Good Anthropology Essay Example

There are several societies in the world. These societies have their ways of life that influence their daily activities, as well as their conceptions as regard various issues in the societies, such as marriage. The family unit influences the establishment of these perceptions, which is a significant factor in the development and existence of marriages. These families influence different relations towards every member of that family, giving them a distinctive feature that identifies them among others. As such, being a marriage counselor in three societies, including the Ju/Wasi, the Trobriand Islands, and a traditional Chinese village was an opportunity to explore these differences and draw comparisons in the relations in these families that influence the differences. As the marriage counselor in these societies, clients came to me with various issues that they deemed major problems in their marriage lives, and family relations.

The Ju/Wasi

Among the Ju/Wasi, the major problem was that many of them often had conflicts in marriages over the polygyny as well as the efforts of many of the husbands associating themselves with the ideas of having several wives. Most of these conflicts over having multiple wives arose because according to the Ju/Wasi, polygamy is rare and is often mocked by individuals in the monogamous marriages. The Ju/Wasi have a societal concept that having two women in a household hinders peace in that household. Nevertheless, it is apparent that polygyny is a critical issue for the sister wives in the Ju/Wasi households, yet some of the Ju/Wasi men benefit as well as rely on their wives for their dependence. Such conflicts existed because of the desire of the husbands for more wives, where the wives were always in disagreement.

Trobriand Islands

The major problem among the Trobriand Islanders is that they change their spouses whenever they feel like it. They have even established love huts, and they settle their differences in marriages over the game of cricket. The Trobriand Islanders have a distinct attitude towards sex, and they encourage both the women and men to take lovers. Most of the villages in the Trobriand Islands have special huts, called the bukumatula dedicated for the extramarital encounters. In addition, the babies among the Trobriand Islanders are thought to be results of magic with no links between pregnancy and sex. Nevertheless, despite the existence of such customs and cultures among the Trobriand Islanders, most of the marriages have problems, especially with education and civilization.
Many of these Trobriand Islanders prefer to uphold their tradition. As such, they tend to take lovers, both the men, and the women, out of wedlock. For this reason, such encounters are often discovered especially with the availability of the special huts for the extramarital encounters. These discoveries bring conflict in the marriages. These conflicts often originate when one of the parties in the couples, either the husband or the wife fail to understand the reason behind then desire to have other lovers. As such, they feel of low value and that they are insignificant to the marriage. As such, most of them opt to quit these marriages, which often lead to the existence of other conflicts as well whereby one individual is willing to end the relationship and the other does not. Furthermore, lack of understanding of these marriages is a significant element that influences the existence of conflicts.

Traditional Chinese Village

The major problem in the marriages in the traditional Chinese villages is the rapid changes in the interpersonal relationships. In these traditional Chinese villages, there have been changes in the economic and social reforms influenced by the transformations and reforms in the mainland China. These changes have influenced the changes in the interpersonal relationships, family processes and structures, including transformations in the marriages in these traditional societies from institutional control to degrees of personal choice and opinions.
The societal concept in the Chinese traditional villages as regard the sexual behavior and marriages portrays a high degree and element of self-restraint, which depicts a sign of reverence for their partners. For instance, during conflictual conversations, most of the partners in these traditional villages are less emotionally irritable. In addition, the men in these traditional villages display a low frequency of initiating the unwelcome sexual encounters or advances. Nevertheless, not all of the individuals in these Chinese traditional villages uphold the behavior. Some of them go astray, influenced by their interpersonal relationships. Most of these individuals are those who have been influenced by the advances in the mainland China. For this reason, they develop their perceptions concerning the significance of the marriages and the ways of life concerning marriages in the traditional villages.
These variant opinions are what lead to the development of conflict in the marriages in these traditional villages. That is, when the individuals act in ways that differ with the customs of the villages, they raise questions concerning their position and view of the society. For this reason, their partners or spouses often develop indifferent attitudes toward them leading to conflicts.