218X Artifact 3 Ju/’hoansi and Mosuo of China

The Ju/’hoansi are a group that do things within their culture that are pretty different and stick to a lifestyle that is primitive-like, where the men go out and hunt and forage while the women where in charge of farming and taking care of tasks within the village or household.  This dynamic was not surprising since many other cultures and people were or still are living styles of life that follow or are rooted from the hunting/foraging/farming modes of production.  The statistic that I was not expecting was that 44% of the total resources gathered were by the men, where as 56% of the total resources gathered were from the women.

The Ju/’hoansi also do not follow social norms of the western world in terms of marriage.  They stress a lot of gender equality throughout many aspects of their culture, but marriages were often arranged and the average female was between 12-16 and the typical males were between 18-25.  Because of this the males did have a small sway of dominance, but the main reason for the males not marrying until becoming older was to ensure that the male has become an expert hunter.  This in the Ju/’hoansi culture take many years and is needed for the reliance of husband and wife is as equal as possible.

The roles of men and women in the US culture today has definitely shifted from the past.  Before, the men were the dominant sex, and the women were in charge of raising the kids and doing things around the house.  Now, women have taken on a lot more responsibility and have more higher paying jobs, as well as men being more involved at home while still being a main provider.  This western ideal society is completely different from the Mosuo of China.  In this culture, the women are the dominant sex.  They are in charge of all family decisions, she tends to the needs of the family and the household, and also participate in walking marriages, the men however, are more in charge of livestock.  They also are responsible for raising the sons of a related mother.  The uncles of the born sons take on the traditional father’s role and teach the young boys.  These different cultures show us just how different people live depended on the location and societal norms that are instilled into the native culture.