SocBook 9th entry 9/25/18

     Today we finished watching the video which was our window to the world. We covered Polynesian cultures who are greatly tied to the sea. They live in open houses that are better for surviving storms. They are great at building small boats for fishing and some tribes can dive for up to 3 minutes.

     Above is the music video of the song "Your Welcome" from the Disney move Moana. After watching the movie with my kids I was interested in seeing how accurate the movie was in depicting Polynesian culture. It was surprisingly accurate and most of the feats mentioned in the song are accomplishments that are represented in the myths surrounding Maui. 

     We covered marshland Arabs from southern Iraq. These people live among reeds in the marshlands and depend on the reeds for everything. They even use the reeds to build islands. On these islands they build their houses also out of reeds. They keep water buffalo for milk and dung but do not kill or eat them. They use boats to navigate the marsh for hunting birds and fishing. Each tribe has a community hut where guests can stay, and they share food, drinks and stories.

     The Amazon rainforest has many tribes, but most are gone because of modern society moving into the forest for lumber and mining. The few that remain have maintained their way of life for up to 10,000 years. They live in very large communal houses and only need about 4 hour a day to get enough food. The rest of the time is used for arts. They give their children pets to teach them about animals. Men hunt and use a blow pipe with poison darts. All members of the tribe get equal portion of the hunt.

     There are many African tribes. Some are hunter gatherer tribes, and some are nomadic desert traders. Some nomads settled down and became agrarian. The Maasai keep cattle for milk and blood.  They have many dancing rituals and paint their bodies.

     Papua New Guinea has 1000 tribes on a single island. They keep the men and women separated and perform bloodletting. They believe that you are what you eat so if you eat a man you will become a man. They say they don’t have cannibals any more, but this may not be true. They still fight ancient battles but sometimes have dancing ceremonies instead.

     Mongolia of central Asia has nomads. They are masters of cavalry and keep a light weight lifestyle. Strangers are welcome. In Bhutan they are very devout Buddhists. Religion governs their lives and they have an intense respect for nature.

One positive of me: Continue to look at other cultures with respect.

One negative of me: Judge other cultures by my own cultural standard.

One positive of society: Make rules that benefits the most people possible

One negative of society: Too much praise to the wrong people. Entertainers instead of people learning to make lives better.

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