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Gabriela Avalos Tinoco
140637
Exam 2

1. Economy and its relation to other aspects of culture

a) Define and explain the two culture’s mode of production.
As we have learned, there are different modes of production in different cultures around the world. This means that depending of the culture, there are different lifestyles, education, workload depended by the gender, etc. In thiscase, I’m referring to Ju/'hoansi people and the Amish described in Miller’s texts. Starting by the Ju/’hoansi people , they have a mode of production that fits to their lifestyle. Ju/’hoansi people are foragers. They hunt or fish to survive. In this case, Ju/’hoansi women they are foragers but also are in charge of the children. This is adequate for their lifestyle because in that case,women don’t get pregnant so easily. There’s an interval of 4 years between every children, so they don’t get work overloaded. By the other hand, the Amish people are more agriculturalists. The main production is the farming. And to have a good farm you must need many people (pronatalism). In this case, is usual to have big families that are in charge of many things during the process of production.In this case, is usual to see 8 to 10 children per woman in each family. Everybody is in charge of something in the family and everybody produces something to the farm.
b) How are this modes of production related ?
Speaking about modes of reproduction, this two cultures are related at teaching and raising their children. Even when the Ju/’hoansi women may not have lots of children, butthey teach them in the same way as the Amish do. Maybe at their first child, they take care of him until he or she is old enough to teach him how to take care of other brothers and sisters. They help each other to take care of each other, so in that way, nobody gets work overloaded. In that case, as the Ju/’hoansi women do, they take between 3 to 4 years between children to have them. But it isalso interesting that most of them (Amish and Ju/’hoansi) are young when they start to have their children. Other aspect that we have to speak about is the gender role in each culture. Even though men are in charge of hunting, fishing or in charge of their families, women are the ones that take care and raise the children. It doesn’t matter if they are foragers or just take care of the house. Thisis a role that is defined by societies from a very long time. Ju/’hoansi women are foragers too, so their role is to hunt and to take care of the children. Amish women, help in the farm by milking the cows, producing their own products, etc.
Speaking about types of marriage, maybe there is a little similarity here. I don’t know about the Ju/’hoansi, but at least the Amish believe in monogamy.I think that as the Amish do, Ju/’hoansi do the same, they are endogamists but there are exceptions were exist a bit of exogamy.
2. Gender
a) Define sex:
Sex is something that we already have in ourselves. As in Miller lectures, in occidental cultures has three biological markers: genitals, hormones and chromosomes. If you are a man, you must have penis, testosterone and XYchromosomes. And if you are a woman, you must have a vagina, estrogen and XX chromosomes (2008: 90). But what happens if any of the “biological markers” is considerably different? Most of the times, bodies are different. What if sex is something that comes from a state of mind and not from hormones and chromosomes?
b) Define gender:
Gender is a cultural construction and is very flexible in differentcultures. It is a variable that helps to construct behavior and personality through interactions. (Miller, 2008:90). As Miller explains, gender depends of the cultural placement where somebody is interactive with. And how is developed it mostly depends of where the individual is raised in.
c) Illustrate the two concepts:
Like in the documentary “Middle Sexes” sometimes the biological...