Marriage --- Cultural Anthropology

Marriage, or the ideas of being married, are different around the world. However it seems that, no matter where you live, there tends to be certain “rules” or ideas that go along with being married to someone. For instance, in America, parents are supposed to work from 9 AM to 5 PM then, quickly, return want to spend time with their children and spouse. Whereas, in Japan, the mothers do not have a career when the fathers get to work 7 AM to 11 PM on weekdays. Which, probably, contributes to the fact that 30 percent of fathers spend less than 15 minutes talking to their children on weekdays and the other 51% reported their father’s never speaking to them on weekdays thus making the father more a theoretical presence. Although the father’s don’t even seem to spend much time with their spouse either.

Arranged marriages are not always the best marriages to be in but the Japanize in Omiya, Japan seem to have taken things to the next level. Completely opposite of America husbands, Japan husbands do not tell their wives they like her, compliment her on the meal she made, never say “thank you,” or even call her by her name but instead grunt or say “hey, you.” Which is why it comes to no surprise that the divorce rate in Japan is at a record high, even though that record high is still only half that of the United States, thus, Japan has arguably one of the “strongest” family structures in the industrialized world.

MARRIAGE IN THE UNITED STATES

MARRIAGE IN OMIYA, JAPAN

30.1% of births are to unwed mothers Men are supposed to compliment women Woman are often called by their name or a nickname Want to spend time with your partner Higher expectations Affairs are traumatic Not much gaman Compatible You’re supposed to be able to tell your partner anything Both parents work (9-5) Encourage to talk to your children (both parents) Divorce does not impact your position at work

Husbands do not compliment wives Husbands do not call their wives by their names Considered one of the strongest family structures in the industrialized world Divorce rate less than half of the US 1.1% of births are to unwed mothers People are not as happy as the statistics Preoccupied by work and debts No time to fool around No expectations, patience, and shame Affairs are not traumatic—traditionally tolerated (woman would be wrong to get angry) Not compatible Very little time spent talking to each other Fathers only work (7-11) Father is more a theoretical presence Only remained married bc they don’t want to be the gossip Divorce weakens your position at work Mothers do not have careers Mother have few financial resources

The Concept of Culture

During the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century diffusionist research began as a means of understanding the distributions of human cultures across the globe, diffusion. Specifically they addressed the question of cultural differences in the world in terms of the origin of culture traits and their spreading from one society to another (through migration, trade, war or any other contact). While there are probably many different versions it seems that that most believed in one of two different theories;  you either believed that certain cultural features were originated from one cultural center (heliocentric diffusion) or the more reasonable belief that culture originated from a few cultural centers (culture circles). For instance, Boas (1938) sought to understand culture traits in terms of diffusion and modification; eventually  bringing up an argument that independent invention of a culture trait could occur at the same time within widely separated societies, allowing them to create a unique style. Though it is suspected that there was some genetic linkage.

Nonetheless thanks to research that involved observing societies, how they may be influenced to innovate and predicting the results of such innovation diffusion is, now, well documented in the business and industrial world.  Eventually leading to the creation of copyright / patent laws to protect individual innovations which suggested that borrowing ideas is a decidedly human practice. Especially because it is easier to copy an invention than it is to create an entirely new invention. Although it may be difficult to justify, business historians credit diffusion in the development of industrial societies, such as in the U.S. and in continental Europe.

Political Organization and Social Control

Every society has institutions that encourage or emphasize conforming to social and customary rules or norms, these institutions can be referred to as sanctions. Though there are many different kinds of sanctions, they all can be found in our everyday lives. Positive sanctions are rewards by other, such as getting candy, while negative sanctions are more threats such as fines or corporal punishment. But sanctions can also be formal, such as actual laws, or informal, such as cultural norms. Nonetheless sanctions can also be considered a social control or an organized sanction, for instance if you break a formal sanction, or law, that may lead to a negative sanction, like going to jail or paying a fine. Diffuse sanctions, on the other hand, is more like when you were mocked or ridiculed in elementary school, it is the expression of approval or disapproval by members of your community. Furthermore, we also have sanctions that try to regulate behaviour by explaining incomprehensible, or impossible, things. Religion is also a great example of a sanction; many people dedicate their lives to religion, or the supernatural, letting it control or dictate everything they say or do. The ten commandments and the bible act like their own personal laws they have to follow else you’ll be punished by being sent to hell. These people do not like not being in control and admitting to not fully understanding what happens after you pass away is, probably, too much for them to handle. They like the thought that they can control what happens.

Global Challenge and the Role of Applied Anthropology

Encouraging immigrants to learn the national language and take on the social and cultural practices of their community is assimilation. It is largely being understood to have a utopian end result, or in other words, it’s a desired society where members would be culturally indistinguishable. To an individual it is the process of becoming completely adopted to another country, or becoming the ‘same,’ after coming from a, typically minority, immigrant group. Happening spontaneously, sometimes even unintentionally, those individuals tend to , inevitably, no longer want to relate to their country of origin, except for family history.

Whereas multiculturalism is a widely used term with many different meanings. Our understanding of multiculturalism tends to point to imbalances, discriminations or communities underlying the connection between individual freedom and cultural membership that come from diverse ethnic, cultural or national backgrounds. Promoting public recognition of differences, multiculturalism illustrates the crossing of culture and equality.

However thanks to media and United States immigration research, that showed that adolescents may be more receptive to new and foreign cultural values and beliefs than adults, globalization as well as individual autonomy and family obligation may influence adolescents with their cultural identity formation. Television and the internet, providing exposures to new ideas, events and people, influence their development of both their local and global identities.

Nonetheless multiculturalism and assimilation both represent general models at the two extremes and “contemporary adolescents are coming of age in multicultural world where creating a cultural identity has become complex. Often, they face the task of integrating diverse cultural beliefs and behaviors conveyed to them by multiple agents of socialization--socialization agents that, at times, are at odds with one another (i.e. parents and TV). The task of forming a coherent cultural identity that allows adolescents to become contributing members of society presents challenges that may be stressful or even considerably more problematic. However, adolescent cultural identity formation also presents challenges that may be met by developing new skills, the kinds of skills necessary for a multicultural world, that allows adolescents to function well psychologically and to contribute to society.” (Jensen)

Jensen, Lene Arnett. "Coming of Age in a Multicultural World: Globalization and

    Adolescent Cultural Identity Formation." Applied Developmental Sciences 7.3

    (2003): 189-96. PDF file.

Medical Anthropology: The Doctor's White Coat

In the middle of the 19th century they were unable to come up with better and effective remedies which nearly destroyed the reputation of medicine becoming known as quackery. However based on the facts that scientist’s changed the people’s night into day, you could send instantaneous messages and revolutionized transportation  they came up with the idea to begin representing doctors as scientists. It seemed as if science was validated the practice of medicine, rapidly consolidating into a scientific enterprise. Thus shortly after the field and context of medicine changed; they rewrote textbooks and became more of a laboratory science. Although it was the diagnoses of new illnesses and resources that could not be readily taken to patient’s homes that pushed the change of the hospital being viewed as a place where social outcasts died to a place where to took sick people to be healed or, in other words, their view changed from death to life. That, then, urged the changed of uniforms of the staff from the regular black religious ones to the, now, well-known white uniforms signifying life.

In the 19th century a campaign urged people to get physical examinations, which included the rectal and pelvis, in the hope of improving an individual’s health. In order to overcome the cultural dangers and fears of physical contact they needed something that could protect both the doctor and the patient. As we know, the doctor has his white coat which symbolizes bilateral protection, goodness, purity and so on but in order to perform the pelvic and rectal exam the patient would need to be naked which, eventually, resulted in the creation of the patient examination gown. That is part of the reason why today the patient-physician relationship is more a partnership instead of the doctor being an authoritarian figure.

Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias Tuberosa L.)

Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias Tuberosa L.)

Other common names:

• Pleurisy Root
• Butterfly Weed
• Yellow Milkweed
• Orange Swallowwort
• Orangeroot
• Whiteroot
• Indian Posy
• Windroot
• Canada Tuber
• Canada Flux
• Chigger Flower

Asclepias: from the name of the Greek god of healing and medicine

Tuberosa: meaning “tuberous,” referring to the tuberous root

Milkweed Family: Asclepiadaceae

Found throughout the tallgrass biome in dry, open areas, usually in prairies or prairie relicts. Occasionally it is found along old country roads or old or abandoned roads or railroad rights-of-way. Flowers from June to September.

The stout, simple or terminally branched stems are generally clumped and may be up to 2 ½ feet high. Rough-pointed leaves up to 6 inches long alternate along the stem. The typical milkweed milky sap is lacking; instead, a watery juice exudes from the cut stem.

The flowers are normally bright orange but occasionally are yellow. Many individual flowers are in a head.

            The flowers attract insects, but like the flowers of other milkweed plants, they are designed to favor larger flying pollinators and to prevent crawling insects from getting to the nectar. As with other milkweeds, only a few of the numerous flowers get pollinated, so ordinarily a plant has only one or two pods. This is due to a complex pollinating mechanism where the pollen sacs are attached to a structure located in the slit between the anthers. This pollinium, which sticks to the pollinating insect, must be pulled free and carried to another flower. Many insects lack the strength to pull this structure or themselves free and are found dead on the flower head.

            The spindle-shaped pods, 3 to 5 inches long, contain many seeds. Each seed has a silky plume to aid in its dispersal.

            This species reproduces by seed and by rootstock. It is easily established in gardens or in restored prairies from seed, but transplanting is difficult because the root is stout and deep.

At one time this root was considered to be a cure for pleurisy, hence, the name pleurisy root. Early doctors listed pleurisy root as a subtonic, diaphoretic, alternative, expectorant, diuretic, laxative, escharotic, carminative, astringent, ant rheumatic and ant syphilitic.

            The root is enlarged. This gave rise to the last part of the scientific name.

            Butterfly milkweed is one of the most striking species of the tallgrass biome. The bright color may attract insects, including butterflies, hence, its common name.

            At least 16 species of milkweed occur in the heart of the tallgrass prairie. Some provide an index of prairie quality; none are showy as the butterfly milkweed.

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Purple Coneflower

Purple Coneflower

Other common names:

• Black Samson
• Red Sunflower

Echinacea: from the Greek, meaning “sea urchin” or “hedgehog,” referring to the sharp, spiny chaff on the domelike center of this flower.

Purpurea: from the Greek, meaning “purple,” referring to the color of the ray flowers of some species

Daisy Family: Asteraceae (compositae)

Found in prairies and dry, open woods. Blooms late May to October. Other species commonly found in the area are E. angustifolia and E. pallida. E. pallida blooms May to June.

Purple coneflower grows from 2 to nearly 4 feet tall, but other species may be from 2-3 feet tall. The ovate to lineolate lower leaves have toothed edges and are very rough to the touch. The upper leaves and leaves of other species are without toothed edges. Leaves are 3-8 inches long and 1-3 inches wide.

The plant grows from a thick, grayish brown to black perennial root. The furrowed or ridged rootstock is ¼ to ½ inch in diameter.

The flower head has 12-20 spreading or drooping, purple, petal-like rays. Rays occasionally vary from purple to crimson and rarely are pale. Each ray is 1 ½ to 3 inches long. The center cone is more dome-shaped than cone-shaped, and it is rough and prickly to the touch. The entire flower may be 3 to 3 ½ inches across. The rays of a more southern species, E. paradoxa, are bright yellow.

Plains Indians favored the root of purple coneflower for snakebites, bee stings, headaches, stomach cramps, toothaches, enlarged glands such as mumps, sore throats and hydrophobia and doe distemper in horses. The Sioux used freshly scraped root (as a poultice) for snakebite and for the bite of a mad dog, and they chewed pieces of rootstalk for toothache.

American Indians discovered that the plant was somewhat like a burn preventative and enabled the body to endure extreme heat. Medicine men bathed their hands and arms in the juice, the picked out meat from boiling stew. Sometimes it was used prior to sweat baths and ritual feats such as immersing hands in scalding water or holding live coals in the mouth.

A smoke treatment was used for headache in humans and for distemper in horses.

Early doctors thought purple coneflower made the body more resistant to infection, and they often used it to induce profuse sweating. They believed it has a bright future as a medicinal drug source. Modern medicine still uses extracts from this plant for treating wounds and sore throats.

The root of E. angustifolia has been used by the Plains Indians as a pain killer for toothaches and sore throats, since chewing the root causes the throat, tongue and jaw to be numbed. It has also been used as a blood purifier and the treat snakebite, blood poisoning and cancer. Burns were bathed in E. pallida juice to give relief from pain.

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Black-Eyed Susan

Black-Eyed Susan

Other common names:

●      Brown Betty

●      Brown Daisy

●      Brown-Eyed Susan

●      Coneflower

●      Donkey bead

●      English Bull’s Eye

●      Poor-land Daisy

●      Yellow Daisy

●      Yellow Jerusalem

●      Yellow Ox-Eye Daisy

●      Deer Eye (Cherokee)

Rudbeckia: named in honor of two Rudbecks, father and son botanists, who proceeded Linnaeus at the University in Upsala, Sweden

Serotina: from Latin serum, meaning “late”

Daisy Family: Asteraceae (compositae)

Found throughout the tallgrass prairie and elsewhere under a wide variety of environments but generally preferring drier areas. Blooms from June to September.

This short-lived perennial grows erect to 3 feet tall. Its stem, usually without branches below the flower head, is rough and hairy.

            Basal leaves up to 5 inches long and 1 inch across are often broadest toward their tips. Along the stem, leaves are alternate, smaller, and no petiole. Leaves tend to be thick, rough and hairy; they may be finely toothed on the margin.

The bright orange-yellow flowers, one or a few per stem, have 10-20 ray petals that are perhaps an inch long. These petals are arranged around a dome-shaped center disk. This dark individual stalks that may be long or short. The seed is a tiny, four-angled achene.

Early settlers used black-eyed Susan as a stimulant and a diuretic. Leaves were dried and steeped to brew a tea considered by these settlers to be a kidney stimulant. A drink made by steeping the leaves of another species, R. hirta, was also used as a kidney stimulant.

            The Forest Potawatomi prepared a root tea of this or other species for curing colds. A related species, R. lacinita, was used as a diuretic and a tonic. The disk flowers were boiled with rushes to give them a yellow color.

            Other species of the genys have been widely used as garden ornamentals, especially in Europe. Golden glow is a Rudbeckia that was widely planted in flower gardens in the past.

            Because black-eyed Susan is sometimes found growing in hayfields and pastures, some people class it as a weed. It is easily controlled, however, and it adds a touch of beauty to prairie roadsides or meadows.

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Prairie False Indigo

Prairie False Indigo: Baptisia Leucantha T. & G.

Other common names:

• Large White Wild Indigo

• Atlantic Wild Indigo

• White False Indigo

Baptisia: from the Greek, meaning “to dye,” referring to use of some species as a poor-quality indigo dye.

Leucantha: meaning “white-flowered”

Legume Family: Fabaceae (Leguminosae)

Found throughout the tallgrass prairie on rich, sometimes wet, prairie soils. Blooms May to June.

This 2- to 5- foot high, stout, upright, gray-green perennial has smooth stems and succulent, ascending branches. The leaves are alternate and have small, sharp stipules. There are three leaflets per leaf. Each leaflet, 1 to 2 inches long and ½ inch to 1 inch wide, is widely rounded at the end and narrow at the base. The leaves turn black on drying.

The 1-inch long white flowers occur on a terminal, upright raceme (open spike) that may be up to 1 foot or more long. The flowers are similar to pea flowers.

The blackish pods, which tend to droop, are about ¾ inch long. They are connected to the calyx by a relatively long stalk.

In the early stage of growth, prairie false indigo resembles asparagus, but it is poisonous and should not be eaten. The entire plant, green or dried in hay, is poisonous to horses and cattle.

B. leucantha, which contains alkaloids, was included in early lists of medicinal plants. Boiled roots were used to treat chronic colds. Some early settlers made a decoration of the root to treat scarlet fever, typhus, and epidemic dysentery.

It served as an emetic, a cathartic, and a coloring agent. B. tinctoria was probably also used.

The Meskwaki used prairie false indigo as a cure for sores that were slow to heal, as an emetic, and as a treatment for eczema. It was combined with sycamore bark as a medicine for axe or knife wounds and combined with senega snakeroot (Polygala senega) for snakebite.

Some plains Indians used a decoration of the leaves as a stimulant; they also applied it to cuts and wounds.

This species was regarded by some beekeepers as a source of a light amber honey with a characteristic flavor. Children once used its dry pods as toy rattles. In colonial times it served as a dye, but it was less satisfactory than true indigo.

Another species, B. tinctoria, is called horsefly weed because of the custom of trying a bunch of it to a horse’s harness to repel flies

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A Prairie’s Path—how burning it helped make it green today

A Prairie’s Path—how burning it helped make it green today

Article from College of DuPage's Courier

It all starts with the flick of a lighter. Moments later a patch of prairie the size of a swimming pool will be reduced to a layer of black ash and soot.

With an abundance of cold windy days in early April, Brian McQuaid, who has been the natural areas manager for six years, was having a difficult time finding a good day to burn the prairie.

“Our   prairies   are   surrounded   by roads, buildings, athletic fields and residential areas,” McQuaid said, “It’s important to minimize the negative impacts of the smoke so certain areas are burned only when the wind direction is such that the smoke will be carried away from sensitive areas of the campus.” According to McQuaid in the winter months the plants in the prairie are dormant with their about ground parts having died in

the fall.

A fire in late March or early April clears away the dead stems from the previous year and deposits the nutrients from those stems back into the soil.

Non-native grasses, like the grass on most lawns, sprout up in early spring. The same fire that helps the nature prairie plants grow also kills, or at least damages, non- native plants that had sprouted in the prairie.

“The  prairie  doesn’t  really need  to 'recover’ from the fire,” McQuaid said. “The fire allows the normal progression of the growing season to begin a little easier than it would in the absence of controlled burn.”

It will be a few weeks before the prairie begins to grow its native plants. Although the fire prevents them from being a serious problem, some of the first plants to green after the fire are non-native grasses.

By early May the first flowers will begin to bloom, by July the prairie will be in its peak-growing season, by fall it starts all over.

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The World of Seven Billion

National Geographic - The World of 7 Billion

The map shows population density; the brightest points are the highest densities. Each country is colored according to its average annual gross national income per capita, using categories established by the World Bank (see key below). Some nations— like economic powerhouses China and India—have an especially wide range of incomes. But as the two most populous countries, both are lower middle class when income is averaged per capita.

Spiderwort (Tradescantia)

Spiderwort (Tradescantia)

Other common names:

·         Spider-Lily

·         Cradle-Lily

·         Oyster-Plant

·         Flowering Inch Plant

·         Ohio Spiderwort

Tradescantia: modern Latin, named in honor of J. Tradescant

Dayflower Family: Commelinaceae

Description: This is a native perennial plant about 2-4' tall and mostly unbranched, except toward the apex. The grey- or blue-green alternate leaves are up to 15" long and 1" across. They are linear, although wider at the base, where the leaves wrap around the stem in sheaths, than at the tip. They are also glabrous, with parallel venation and smooth margins, tending to bend downward towards the middle.

The light violet to blue-violet flowers occur in small clusters on hairless flowering stems at the top of the plant. Underneath each inflorescence are 2 small bracts, each up to 3" long and less than ½" across. Each flower is about 1" across, with 3 rounded petals, 6 bright yellow anthers, and fine spidery violet hairs near the base. The flowers open up during the morning and close by the afternoon in sunny weather, but remain open longer on cloudy days. There is no floral scent.

The blooming period occurs from late spring to mid-summer, and lasts about 1½ months, during which time only a few flowers are in bloom at the same time. The mature seed capsules split into 3 sections, each capsule releasing 3-6 oval to oblong, brown seeds. The root system is thick, fleshy, and fibrous, sending off occasional offshoots nearby.

Range & Habitat: Ohio Spiderwort is a common plant throughout Illinois, except in the SE, where it is uncommon or absent. It is often found in moist to mesic black soil prairies. Other habitats include sandy black oak savannas, bur oak savannas, limestone glades, thickets and woodland borders, moist meadows near woods or rivers, roadside ditches, and areas along railroads (including the ballast). Plants are usually widely scattered, but sometimes appear in sizable colonies in disturbed areas.

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Shooting Star (Primrose F.)

Shooting Star (Primrose F.)

Other common names:

·         Prairie Pointers

·         Bonneville Shooting Star

·         Jeffrey’s Shooting Star

·         Roosterheads

·         Doveweed

·         Turkey Mullein

·         Dodecatheon Meadia

Primrose Family: Primulaceae

Description: This native perennial plant consists of a basal rosette of leaves, from which emerges one or more stalks of flowers. The leaves are up to 6" long and 2½" across, and oblong or oblanceolate. They are greyish green or green with a prominent central vein and smooth margins. There are finer side veins that are pinnately arranged.

The foliage and other parts of this plant are hairless. A green or red flowering stalk emerges from the rosette that is about 1½' tall, from which an umbel of about 6-40 flowers dangle downward. Each flower has 5 petals that are reflexed upward, converging at the base of the flower, which consists of a pointed yellowish tube with white and brown accents. The petals are white, light pink, or rosy pink. There is no floral scent. In overall appearance, the inflorescence looks like a collection of pretty shooting stars, hence the common name for this plant.

The blooming period occurs during late spring and lasts about a month. The entire plant dies down when summer arrives, although the dried up stalks persist somewhat longer. The small dark seeds are contained in seed capsules that are held erect (unlike the flowers). They are somewhat cylindrical, but taper at the ends. Gusts of wind shake the stalks holding the seed capsules, and can carry the seeds several feet away. The root system is fibrous. Over time, offsets can slowly form.

Range & Habitat: Shooting Star occurs in the majority of counties in Illinois. This plant is occasional to locally common in high quality habitats, otherwise it is rare or absent. Habitats include moist to slightly dry black soil prairies, hill prairies, openings in rocky upland forests, limestone glades, bluffs along major rivers, fens, and abandoned fields. An occasional wildfire during the late summer or fall is beneficial because it reduces the dead vegetation that can smother this plant during the spring.

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