Still working on it but if anyone is around and could just help me out with any grammar or spelling error. Thanks! If you do find anything else im open for feedback.
Over years different societies have been modernized. From living off the land and forging for ones self to machines doing all the work and buying the food at the store. The world has had to change, but whose fault is it. The Inuit’s, Zapotec, Nuer and Americans have had to change their ways of living and modernize themselves with time all do to different reasons.
The Inuit’s, Eskimos, are hunter-gatherers that live in the arctic and for many years have forged for their daily necessities. But as hunter-gatherers they live in the most extreme environments (Brody 115). This is because farmers and herders occupy the most fertile and abundant areas (115). But the Inuit hunter-gathers do not mind this because this put them in an area that isn’t interesting to outsiders. By living in such extreme conditions and having to salvage all materials to build and live the Inuit’s have become very well off. For they build their homes of ice, which are called igloos, because they don’t have other materials such as wood to build. As seen in the movie presented in class the Inuit’s build quite extraordinary home equipped with windows, which are made of a clearer sheet of ice. But to produce such a structure they need tools, tools they must make themselves. These tools are made of animal bones, which were also observed in the movie. From grater machete looking tools to help cut things to very small needles for sowing. Not only are the animal’s bones used but there meat is used as food and their fur used to produce clothing. The animals and humans are equal Inuit’s believe so before the animal dies they must both be a piece (14). As for family, Inuit’s have much respect for one another and while there isn’t much reprimanding and more learning by doing it has become their way of life. While there lives might seem difficult and strenuous it’s what they have been doing for year and have just perfected. The Inuit’s actually find them selves with a nice amount of leisure time and by hunting and gathering they have provided themselves with a good supply of high nutrition (11
. But the Inuit’s world was modernized bit by bit when farmers displaced hunter-gathers (14
. As farmers moved in the Inuit’s had to change in many ways, from new tools to a new language. Inuit’s were urged and forced give up there own language and use that of the invading farmers, English or French or Russian or Hindi (149). And as seen in the movie there lives went from simple and rural to a small-modernized city with a school, church and grocery store. But not only have hunter-gathers had to change but also farmers.
The Zapotec farmers in Coaxaca, Mexico have also lived a type a life that has sustained them for over 5000 years. They have lived off the cultivation of maize, beans, squash, sugar cane and coffee (Gonzáles 1). But the most praised crop is maize for its more then just food but a powerful plant-person living in the midst of humans, as stated in notes provided to us by Eaton. Also stated in the notes provided by Eaton was after many years of perfecting maize and taming it from once being a wild grass that Zapotec see it symbolically. The Zapotec also use tools that are simple and animal- driven (106). While they also use steel tools and chemical fertilizers they never completely relied on the chemical fertilizer to produce their crops. But everything changed when the Green Revolution came around in the 1970’s and brought upon the dependency of chemical fertilizers and pesticides (103). Which caused problems for those who were poor because they were not producing as efficiently as those who were using chemical fertilizers and doubling their crops. Along with this came the mutation of maize if brought upon by selective breeding, human help, collected seeds or replanting it has perfected maize (11
. Which then lead to the distribution of maize around the world, from Europe, Asia and Africa (123). This also led to another mutation of maize. In the end maize went from being the Zapotec’s beloved crop to being a worlds major food source. But sometimes changing areas is needed.
Such as the great move the Nuer had to undergo. The Nuer agro pastoralists from Southern Sudan live hand in hand with their cattle and livestock (Holtoman 4). Their cattle’s provide them with milk, meat, hides and dung used for fuel (4). As observed in the Lost Boys movie presented in class, the Nuer’s live in rural areas where dirt roads are prominent, walking barefoot and partially naked. This area also didn’t have a school, which lead to children just playing and roaming free, if not being taught tribal practices (1). But slowly changes occurred which began to modernize them slowly but surely. Such things “included the introduction of money, western education and Christianity” (7). But the biggest change came when the Sudanese civil war broke out forcing many into refuge camps. But with that came a life changing opportunity, the chance to go to America to live. As seen in Lost Boys the movie, two men received this opportunity but with this opportunity came lots of change. From their small rural village to a building crazed city there lives would never be the same. As one man took the opportunity of gaining an education and another looking for a job to provide him a good life. They struggled with getting around such a complicated community and understanding American technology. But American have also had to undergo change, while different then those of the Nuer, Zapotec or Inuit they have also been modernized.
The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan looks at how an over night change of how one should eat in America has cause the up coming of many new modernizations. While many Americans used to sit at the dinner table and eat whatever was prepared that night or ordered has become a situation that should be more closely observed (Pollan 1). With bread being an essential at meals it was a shock to the country when it was said to be a carbohydrate that could lead to getting fat. Then came along another warning to keep off the read meat (2). America was facing an issue of which diet to follow, the Omnivore’s Dilemma. This is an issue that deals with “the three principal food chains that sustain us today; the industrial, the organic, and the hunter-gatherer” (7). The industrial food chain is that which we deal with the most the one that provides up with things such as corn and potatoes. Which intern provide many fast food restaurant that we enjoy and have been proven to not be a healthy choice (
. Then there is organic food, which is all natural grown, produced and feed industry. While this industry is still growing and becoming quite popular, the price of being able to live an all organic life is up there. Because there are no chemical being used through out the process of producing all organic food, that means no chemicals used to produce the feed to feed the animals (132). Then there is the hunter-gatherer chain, which is a chain that is more rural because it requires one to forge for them selves. To catch game kill it cook it and eat it along with searching for other things such as mushrooms and tree fruit (280). Technology and nature have clashed and which food chain is best for Americans, who knows because it all a personal choice.
