Christina Taha

Final
Question 1
Band Societies- Band societies are small groups of people that are related by blood or marriage.
They live together in territory that they are loosely associated with. Band societies food source
comes from foraging. Foraging, involves hunting large and small animals, fishing, and
collecting different plant foods. The men usually go out and hunt for large animals while the
woman and children stay behind in their camp. The women usually gather seeds and fruits and
hunt smaller animals. Bands are independent from each other. Membership is flexible though
between different band societies. Ties between bands are usually established through marriage or
kinship. Trading does occur and this how they distribute their resources. Trading usually ties
bands together. Band societies use generalized or balanced reciprocity as mechanisms of
exchange. Hunters distribute meat among members of the kin group or camp. Each person or
family gets an equal share or a share dependent on its kinship relationship to the hunter(Nanda
and Warms 135). That is generalized reciprocity. Balanced reciprocity is, the giving and
receiving of goods of nearly equal value with a clear obligation of a return gift within a specified
time limit. Band societies usually do not have role specialization. There is no formal leadership,
but if there is a leader it is usually an elder man or elder women. These leaders cannot enforce
their decisions but they can persuade people. Decisions are usually based on consensus. Among
the Inuit band leaders are sometimes referred to as, The One to Whom All Listen, He Who
Thinks, or He Who Knows Everything Best.
Tribal Societies- A tribe is a culturally distinct population whose members think of themselves
as descended from the same ancestor or as part of the same people. Tribal societies are mainly

pastoralists and horticulturalists. Pastoralists rely mainly on their domesticated herd animals such
as sheep, yaks, camels, and cattle. Horticulturalists depend primarily on the production of plants
using a simple, no mechanized technology, such as hoes or digging sticks, but not draft animals,
irrigation techniques, or plows. Tribal societies are egalitarian. They distribute and exchange
goods through reciprocity and redistribution. Reciprocity is the mutual give-and-take among
people of similar status. So they trade among other tribes. Redistribution is when, goods are
collected from or contributed by members of a group and then given out to the group in a new
pattern(137). Most tribes do not have political institutions or roles. Power and social control are
usually through kinship or religion. Tribes are organized into unilineal kin groups, who own the
basic economic resources and are the units of political activity. Tribal societies do have a
centralized government, but tribes do have leaders. For example in tribes in Melanesia and New
Guinea the leader is called the, bigman. The bigman is a self-made leader who gains power and
authority through personal achievements rather than through holding office.
State Societies- State societies are hierarchical, centralized form of political organization in
which a central government has a legal monopoly over the use of force (216). State societies are
based on agriculture and industrialism. In agriculture, the same piece of land is permanently
cultivated with use of the plow, draft animals, and more complex techniques of water and soil
control than horticulturalists use (114). This is the main source of food production. Industrialism
involves food as well. Many food products are produced in factories and then put into stores for
people in state societies to buy with money. Trade is how state societies distribute goods. The
state protects the exchange and distribution of goods by making travel safe from people moving
from one place to another to distribute and exchange goods. State societies help maintain society
through taxation. The state redistributes wealth to provide resources to communities such as

roads and buildings. The leadership of state societies is the government. The government is An
interrelated set of status roles that become separate from other aspects of social organization,
such as kinship, in exercising control over a population (216).
Question 2
A shaman is an individual in a society who is able to mediate between the world of
humanity and the world of gods or spirit. A shaman is not a recognized religious official
Shamans are usually used in specific ceremonies, illness, or times of crisis. Shamans use prayer,
meditation, song, dance, pain, drugs, or any combination of techniques to achieve trance states in
which they that enter the real world of the supernatural. They do this to seek guidance for
themselves, or for their group, to heal people, or see the future. Before modern medicine was
discovered societies believed that illnesses were caused from broken taboos, witchcraft, or
broken spiritual balance. Shamans had the role of curing these illnesses; in order treat the
illnesses, shamans traveled to a supernatural world to discover the source of the illness and how
to treat it. Today most shamanistic societies use modern medicine and shamanic cures to cure
illnesses. People go to shamans when there is no medicine to cure their illness, they cannot
afford medicine, or they have tried other treatments but it has failed. Shamans treat their patients
with the cultures traditional pharmacopoeia. Shamanic curing ritual also uses symbolism and
dramatic action to bring together cultural beliefs and religious practices in a way that enables
patients to understand the source of their illness (270).
Question 3
Prayer, sacrifice, and magic are ways that people can connect with spirits, or the
supernatural world. A prayer is a conversation held between a person and spirits and gods.

People, who engage in prayer give thanks, praise, ask for guidance, petition, confess, repent,
bless, dedicate, supplicate, and provoke to spirits or god(s). People believe that the results of
their prayer depend on the will of the spirit world. Prayer can be done without the expectation of
a response. There are many forms of prayer. There are many different kinds of prayer and some
prayer is required in certain religions. For example, In Islam it is required that Muslims pray 5
times a day to God. It is a daily part of Muslim lives and in Muslim societies and cultures in
different countries there is a loud call to prayer that can be heard throughout the village or
community.
Sacrifice occurs when people make an offering to a god or spirits. In doing this it is
believed that it increases their spiritual purity or the efficacy of their prayers. It is a ritual in
which people provide an offering to supernaturals. People may sacrifice their first of harvest,
animal lives, and sometimes the lives of humans. Changes in behavior can also be considered a
sacrifice. During the month of Ramadan, Muslims fast for 30 days from sunrise to sunset. This
sacrifice is done for spiritual and religious reasons and most important it is done for God. Cattle
sacrifices also occur most often in East African cattle pastoralists communities such as Nuer or
Pokot. These sacrifice are important religious to the Nuer and Pokot.
Magic is a religious ritual that is believed to create a mechanical effect that control
supernatural forces. When people preform magical actions they believe their actions and words
make the spirit world behave in a certain way. Failure of a magical request is usually thought to
be because the magic was done wrong, rather than the spirits refusing the magic. There are 2
types of magic, imitative and contagious. Imitative magic is the belief that imitating an action in
a religious ritual will cause it to happen in the material world. A voodoo doll is an example of
imitative magic. It is believed that if damage is in inflicted onto a doll that looks like a person,

the person that it looks like will actually get harmed. Contagious magic is the belief that
something that was once in contact with a person or object can be used to form an invisible
connection with the person or object.
Religion provides a sense of meaning and order to the world. Religion also provides a
framework for interpreting events and experiences. Many religious practices are used for the aim
of ensuring success in the activities of people. Prayers, sacrifice, and magic are often used in
hopes of aiding a person or community. The less predictable an outcome the more likely a
religious ritual will be used. If it has not rained in a village for weeks, the community may
preform a religious ritual so that the supernatural world will stop the drought.
Religion provides social control. The power of religion affects the actions of people.
Religion generally works to preserve social order. Sacred stories and rituals provide a rationale
for the present social order and give social values religious authority (259). People experience
common identity in emotional ways when they are connected religiously. Religion can serve the
needs of the powerful and the powerless. Political leaders and groups may use religion to justify
their views and policies. Religion may provide an escape for people having to deal with grim
situations. Through religious belief in a glorious future or the coming of a savior, powerless
people who live in harsh and deprived circumstances can create an illusion of power (260).
Witchcraft accusations were common form of religious social control. It inflicted fear in people
not only for the people accused for the people in community of the accused person. Witchcraft
accusations brought the standouts in society in line with community norms. Religion also
provides punishments and rewards. In most monotheistic religions if a person was good in their
life, after they are dead they will go to heaven in the after life. If a person were bad they would
go to hell in the afterlife. The promise of heaven- an eternal paradise in religion drives people to

behave and do good things in life.

Reference
Nanda, Serena, and Richard L. Warms. Culture Counts: A Concise Introduction to
Cultural Anthropology. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Cengage Learning, 2012. Print.