Akhmeadia

Akhmedia

Your territory is desert and is dominated by sand dunes. There are three large oases where water percolates up to form small lakes. Temperatures can reach 40C during the day and then drop to 0C at night.

Name your homeland. Akhmeadia Name your people(s). Akhmeadians (Northern, Central, and Southern) Name the prominent geographic features of your homeland. sand Populate your homeland. What biota exist in your homeland? What natural resources are available? What natural resources are needed?


 * 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)? The oases allow for a small practice of horticulture, which includes the encouragement and maintenance of (some naturally growing) plants such as date palms, fig trees, olive trees, peach trees, apricot trees, vegetables, wheat, millet, and barley. Also grown is hemp plant which is used it for fibres and oil. It also provides nitrogen for the soil. Also the papyrus plant has been encouraged to grow in the central oasis, providing fibres for basket weaving and paper. The variety of plants vary from the north to the south. The Akhmedians have herds goats used for their meat, milk, and carrying of goods.

Ostrich eggs....but how do we get them? Domesticated ostriches on lead-ropes? Okay. And we can eat them too.

We hunt antelope and gazelle for meat, bones (for tools), skin for clothing and tents.

3. How do the climate and seasons in your territory affect your subsistence pattern(s)? During the hottest season, the Akhmedians travel north to the more temperate desert region. During the winter months, they travel south.

4. How will your subsistence pattern(s) relate to your population size and location? This pattern means we require a small population (population control in effect). Our location varies throughout the year, and we spend 1/3 of the year at each oases.

5. How will the labour involved in subsistence be distributed among your people? The elders (wise-ones, the sages, the oracles) run the arrival and departure ceremonies at each of the oases, calling on the gods to express gratitude for plant regrowth, and to bring rich growth to the crops. On arrival, they do a small symbolic ceremonial laying down of seeds from previous oasis, and a small harvest, and on departure a small symbolic ceremonial planting and gathering of seeds to bring to next oasis. The rest of the task is completed by the ___.

Planting Tending Harvesting

6. What technology do your people use for subsistence purposes?

7. What impact does your subsistence have on the environment?

8. How do your people clothe themselves? The Akhmedians wear long robes made of hemp and cotton (which is grown at the oasis) in the southern region. When in the north, loin cloths made of animal pelts (camel, antelope, gazelle, goat) are common because of the cooler climate. Arizahara allows us access through their territory for trade of water and other goods (food, etc.).

9. What type of shelter(s) do your people live in? As Akhmedians are nomadic, they live in large tents made of wood and animal skins. Small, cement structurs are built as permanent shelters for people/animals at each oasis and the port

> check on how cement is manufactured. do you have the resources for it?

10. Do your people have material goods? What kinds? Where do they come from?

11. What is your people’s diet? How do they prepare food? What is a typical meal?

12. Are there any celebrations centred on subsistence issues e.g. a harvest celebration? Are there special ceremonial or ritual foods? Akhmedians celebrate the arrival to and departure from the oases. At each, there is a ritual laying down of seeds as an offering and harvesting or planting. The arrival ceremony is followed by a large feast and celebration where they serve whole stuffed camel.

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.

KINSHIP

The Akhmedians live communially, so households consist of both kin and non kin. 2. What are the roles of the members of the family in the subsistence system you've chosen?
 * Is it a nuclear family- No
 * Is it an extended family? Who does it include?
 * Are there households of non-kin? Who can co-habit this way?

3. Cognatic descent system

The Akhmedians follow a bilateral descent system


 * If so, how many lineages are there? How many families in each lineage?
 * If so, what are the corporate powers of the lineage?
 * If so, is each lineage associated with a particular skill, occupation, or trait?


 * 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?

7. What kinship system does your culture have? (Eskimo, Hawaiian, Iroquois... ?)
IroquoisKinship System

Akhmedian culture practises both endogamy and exogamy. In endogamous marriage, you can only marry your cross cousin. For the purpose of population control, and because no contraceptives are used, homosexual activity is common, perhaps even encouraged, for both married and single individuals.

Polygamy is not allowed in this culture


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

13. Where do the married couple reside after they are married?

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

Resources needed that are not readily available to the Akhmedians are salt, seafood (for protein), and non-Akhmedian genetics. In exchange for a number of our resources, including our fresh water, Arizahara has allowed the Akhmedians to set up a small ocean side camp where they reside for a few months in the fall. Also, the Akhmedians "steal" women from the Arizaharans for marriage.

Resources already available at the oases are shared within the small society. All kinship groups contribute to the society by fashioning tools, tending to animals, the vegetation, foraging, preparing food, etc. They live communially and rely on one another to keep the society functioning, equating to their survival. Access to all the resources is allowed to all kinship groups, overseen by the elders, and stealing or dishonesty directly effects the entire population, therefore cannot go unnoticed and is not tolerated (and very rarely occurs). The value of cooperation, sharing, and contribution is fundamental to the Akhmedians. The equal allotment of labour and food among the kinship groups and liberal access to resources fosters feelings of (individual and group) value and honesty among the people.

2. What labour is involved in your subsistence? Who does what?

Animal care and herding: Mostly done by men up to age 45. Male youth begin training at 12 and continue foraging, and tool/shelter construction and maintenance until they are ready to fully acquire status as a pastoralist after marriage at 17 ('apprenticeship" of sorts when they go on a 6 month long jouney with boys of their age-set to 'capture' their future wives from Arizahara. Each boy takes a camel and all share herding responsiblity of a flock of sheep. Bring offerings to families of wives, including a ram and ewe pairing. These men also tend to the flocks of domesticated quail kept for food.

Men:, age 17 to 45- occasional hunting of animals including: Great Bustard- bird Sand Partridge Barbary Partridge Chukar Partridge Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse Pin-tailed Sandgrouse

Tool construction:

-Foraging tools, food preparation tools, storage (baskets/sacks (including those for water)/bowls): Women of all ages, boys up to age 16 (12-16 years, split their time with pastoralism training) - Tools relating to pastoralism, animal care, shelter maintenance: Men, 12 years and older. Those 12-16, trained specifically around the pastoralism related tools.

Shelter Construction and Maintenance: Males, 12-16 years and 45-55 years

Foraging, food preparation: Women of all ages

3. Are people compensated for their labour?

Compensation is through sharing and consumption of resources. Labour is linked to their survival, not viewed separately, therefore compensation is seen in how individuals, kinship groups, and the entire band benefit from the labour

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? What gift giving is involved?

-Arrival and departure ceremonies demonstrate generalized reciprocity (ceremonial harvests and allocation of the food among group). Elders(shamans and sages) who oversee labour represent voices and hands of gods. The arrival ceremonies, (through the abundance of resources) expressed is the gratitude of gods towards the people for their fasting and treatment of previous oasis in during that season and in departure ceremony (ceremonial fertilization). In departure ceremony, the symbolic final harvest, ceremonial fertilization of the land, and fasting vow is the people's gift to gods (via elders), expressing appreciation for the abundance of resources given to them that season.

In trade with Arizahara, our resources and water are exchanged for small portion of land inhabited 2 months of the fall season, access to ocean.

In wife 'capture' practices, crafts, food goods, and a ram and ewe pairing are gifted to the Arizaharan ppl (to the kinship group of the 'captured' wives).

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?) -trade within our culture is based on the values of cooperation and sharing (which equates to the survival of the culture) and usually is represented in the form of generalized reciprocity (giving food/goods/services to another with unspoken obligation that it will be returned in one form or another). Balanced reciprocity occurs where the exchange of goods (one may specialize in tool manufacuring, i.e. weaving baskets out of certain material, which has specific uses. OR utensils, etc._

7. Is there any form of redistribution of goods and services?

Daily and weekly redistribution of goods and services. Certain kinship groups (immediate family neighbours with immediate family of biological sisters and brothers) have certain tasks involved in subsistence, their specialization (men, care of animals, women, certain food harvesting, preparation, and plant maintenance, all people in manufacturing of items). These 'labour groups', so to speak, have control over the items, amass them, or are expected to tend to them until complete or ready for comsumption. At that point, all in the society are welcome to the goods and distribution is expected to be equal among the people. THe akhmedians know who to go to for what, and can take freely. These liberties don't apply to all items. Each family is allowed a certain amount of the resources with which to produce goods for themselves and family (certain items of clothing, item of craft specialization, special dish of food for immediate family, gift for someone), so long as the immediate needs are covered first. Individualism does exist within this cooperative society, yet it is second priority to the good of the whole.

9. Does your group trade with another group? What is traded? How is trade incorporated into the economic system? Our group trades with group I, or Arizaharah. We trade food, manufactured goods, and fresh water for access to the Eastern Port where we fish and collect sand to preserve the seafood.

Also, we migrate women from their culture into ours to be married to our men. We exchange through bride service (men who go to colllect women stay for a short period of time to provide labour for kinship family) or bride price. The latter is not formally set, but rather is determined seasonally dependant upon what is available. Gifts of manufactured goods, food (prepared and raw), and resources for manufacturing (timber, palm leaves, etc.) are given. Always given, though, is a ram and ewe pairing.

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?

Wealth is determined by the group's state as a whole, which depends on the availability of resources. We are highly egalitarian, so the resources are alloted equally among the people. The Elders (shamans, sages) are viewed a socially wealthier. They highly esteemed, respected, and their word holds great influence. The Akhmedians believe that all people are connected to the divine, the universe, and the Gods, however, the widsom and experience of the Elders allows for a clearer understanding of te good of the whole, a cleared channel for divine information, therefore seen as te most influential people. Rite of passage is undertaken after "retirement" at age 55 which guides these elders into healing arts, channeling/psychic conncections, or both. The newest elder work under the current ones until they pass away. THeir social status and wealth, so to speak, then climbs to that of the late elder. The shamans are given liberal access to herbs and other resources for healing. THese are redistributed when needed, which can be at any time, but always under the control of the shaman (not for the sake of ownership, but for the well being of the people.

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?

One uncentralized band

2. If your culture has a leader, how does a person acquire this status? What are his/her responsibilities to the community? No official authority. Elders ('retired' men and women of group, age 55 and up who are held in high esteem for their wisdom, knowledge, and compassion. Some are shamans, all considered sages, and are considered the unoffical/informal leaders.

4. How does a leader maintain influence/authority/power? Can the leader be replaced? If so, how? Through healing powers, persuasive powers, knowledge, wisdom (all which prove beneficial at a time and over time). Leaders aren't ever replaced. An Elder can be removed from the trust of the people if they intentionally malicious/wrong, or something seriously wrong by mistake, or if one falls incurably ill. Ellders maintain their status until they pass away. It has occured that 50 Elders have held status at one time. Each has their individual strengths in the healing arts, strengths in the knowledge/wisdom of different practices or aspects within the culture, and interests or callings towards performing different ceremonies. Therefore it is beneficial for the society to have more Elders available to help them.

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). Village moots run by the elders. Those seen to be most knowledgable of the situation at hand are the helders who run the moot and whose final word is usually adhered to, though the other elders also hold sway in the moots.

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?

5. What control do women have over divorcing their husbands?