Abstract
A paper which examines the Yanomami people - a remote tribe in the Tropical Forest on the border between Venezuela and Brazil. The paper shows their customs and culture and focuses on their system of cross-cultural marriage which follows a bilateral cross-cousin marriage system. The paper also discusses Napoleon A. Chagnon, a young American ethnographer who brought the knowledge of Yanomamo ethnography to the world.

From the Paper
"The practice of infanticide is practiced in their culture. This is one of the reasons why there are more males than women. If a female is born she is killed at birth. They feel that women are inferior. Some Yanomamo women kill their infant because they fear the wrath of their husbands for having a female baby. The Yanomano may choke the baby with a vine, suffocating the infant by placing a stick across her nose, or slamming her against a tree. "

Tags:Tropical, Forest, foot, people, Kinship, endogamy, Polygymy, anthropologist

Abstract
The paper examines the cultural underpinnings and history of one of the most popular dance and music styles in Brazil - Samba. The importance of this music in daily life is emphasized, as well as the religious and popular overtones, such as the annual Carnival. The paper also includes an interview with Jon Agasse, a guitarist and percussionist with a samba ensemble living in Los Angeles.

From the Paper
"The crowd of almost one hundred thousand is restless. The night is moist, hot, and alive with a feeling in the air so palpable you can almost trace it with your finger. The bleachers are filled to maximum capacity, along a mile-long stretch of paved roadway adjacent to an old brewery. People from all races, classes, and countries are celebrating together at the culmination of the orgiastic, pre-Lenten, hedonistic festival of Carnival. Soon, the first marchers proceed down the corridor to the booming cacophony of bass, snare, and friction drums. The rattling of tambourines, bells, and scrapers add flavor and accent. Like a bird set free, the singing cavaquinho (ukulele) emits its high pitched cries, adding to the frenzy. The marchers and dancers, with their quick, physical movements, undulating hips and heel steps, embody the living sound. It is time for the annual celebration once again in Brazil, time for Carnival, a time once again for the ultimate physical expression of joy: Samba."

Tags:african, black, jazz, mamba, merengue, rhumba, rio

Abstract
This paper offers an in-depth examination of the Olmec civilization, which existed in Central America. This paper discusses the lifestyle and way of life. It looks at the architectural methods, as well as the hunting and food preparation manners. It also discusses how Olmecs were influenced by other civilizations of the time and how, in turn, they impacted other cultures.

From the Paper
"Long before the Maya, Aztec or Toltec flourished in Central America, there lived the Olmecs, a civilization that has come to continue to intrigue and amaze the world. They were the most prevalent group in Mesoamerica and a highly developed and well organized society with a complex calendar and hieroglyphic writing system. The Olmecs were the mother civilization in Mesoamerica. The Olmec lived around the areas of La Venta in Tabasco, San Lorenza Tenochtitlan, and Laguna de los Cerros in Veracruz during the pre-classic period. They built their cities around a central raised mound. These mounds, used for religious ceremonies, were replaced with pyramid-shaped structures around 900 B.C. The Olmecs used basalt, found in the Tuxtla Mountains, to construct plazas and religious pyramid structures."

Tags:aztec, culture, architecture, lifestyle

Abstract
Discusses the theoretical perspective and the approach of anthropologist Chagnon to his study of the Bisasi-teri tribe. Also examines his concept of the evolution of culture based on individual biological adaption within the group.

From the Paper
"In "Yanomamo: The Fierce People," Napoleon Chagnon placed his research of this Amazon rain forest tribe squarely within the ?group' versus individual' debate in the study of adaptation in..."

Abstract
This paper presents an examination of how Beverly Newbold Chinas, the anthropologist-narrator of "La Zandunga" came to understand the Zapotec culture in Mexico during the 1960s. The paper examines how what she learned in her field work differed from classroom experience.

Tags:Mexico, anthropology, cultural barriers, friendship, women, marketplace

Abstract
This paper analyzes the disappearance of the Mayan civilization while focusing on the various theories surrounding its eventual collapse. The writer of this brief yet concise paper details the history of the Mayan culture which emerged in 2000 BC. The Mayan civilization gave birth to numerous cultural progresses such as the establishment of a writing system, an organized political council as well as the introduction of organized religion. This paper examines the theories surrounding the dispersal of the Mayan civilization, when at around 800 AD it was purported to have suddenly collapsed. There have been numerous arguments based on archaeological and anthropological evidence that attempted to explain the collapse of this particular civilization. This paper focuses on several theories which may explain the disappearance of the Mayan people which include climatic changes as well as socio-cultural collapse through the population's expansion.

From the Paper
"The theory that argued that a climatic collapse led to the disappearance of the Mayan civilization was based from scientific findings that were caused by a severe drought. As reported by History Today, "[d]rilling samples from the Cariaco Basin off the Venezuelan Coast show there were intensely dry periods between AD 810 and AD 910..." From this finding, it was found that because there had been scarce supply of the people's basic needs, such as water and food supply, Mayan society disappeared, supposedly due to deaths caused by these series of drought. A more specific version of this theory was presented in Kerr's journal article on the scientific evidence pointing at climate changes as the catalyst towards the disappearance of the civilization."

Tags:anthropology, archeology, history, climate, socio-economic

From the Paper
"The Mayan
This paper will discuss the origin of Mayan society, and how the Mayan civilization grew. The text will analyze how the Mayan society eventually fell apart as well as some of the factors which led to the eventual collapse of this civilization.

The rise and fall of the Mayan civilizations is divided into seven major time periods. The first period is when the earliest Mayan Chiefdoms were formed, in approximately 1500 B.C. This period, called the Early and Preclassic period, extended until 400 B.C. After this came the Late Preclassic period in which the earliest statutes were found carved by Mayans in the southern Maya area. During the Late Preclassic era, the earliest monuments with Long Count dates were erected and the beautiful city of Tikal was founded by a royal Mayan leader (Yax Moch Xoc) (Sharer, xi)."

From the Paper
"Mayan civilization rose and fell over the course of 2,000 years. By the time of the European invasion of Central America, many Mayan cities had long been abandoned. Though the last Mayan outpost was not taken by the Spaniards until 1697, Mayan high culture had ended centuries earlier. The Aztec civilization was of more recent origin and reached its height in only a few centuries. The Aztec decline was the direct result of the Spanish conquest. Mayans and Aztecs had many cultural similarities, but they differed in fundamental areas such as the structure of the state and their relations with other peoples. The primary difference between them, however, is that the term Mayan refers to a large number of Maya-speaking peoples whose cultural and political cohesion "was quite extraordinary for any time or place."1 Despite the general cohesion of Mayan culture ..."

Abstract
This paper will argue, through an examination of the role of human sacrifice in the religious practices of the Aztec civilization, that human sacrifice should be interpreted primarily as a cultural activity that is firmly integrated into the signification and value system of the community as a whole.

Abstract
This paper examines two ethnographies relating to shamanic activity, Desjarlais? (1994) "Body and Emotions" and Taussig?s (1987), "Shamanism, Colonialism and the Wild Man". It attempts to show through their review how the literature on shamanism often proves more instructive in understanding the discourses of Otherness in anthropological and other writings. It also looks at what the physiological understandings of trance bring to our understandings of shamanism.

Outline
Shamans for Sale, a Dia(bolical?)lectical Image
A Short History of Emotion
The Fracturing of the World
Magia Pinta

From the Paper
"In the late 1980's, Desjarlais did fieldwork among the Yolmo Sherpa, a Tibetan people living in the Helambu region of north central Nepal. During the year he was in the region, he was apprenticed the veteran healer Meme. During this time, Desjarlais also underwent trance states. He does not claim these to be a photographic equivalent of the shaman's own trance state, rather, he emphasises the degree to which the healing process is grounded in the everyday physical movements of life, what one could term habitus . This is not directly accessible through discourse or exegesis - rather, it could be thought of as an unspoken archive, of sedimented, embodied history. Paralleling Desjarlais? analysis, this essay will first briefly examine the habitus from which Desjarlais analysis stems."

Tags:ecstasy, embodiment, healing, surrealism, trance