I had to write a last journal for sociology this week I had fun writing this paper. My paper was about body modification and how it related to sociology. So I wrote about the beginning with the tribes and how it related to the new tribes of today. Well I am going to paste a copy of my paper here if anyone would like to read it.
Cultural Body Modification
When
explaining culture one has to know the definition, culture is the ways of
acting, and materials objects that together form a people’s way of life.
Culture throw out the years are slowly blending us, as people together. This
document explains about the past cultures with examples of tribes and what type
of body modification they have experience. Also what is taken from these
cultures and why today certain people try to resemble modern primitives? In the
following how body modification is going too related to sociology.
Body
modification has been a part of every different culture globally. Body modification has been a part of history
throughout time. It is said that body modification is linked to religious
associations and right of passages to deter other tribes from abducting their
women. I feel today body modification is linked to creativity and
self-expression. Types of body modification are influenced by the type of
culture that is surrounding the people, class they are in, and history that
surround that culture.
In the Chinese culture, especially
the T’ang Destiny, area they women would have their feet bound. The women it is
the foot binding stated because there was a “concubine of a Chinese prince
walked gracefully as if she Skimmed over the top of golden lilies” (Crites,
2005)The woman from the story was adopted to their culture and then started
the binding the feet of young woman. Foot
Binding started with the rich because women were depends on servants. This body
modification became a social norm for their society. I believe that foot binding can into the
existence to make the woman be subservient to her husband. “Researchers at the
University of California at San Francisco” found that women ages 80 and older
with bound feet were more likely to have fallen in the previous year and to
need assistance in rising from a sitting position. They also had lower bone
density in the hip and spine than women with normal feet, increasing their risk
of debilitating fractures” (U.C.S.F., 1999).
From
the Apatani Tribe, both the men and women modify their body. The practice with
the woman is thought to start because the man of the tribe didn’t want males
from neighboring tribes to take their woman away from the tribe. According to
the tribe “the Apatani women were considered to be the most beautiful ones
among all the Arunachal tribes” (Clyde.2012). The Apatani women have plugs put
in their nostrils. The men from this tribe have a tattoo of a “T” shaped on
their chin.
The
Mursi, are a tribe that still performs the body modification of women were they
wear plates in their lower lips. The girls from this tribe have their lower lip
punctured and they have a small wooden stick put in their lip. Over the leading
months the girl stretches the lip by adding bigger plates over a period of
time. “When a girl from this tribe does not wear the plate is label to be lazy
and not being committed to her culture and husband” (LaTosky, 2012). The
stretching of the lip can cause the front bottom teeth to be knocked out. If
these woman do not properly take care of their lip infections can happen. This
tribe is widely acknowledged due to the fact they have photographers come into
the villages and take pictures of the young woman.
In
the Island of Borneo, the Dayak and Iban have the Palang is the piercing the
Glans Penis horizontally the tribes traditionally use little rods made from
gold, copper, bamboo. The term "Palang symbolizes the “protective power of
the male over the family” (Morrison, 1998). This modification is
performed on men. The Dayak also had tattoos in their culture. Dayak tribes
acted as pirates and were also head hunters.
The
modern primitive is a person that seeks to return to primitive times. A modern
primitive person seeks resemble a person from a primitive culture by modifying
their body by piercings, tattoos, and scarification. Some people want to try to
relate by projecting the image of a primitive person. Tattooing and piercings
have different meanings in different cultures, often as a rite of passage into
adulthood or as a means of bonding and marking membership in a particular
subgroup (Kulish, 2011). By having the urban primitive person changing their
appearance they are creating a subculture. This subculture is taking on the
older primitive ways by acknowledging others. The modern people exchange
stories almost like the older tribal describing their rights of passage or
battle wounds to other in their tribes. Some Americans feels society should
“become part of a tribe simply because it is fun” (Haidt, 2008). In the United
States, there are people modify their bodies every day. People modify their
bodies from minimal modifications as changing hair color to extreme procedures
like breast implant or suspensions.
In
ending, culture plays significant role in each and everyone’s life globally.
Culture is dividing in to norms, moral, and laws. Cultures in group were they
establishes a set of norms which is lead often by the elder that a specific
group. Some of those are body modifications. Body modifications are found in
every group globally some maybe extreme or minimal.
So I read an article today about a Scientist in India. Dr.
Babu had mixed the sugar drops with edible colors red, green, blue and
yellow and placed them in his garden to attract the ants. The ant's abdomen is semi-transparent, the ants take in the color as they sip the liquid.
