So I had to write a 2-3 page essay for my personal values class, and I'd like you guys' critique of it. Here's the assignment: Imagine that, shipwrecked, you find yourself on an island. You soon discover that this fairly inhabited island has no written, generally accepted laws, or central government, though islanders share a common language. Consider the following questions: What would life be in such a place? How would people behave and interact with each other? What kind of property may people own on this island? What kind of environmental, psychological, and social factors would determine the answers to the previous questions? What would happen to this community during a longer period of time ("history")? Would you want to live on such an island? He's not grading on any 'right answers', mostly the arguments presented and the insight, originality, and substance of the essay, so if you critique it, please keep that in mind and don't bash my imagined island. And my essay: Hope somebody responds
Nice it was very unbiased and logical, but do you really think sex could be ignored? If they are humans they are going to have desires and therefore they have to be released in some manner.
Thank you, I try very hard to be. Honestly, that was the one thing I had trouble accepting in this scenario. Actually, I was trying to make a joke to make my paper a little more memorable, but now I'm afraid he's going to use that to argue against my idea.. Anyway, I suppose my defense to that is in their appreciation of the island. They're primitive, but they recognize that their means of survival take a toll on the island. They respect the island enough to take care of it, and since I couldn't think of a way for them to have a form of birth control with such limited resources (but maybe I'm just not creative enough haha), they limit their conception. It could be argued that they worship the island as their own form of God, but either way it's a strong enough motivator for them to give up sex. They can still do all foreplay, so they have an outlet for their natural physical urges. But this is why I think that over time, they will not die out. It's not really because of their primitivity, but because of their level of devotion and respect. Thank you for actually reading it and questioning it, I was afraid no one would actually do it, but I only just came up with that reasoning. It was only because you made me explain it that I could come up with (at least what I think is) a feasible explanation for that, cause it was the one thing I had issues with, but it seemed to fit with the idea so well.
Yea no problem and I see what you mean. Their devotion to their god (the island) takes priority and their sexuality kind of takes the backseat. Btw you from Wooster? (couldn't resist) I'm from Boston.
haha I'm actually from Maine, I'm going to school here. I've only been to Boston a few times, but it's always a good time
Problem I spot is in the division of labor, women traditionally were the gatherers and agriculturalists while the men were primarily hunters and fishers. Women too old to be as active tended to perform child care, and young children of both sexes tended to have small chores that were done under supervision. I am of course paingint with a pretty broad brush, but it is a decent rule of thumb generality. My specialized field of research in re nomads was actually on turkmenistani of 4th through 12th century CE, and there may be newer information available that I have not kept up with. Unfortunately the resources I once had in Turkmenistan are unavailable thanks to the rather repressive religious based regime in the area. I can only hope that my old contacts are still alive and just not allowed access to internet [most of them were female scholars.] You might want to check out this wiki, Another issue is in gender hierarchies - marriage, warfare, ownership of land and possessions. Some apparent male dominated societies actually are matrilineal [judaism is an excellent example of this.] To be blunt, casual bastardy is fairly common, the only parent you can be certain of is the mother. Hm, food preservation. The ocean is an almost limitless source of salt, and there is also drying and smoking as preservation. There is no particular reason not to preserve meat and fish, or even many vegetables and fruits. Those nasty el Sabroso saltidos are a perfect example of salt preserved fruit that makes sense in an area that is hot and sweaty, salt and electrolites. Blargh =) Beef jerkey, chorizo sausage, prosciutto, bacalao, fruit leather, the Inca made freeze dried potato slices ... all forms of food preservation. Sorry to pick it apart =( I was minoring in anthro back when I was in university. I would still love to go back to university and actually become an archeologist.