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Garifuna (left), Tongans (center), and Hazda (right) Compared and Contrasted

The Hadza are a hunter-gatherer society in Tanzania. They are determined to maintain their culture and environment, but mining and sport hunting threatens their environment and land security. The Tongan people are horticulturalist that occupy a cluster of Polynesian islands. Much of their history is recorded based on the line of rulers and civil and external conflicts. The Garifuna originate from an African group that escaped being captured and enslaved by Europeans during the sixteenth to eighteenth century. The tropical climate provides a horticulturalist lifestyle with the men hunting and fishing and women working in the fields. They value their land and family and preserving their culture. There are a few similarities between these cultures. They each have a deep respect and reliance on their lands and have a desire to preserve it. They all use various indigenous plants available to them. While they don’t necessarily use ceremony or rituals to heal their sick, they do have unique attitudes towards illness, believing sickness or injury can have physical or spiritual influences. They do have different plants and methods to work with because of their distant locations. Some of these were noticed by scientists and used to develop modern medicines. In my own culture, searching for and cultivating for food or medicines. I don’t have to memorize much knowledge or techniques to care for myself. If I’m ill or injured, I consult with a doctor, and they prescribe medicines I get from a pharmacy and give me tools like braces or crutches. Medicine in my culture is very manufactured. I trust and rely on the methods of my culture, but I appreciate the more holistic, personable methods of the cultures I researched.

Citations

Golijanin, Alek. “Hadza Man.” The Voice, Athabasca University Student Union, 19 Aug. 2020,                         https://www.voicemagazine.org/2020/08/19/the-hadza-modern-hunter-gather-people-of-tanzania/.         Accessed Oct. 2020.

Tonga: traditional dance. Tongan women performing the tauʿolunga, one of Tonga's traditional dances.             Britanica. https://www.britanica.com/place/tonga/economy

“A modern day Garinagu arrival re-enactment.”  photograph, Belize.

Stiles, Daniel. “The Hadzabe of Tanzania: People and Land in Trouble.” Kenya Past and Present, no.             27 (1995): 39–44.                                                                                                                                        https://www.academia.edu/47436723/The_Hadzabe_of_Tanzania_People_and_Land_in_Trouble. 

Crittenden, Alyssa N., and N. G. (Nicholas G.) Blurton Jones. 2019. “Culture Summary: Hadza.” New         Haven: Human Relations Area Files. https://ehrafworldcultures-yale-                                                        edu.northernkentuckyuniversity.idm.oclc.org/document?id=fn11-000.

Claessen, H. J. M. 1968. “A Survey of the History of Tonga: Some New Views.” Bijdragen Tot de             Taal-, Land- En Volkenkunde Vol. 124: 505–20. https://ehrafworldcultures-yale-                                       edu.northernkentuckyuniversity.idm.oclc.org/document?id=ou09-095.

Basset, S. and Holt, E., 2021. New Zealand resident Tongan people's health and illness beliefs and                 utilization of the health care system. [online] Pacific Health Dialogue. Available at:                                 <https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sandra-                                                                                       Bassett/publication/10769196_New_Zealand_resident_Tongan_peoples'_health_and_illness_beliefs        _and_utilisation_of_the_health_care_system/links/0fcfd505a467850a98000000/New-Zealand-              resident-Tongan-peoples-health-and-illness-beliefs-and-utilisation-of-the-health-care-system.pdf>             [Accessed 24 October 2021].

González, N. L., Skoggard, I., & Beierle, J. (2005). Culture summary: Garifuna. Human Relations Area Files, 1–9. Retrieved from https://ehrafworldcultures-yale-edu.northernkentuckyuniversity.idm.oclc.org/ehrafe/citation.do?method=citation&forward=searchFullContext&col=&docId=sa12-000&tocOffsetId=tocPubInfoP.

Coe, F. G., & Anderson, G. J. (1996). Screening of medicinal plants used by the Garífuna of eastern Nicaragua for bioactive compounds. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 53(1), 29–50. https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-8741(96)01424-9