Ritual Objects of Ancient Taino

A zemà ­ (also zemi, zeme or cemi) is a collective term in the Caribbean Taà ­no (Arawak) culture for sacred thing, a spirit symbol or personal effigy. The Taà ­no were the people met by Christopher Columbus when he first set foot on the island of Hispaniola in the West Indies. To the Taà ­no, zemà ­ was/is an abstract symbol, a concept imbued with the power to alter circumstances and social relations. Zemis are rooted in ancestor worship, and although they are not always physical objects, those that have a concrete existence have a multitude of forms. The simplest and earliest recognized zemis were roughly carved objects in the form of an isosceles triangle (three-pointed zemis); but zemis can also be quite elaborate, highly detailed human or animal effigies embroidered from cotton or carved from sacred wood. Christopher Columbuss Ethnographer Elaborate zemà ­s were incorporated into ceremonial belts and clothing; they often had long names and titles, according to Ramà ³n Panà ©. Panà © was a friar of the Order of Jerome, who was hired by Columbus to live in Hispaniola between 1494 and 1498 and make a study of Taà ­no belief systems. Panà ©s published work is called Relacià ³n acerca de las antigà ¼edades de los indios, and it makes Panà © one of the earliest ethnographers of the new world. As reported by Panà ©, some  zemà ­s included bones or bone fragments of ancestors; some zemà ­s were said to speak to their owners, some made things grow, some made it rain, and some made the winds blow. Some of them were reliquaries, kept in gourds or baskets suspended from the rafters of communal houses. Zemis were guarded, venerated and regularly fed. Arieto ceremonies were held every year during which zemà ­s were draped with cotton clothing and offered baked cassava bread, and zemi origins, histories, and power were recited through songs and music. Three-Pointed Zemà ­s Three-pointed zemà ­s, like the one illustrating this article, are commonly found in Taà ­no archaeological sites, as early as the Saladoid period of Caribbean history (500 BC-1 BC). These mimic a mountain silhouette, with the tips decorated with human faces, animals, and other mythical beings. Three-pointed zemà ­s are sometimes randomly dotted with circles or circular depressions. Some scholars suggest that three-pointed zemis imitate the shape of cassava tubers: cassava, also known as manioc, was an essential food staple and also an important symbolic element of Taà ­no life. The three-pointed zemis were sometimes buried in the soil of a garden. They were said, according to Panà ©, to help with the growth of the plants. The circles on the three-pointed zemà ­s may represent tuber eyes, germination points that may or may not develop into suckers or new tubers. Zemi Construction Artifacts representing zemà ­s were made from a wide range of materials: wood, stone, shell, coral, cotton, gold, clay and human bones. Among the most preferred material to make zemà ­s was wood of specific trees such as mahogany (caoba), cedar, blue mahoe, the lignum vitae or guyacan, which is also referred to as holy wood or wood of life. The silk-cotton tree (Ceiba pentandra) was also important to Taà ­no culture, and tree trunks themselves were often recognized as zemà ­s. Wooden anthropomorphic zemà ­s have been found all over the Greater Antilles, especially Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica, and the Dominican Republic. These figures often bear gold or shell inlays within the eye-inlets. Zemà ­ images were also carved on rocks and cave walls, and these images could also transfer supernatural power to landscape elements. Role of Zemis in Taino Society Possession of the elaborated zemà ­s by Taino leaders (caciques) was a sign of his/her privileged relations with the supernatural world, but zemis werent restricted to leaders or shamans. According to Father Panà ©, most of the Taà ­no people living on Hispaniola owned one or more zemà ­s. Zemis represented not the power of the person who owned them, but the allies the person could consult and venerate. In this way, zemis provided a contact for every Taino person with the spiritual world. Sources Atkinson L-G. 2006. The Earliest Inhabitants: The Dynamics of the Jamaica Taà ­no, University of the West Indies Press, Jamaica.de Hostos A. 1923. Three-pointed stone zemà ­ or idols from the West Indies: an interpretation. American Anthropologist 25(1):56-71.Hofman CL, and Hoogland MLP. 1999. Expansion of the Taà ­no cacicazgos towards the Lesser Antilles. Journal de la Socià ©tà © des Amà ©ricanistes 85:93-113. doi: 10.3406/jsa.1999.1731Moorsink J. 2011. Social Continuity in the Caribbean Past: A Mai son-Perspective on Cultural Continuity. Caribbean Connections 1(2):1-12.Ostapkowicz J. 2013. ‘Made †¦ With Admirable Artistry’: The Context, Manufacture, and History of a Taà ­no Belt. The Antiquaries Journal 93:287-317. doi: 10.1017/S0003581513000188Ostapkowicz J, and Newsom L. 2012. â€Å"Gods †¦ Adorned with the Embroiderers Needle†: The Materials, Making and Meaning of a Taà ­no Cotton Reliquary. Latin American Antiquity 23(3):300-326. doi: 10. 7183/1045-6635.23.3.300Saunders NJ. 2005. The Peoples of the Caribbean. An Encyclopedia of Archaeology and Traditional Culture. ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara, California.Saunders NJ, and Gray D. 1996. Zemà ­s, trees, and symbolic landscapes: three Taà ­no carvings from Jamaica. Antiquity 70(270):801-812. doi: :10.1017/S0003598X00084076

Exploitation And Societal Reorganization Of Karl Marx And...

Sabrina Gibson Honors Mosaics II Professor Smetona 09 November 2015 Exploitation and Societal Reorganization Karl Marx and Mary Wollstonecraft are both philosophers who have observed the relationships between ruling and ruled classes of people. In Marx’s text Capital he discusses how there must exist a bourgeois class that exploits a class of proletarians in order for capitalism to exist. Mary Wollstonecraft in her work A Vindication of the Rights of Woman argues that a patriarchal society in which women are forced to depend on men for every aspect of their lives is exploitation and detrimental to everyone involved. A concept that is shared between these two works is that a society that depends on the domination and exploitation of a class will naturally reorganize into a society that has a balance between classes. The exploitation of workers by capitalists is necessary for a capitalist society to exist properly. When viewing the relations between members of a capitalist society as individuals, it can seem that capitalism is based on freedom and equality. The proletariat class, or those who do not own any means of production, sell their labor power to the bourgeoisie, or capitalists. The proletariats are free to sell their labor power to whichever industry they choose, and will be compensated fairly for their work in the form of wages. This concept of labor-power is an integral part of Marx’s argument about capitalism. He explains that labor power is â€Å"the mental and

How to Write an Sociology Autobiography free essay sample

Choose an aspect or aspects of your life to consider in a broader view. Are you a child of divorce? Did you have two working parents or a stay-at-home parent? Are you of the first generation that grew up with computers? Is your household liberal or conservative? Are you employed or unemployed? Have you ever been the victim of a crime or committed a crime? How do your experiences compare with those of others in similar or contrasting circumstances? 2 Analyze how your culture, race, religion, gender, class, and the like have impacted events in your life and how you might be a part of a larger sociological movement. For example, how have immigration issues affected you? Are you are a child of Norwegian immigrants living in the Midwest or born of Mexican immigrants in the Southwest? Perhaps you are an undocumented worker, or one or both of your parents are. Place yourself and your experiences within the greater historical perspective. We will write a custom essay sample on How to Write an Sociology Autobiography or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page 3 Determine the relevance of your experiences to the time in which you live and vice versa. If you are unemployed, consider whether your unemployment is part of the larger problem of unemployment during an economic downturn. If you grew up in the age of computers, discuss how your parents dealt with the issue of children on the Internet and whether you will raise your children similarly or not. 4 Use sociological terminology while writing your autobiography. Using sociological language helped California State University sociology professor Alem Kebedes students distinguish their sociological autobiographies from plain autobiographies. Student responses to Kebedes project revealed another positive aspect of using sociological language: unintended therapeutic consequences. Kebede found that using the language of sociology in a sociological autobiography serves both as a medium of communication  and an intellectual instrument of looking at the social world. 5 Come to an understanding of how the sociological issues you address relate to your present-day condition. Though discussing personal events in your autobiography, the focus remains on the sociological concept you are illustrating, according to British sociologist Adrian Worsfold. For example, the sociological autobiography of a working mother could relate those experiences to the womens movement of the 1960s and 1970s or to the increase in women raising families on their own. A sociological autobiography should make connections between private experiences and public issues.