Tuesday, April 19, 2016


Population Zulu and Andean Indians

Population A: Zulu 

1. The type of environment that the Zulu population live is mostly in South Africa. This part of the world is semi-arid, meaning that it is mostly dry every year.The average temperature ranges from 60 degrees Fahrenheit to 90 degrees Fahrenheit and in the month of January being the hottest month. There is not much change in the seasons it is warm with little rainfall through most of the year. According to Study zone, " Since South Africa receives little rain, it sometimes experiences long droughts.  Droughts make it hard for farmers and wildlife to find water.  The droughts also bring extremely hot temperatures." It could produce physical stress to the body because of the hot and dry conditions causing the body to not maintain a normal homeostasis. 


2. Because there is so much sunshine and little rain providing for the vegetation the Zulu population have made physical adaptions to their harsh environment. It is also known that the African people are more physically adapted than the European people because of their dry and hostile environment. According to Every culture" Zulu hair is much like the hair of most people with African blood.  It is coarse, dry, and curly.  Their hair is adapted to living in a hot semi-arid environment naturally.  Body hair in general is an adaptation that is meant to trap heat and moisture to keep a person warm.  Zulu’s hair is short and allows the flow of air throw it to keep them cool.  Europeans have straight greasy hair that would not suit them well in the heat of KwaZulu-Natal; they would literally fry their brains during prolonged exposure to the environment."




3. For the Zulu population to adapt culturally I noticed that they wore their traditional of wearing little clothing. It was because of the extreme hot and dry weather that wearing heavy clothing was unnecessary. Women that were not in a relationship wore nothing but a grass or beaded skirt. But sometimes the women wore cows tails on their arms to appear bigger. From my research Every culture informs us that,"It is commonly known that Africans have lived in Africa longer than Europeans have lived in Europe.  Thus, African adaptations are further along than European’s adaptations.  Without technology Europeans would not be able to survive in Europe.  Zulu people on the other hand are well adapted to live in a natural environment without technology to help them survive."

4. For my point of view on the race of the Zulu people, I choose the racial category of black. This type of population would fit into this category because the are African American and most people in Africa are black.

5. When I observe the cultural adaptations for both populations and comparing both choices I have come to the conclusion that each race can be defined very general and vague. We cannot explain a group of people's culture just on skin color and features.Physical cultural adaptions can and will explain more of that population that is unknown because it tells us about the type of environment that this population have become accustomed to. We also learn how these people maintain their homeostasis in this harsh environment and we can learn from that. " For example Britannica says "Similarly, cultural adaptations tell a wealth of information about a people; specifically, they tell how a group responds socially and practically to environmental stress."


Population B: The Andean Indians

1. The Andean Indians live in a very high altitude among the mountains that is well above 9,000 feet. The average temperature The Andean mountains are located in South America and South of Guatemala. The environment is very tropical and the seasons can be extreme because of the heavy rainfall and changes in temperature. The lower parts of the Andean mountains are hot and the higher the elevations it tends to cool down. According to Britannica, "Areas of heavy rainfall support dense forest. whereas a few dry regions support little more than sparse grass."




2. The Andean Indians had to make physical adaptations because they live in such high altitudes. They had to physically adapt and developed traits that help them deal with the effect of low oxygen at high altitudes. Also Andean Indians develop a reddish skin color because they are making more red blood cells to compensate for the loss of oxygen. They need more oxygen to their tissues so their body makes more red blood cells than people at sea level. " The lungs increase in size to accommodate the osmosis of oxygen and carbon dioxide. There is also an increase in the vascular network of muscles which enhances the transfer of gases. These adaptations help the Andean people survive in their unique environment."


3. Because the Andean Indians live at a such high altitude and far above sea level it is much harder for them to farm because of the slopes of the mountains and elevated surfaces. It can also be very dry because their is little moisture in the air because it is so high up. The sporadic rainfall or snowfall makes it more difficult to find the right time to farm and grow fruits or vegetables.This would cause stress to these peoples but they have been around a long time and have made cultural adaptions to resolve their problems. "This makes it very difficult to grow adequate food for proper nutrition. To aid these tough conditions, the Andean Indians have come up with a system of forecasting the rains using simple astronomical observations." This allows them to grow food and also using the freeze-dried method. It is summer during the day and winter at night so the Andean people use this to freeze-dry any of their meats so it won't spoil.

4. If I were to be asked what race the Andean Indians are, I would say that they were part Asian. The race of this group of people are to be grouped as the Mongoloid race which includes most people of Asia and indigenous people of South America. The type of skin color of the Andean Indians are called Affron or yellow to red skin color. Their hair is dark and straight and their eye color is dark brown. I believe the best race that they fit would be Native American.

5. When I compare the Zulu population and the Andean Indian population I think using the different cultural adaptaions is better than using their race. They both have cultural disadvantages in similar ways and they both have adapted to their environment in different ways. Race is so generalized and does not explain a person or group of people, it is their culture and adaptation that explain everything. If I was an Anthropolgist I would not choose one culture over the other because we can all learn from both. We are all human beings just live and adapt to the different environments that are on Earth.



Works cited:
  1. http://www.everyculture.com/wc/Rwanda-to-Syria/Zulu.html
  2. ttp://www.studyzone.org/testprep/ss5/b/comsafrl.cfm
  3. http://www.britannica.com/topic/Andean-peoples

7 comments:

  1. Hello Julianne,
    I loved your assessment on the Zulu and Andean Indian population.You make several interesting points when discussing the adaptations of each population. I was unaware that course hair allows for more air flow and can cool a person off faster. I was also surprised to learn that African adaptations are further along than European adaptations. I too put that an adaptation for the Andean Indians was the ability to survive in higher altitudes. I am curious though, what about theses two populations makes you think that they are at a cultural disadvantage? From what I have read from your blog both populations are doing quite well. Awesome blog really insightful.

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  2. Good description on the Zulu environment. One key stress missing, however, is that of solar radiation stress, which explains the trait of high melanin levels in their skin to protect them from this stress.

    Good discussion of the Zulu physical adaptations to heat stress. Most students discuss skin color as an adaptation to solar radiation stress, so I appreciate the alternate approach!

    Good discussion of the clothing/cultural adaptation to heat. Just to think outside the box a bit, there are other cultures (such as those Saharan populations) who seem to respond to heat stress with full body coverings instead of less clothing. Why do some cultures respond to heat stress one way and other cultures in a completely different way?

    Good explanation for your choice of race for the Zulu.

    Very good explanation of your physical adaptations for the Andean population. The only thing I would have liked to have seen is a more expanded explanation in your first section of how high altitude negatively impacts homeostasis in the human body. You mention this in the second section, but it should have been included in the first section to provide a complete picture for your readers.

    Good discussion of the cultural adaptations of the Andean population to the light rainfall and narrow growing season window.

    I appreciate how you walked your reader through your thought process when considering your choice of race for the Andean population. It isn't a clear choice, is it?

    For your final section, I generally agree with your conclusions, but why have you excluded physical adaptations from consideration here? Why just cultural?

    "Race is so generalized and does not explain a person or group of people, it is their culture and adaptation that explain everything. "

    I agree. Race has no explanatory power, and that is key. Its only function is to categorize humans into different groups. Race does not explain human differences because it doesn't cause those differences. In science, we are looking to explain why humans are different, so how can we use race if it has no explanatory power? Describing populations based upon their adaptations (caused by the environment) is a much more useful and powerful approach to studying human populations.

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  3. I love the statement "Race is so generalized and does not explain a person or group of people, it is their culture and adaptation that explain everything" It is so true! Just thinking about the Kurds and their culture. It is so strong that allows them to defend themselves so graciously. They are in the cross hair between Iraq and Turkey, and it has been the only group that has stopped Isis in its track of expansion in the area. The cultural adaptation to the environment and also adaptation to the political crisis in which they live, is what makes them so rich in resources and worth of admiration to stop an aggressor group such as Isis.
    Alicia T

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    1. Alicia, you are using a different username (kumba) than you used to create your blog for this course (fairside231). I suspect you are logged in on a different google account. Because I don't recognize it, and when I click your username it doesn't connect with your course blog, you ran the risk of my being unable to assign you credit for your comment. Fortunately, you signed your comment, but in the future, make sure you log in to the same google account linked with your course blog so there is no confusion.

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  4. After reading your post, i think you did an great job describing the physical and environmental characteristics of both cultures. I like your statement that "race is so generalized" i don't think it is a great way of describing or categorizing a group of people, because there are so many more different factors that go into the make up of a culture. Also the information you found about the Andean Indians using "simple astronomical observations" to predict rainfall very cool. Its amazing that a culture can predict rainfall and other natural events without the aid of any type of modern instruments.

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  5. Hi Jules,
    I really love your picture choices for the environment and population of both places. As they say, a picture says a thousand words. Without any words at all, you can really see that Zulu is generally extremely hot, as the people that inhabit the population there are able to wear minimal clothing. However, the temperatures in the Andean environment tend to vary from one extreme to the other based on the images you chose in your blog. Reading your blog only confirms your choice of visual aids. Thank you for sharing. I enjoyed your post.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi Jules,
    I really love your picture choices for the environment and population of both places. As they say, a picture says a thousand words. Without any words at all, you can really see that Zulu is generally extremely hot, as the people that inhabit the population there are able to wear minimal clothing. However, the temperatures in the Andean environment tend to vary from one extreme to the other based on the images you chose in your blog. Reading your blog only confirms your choice of visual aids. Thank you for sharing. I enjoyed your post.

    ReplyDelete