There has long been debate among anthropologists about matriarchal societies. But that is a historical result of last 500 years of European military expansion and extermination of native cultures. There are a few societies whose status as matriarchies is disputed among anthropologists and this is as much a debate about terminology as it is about interpreting how another society defines status and such, their self-understanding as opposed to our imposition of categories on them. Among anthropologists, there are theories that support the plausibility of having prehistoric matriarchies. And if we look more at the complexity of societies, we're liable to find that the answer to why a particular arrangement developed in particular cases and may vary from case to case.…
Although most groups have men learning from their fathers and working, women in the Konso are taught by their mothers and grandmothers. After reading the full…
The Anasazi Indians were a very interesting tribe. The word "Anasazi" is a Navajo word meaning "Ancient Ones." The Anasazis, also known as "Cliffdwellers", were a very artistic tribe. They were from the American Southwest and lived in caves in cliff walls.…
carried roof beams more than 50 miles from the forests of Mt. Taylor and Chuskas.…
Native American architecture varies greatly from region to region throughout North America, and was influenced by factors such as climate, kind of community, and the natural environment. Whereas some buildings were designed and constructed for specified functions, others, such as Anasazi great houses, were massive multi-purpose structures. Because great houses from Chaco Canyon are so well preserved, it is possible to have a decent understanding of the structure of Anasazi architecture for analysis. A close examination of the innovative Anasazi great house architecture of the Chaco Canyon region reveals its utilitarian value.…
Social structure of Mesopotamia: Rule, Priest, or Priestess, Dependent, Man, Freeman, Slave, Woman, Father, Woman, Slave.…
In the Zuni tribes of the Southwest, for instance, extended families- large clans-were based on the woman, whose husband came to live with her family. It was assumed that women owned the houses, and the fields belonged to the clans, and the women had equal rights to what was produced. A woman was more secure, because she was with her own family, and she could divorce the man when she wanted to, keeping their property.…
The Nacirema tribe has many strange rituals in regards to the cleanliness or beauty of the body. They believe the human body is ugly and debilitating. Everything they do is in response to that thought process. They spend a large portion of their day in rituals to cleanse their body. They go to medicine men or witch doctors in order to perfect their body. One such horrific ritual is that they go to a medicine man that performs the decorative body rite.…
a. _The Tlingit tribe lived in the southern bays of Alaska and Canada. They lived in communities instead of one big tribe. They each lived in one of the eighteen communities all of which are named after animals like the dogfish and wolf. The tribe is surrounded by tons of tall trees and dense forests. During the year it is cold and rainy. Their natural resources are mountains, rivers, greens, berries, and wood “Tlingit Tribe”.…
“Whether one was a hunter or gatherer shaped how one acted in society and even whom one considered as relatives.” The family structural patterns were determined by geographical and tribal circumstances and these systems consisted of both nuclear and extended family members. Many hunting societies were patrilocal meaning that a man took his bride from outside his society and brought her into his family. As a result, new blood was able to come into the family. In this society, men, including fathers, sons and brothers, did majority of the hunting. In agricultural societies, most of the farming were done by women including mothers, daughters and sisters. Therefore, farming societies were matrilocal meaning that a woman took her groom from outside and brought him into her family. This happened because it would be unwisely to break up the farming teams formed by the women since they provided majority of the sustenance and the farms were very productive. Patrilineal families had close relations with the fathers’ family while matrilineal families had close relations with the mothers’ family and because male hunters were very important most families were…
Within the chapter “The Great Queens of Ethiopia”, of the book Black Women in Antiquity, the authors go in depth about how the political group, matriarchy – women were the rulers, evolved first in Africa. In Meroitic times (300 BC – 300 AD) Ethiopia was made up of Libya, Nubia, Cush, Abyssinia, Yemen, India, southern Persia, southern Arabia, and Upper Egypt. The word Ethiopia was given by the Greeks and means “land of sun burnt faces”. Before the authors commence the explanation of how matriarchy was established, they enlighten the reader with a summary of some the most historical mythology stories such as Isis and Osiris, Andromeda, and Medea. A Greek biographer, Plutarch, tells the story of Isis and Osiris, which the Ethiopian queen Aso…
Within the Northern American Pueblo People tribe, there are the Anasazi. Anasazi are known for the cliff pueblos in Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah. The name Anasazi means enemy ancestor which comes from a nearby Indian tribe called the Navajos. The Anasazi were ancestors of the Hopi Indians. Although the tribe declined for unknown reasons, the Anasazi had a strong cultural identity with unique civilized values, a strong compositional lifestyle, religious architecture with distinct gender roles, that all left a lasting impression that showed the Anasazi strived for many years.…
There are many different cultures, each having their own values, and rules. The Iroquois are an association of several tribes, of indigenous people of North America. The Iroquois have many different ways about their way of living such as rules involving marriage. What contributes to the way an Iroquois react and think? Is it kinship, religion, and beliefs, or is it something else?…
Many Native Americans Died in new england of a European diseases from 1500's to 1600's. After each hardship occurred several neighboring tribes decided to merge together, making their identities very indistinct, even within the indian oral history. However the Abenaki tribe, to avoid the reoccurring hardship moved to Canada, which in fact gave them their name the " Canadian Indians" but they are originally natives to New England. Although the Abenaki strategies to survival was to merge with others and to momentarily cover up their existence resulted in the tribe not able to receive federal recognition it ultimately ensured their people survival.…
First and foremost, the Iroquois use allusions to Native American tradition gender roles in order to teach the younger generation how to be proper Iroquois husband and wives. For instance, the Iroquois warns that if young girls have curiosity or nag their husbands, they will get summarily pushed out of their protective society just so quickly as the “husband fed up with all [the demands] [his wife] has made on him, pushed her.” These allusions create substantial fear in the younger generation, enough to educate and change behavior.…