins, women is joined by helping women and father is usualy absent

(1) woman who will look after child

(2) male friends to cut umbilical cord

Placenta is burried, baby is held and then washed, new mothers are ignored

Sex & Reproduction

Highest Female Fertility: in 18th entury Russyia the first wife of Fyodor Vassilyev had 69 live births

* She only had 27 pregnancies: 16 pairs of twins, 7 sets of triplets, and 4 sets of quadruplets-

* 67 of them survived infancy

Highest Male Fertility: King Moulay Ismail the Bloodthirty of Morrocco allegedly sired over 800 children by his harem