Foot binding was the custom of applying tight binding to the feet of young girls to modify the shape

of the foot. The practice possibly originated among upper class court dancers during the Five
Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period in 10th century China, then became popular among the elite
during the Song dynasty and eventually spread to all social classes by the Qing dynasty. Foot
binding became popular as a means of displaying status (women from wealthy families, who did not
need their feet to work, could afford to have them bound) and was correspondingly adopted as a
symbol of beauty in Chinese culture. Foot binding limited the mobility of women, resulting in them
walking in a swaying unsteady gait, although some women with bound feet working outdoor had also
been reported. The prevalence and practice of foot binding varied in different parts of the country.
Feet altered by binding were called lotus feet.
It has been estimated that by the 19th century, 40–50% of all Chinese women may have had bound
feet, and up to almost 100% among upper class Han Chinese women.[1] The Manchu Kangxi
Emperor tried to ban foot binding in 1664 but failed.[2] In the later part of the 19th century, Chinese
reformers challenged the practice but it was not until the early 20th century that foot binding began
to die out as a result of anti-foot-binding campaigns. Foot-binding resulted in lifelong disabilities for
most of its subjects, and a few elderly Chinese women still survive today with disabilities related to
their bound feet.[1]

Origin
There are many suggestions for the origin of foot binding.[3] One story relates that during the Shang
dynasty, the concubine Daji, who was said to have clubfoot, asked the Emperor to make footbinding
mandatory for all girls in court so that her own feet would be the standard of beauty and elegance.

The general view is that the practice is likely to have originated from the time of Emperor Li
Yu (Southern Tang of the Ten Kingdoms, just before the Song dynasty).[2] Emperor Li Yu created a
six-foot tall golden lotus decorated with precious stones and pearls, and asked his concubine Yao
Niang (zh) to bind her feet in white silk into the shape of the crescent moon, and performed a ballet-
like dance on the points of her feet on the lotus.[2][3] Yao Niang's dance was said to be so graceful
that others sought to imitate her.[5] The binding of feet was then replicated by other upper-class
women and the practice spread.[6]

In the twelfth century, in the earliest extant discourse on the practice of foot binding, Zhang
Bangji (zh) considered that a bound foot should be arch-shape and small.[10][11] A thirteenth-century
writer, Che Ruoshui (zh), complained that "little children not yet four or five years old, who have done
nothing wrong, nevertheless are made to suffer unlimited pain to bind [their feet] small. I do not know
what use this is".[12][13] Evidence from archaeology indicates that footbinding was practiced among the
wives and daughters of officials in the thirteenth century.[
The process of binding feet (also known as "lotus feet") started before the arch
had a chance to fully develop – somewhere between the ages of 4 and 9.

After soaking in warm herbs and animal blood, the toes would be curled
ove r to the sole of the foot and bound with cotton bandages.

The toes and arch would be broken with force. Unbound. Rebound. Rebound
tighter. And repeat.

It was considered better to get someone who wasn't your mum to do it: They
were less likely to bind them sympathetically loose.

The tradition is thought to have originated among the upper-class court

dancers in Imperial China around the 10th century before spreading to
the lower classes.

Since it affected their ability to walk, it came to be seen as a sign of

wealth – the wealthiest of people didn’t need to walk or work in fields.

There were various attempts to ban the tradition from the 1600s, but it didn't die
out until the early 20th century.

"Once they were praised for the size and shape of their feet."

"But they have also gone through a long period where they were vilified
and made to feel ashamed and embarrassed by the very same tradition."

"The practice of binding feet was not only considered beautiful, it was
considered necessary in order to get married and to have a better life."

"When I ask them if they could go back, whether they would have their
feet bound again, the majority of them say no."

"On dozens of occasions, these women bound their own feet as young
girls, and were not pressurised into doing it by their mothers or family."

"It was a societal pressure. All the other girls in the village had their feet
bound."

"They didn't want to be left out. They wanted to ensure they had a good
future and could marry into a more affluent family.”
Lip plate
The lip plate, also known as a lip plug or lip disc, is a form of body modification. Increasingly large
discs (usually circular, and made from clay or wood) are inserted into a pierced hole in either the
upper or lower lip, or both, thereby stretching it. The term labret denotes all kinds of pierced-lip
ornaments, including plates and plugs.
Archaeological evidence indicates that labrets have been independently[citation needed] invented no fewer
than six times, in Sudan and Ethiopia (8700 BC), Mesoamerica (1500 BC), and Coastal Ecuador
(500 BC).[1] Today, the custom is maintained by a few groups in Africa and Amazonia.

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”. Owing to its relativity, beauty takes on different ideas
and forms throughout different cultures and societies. To the Mursi women, modifying their
appearances through the insertion of the lip-plate symbolises the pride and grace
associated with being a woman. More importantly, the lip-plate serves as a mark of the
Mursi ethnic identity and holds great significance in the Mursi culture.

The lip-plate and its significance

When a Mursi girl reaches puberty, her lower lip is cut to insert a small wooden peg. Once
her lip has been cut and stretched over a period of time, she is defined as being sexually
mature. Through this process, the girl attains a new identity. She becomes a bansanai, an
indication of her transition from a girl to a woman. Tied tightly to fertility and eligibility for
marriage, the lip-plate signifies womanhood.

Women are expected to wear her lip-plate in several occasions, such as when she sets her
husband’s garchu (basket for carrying sorghum porridge) or kedem (gourd containing
coffee, sour milk or boiled leaves). In such occasions, a woman who has not had her lip cut
or fails to wear her lip-plate is said to become vulnerable in the presence of men. Hence it is
criticised that she will serve her husband in haste as she feels uncomfortable and self-
conscious without a lip-plate. Thus, she is deemed to lack the grace associated with
womanhood-to be calm, quiet, hardworking and above all, proud.

Also, a woman who wears a lip-plate is believed to have a healthier cow. Thus, she would
be able to collect more milk from a cow than a woman not wearing a lip-plate. In Shauna
LaTosky’s field research among the Mursi, she recorded a conversation with a Mursi
woman, Bi Kalumi, on the grace her daughter-in-law without a lip-plate lack when milking a
cow
"When the mother returns and the calf is released from its pen and given to its mother, she should
wait until the udder is warm and full of milk. But Nya Besse does not have her lip cut. She always
rushes,’dhel,dhel,dhel!’ and does not leave enough time before the calf is given milk. She does not
take time first to stretch and adjust her lip, and put in her lip-plate. She milks immediately and so the
calf is always thin. If she has her lip cut, the calf is always big and fat. She will wait for the udder to
become warm before she unties it and takes it to its mother. This way it will not become thin. She can
tie the calf back up and still get milk from the mother. That’s what I want to say."
There are also occasions a woman is whipped by their husbands when she serves her husband and his
guest coffee, sorghum or milk without wearing her lip-plate. Hence, women who do not wear their
lip-plates are subjected to scrutiny by both other men and women.
A widow is expected to throw away her lip-plates and never wear them again, even if she is taken in
by the brother of her husband. As such, the lip-plate serves as a reminder of a woman’s commitment
to her husband. However, there are exceptions if the woman is very young and has not born any
children from her previous marriage.
As the ideology of the modern world begins to permeate and influence the secluded society
of the Mursi tribe, Mursi women look to better themselves through education, which could
aid them in their first steps into the modern society. This would mean that they would have
to give up the lip-plate in order to blend into the modern world. As such, the lip-plate is seen
as an obstacle for women in becoming a fully educated ‘citizen of the state’. The younger
generation view the lip-plate as a sign of backwardness. In an effort to embrace modernity,
they choose not to cut their lips or wear lip-plates.
On the other hand, it is precisely this unique tradition that has attracted tourists and
subsequently introduced this secular tribe to the modern world. Generally, the older
generation of Mursi believe that the lip-plate is a symbol of the Mursi ethnic identity. They
believe that it is this tradition that makes them unique. Discarding the lip-plate would be akin
to losing one’s ethnic identity. Hence, there are Mursi who still take pride in their culture
despite the influences and temptations of the modern world.

Conclusion
As the modern world gradually penetrate the lives of secluded tribes such as the Mursi, it is
inevitable that certain beliefs and cultures are threatened. More often than not, these
indigenous people leave not only their communities but also vital aspects of their culture
behind when they venture beyond their tribes into a world where blending in is paramount to
survival.

Its no more ‘unnatural’ than breast implants or a nose job. Its less extreme in my opinion. You could die under
anesthesia. My lip is stretched. Im in Oklahoma, not a ‘3rd world’ area. Lets choose our words carefully. Just cause
somethings different doesn’t make it bad or wrong.

Cultural Anthropology -Study of people today

Archaelogy -Study of people through their artifacts (bones, tools, etc.)
Biological Anthropology -Studies: human evolution, human variation, other primates, etc.
Applied Anthropology -Solves real world problems (like the show "Bones")
Linguistics -Studies communication and language

 Archaeology examines our past ways of life through the interpretation of material culture, organic remains,
written records, and oral traditions.
 the study of human history and prehistory through the excavation of sites and the analysis
of artifacts and other physical remains.
 the study of ancient cultures through examination of their buildings, tools, and
other objects
 Archaeology, also spelled archeology, the scientific study of the material
remains of past human life and activities. These include
human artifacts from the very earliest stone tools to the man-made objects
that are buried or thrown away in the present day: everything made by
 human beings—from simple tools to complex machines, from the earliest
houses and temples and tombs to palaces, cathedrals, and pyramids.
Archaeological investigations are a principal source of knowledge of
prehistoric, ancient, and extinct culture. The word comes from the
Greek archaia (“ancient things”) and logos (“theory” or “science”).

 Biological Anthropology deals with the evolution of the human body, mind and behavior as inferred through
study of fossils and comparisons with behavior and anatomy of other primate species.
 Cultural Anthropology explores the diversity of existing human ways of life, how they work, how they change,
and how they interrelate in the modern world.
 Linguistic Anthropology examines the structure and diversity of language and related human communication
systems.
 In addition to the four traditional subfields, some have suggested that Applied Anthropology constitutes a
distinct subfield. Applied Anthropology emphasizes how the theories, techniques and methods of anthropology
can be employed to facilitate stability or change and solve problems in real world situations.

Tristes Tropiques (the French title translates literally as "Sad Tropics") is a memoir, first
published in France in 1955, by the anthropologist and structuralist Claude Lévi-Strauss.[1] It
documents his travels and anthropological work, focusing principally on Brazil,

it as one of the 20th century's 'great books'

Philippe Bourgois (born 1956) is Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Center for Social
Medicine and Humanities in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California at Los
Angeles.

Publications[edit]
In addition to his three ethnographies Bourgois has published five edited volumes,
including Violence in War and Peace (2004 Blackwell), co-edited with Nancy Scheper-Hughes and
most recently, "Violence at the Urban Margins" (2015 Oxford), co-edited with Javier Auyero
and Nancy Scheper-Hughes. He published an ethnographic study of East Harlem crack dealers, In
Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio (Cambridge University Press. 1995). Bourgois is also
the author of over 150 academic and popular press articles addressing segregation in the U.S. inner
city, homelessness, gender violence, immigration and labor conflict, substance abuse, HIV, and
intimate violence. He also published an article on his father's escape from Auschwitz ("Missing the
Holocaust").[2]

In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio[edit]

Bourgois' ethnographic research of the crack dealers and their families revealed the structural
barriers that marginalized the minority group of Puerto Ricans, and how their violent street culture
further isolated them from mainstream society.[3]
The violent street culture as necessary for them to gain respect within their own marginalized
groups. Many of the drug dealers did, in fact, want to enter the legal workforce, however, they were
often subject to prejudice and with their lack of education and gap in employment history when they
were selling drugs, they were often rejected or could only get jobs at minimum wage. Many
subsequently returned to the drug trade.[4]
Key informant interviews are qualitative in-depth interviews with people who know what is
going on in the community. The purpose of key informant interviews is to collect information
from a wide range of people—including community leaders, professionals, or residents—who
have first hand knowledge about the community.

Enculturation is the process by which people learn the requirements of their

surrounding culture and acquire values and behaviours appropriate or necessary in that culture.[1] As
part of this process, the influences that limit, direct, or shape the individual (whether deliberately or
not) include parents, other adults, and peers. If successful, enculturation results in competence in
the language, values, and rituals of the culture.[1]
Enculturation is related to socialization. In some academic fields, socialization refers to the
deliberate shaping of the individual. In others, the word may cover both deliberate and informal
enculturation.[1]
Conrad Phillip Kottak (in Window on Humanity) writes:
Enculturation is the process where the culture that is currently established teaches an individual the
accepted norms and values of the culture or society where the individual lives. The individual can
become an accepted member and fulfill the needed functions and roles of the group. Most
importantly the individual knows and establishes a context of boundaries and accepted behavior that
dictates what is acceptable and not acceptable within the framework of that society. It teaches the
individual their role within society as well as what is accepted behavior within that society and
lifestyle.

Enculturation is sometimes referred to as acculturation, a word recently used to more distinctively

refer only to exchanges of cultural features with foreign cultures. Note that this is a recent
development, as acculturation in some literatures has the same meaning as enculturation.
What kind of houses did the Inuit live in?
The summer home was a tent made out of caribou or sealskins hung off a frame made
of driftwood or whale rib bones. The Inuit lived in igloos in the winter. Theigloo was
made from hard packed snow. They had knives made of bone, and later, steel, to cut
snow blocks.

The Inuit live throughout most of Northern Canada in the territory of Nunavut, Nunavik in
the northernthird of Quebec, Nunatsiavut and NunatuKavut in Labrador, and in various parts of
the Northwest Territories, particularly around the Arctic Ocean.

he tupiq[1] (plural: tupiit,[2] Inuktitut syllabics: ᑐᐱᖅ[3]) is a traditional Inuit tent made from
seal[4] or caribou[5] skin. Inuit must kill 5 to 10 ugjuk[1][6] (bearded seals) to make a sealskin tent. If a
man goes hunting for four to five[clarification needed], he would bring a small tent made out of five ugjuit. A
family tent would be made of ten or more ugjuit.

Fabrication and use[edit]

After the bearded seal is killed, its fat is scraped off, then the skin is stretched to dry. Finally, women
will sew it together to make a tent.
The tupiq was used on the land not on the sea ice. It was portable for travel and lasted several
years. When stored over the winter, the tupiq had to be kept away from dogs. In the summer the
tupiq was used as shelter, then in the fall when it got colder, the Inuit moved into sod
houses (qammaq) and the tupiq was used for the roof. In winter, the Inuit lived in igluit when the
snow was good enough to build them. Then in the spring when the iglu melted, they moved back into
the tupiq.
The tupiq was important traditionally, but is rarely used in modern times. Today most Inuit use
canvas tents called tupikhaq.[1]

A maladaptation (/ˌmælædæpˈteɪʃən/) is a trait that is (or has become) more harmful than
helpful, in contrast with an adaptation, which is more helpful than harmful. All organisms, from
bacteria to humans, display maladaptive and adaptive traits.

Maladaptation
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A maladaptation (/ˌmælædæpˈteɪʃən/) is a trait that is (or has become) more harmful than helpful, in
contrast with an adaptation, which is more helpful than harmful. All organisms,
from bacteria to humans, display maladaptive and adaptive traits. In animals (including
humans), adaptive behaviors contrast with maladaptive ones. Like adaptation, maladaptation may
be viewed as occurring over geological time, or within the lifetime of one individual or a group.
It can also signify an adaptation that, whilst reasonable at the time, has become less and less
suitable and more of a problem or hindrance in its own right, as time goes on. This is because it is
possible for an adaptation to be poorly selected or become less appropriate or even become on
balance more of a dysfunction than a positive adaptation, over time.
 Note that the concept of maladaptation, as initially discussed in a late 19th-century context, is based
on a flawed view of evolutionary theory. It was believed that an inherent tendency for an organism's
adaptations to degenerate would translate into maladaptations and soon become crippling if not
"weeded out" (see also Eugenics). In reality, the advantages conferred by any one adaptation are
rarely decisive for survival on its own but rather balanced against other synergistic and antagonistic
adaptations, which consequently cannot change without affecting others.
In other words, it is usually impossible to gain an advantageous adaptation without incurring
"maladaptations". Consider a seemingly trivial example: it is apparently extremely hard for an animal
to evolve the ability to breathe well in air and in water. Better adapting to one means being less able
to do the other.

Contents
[hide]

 1Examples
 2See also
 3References
 4External links

Examples[edit]
 During periods of climate change, such as global warming or cooling, species that were well
adapted in the original climate may be maladapted to the new climate and die out, if they are
prevented from shifting their range due to geological or man-made barriers. More generally,
maladaptation to climate change refers to situations where climate funding may support
initiatives that are actually harmful for the socio-ecological systems. Rather insidiously, initiatives
may fail to meet their stated objectives, may have unintended consequences (blow-back) and
might in certain instances increase vulnerability over longer time-frames.[1] For instance, it has
been proposed that insurance for hazards such as flooding or storms may undermine efforts to
encourage property owners to install measures that will reduce their overall vulnerability such as
by adopting property level resilience.[2] Guidelines for avoiding such maladaptation to climate
change have been proposed.[3]
 Resistance to antibiotics is usually an adaptation/maladaption issue from the point of view of
infective agents: the initial disease agents are well adapted to the physiological conditions of
their host and can proliferate. When antibiotics are employed, those organisms that have no or
little resistance against them are at a disadvantage. However, being able to detoxify antibiotics
comes at a price: the mechanisms conferring antibiotic resistance (e.g. beta-lactamase) are
rarely useful for any other purpose. Hence, energy that would otherwise be available to grow
and reproduce is diverted for antibiotics detoxification. To an infective organism, it is thus a
trade-off between being able to outgrow resistant strains in the absence of antibiotics, and being
able to detoxify antibiotics if these are encountered. An evolutionarily stable strategy is thus not
possible, if antibiotics are not used indiscriminately.
 Dodos were able to cope with the climate conditions on Mauritius. There, during parts of the
year semiarid conditions predominate, and plants produce relatively little biomass that dodos
would have used as food (such as fruits), whereas in the wet season there is an overabundance
of food. Dodos apparently adapted to this by building up fat deposits when food was plentiful,
and adjusting their breeding cycle to climate conditions. Confronted with humans and introduced
predators, this proved ultimately fatal: humans would believe the fat dodos were good to eat and
would hunt them, or simply kill them for fun because of their funny appearance and awkward
movements. The breeding cycle, which originally ensured that as little effort as possible was
invested in reproduction made them vulnerable to the introduced pigs and monkeys, as there
 was little possibility for a dodo whose egg had been destroyed to re-nest before the year's
reproductive season was over.
 A term used known as neuroplasticity is defined as "the brain's ability to reorganize itself by
forming new neural connections throughout life".[4] Neuroplasticity is seen as an adaptation that
helps humans to adapt to new stimuli, especially through motor functions in musically inclined
people, as well as several other hand-eye coordination activities. An example of maladaptation
in neuroplasticity within the evolution of the brain is phantom pain in individuals who have lost
limbs. While the brain is exceptionally good at responding to stimuli and reorganizing itself in a
new way to then later respond even better and faster in the future, it sometimes is unable to
cope with the loss of a limb, even though the neurological connections are lost. One journal
"Adaptation and Maladaptation" found that in some cases, the changes that had previously
aided the human brain to best suit an environment could also become maladaptive.[5] In this
case, with the loss of a limb, the brain is perceiving pain, though there are no nerves or signals
from the now missing limb to give the brain that perception.

Cultural evolution” is the idea that human cultural change––that is, changes in socially
transmitted beliefs, knowledge, customs, skills, attitudes, languages, and so on––can be
described as a Darwinian evolutionary process that is similar in key respects (but not
identical) to biological/genetic evolution.
Cultural evolution is an evolutionary theory of social change.
Cultural evolution, also known as sociocultural evolution, was originally developed in the 19th
century by anthropologists stemming from Charles Darwin's research on evolution. Today, cultural
evolution has become the basis for a growing field scientific research in the social sciences,
including anthropology, economics, psychology and organizational studies. Previously, it was
believed that social change resulted from biological adaptations, but anthropologists now commonly
accept that social changes arise in consequence of a combination of social, evolutionary and
biological influences.[1][2]
There have been a number of different approaches to the study of cultural evolution, including dual
inheritance theory, sociocultural evolution, memetics, cultural evolutionism and other variants
on cultural selection theory. The approaches differ not just in the history of their development and
discipline of origin but in how they conceptualize the process of cultural evolution and the
assumptions, theories and methods that they apply to its study. In recent years, there has been a
convergence of the cluster of related theories towards seeing cultural evolution as a unified
discipline in its own right.[3][4] In 2017, the Cultural Evolution Society held its inaugural meeting
in Jena, Germany.
“Cultural evolution” is the idea that human cultural change––that is, changes in socially
transmitted beliefs, knowledge, customs, skills, attitudes, languages, and so on––can be
described as a Darwinian evolutionary process that is similar in key respects (but not identical)
to biological/geneticevolution.

Diffusionism refers to the diffusion or transmission of cultural characteristics or traits from the
common society to all other societies. They criticized the Psychic unity of mankind of
evolutionists. ... According to them all cultures originated at one point and then spread
throughout the world.
Cultural diffusion is the spread of cultural beliefs and social activities from one group to
another. The mixing of world cultures through different ethnicities, religions and nationalities
has increased with advanced communication, transportation and technology.

Historicism is the idea of attributing meaningful significance to space and time, such as
historical period, geographical place, and local culture. Historicism tends to be hermeneutical
because it values cautious, rigorous, and contextualized interpretation of information; or
relativist, because it rejects notions of universal, fundamental and immutable interpretations.[1]
The approach varies from individualist theories of knowledge such as empiricism and
rationalism, which neglect the role of traditions.

The term "historicism" (Historismus) was coined by German philosopher Karl Wilhelm Friedrich
Schlegel.[2] Over time it has developed different and somewhat divergent meanings. Elements
of historicism appear in the writings of French essayist Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) and
Italian philosopher G. B. Vico (1668–1744), and became more fully developed with the dialectic
of Georg Hegel (1770–1831), influential in 19th-century Europe. The writings of Karl Marx,
influenced by Hegel, also include historicism. The term is also associated with the empirical
social sciences and with the work of Franz Boas.

Historicism may be contrasted with reductionist theories—which assumes that all developments
can be explained by fundamental principles (such as in economic determinism)—or with
theories that posit that historical changes occur as a result of random chance.

The Austrian-English philosopher Karl Popper condemned historicism along with the
determinism and holism which he argued formed its basis. In his Poverty of Historicism, he
identified historicism with the opinion that there are "inexorable laws of historical destiny", which
opinion he warned against. This contrasts with the contextually relative interpretation of
historicism for which its proponents argue. Talcott Parsons criticized historicism as a case of
idealistic fallacy in The Structure of Social Action (1937).

Post-structuralism uses the term "New Historicism", which has some associations with both
anthropology and Hegelianism.

The theological use of the word denotes the interpretation of biblical prophecy as being related
to church history.