Eskimo Science Richard Nelson Summary

• The article “Eskimo Science” is by Richard Nelson is about how Richard wanted to prove his point that unilineal evolution wasn’t the ideal way of viewing this witch people that are labeled as savages he states that they think in sophisticated ways that are complex even though they might not be the same thoughts they do think with a level of sophistication. He does this by describing the ways the Eskimos hunt their pray and how they gain information from many years information that has been passed down and they add to these hunting trips with their own observations. Then Richard goes on to talk about how the Eskimos can tell when the weather is going to be bad by tells of the animals. The story about the seventy year old man who seen knew
there was a whale coming without looking was interesting it shows how in tuned he is with his surroundings that’s something we lack with living in a civilization.
• The article relates to the themes discussed this week with the term hunters and gathers because of how the Eskimos adapted based on how to gather their food by hunting animals. Internationally we all know the Eskimos have to gather their food by hunting and gathering it’s a rural place just like in some places in Africa.
• Do you believe the old man really knew there was a whale or he was just guessing?
• Do you think that Eskimos think the opposite of that we can’t think with sophistication because we have no knowledge of the land?
• I thought the reading was interesting I was intrigued how the old man knew about the whale and how they find their own ways to track the animals and the weather while we civilized people rely on other source such as trackers and forecasts. It was successful I feel the Eskimos are sophisticated in a very necessity wise way because you through a civilized person into Alaska and they wouldn’t know how to survive.