Population A: Zulu
Environment
The people of Zulu reside in the northern and eastern regions of South Africa. KwaZulu-Natal, generally known as Zululand, produces a subtropical climate along the coast with some colder climates in the inner regions. Throughout summer, which is between the months of November and March, temperatures range from 86 degrees Fahrenheit to a cool 70 degrees Fahrenheit. It is usually sunny and hot. In the winter, temperatures can go from 70 degrees Fahrenheit to below freezing point in some winter evenings. There is much humidity throughout the year with some rainfall on the south coast of Durban. This can be hard for any human body to maintain homeostasis, which makes the people of Zululand so resistant to changes in the weather.
Physical Adaptation
Due to the region being located in the Southern Hemisphere, there is lots and lots of sunlight that shines down. This caused the people of Zulu to obtain physical adaptations through the process of evolution. Throughout a long period of time, changes occurred in their skin in response to constant environmental stress. They produced more eumelanin, which blocks ultraviolet radiation more effectively and maintains homeostasis throughout their body.
Cultural Adaptation
Because the people of Zulu are so bound by very hot and humid weather, they also learned to adapt by the way they dress themselves. It is especially important to dress with very minimal clothing to allow wind to pass through and to keep as cool as possible. This allows them to remain in normal body temperature; in a state of homeostasis.
Race
The race that I believe would best describe the people of Zulu would be Black. I chose this race because it best correlates with their physical attributes and skin color. Many are very tall and dark colored to be protected from the sun.
Population B: Andean Indians
Environment
The Andean Indians live in the Central America and the northern regional coast of South America. This area is very tropical where the changes in rainfall are more significant than the changes in temperature. Some areas have dense forests while other areas are very dry. The reason for the extreme changes is due to the elevation and altitude of the land itself. Some areas are very high in altitude and some are low.
Physical Adaptation
Because the Andean Indians live in such a high elevated area where it is very difficult to breathe for most, their physical characteristics have changed throughout thousands of years to better suit the environment they live in. For example, some areas reach a staggering elevated level of about three miles. Therefore, they must have adapted a way in order to survive the very low oxygen levels. They produced hemoglobin in their blood so that they can increase lung expansion and help with everyday living.
Cultural Adaptation
One cultural adaptation that the Andean Indians had to learn was how to inherit complex farming methods to adapt to their local conditions. Because of the high altitude and sloping valleys, many farmers learned how to farm through years of cultural and biological evolution. These methods have helped them manage very jarring environments without having to depend on modern agricultural technology.
Race
The race that I believe would best describe the Andean Indians would be Asian. Many of the people there are very mixed due to intermarriage. The best attributes, however, are that they encompass a small stature and more oval eyes.
Adaptation vs. Race
After comparing both populations with physical and cultural adaptions versus race, I would say that it is much more informative to describe populations based on physical and cultural adaptions. For one, it is very difficult to acquire information based on ones outward appearance.This method can leave someone open to many erroneous conclusions. It is very broad and general without giving any reason. Cultural and physical adaptations are much more specific, informative, precise, and delivers an explanation to a population’s outward appearance. This would be a much more scientific approach for anthropologists to use.
Sources:
http://www.zulu.org.za/about/key-facts/natural-environment
http://www.sahistory.org.za/article/zulu
http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Zulu.aspx
http://www.britannica.com/topic/Andean-peoples
http://anthro.palomar.edu/adapt/adapt_3.htm
http://www.agriculturesnetwork.org/magazines/global/mountains-in-balance/indigenous-knowledge-re-valued-in-andean
Very good explanation of the adaptation of higher levels of eumelanin in response to the stress of high levels of solar radiation. But that leaves me wondering why you didn't include this environmental stress in your opening section describing the environment that challenges the homeostasis of the Zulu? You mention that it is 'usually sunny' but you don't expand on this very important stress, which would have given your readers a more complete picture of the Zulu environment.
ReplyDeleteGood discussion on the adoption of less clothing as a cultural adaptation to heat stress. 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 of the criteria that led you to your choice of race for the Zulu.
For your Andean population, you had a similar problem to your Zulu discussion, namely leaving out a key environmental stress that you then go onto discuss in your next section: Hypoxia. Tell the whole story to your reader.
Good job identifying agricultural techniques as the cultural adaptation to their environment.
Okay on your choice of race. While all indigenous populations in the Americas can trace their descent originally from the migration of early Homo sapiens moving their way across Asia and, across the land bridge and down into North America, keep in mind that this happened long before we really had developed the high levels of human variation that would be used to divide populations into 'races'. 'Indian' or 'mongloid' might be more accurate a choice, but then again, the point of this is to recognize how difficult it actually is to pinpoint a race for any particular population.
"It is very broad and general without giving any reason."
Perfect! You've hit on the precise problem with race. It is a general way of characterizing humans into subjective groups and it doesn't actually explain WHY they have these different traits. It is purely descriptive with no explanatory power. That is because race doesn't *cause* human variation. It only organizes it. The environment, on the other hand, does cause humans to adapt and develop traits to survive and compete in different environment. Because it causes those traits, that means it can also explain them. That is where its explanatory power originates, something completely missing in the concept or race.