The Mountain People Analysis

The book “The Mountain People” is written by a famous anthropologist, Colin Macmillan Turnbull. This book examines the culture of the Ik, which are a group of people numbering around 10,000 living in the mountains of north-eastern Uganda, who are suffering from famine brought by the catastrophic droughts. Turnbull had stayed and had involved with the life of the Ik, he then writes about the frightening experiences that he had and witnessed such as the disregard of the relationships between families, lovers, peers and community, which provokes a strong sense of individuality. The book raises a lot of ethical issues and questions which concern the basic human nature. A few extracts from the book has expressed a wide range of “ferocious behaviours”

By referring to what can we interpret it as inhumane? Is it inhumane when their intension is just to strive for survival and even a good intension? Concluding all questions, a knowledge questions of this essay will “How can inhumanity and depravity be recognised and categorised?”. Despite the fact that “inhumanity” and “depravity” can hardly be quantified and explained in exact terms, numbers or theories, but it can be recognised by common sense which I argue it is bounded by our environment, our upbringing and our culture. The act of inhumane can also be categorised by the laws we which can varies in different places with different background. In this essay, I will take you through on how can inhumanity and depravity be categorised or recognised and what are the considerations and cautions we have to be aware of when

Culture is a flexible and intangible yet concrete that you can feel its existence. I will say culture is a crucial factor that keeps the development of a society sustainable. Different degree of things can also be affected by culture, such as food, language, education, traditions… Culture can also be influenced and changed and geography is a salient factor that affects the development and formation of a culture. The development of a culture is always determined where it is situated. For example, people who lives in Africa or places where hunting is the only way to get the source of food, they will most likely to be athletic and good runners. In Japan, for example, because they are surrounded by the ocean where they can easily gain access to fresh ingredients from the sea and their food culture is mostly associated with seafood. While putting that into application, we can deduce that our behaviour is somewhat influenced by the external factor, culture. The Ik, themselves will not categorised the act of throwing a child out at three years old as inhumane, since within their cultural boundary anyone cannot take good care of themselves can be considered as a burden, a hazard to survival. The most important thing in their life would be food. We should not expect that the Ik will have compassion for others, instead raising a child for three years can be considered as a