Arizaharah

Your territory is predominantly arid. Some rain falls along the coast which has shrubby forest and mangrove swamps in the south, but inland is sandy desert where temperatures can reach 40C during the day and then drop to 0C at night. Along the coast it stays consistently warm at 20-25C. There are no rivers or lakes.

Name your homeland. Arizahara Name your people(s). Zaharians, Arizeans, Name the prominent geographic features of your homeland. Populate your homeland. What biota exist in your homeland? fish, reptiles, birds, crabs, snails, sheep, gazelle, camels What natural resources are available? Salt, gold, sulfur, fish, soap

What natural resources are needed?. Water, livestock (cows,pigs, chickens sheep, textiles ect.)

 * SUBSISTENCE**

1. What pattern(s) of subsistence will your culture follow?

__foraging__ pastoralism __horticulture__

2. What resources does your territory have to support your subsistence pattern(s)? small mammals, small reptiles, and their eggs, birds, crabs, snails, oysters, muscles, kelp, seaweed, hemp, herons, egrets, whites ibises, brown pelican, magnificent frigale birds, yellow warblers, desert jeroba, wild sheep, gazelle, date plam soaptree yucca , pancake prickly pear cactus , desert ironwood, cape aloe, camels (Arabian) sands cats, hyena, side winder snake, fish, prawns,

3. How do the climate and seasons in your territory affect your subsistence pattern(s)? we are a nomadic culture, and travel up and down the coast we have two settlements, one by the mangoroves and ocean, and one further inland where we tend to our small crops

4. How will your subsistence pattern(s) relate to your population size and location? we have a population of roughly 2000 people, with small groups of foragers to add variety to our food, we have small crops to supply food to our herds of sheep, goats, camels and warthogs.

5. How will the labour involved in subsistence be distributed among your people? because of our small population we have 5 designated groups of 10-15 men and women who alternate hunting and gathering food responsibilities. the rest of the community's main focus is separated between our crops and fishing.

6. What technology do your people use for subsistence purposes? we use hand made tools from animal bones, stones and

7. What impact does your subsistence have on the environment? Because we are a smaller population our negative effects are less than that of a larger population, we live off the land and have cultivated land closer to our man made wells that provide us with groundwater. Mining is done in a courteous manner with a small population the mines are small and less intrusive

8. How do your people clothe themselves?traditional clothing made from textiles and also material traded with Akhmeadia

9. What type of shelter(s) do your people live in? Huts made from date palms branches, materials collected within the mangrove swamps and materials traded from other cultures, animal Skins stitched together There are a few small permanent structures in both settlements for animals (small barns) and the more prominent people of the society (chiefs + kin, healers, ect)

10. Do your people have material goods? What kinds? Where do they come from? Because of our abundance of gold, we have very skilled goldsmiths, jewelery is very common, depending on the status of an individual, the more or less gold they wear.

11. What is your people’s diet? How do they prepare food? What is a typical meal? Main diet is fish, with the abundance of salt, it can be dried out and taken with the people from one settlement to the other. Dates are also very common in their diets and gazelles are also very common, herds are usually not eaten except on special ceremonies, they are most commonly used for milk, eggs, textiles and trading.

12. Are there any celebrations centred on subsistence issues e.g. a harvest celebration? Are there special ceremonial or ritual foods? our culture celebrates the changes in seasons when they prepare to move from one location (the mangroves) to father inland. The chief and elders (healers, leaders of the hunting groups ect) start the ceremonies and they are honored as well

Note: depending on your choice of subsistence pattern(s), you may have to do some reseearch to fully answer these questions. For example, if you chose ‘horticulture,’ you should know something about how to grow food and/or raise animals. If you chose ‘foraging,’ you should know something about wild foods. And so on.

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Bearing your subsistence strategy in mind, consider what kind of kinship system, descent rules, and marriage rules your culture will have. =====

1. Describe the typical family or household unit in your culture:
Our family unit consists of an extended family living under the same roof. We have Grandparents (of the fathers side) Along with Mother and Father and finally 5 or less children of the Mother and Father. There will also be two house-holds for hunting men where they spend two weeks out of a month away from their families. 2. What are the roles of the members of the family in the subsistence system you've chosen? 1. Women work in the fields tending the crops all day. They also do some gathering for the entire tribe. 2. THe elderly make sure the children are getting a well rounded education about what their duties will be when they get older and making sure they learn what their roles in the society will be. 3. Men play a very important role. The majority of men will be hunters whether it be small game or big. They also will help tend to the crobs and make sure there is construction of housing and sheds and fencing for the animals.

3. Is your descent system unilineal? No our descent system is cognatic

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4. Does your population support lineages? There is no real linage in our tribe we will have every person working on either hunting, gathering, tending crops, building, cooking, taking care of children. There will be one family with higher status than the rest of the tribe which will be the chiefs family. So the chief is not elected it is simply the first boy that is born from the current chief and his wife will be the next chief after his father.=====

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5. Does your population support the creation of clans? Yes our population will create a clan when it is big enough right now we have enough resources to keep the tribe in one place all together. When the tribe gets over 5000 people the tribe will break off in 2 or 3 different tribes, which in turn will form a clan. Our tribe is one where everyone is equal and where everyone does something that they are good at and enjoy to help out everyone in the tribe. We do not need a leader.=====


 * If so, what lineages belong to what clans?
 * If so, who is the apical ancestor mythological or just forgotten?
 * If so, do your clans have distinct totems? What do they symbolize?
 * If so, do your clans have chiefs?


 * If so, what are the two moieties called?
 * If so, how does an individual inherit his/her moiety?


 * What specific group is one expected to find a spouse from?


 * If so, does it include both polygyny and polyandry or just one?


 * by the individuals themselves?
 * by the individuals' parents?
 * by supernatural means or by a match-maker?

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11. Does the marriage involve bride wealth or dowry or some other arrangement of gift-giving? The marriage involves the mans family giving the females family a camel and one other small hunted game animal. In return the male will get the female.=====

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12. Describe about the wedding ceremony/ritual/celebration. Wedding ceremony/ritual/celebration. Will be a small celebration with the extended family of both the male and female that are getting married. There will be a roast of the small hunted game animal that the male gave the females family. The extended family of both sides will have to sing the song of marriage from both tribes and that will mean they are married.=====

13. Where do the married couple reside after they are married? The married couple will reside where ever the male is from.

Economic System

1. Taking your subsistence into account, what resources are needed and how will they be allocated in your culture? e.g. land tenure, access to raw materials 2. What labour is involved in your subsistence? Who does what? 3. Are people compensated for their labour? If so, how? 4. What goods are produced in your culture? Is it through households or occupations? Small-scale handicrafts or large-scale industrialized products? 5. What rituals or ceremonies are the basis for generalized reciprocity? balanced reciprocity? What gift giving is involved? 6. Is there trade within your culture? With another culture? What is the basis of the transaction? (i.e. barter? money? some other medium of exchange?) 7. Is there any form of redistribution of goods and services? 8. If you decide on a market-based economy, describe the allocation of labour, the means of production, the products, who are the consumers, etc. 9. Does your group trade with another group? What is traded? How is trade incorporated into the economic system? 10. Is the distribution of wealth equitable in your culture or are there differences in social status, wealth, and prestige? How is wealth achieved? maintained? displayed?

POLITICAL SYSTEM

When considering these following questions, keep in mind the subsistence strategy/strategies and economic system you have developed so far. Population size is also a factor. Later, religion may also be a consideration.

1. What kind of political organization(s) will your culture have?

• uncentralized bands • uncentralized tribes • centralized chiefdoms • centralized states

2. If your culture has a leader, how does a person acquire this status? What are his/her responsibilities to the community?

3. If your culture has a centralized leader, what is his/her title? What social stratification is in place to support the political system? What bureaucracy and institutions are needed?

4. How does a leader maintain influence/authority/power? Can the leader be replaced? If so, how?

5. How does your culture deal with conflict and disagreement among its people? (Consider how you answered this in the very first exercise we did).

6. How does your culture make decisions that affect the whole community?

7. How does your culture deal with inappropriate social behaviour and crime?

8. What are typical negative social sanctions in your culture? Typical positive social sanctions?

9. Is there internal strife within your culture? Describe how it occurs, why it occurs, and how it is resolved (if it is).

10. Is there external strife between your culture and another culture? Describe how/why it occurs. How is peace achieved/achievable?


 * RELIGIOUS BELIEF SYSTEM**

1. Does your culture worship a deity or deities?

2. If your culture is monotheistic...

What does God look like? What role does God play in people’s lives?

3. If your culture is polytheistic...

How many gods are there? What do they look like? Do different gods have different responsibilities in the world? e.g. death, fertility, rain

4. Does your culture have ancestor veneration? Is it totemic? How does ancestral veneration work?

5. Does your culture believe in animism or animatism? How does it work?

6. Is there a belief in ghosts and demons? What role do they play? Can they be controlled or used?

7. What is the culture’s mythology?

How did the world begin? How were humans created? What stories explain the existence of things? of culture? What happens to people after death? What moral lesson are taught?

8. How do people worship?

on their own? with religious specialists? healers, diviners, mediums, shamans, priests/priestesses? a bit of both? who does what?

10. If there are religious specialists...

how do they become religious specialists? how do they connect with the supernatural world? manipulate it? what is their social status?

11. Is there a belief in magic used? How is it used for good or bad? How do people protect themselves from bad magic?

12. Are there rites of passage? If so, what rites are there? e.g. mortuary, marriage, birth

13. Are there rites of intensification? If so, for what purposes? e.g. fertility, drought, epidemics

14. How are the rituals in 12 & 13 performed? e.g what offerings, sacrifices, symbols, actions, language, costumes, masks, performances, etc. are involved? By whom?

15. Have there been changes in belief? Conflicts? Have these resulted in cults or movements? How have these been handled by the social structure?

GENDER QUESTIONS

1. How is gender identity reflected in differernces in clothing, behaviour, speech, etc.?

2. What are the gender roles of men and women, boys and girls in the domestic sphere and in subsistence labour?

3. What gender roles are apparent in economic activities, political organization, and religion?

4. What gender status differences are there between men and women? only men are chiefs, shamans, mediums and healers are both male and female.

5. What control do women have over divorcing their husbands? depending on the situation, the chief and shaman have the deciding vote on whether the circumstances are legit for divorce.