Gift Giving Guide: Anthropology Style 8.0

Twice a year every year I dedicate a blog post to something a little different and fun: gift for the anthropologist.  I attempt to highlight handmade and/or fair trade items as these most closely mirror the values of anthropology in cultural understanding and preservation.  If you happen to know an anthropologist, someone with interests in anthropology, or someone who shares these same values feel free to look into one of these amazing gifts this holiday season:

For the Cultural Anthropologist

Earth Market Fair Trade Coffee

A safe, tried and true gift option for any anthropologist (or people in general) is the gift of coffee, which Earth Market offers in the organic and fair trade option.  This company has been in business for almost two decades, and all of their products are based produced with the value of sustainability in mind.  In addition to coffee they offer spices and meal kits, allowing you the opportunity to provide the best gift for the cultural anthropologist or sustainably minded person you know. :)

For the Archaeologist

Hermit Wood Working Hand Made Trowel

A trowel is an archaeologists best and most valued excavation tool.  A good trowel is a necessity, so why  not jazz it up with one of the custom creations from Hermit Wood Working?  Their selection of trowels include natural wood to custom made and engraved pieces (including one Harry Potter themed trowel!), providing you an awesome selection of trowels to meet the desires of the archaeologist you are gifting for.

For the Linguistic Anthropologist

Vintage camera case from This and That Cape Cod

We are actually going back in time with this find from This and That Cape Cod.  As they say "they don't make them like they used to" and this vintage camera case may be just the thing for the Linguistic Anthropologist you know.  They can store recording devices, such as audio or video recorders, note books, and any other materials in this tote.

For the Biological Anthropologist

Soap featuring a gorilla from The Charming Frog

Physical anthropology is the most diverse of the anthropological subdisciplines, but what most often comes to mind when one things of physical anthropology is primatology.  If you happen to know someone who is either a primatologist or just likes monkeys and apes consider this thoughtful find: Gorilla soap by The Charming Frog.  These works of art are also functional, and the shop owners do encourage you to use them, although you are free to also just put them on display.  :)

The Rich Culture & Tragic History of the Roma

Figure 1: Roma people

 

Today’s installment of the blog post will cover the Roma (Romani) culture (Figure 1).  The Roma are most commonly known by the alternative term “Gypsy”, an incorrect and derogatory identifier for the 12-15 million Roma who exist across the globe today.  The Roma culture is very rich but largely misunderstood, which is in part why they will be discussed in this blog post.  Their culture, their history, and the challenges they have experienced will be addressed.

The Roma are an ethnic group that can be found scattered throughout the world, with the largest number being found in Europe.  They do not acknowledge a geographic place of origin or residence, which is in part due to their cultural tradition of being nomadic and also due to the severe discrimination and expulsion of them throughout history and today.  While the Roma may not settle in any given place for long they maintain their identities and relationships through complex and close knit kinship ties.  Typically, three generations of a family will live and travel together.  Because of their nomadic way of life the Roma typically seek employment that allow them flexibility and stability within the short periods that they will reside in an area.  Many Roma in the past were employed as entertainers, an occupation that lends itself well to nomadism, but today many Roma take jobs in construction or skilled, manual labor.

Figure 2: Roma populations in Europe

The Roma do not appear to have a history of one shared religious practice that is specific to their identity.  They have been known to worship the religions of the groups they reside with.  The majority of Roma today identify as Pentecostal Christians, which may be a reflection of the number who reside in Christian nations (e.g. the US, Canada, European nations, etc.) (Figure 2).  The preference toward Christianity may also be due to the strict gender roles and values of the Roma that align themselves well with Christian doctrine of cleanliness, order, and purity.  The Roma believe that non-Roma are less clean than themselves, which is evidenced at how spotless and clean the Roma keep their home spaces.  Roma women are also expected to be models of purity in dress, behavior, and language, which devout and Orthodox Christian faiths also adhere to.

Figure 3: Roma Origins and migration

Because the Roma have always been a nomadic people their origins are imprecisely known.  Their characterization as “Gypsies” comes from the misidentification of their origins as Egyptians, but linguistic anthropologists have traced the Romani language back to Indian languages in Asia (Figure 3) .  It is believed that the Roma may have either been a rejected caste or a group of foreign entertainers brought in to amuse the elite.  The Roma are believed to have left the Asian continent due to Muslim invaders to the region who either pushed out the Roma by force or who encouraged the Roma to leave due to conflicting values and cultural practices.  The Roma traveled to Europe, the Middle East, and Africa in response.

The Roma immigration, however, was not without challenges.  The Roma were viewed with contempt because of their nomadic lifestyle, and many Europeans took this disdain as an opportunity to enslave them.  Laws outlawing traveling entertainers were meant to sedentize the Roma, and it was common practice to steal Roma babies and children as a means of forced assimilation.  This is actually where the stereotype of the Roma being baby stealers comes from because if and when they could they would steal back their children.  The most devastating situations the Roma have had to deal with is forced sterilization of men and women (mandated by law among various European nations) and the Holocaust, where an estimated 1.5 million Roma were killed.  Unfortunately, discrimination against the Roma continues throughout Europe.  Most recently Roma children were left to drown in a river in Italy, and violence and murder against the Roma is commonplace.  These crimes are most often not solved (if even investigated) because there remains a strong anti-Roma sentiment due to negative stereotypes of the Roma. 

Despite these challenges the Roma continue to practice their culture and persist as an ethnic group around the world.  Several efforts are ongoing to help preserve the Roma language and culture, as well as educate people about who and what the Roma and their culture is actually about.  With these efforts there is hope that the Roma will soon coexist peacefully with other groups as they all continue their own unique cultures and ways of life.

Roma Children

References

Peters-Golden, H.  (2011).  Culture Sketches: Case Studies in Anthropology. 6th Edition.  Mc-Graw Hill Education.

  

Languages at Risk: N||ng

Today's blog post will address the critically endangered language of N||ng.  Once widely spoken in South Africa the language is on the brink of extinction due to discriminatory practices that outlawed its use.  Today, a lack of language preference is further decimating the language.  Due to the sparsity of speakers there is actually very little written about this language, but what is known will be discussed herein.  This blog post will address classifications for identifying the status of any language, the history of the N||ng language, and the factors that have led to its endangerment status, as well as a brief discussion on efforts to save it.

Languages become endangered for several different reasons, and language loss, extinction, or evolution are not new phenomena.  The importance of understanding language lies in understanding the culture associated with it, which is why studying dying languages is so important.  When a language is at risk of being lost it can be classified in various ways, all of which denote what the level of loss is.  Languages that are initially at risk of becoming endangered are listed as vulnerable or potentially endangered, and languages that are no longer spoken are considered dead.  Languages at the brink of extinction are considered critically endangered, which is the case for the South African language of N||ng.

N||ng is part of the larger Tuu language family, which includes are variety of click languages, such as IXam (now extinct).  These click languages are of great importance to linguists because they are believed to be the descendant languages of the some of the earliest (if not the first) languages ever spoken by humans.  As of 2013 there were five native N||ng speakers, which included three elderly women and two men (and at least two have died since then).  Unfortunately, they all lived in different villages, which made it difficult for them to converse and share their language.  As a result they only speak the language when asked, and these requests typically come from linguists seeking to learn more about it.

N||ng reached its critically endangered status due to discriminatory practices that occurred during South African Apartheid.  When the Danish (white) government controlled South Africa they mandated the use of Afrikaans, thereby prohibiting the use of native African languages.  This was a purposeful act of cultural extermination by the Danish government.  Unfortunately, there efforts were quite successful as today many young South Africans show little to no interest in learning N||ng and instead prefer to learn and speak Khoekhoe or Afrikaans.

Due to the potential extinction of N||ng the South African government, which is no longer subject to the same discriminatory practices that existed during Apartheid, has funded efforts to save the language from extinction.  The N||ng language has been officially recognized as an official language of South Africa, and universities and cultural centers are being created to teach the language.  It is a start and hopefully these efforts will preserve this language and the culture associated with it.

  

References:

No Author.  No Date.  N||ng.  The Endangered Languages Project.  http://www.endangeredlanguages.com/lang/592
No Author.  No Date.  N|u.  Enthnologue.  https://www.ethnologue.com/language/ngh

No Author.  2013.  The Linguists: African N/u Language.  Youtube.

Through Blood & Sacrifice: Autosacrifice Among the Ancient Maya

Figure 1: Maya autosacrifice depicting a woman piercing her tongue

It is through ritual individuals establish patterned behaviors, which when used for religious purposes can bind people together.  Another way of connecting people is through traumatic events.  I can confirm this based on the events of 9/11/01, which unified Americans for a time afterwards.  It is a combination of these elements, religious ritual and trauma, that is believed to be the cause and motivations for a practice among the ancient Maya.  The ancient Maya are well known for several aspects of their culture, and one of those aspects is the topic of today’s blog post: autosacrifice, also known as blood sacrifice (Figure 1).  This blog post will explore the various features of Maya autosacrifice.

The Maya practiced a variety of sacrifices, but autosacrifice was one of the most common.  Archaeologists know a lot about autosacrifices through the study of ethnohistoric and archaeological evidence, particularly on pottery, stone stelae, and wall paintings.  From these pieces of evidence, we know that all members of the Maya participated in autosacrifice.  It was not reserved solely for the elites, although there were certain bloodletting practices that were saved for them.  Autosacrifice involved the piercing/cutting various parts of the body, such as the lips, cheeks, ears, arms, thighs, legs, tongues and penises.  A variety of implements were used to pierce/cut the body, including obsidian and flint knives, bone awls, sting ray spines, barbed ropes, and antler or wooden items.  The blood would be collected into a bowl or dripped onto paper and offered to the gods.  Blood would either be placed directly onto idols as a symbolic direct offering or the paper burned so the ashes would rise up to the gods.

It was believed that the offerings were done to honor the gods, although it may have been done to mimic what the gods had reportedly done for the Maya in their creation.  Several renditions of the Maya creation myths describe how the gods sacrificed themselves in the creation and protection of the Maya, and the Maya have paid tribute to their gods through mimicking the sacrifice.  It was also done out of necessity as it was stated that at least one god, Tlaloc, the rain god, demanded human blood to keep the rains coming.  Failure to comply could lead to devastating consequences.  Another motivation among the elites for practicing autosacrifice may have been to maintain and reinforce their power.  As they had specific bloodletting rituals reserved specifically for themselves it enabled them to have a sort of control and authority over the commoners because if the elites failed to perform their autosacrificing duties they doomed all of the Maya.  This may have helped quell discussions of rebellions or led to them in times of environmental unrest.

Maya autosacrifice demonstrates the power of ritual and trauma among social groups.  It is believed that the combination of bloodletting and ritual fostered a link among the ancient Maya, regardless of socioeconomic status.  This showcases the importance of certain values, particularly those that run counter to our values systems today, among the ancient Maya, thereby providing archaeologists greater insights into their past.

References

Gomez, M. C. 2015.  Maya Religion.  Ancient History Encyclopedia.

Joralemon, D. (1974). Ritual blood-sacrifice among the Ancient Maya: Part I. Primera Mesa Redonda de Palenque. Pebble Beach, CA: Robert Louis Stevenson School, 59-75.

Munson, J., Amati, V., Collard, M., & Macri, M. J. (2014). Classic Maya bloodletting and the cultural evolution of religious rituals: quantifying patterns of variation in hieroglyphic texts. PloS one, 9(9), e107982.

Stone, A. (1986). Aspects of impersonation in Classic Maya art. Sixth Palenque Round Table, 194-202.

Taube, K. (1983). The Classic Maya maize god: a reappraisal. Fifth Palenque Round Table, 7, 171-181.