Cross Cultural Comparisons of Two Cultures

This paper will compare two such studies of divergent cultures: the Basseri Tribes of the Khamseh Confederacy in what is now Iran, and village life in the southern sections of the Indian subcontinent. For the material on India, the paper will rely on work by Professor Alan R. Beals, formerly of the University of California, Riverside. The work on the Basseri was compiled by Frederik Barth, a Norwegian anthropologist, in the late 1950s.

Barth studied the Basseri in 1957 and 1958, under the auspices of a UNESCO grant. His major focus in the work is as a general ecological study, specifically looking at the quality of adaptation that the tribesmen were able to accomplish. In this, Barth believes that the study of the Basseri was able to provide scholars with indications about nomadic life and human adaptational origins (Barth, 1961, iiii).

Beals believes that the South Indian Village is one of the primal aspects of human civilization. "Its passage through the shoals of time testifies to the success of South Indian civilization in managing the problems of survival" (Beals, 1974, p. 10). He spent

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clude sheep and goats as producers, donkeys as transportation, and dogs for warning and guarding. Additionally, most Basseri men aspire to own horses, yet those are considered a luxury by most standards. The basic economic activity of the tribe is nomadic herding. They obtain birthright to certain pastures, and the tribe does not limit the number of animals a tent may own as long as those animals do not infringe on other grazing areas. Indeed, the Basseri clearly limit their economic activities to herding, for in a nomadic existence, any other activity would be superfluous (Barth, 1961, pp. 1015). Economic life in South India is characterized by a threetiered market system that permits exchange between the various villages, uses religious organization and worship as exchange modes, and in recent times by an organized and bureaucratic system of government. The system of trade and marketing reflects the economic reality of village life characterized by a village system that is unable to produce all that it consumes or consume all that it produces. However, basic economic decisions concerning agriculture are made at the household level, even though exchange prices depend on a variety of external factors. Based on demographic
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Some common words found in the essay are:
South Indian, Beals Including, South India, Arabic Persian, Barth Beals, Barth Norwegian, Telugu Andhra, , Additionally Basseri, India Beals, beals 1974, barth 1961, village life, south indian, south india, 1974 pp, beals 1974 pp, 1961 pp, barth 1961 pp, life south india, life south, indian village, religious organization, south indian village, matrilineal affinal relationships,
Approximate Word count = 2586
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)

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