|
Post by sh on Jan 13, 2012 6:19:18 GMT -5
Also, in rural areas, the fields and orchards, as a rule, surround the town on all sides.
So the structure that I see here is that women are in the center, and the men are basically spread out, patrolling and keeping watch over the immediate area surrounding the settlement.
There used to be cases of gang fights breaking out between two villages, where a group of young men from one village would attack a group from another village out in the fields. This would usually result in an army of men gathering quickly to defend their own.
But as far as I know, such violence was never allowed to happen in the village, where the women and children were. And today, this "raiding" behavior has ceased altogether. People of different villages now work for eachother and intermarry freely.
-f
|
|
|
Post by sh on Jan 13, 2012 6:27:14 GMT -5
If I had to guess, I would say that Iran today is more inclined towards Athena.
-f
|
|
|
Post by karlsie on Jan 15, 2012 20:54:50 GMT -5
Sh, i really, honestly want to see these things you tell me about Iran incorporated into an article. If you are reluctant to write the stories out yourself, i would be perfectly willing to use the third person view speaking from a reliable source.
It all amazes me, this glimpse into a culture i had previously known absolutely nothing about and could only guess at. What amazes me most is the similarities between your culture an my own. As i explained before, our Native culture does not have a winner mentality. This also means it doesn't bully, either. A culture that will remain in silence rather than embarrass their less educated peers is a tender, sensitive culture. It does have its problems. In fact, the problems of the villages almost seem insoluble. There is a great deal of alcoholism in the villages. Teen suicide is at an all time high. The reason for this, according to the experts, is they feel a lack of self-worth. What they don't truly examine are the reasons for this lack. Here are some facts.
Most of the villages are poor. They aren't just poor by American standards, but by world standards of poverty. Many of them have no plumbing. They break the ice over their streams for water in the winter. Shipped in or flown in food is expensive and limited in both quality and quantity.
Their stores are limited in goods. Many of the villages receive new goods by pooling their resources and flying a small group into Anchorage to purchase them in the big city. While these innocent purchasers are out there shopping, they are also prey to all kinds of unscrupulous entrepreneurs. They leave an impression with the public that do not know this small group of people represent an entire village, that the villages are well to do.
The village people compare their standards with what they see on television. They believe this life style, which they have never seen, is the norm for most of the world. They see their Alaskan lives presented by the media as dominantly white, with nice houses, good roads and fine schools. The true demographics of the Alaskan population and standard of living is never presented. A few Native Alaskan faces are thrown into movies about towns that generally have at least a thirty percent Native population (that's one in three, folk!) and a thriving Asian population, but the lead characters and main heroes are always white.
The reasons for the Native dilemma is written in from a white, colonialist view. They cite the poverty, without listing the reasons for them, which include but are not limited to; commercial fishing fleets usurping the traditional Native industry of supplying the bulk of the Alaskan fish harvest, price gouging for gasoline and winter fuel and a refusal by the State to provide an adequate road system between the villages and connecting them with Anchorage for trade and commerce. They view the solutions for the prevalent alcohol and abuse problem from the "get tough" perspective.
What they fail to see is that Native culture cannot get tough in the manner white colonialism wants them to. They cannot throw their drunken uncle out on the street because they love him and don't want him to die. The young girls who had been abused by that uncle won't turn him in to the authorities. They will only go through very careful pains to avoid being around him.
What the colonialists don't see is the grief of the victims is more love for the family suffering under the abuse than their own scars. They grieve more when they are removed from their villages and families for "adequate shelter" than if they were allowed to just struggle with their villages to find solutions for uplifting their failing members. They become victimized by a far more subtle type of abuse at the hands of their apparently benign benefactors. Their family members are talked about as people to be ashamed of and avoid visiting. In the urban areas, they are exposed to discrimination and hostilities against their race. They are ridiculed for their beliefs. They are discouraged from gathering in large groups for dances and potlach's or weekend stays.
When a young person commits suicide in a village, the grief is a palpable thing. It's someone's brother. It's someone's sister or cousin. It's someone's best friend. It effects the entire village profoundly, especially the young. The suicide of a young girl might cause her sister so much grief, she commits suicide also. This causes her boyfriend to also commit suicide and on down the line. The villages are drowning in grief but their cries go unanswered by all except a few thoughtful people from foreign countries.
|
|
|
Post by asiaticdarkperson on Feb 11, 2012 2:23:55 GMT -5
Sh, i really, honestly want to see these things you tell me about Iran incorporated into an article. If you are reluctant to write the stories out yourself, i would be perfectly willing to use the third person view speaking from a reliable source. Sure, karlsie. np.
|
|