Comparison of How Three culture Cope during Change

Societies are vast when it comes to their organizations, their practices, political, and economic set up, religious set up and even how they cope in new circumstances. As such, this paper is a devotion towards studying how the following societies and their complexities contribute to us understanding how human beings behave and interact. Particularly, this article sheds light and compares change in three different cultures as described in: (1) The Old Way: A Story of the First People, (2), Nuer Journeys, Nuer Lives: Sudanese Refugees in Minnesota, and (3) Condor Qatay (the taped ethnographic play by Catherine Allen).

A Story of the First People, by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas

In ‘’A Story of the First People’’, by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, she introduces us to the lifestyle of the bushmen of Kalahari who are the cradle of mankind. According to the author, the Juwasi Bushmen led quite a simple life in the 1950’s. They were used to hunting, gathering, and domestic farming (Elizabeth 23). Their families were made of father, mother, and children. In most cases, wives were shared so, there was no divorce. In fact, out of the many families that the author studies, only nine couples went through divorce. 

Change

During the ‘70’s, when the Juwasi people were forced into settlements, life changed drastically for them, it was hard for them to catch up with the overcrowded conditions. As a result, the settlements were plagued with disease such as tuberculosis, malaria, bilharzia, and even venereal diseases (Elizabeth  25).This sudden shift from a peaceful co-existence to a life of chaos and disease took toll on their psychological well-being (Elizabeth 31). Consequently, they turned to suicide for help. Later on, they regretted this decision and decided to carry on against the odds. The implicit message of Elizabeth’s story shows how invasion of the western culture on people like Juwasi has swallowed the pride of the people.

Nuer Journeys, Nuer Lives: Sudanese Refugees in Minnesota

Like in the ‘’A story of the First People’’, the traditional Nuer people of Sudan consisted of a sedentary lineage. They had small groups headed by a male common ancestor and survived through pastoralism and gathering (Holtzman 11).The Nuer people lead peaceful lives until when the country’s south is plagued by war and are forced to flee to seek new lives. War in southern Sudan marked a beginning for a major distraction of the Nuer’s way of life. Holtzman’s work on the Nuer People shows their struggle as they try to fit as refugees in Minnesota.

Change

When war took over in the 1990’s, the Nuer people had to begin a new journey as refugees in Minnesota. One of the implications of this change was that it altered the way the Nuer people approached marriage and family (Holtzman 11). For instance, they could no longer practice bride price paying or polygamy as it was with their tradition. Domestic violence was also condoned in US whereas the Nuer people believed this to be part of their discipline culture. However, through mutual assistance association, they adapted to the new American culture as they tried to fit in the society.

Coping

Other adjustment for the Nuer people in Minesota was to shift their lifestyle in terms of work and medical care. Not many of them had qualifications to work in the country. Most had to survive on public assistance. The tradition of the Nuer people is to have the grandparents take care of the children’s medical issues (Holtzman 11). However, because they were far apart in Minnesota made it hard for grandparents to step in to take care of grandchildren. As time went on, the Nuers had to be more accepting of the new conditions in order to survive in Minnesota.

Allen, Catherine J. and Nathan Garner. Condor Qatay

In the story, the narrative is consistent with the other books in discussion. The authors shed light on the anthropological appeal of the Quenchea social life. The book takes the reader into another cultural world whereby folk tales seem to be important in the Quencjea society. In the play, the people are simple and hold important the simple things in life such as marriage and children. While the community lives a harsh lifestyle; surviving on farming only, they seem contended ( Catherine  and Nathan 15). However, the moment singlehood sets in, the authors reflect on the complex aspect of being single in a rural Andean Family.

Change

The setting of the play is on a potato farming community where life is hard and opportunities hard to come by. As such, the only way of life that the people are familiar with is farm and spiritual practices. It is common to see marginalized communities to seek solace in spirituality because it gives them comfort. The play intertwines family life and a folktale that is popular with the Andean people. The folktale is about a son-in-law that was eaten by his father in Law. The narrative in folklore is the same with a story of Adriana who is a widow that lives with her parents and her daughter. She falls in love with a bulldozer operator who persuades her to go live with him in the city. 

Similar to the other stories, the change in culture: from farm life to city life is less of what Adriana and her husband expected. As a result, her husband falls into depression and seeks solace in drinking. On the other hand, Adrian makes the decisions to go back home. The events in story fit into the same Andean folklore where people return home after their quest for a better life fails. Although, in the real story, Andrea’s father does not eat his father in law. Overall, the story is about how people find it hard to survive in new social, cultural and economic setting.

Analysis and conclusion

The three stories provide an insight about how human beings cope in new environments. According to the three stories, they all prove that no matter how one native background looks like is, people are most comfortable in places that they have grown and around the people they are accustomed. Any change is likely to bring confusion and suffering before they can adapt to a new lifestyle. As such, the story shows that human beings are about routine and familiarity. Anything different will most like likely disrupt their functionality in a negative way.

Word Count: 1058

                                                              Works Cited 

Allen, Catherine J., and Nathan Garner. Condor Qatay: anthropology in performance. Waveland Press, 1997.

Holtzman, Jon D. Nuer journeys, Nuer lives: Sudanese refugees in Minnesota. Routledge, 2015.

Thomas, Elizabeth Marshall. The old way: A story of the first people. Macmillan, 2006.