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Insane
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Their children want to be part of the group. The group accepts them with no conditions. But they conform because they are social.
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Pawnee:
"They were a well-disciplined people, maintaining public order under many trying circumstances. And yet they had none of the power mechanisms that we consider essential to a well-ordered life. No orders were ever issued...Time after time I tried to find a case of orders given and there were none. Gradually I began to realize that democracy is a very personal thing which like charity, begins at home. Basically it means not being coerced and having no need to coerce anyone else. The Pawnee learned this way of living in the earliest beginning of his life. In the detailed events of every day as a child, he began his development as a disciplined and free man or as a women who felt her dignity and her independence to be inviolate"
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Perhaps as essential as the assumption of innate sociality in children and adults is a respect for each individual as his own proprietor. The notion of ownership of other persons is absent among the Yequana. The idea that this is "my child" or "your child" does not exist. Deciding what another person should do, no matter what his age, is outside the Yequana vocabulary of behaviors. There is great interest in what everyone does, but no impulse to influence – let alone coerce –anyone. A child's will is his motive force. There is no slavery – for how else can one describe imposing one's will on another and coercion by threat or punishment? The Yequana do not feel that a child's inferior physical strength and dependence upon them imply that they should treat him or her with less respect than an adult. No orders are given a child that run counter to his own inclinations as to how to play, how much to eat, when to sleep, and so on. But where his help is required, he is expected to comply instantly. Commands like "Bring some water!" "Chop some wood!" "Hand me that!" or "Give the baby a banana!" are given with the same assumption of innate sociality, in the firm knowledge that a child wants to be of service and to join in the work of his people. No one watches to see if the child obeys – there is no doubt of his will to cooperate. As the social animal he is, he does as he is expected without hesitation and to the very best of his ability
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Quote:
When the same Yequana family jokingly adopted me, I was surprised at the pleasure and faint sense of longing it gave me. Although I was not technically an orphan, I had never felt accepted by my mother, and although she and I both lived in New York at the time, I did not live with her. Nor did my sister, who lived alone, also in New York, with her daughter. My father, long since divorced from my mother, lived somewhere in Maine, I knew not precisely where.
I was embarrassed by the Yequana women's bewilderment at these living arrangements. They could not understand why my sister and I did not live with our mother. How could I explain to them that members of my tribe were so alienated that we expected people to want to live separate from their families, and even to feel put upon if, as adults, they had to live with their parents. More than bewilderment, the women had shown signs of fear, as though these solitary creatures, of whom I was one, were a cause for anxiety.
In Yequana society there is no equivocation about what behavior is undesirable, inconvenient or "not done," but neither is there any doubt that the child is what she ought to be: good, right and social, a human child behaving like one. Like all children she may create occasional inconveniences as she learns what is expected, but there is no question that she wants to do what is right. And quite rightly, for we are innately social animals.
Why do we assume that children will be destructive if not made afraid of punishment?
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Adopt an Adult Orphan, by Jean Liedloff
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"The manner in which Xingu indigenous parents raise their children is somewhat unique in that, generally they do not punish their children. They respect them and treat them as adults giving them much responsibility. In return, Xingu children for their part respond well and do not misbehave. According to a Xingu Indian story, a child once started a fire that burnt down a house. Although the loss was great, no punishment was given to the child. When the father was asked why he did not punish the son, he responded with surprise, “Why? He is only a child. What would punishing him accomplish?” From that point on, the Xingu natives called him Conomét Aratá (Fire Boy).
Kayapo TribeThe above story illustrates just how different Xingu tribes are from western societies. The first thing that I noticed when I first visited the Xingu Indigenous Park Reserve is that everyone was happy. It seems that very little makes them unhappy and that they spend about half the day laughing. The native of the Xingu are always joking and laughing. Not surprisingly, outsiders with their foreign ways are often the subject of their jokes. For example when I first arrived in the Xingu Indigenous Park, the chief put a feathered crown on my head. Little did I know that I would be the source of great amusement and jokes.
"The power of the cacique is very limited as each member of the tribe acts for himself. No one determines what an individual should do. Each Xingu Indian is a free and independent man. It is the force of culture and tribal traditions that maintain the unity of the village and tribe. Xingu Indian men do not recognize the authority of any cacique to impose penalties and punishment. Xinguano men learn early in life as boys what their position within the community is and they begin to act like an adult at an early age. When a Xinguano attains the age of twelve, he is very knowledgeable about what his responsibilities are and about the traditions of his people."
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http://www.amazon-indians.org/page16.html
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One day there will be so many houses, that people will be bored and will go live in tents. "Why are you living in tents ? Are there not enough houses ?" "Yes there are, but we play this Economy game"
Last edited by pai mei; 01-01-2010 at 07:16 AM..
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