Beauty_and_Culture

Beauty and Culture Sharon Stone ANT 101 David Smith September 8, 2010 Abstract The Maasai tribe is one of the most known tribes in Africa and they are determined to hold onto their culture. They have a distinctive healthy outlook on physical appearance. Their standards are simple for beauty, they concentrate on what they can control and use character traits when determining what is good looking. The Maasai tribe and the United States have their traditions in how we live within our culture. While the traditions are different in context, they still share similarities. Both cultures have a caring and loving family atmosphere, where they want their children to succeed in their traditions. Beauty and Culture The Maasai focus on a tidy appearance and jewelry as a decoration. Clean white teeth, a clean look and short crop hair are maintained through brushing, washing and cutting the hair. Proper grooming shows personal pride, a wholesome outlook. (Ford, Paul, 2009) Hairstyles, dress and in some degree hair color are physical features that are influenced by where we are born. The Maasai present a captivating look into the standards of beauty. They have a unique healthy outlook on physical beauty, have simple standard for beauty and focus on what they can control. Intricately beaded necklaces, anklets, headdresses, bracelets, and chokers are a major identifying mark for the Maasai, and are often considered a part of the body. Because jewelry is something they can control, the Maasai focus on adornment rather than the body itself when trying to appear attractive. The beads are ordinary, easy to get, and provide a standard for beauty that does not discriminate against Maasai of lower social status. There are major differences in the way Americans and the Maasai view the body. The physical traits the Maasai focus on are cleanliness, white teeth, short hair, to be tall and the stretched ear lobes. The Americans seem to focus on to be thin, breast size, and the color of the eyes. The valuable differences between the images of beauty are that many the Maasai mentioned can be changed. They can clean their bodies, cut their hair, brush their teeth and stretch their ear lobes. This beauty is something they can control. (O’Neil, Dennis, 2009) On the other hand, to be thin, breast size and eye color is something the Americans cannot control; it is in the power genetics. Americans, have a fixation on the body which we have limited control over. Plastic surgery, the latest diet craze, exercising and breast implants are part of the culture to try and control the physical appearance. But, for good or evil, breast implants actually do make breasts larger, contact lenses change eye color, and liposuction removes fat. Americans believe they have more control over how their bodies look than the Maasai do, because technology gives us more control. Because Americans have the technology to change the eye color through contact lenses, have breast implants to enlarge the breasts, and liposuction to remove fat, we feel we have more control over our bodies. In America, with our technology to change our appearance, does not translate into happiness. We will never be happy with our appearance, but the Maasai accept how they look. The Maasai see attractiveness in both physical and character traits, beauty is not only skin deep. Being friendly, well respected, disciplined, and brave is appealing to the Maasai. They consider goodness and behavior as much a part of attractiveness as skin tone and height. The Maasai will focus more on adornment than physical traits in deciding what they consider to be attractive. When they do assess the body, they look on what can be easily changed and consider behavior and character when they think about attractiveness. They focus on your clean and styled hair, your cleanliness, how you take care of yourself. While Americans certainly value good character traits, we have a way of dividing personality and appearance. We often do judge people's character by their body, hairstyle, and clothing. Wearing designer’s boots suggest one type of person, a 10-gallon hat another. For the Americans, many accessories, such as watches, jackets, and shoes, are part of social identity, indicating education, income, ethnicity, and occupation. The truth is physical appearance often furnishes plenty of information about strangers. The Maasai have a healthy outlook on beauty. By using simple standards to achieve beauty, they have created a look that is obtainable. They focus what they can control, and ignore those they cannot, make being good looking easy and without guilt. When using character traits in deciding what they consider what is attractive, they inspire beauty. In the American society, our view of beauty may is not as healthy as the Maasai. We use the technologies that are available to us to change what we do not like. We focus on the physical traits and pass judgments on how a person looks. The Maasai families live in a stockade called an Enkang that is surrounded by a barrier of thorn bushes that will protect them and their cattle. Inside the stockade is about ten to twenty (10-20) small windowless huts that the women constructed from branches and cow dung. Also, the women build huts for the unmarried warriors which are a short distance away from them. Women and girls have many chores to do: take care of the children, milk the cattle, repair the huts, collect fire wood, cook the meal and may even have to walk miles to get water. The girls learn adult roles and how to become good wives and mothers by working by the sides of their mother and watching the older women. (Miller, Barbara, 2007, pg. 157) In America, most of us live in apartments, houses or mobile homes and the type of dwelling we select to reside in is a personal decision. The building materials vary for the exterior of the dwellings, we can choose from a brick exterior, to siding or wood and the main interior construction material is wood and our homes have many windows. We do not provide special housing for the bachelors, they may live next door to us or anywhere they decide to reside. The American women lives are not similar to the Maasai women when it comes to household duties. The American women have choices; they can choose what career or job they want to pursue, if their home needs any repair work, she can call a repair person to rectify the problem, or if she is a do-it-myself person, she may choose to make the repairs herself. Our version of collecting the fire wood is buying wood by the cord, stacking it in our yard, and retrieving the wood when needed. Now there are some women that can swing an axe, chop down that tree, but that number is small. We will not walk for miles to collect our water; we pay a monthly fee to have the water flow from the faucets inside our homes. We even purchase bottle water for our drinking water, believing it its free from impurities. Several areas that the American and the Maasai women have in common are taking care of children and cooking. For the American women who do not work outside the home, they will care for the children and prepare the meals and manage household duties. In many of the American families both parents work. The parents will work out a schedule that is best for them, balancing household duties and the responsibilities of raising the children. The children are taken to a daycare or to an individual’s home while they are at work and cooking the family meal is determined by what agreement has been made between them. The American children also learn by observation and are taught skills equally. Boys and girls can learn how to change a tire, mow the lawn, sew a button on, prepare a meal, wash dishes and do the laundry. These skills can be taught by either or both parents. The very young Maasai children play inside the Enkang and as they get older look after the cattle. There are several stages the boys must meet before they can be considered a man. After meeting their goals, they are circumcised between the ages of twelve and fifteen and then they are trained to be warriors. The warrior’s job is to protect the village and cattle from predators and other tribes, take the cattle to graze, search new pastures for grazing and raid cattle from nearby villages. Warriors ultimately have a ceremony leading to marriage where they can have several wives and have children. At this time the men begin to obtain cattle and become respected elders. The influence of the modern society has forced many of these to become more of a tradition, yet the rite of passage to manhood still remains a prominent step today. Like the young Maasai children, the American children play inside their neighborhoods. They ride their bicycles, play hopscotch on the sidewalks, go to the local park, or have friends over at the house for play a date; all these activities are closely supervised by an adult. The Americans do not have formal rites of passage ceremonies for the children. Circumcision is a decision that is determined by religious beliefs and with parental consent. Most circumcisions are performed in the hospital, by a doctor and the procedure is done within a few days after birth. In the American society, we live in neighborhoods, not being protected with thorn shrubs from the predators. Our main predator is a burglar and many of us protect our homes with an alarm system or some home owners will have a weapon to protect their families. Our teenagers look forward to reaching the age of sixteen; this is typically when they begin to show signs that they want their independence. They are now old enough to get a driver’s license, date, and obtain a part time job. The teenage years prepare our youths for the responsibilities of adulthood. Unlike the Maasai men, who can have more than one wife, in the American society it is illegal to have more than one spouse, the men can have only one wife at a time. In America, we have an ongoing debate on same sex marriages. Traditionally, a man and woman marry; if the union between the same sexes is legalized, we will begin a new tradition. Does same sex marriage have a future' That is one question many are seeking an answer for. (Pan, P., Zhou, S., 2010) The Maasai are a proud tribe and lack the interest to join the modern world; they want to keep their traditional ways. (Leaner, Schneider, 2006) While they possess a natural beauty, they do not pass judgment on how one looks, their beauty shines around them. In America we are too focused on our looks, and will pass judgment on someone who does not meet our standard of beauty. Beauty begins from the inside. References Ford, Paul. (2009). So Beautiful: Physical Aesthetics Across Cultures. World Press. Retrieved August 26, 2010 from, http://www.paulford.com/so-beautiful-physical-aesthestics-across. O’Neil, Dennis. (2009). Language and Culture: Hidden Aspects of Communication. Palomar. Retrieved on August 26, 2010 from, http:///www.palomar.edu. Miller, Barbara. (2007). Cultural Anthropology. Boston, Massachusetts: Allyn & Bacon. Pan, P., & Zhou, S. (2010). Mortality or equality' Ideological framing in new coverage of Gay marriage legitimization. Social Science Journal, 47, (3), 630. Retrieved August 28, 2010 from ProQuest Social Science Journals. (DOI: 2094510901). Leander, Schneider. (2006). The Maasai’s New Clothes: A Developmentalist Modernity And Its Exclusions. Africa Today, 53 (1), 100-119, 121-131. Retrieved August 26, 2010 from ProQuest Social Science Journals. (DOI: 1148048211).