Emily Zimmer
Soc 201
Kare Ferraro
10/19/2018
Ethnicity
PART 1
1. My ancestors are from the Federal Republic of Germany in central-western Europe. Now more commonly called Germany. In the country of Germany, they practice German culture.
2. My ancestors all left between 1905-1915 due to the unrest in the country with the government and the up leading to World War I. I found out this information from my Grandfather, he knew this because it was his Great Grandma that had come here from Germany.
3. One of the common geographic features important to the country of Germany is the abundant forest located throughout the country. Berlin is the capital of the country. Germany has an estimated population as of 2018 of 82.29 million people. Making it rank 17th most populated country in the world. Germany is bordered by a total of nine countries including Denmark to the north, Poland and the Czech Republic to the east, Austria and Switzerland boarding the south. As well as France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and Netherlands. You can find the climate in Germany to be much like that of the United States, with four seasons where it gets hotter in the summer and cold in the winter with intermediate temperatures in the transitional seasons like fall. Hamburg Watts and the Black Forest are two popular natural wonders within the country. Hamburg watts also known as Wadden sea is a vast mud flat stretching along the coastline filled with a wide variety of biological diversity. The Black Forest is one of Germany’s largest natural parks, with wide forest and mountain peaks looking out to breathtaking views. One of the most famous landmarks in Europe is the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. Being the only surviving gate left in Berlin, symbolizing the reunification of east and west Berlin after the Cold War. If you have ever wondered where the inspiration for the sleeping beauty castles in Disneyland park came from it was from the famous Neuschwanstein castle in Germany. One of the most photographed buildings in the country, commissioned by King Ludwig II. Two of the most well-known people from Germany are Adolf Hitler and Albert Einstein. Hitler was known for his role of the prosecution of Jews, he was elected chancellor of Germany in 1933 and was the dictator till the end of World War II in 1945. Einstein was a theoretical physicist, he created one of the most famous equations (E=mc^2). In 1921 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics. World War II was a global war that took place in Germany from 1939-1945. It was one of the deadliest conflicts in human history and the only war to use nuclear weapons. Germany is also known for the Holocaust, led by Adolf Hilter where the Nazi’s killed six million European Jews.
4. I will be analyzing the ten year time period between 2008-2018. I am choosing this period because it will be the simplest to show the culture of Germany.
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PART 2A
1. Germany uses five of the six subsistence strategies.
Horticulture is using only hand-held tools to farm. Examples of this in Germany is potatoes, they use shovels to dig them up and divide the labor by rows. Another example of this is grapes they pick the grapes by hand and divide the labor by vineyards.
Agriculture is farming using more than hand held tools. In Germany they use agriculture to farm barley and sugar beets. The technology used to harvest barley is a combine. A combine collects the whole stalk as you drive through the rows. They divide the labor up by fields. To harvest sugar beets they use a pinch wheel harvester which pinches the root of the sugar beet and removes it from the soil. The division of labor for sugar beets is by families.
Pastoralism is caring for animals. They care for pigs and cattle in Germany they keep the animals in one field by using fences they also use barns to store all the animals. They divide the labor up by herd and by family.
Information is using information. They use information for public transportation. The technology used here is maps and the division of labor is by routes. Information is used for ice hockey as well in Germany the technology needed is ice skates and a hockey puck. They divide the labor up by teams and skill level.
Industrialism is making a lot of the same thing over and over. In Germany they make a lot of sausage and colored pencils, using assembly lines and splitting the work up by shifts and by wages.
PART 2B
1. Germany has a centralized political government the individuals are not self sufficient, the power is controlled by others, controlled by those who are in charge. Political models used in this country include Democracy which is includes officials who are elected for office by the voting. Totalitarian has one person in charge called a dictator who has total control and Monarchy is a royal family in charge by God given control. The Main Political model in Germany is Democracy the chancellor and the federal president hold the legitimacy the authority is established by voting. Internal Governmental Control is power established inside the country to maintain order like the German army. External Governmental control is power used outside the country like the exportation of cars to other countries. Internal Political control on the individual are things learned from the culture that are within the individual ———-. External political control on the individual are things society tells the individual that are right or wrong for example in Germany an informal positive is cheering, an informal negative would be yelling. Formal positive is getting a diploma and a formal negative is having to sit in a time out.
2. The main type of reciprocal obligation is negative reciprocal obligation where both groups involved in the exchange try to get as much as they can. ————————————–
3. In Germany 70% of the population practices Christianity and the other 28% are Secular. Christianity is the belief in one God which is monotheism and Secular do not believe in a God. Christianity is the belief that there is one God who died for your sins, you then ask God into your life and once you die you will live eternally in heaven. The main denominations of Christianity practiced in Germany are Lutheran Protestant (38%) and Roman Catholic (34%). The main differences between these two denominations of Christianity is that Lutherans believe that you are salvation is by faith alone and grace alone not by works. While in the Roman Catholic faith they believe in the seven sacraments; initiation, confirmation, eucharist, reconciliation, anointing of the sick, holy orders and holy matrimony.
4. The main type of marriage found in Germany is Monogamy where you marry only one person, the individual gets the choice of who they want to marry called love match. My friends’ parents from Germany are in a monogamy relationship and where able to meet each other and decide if they wished to get married or not. Once a couple is married, they and their children will live together in a house of their choosing, this is called neolocal post-marital residence. Family is important to the culture a typical family normally has only two children they have nuclear family unit in which it is just the husband wife and their children living together. The most important descent is a unilineal descent group traced through only one side of the family in Germany it is traced through the father’s side making it a patrilineal descent group. ——————————-
PART 3
1. Oktoberfest is held every year in Munich, Germany. It is the festival of beer lasting anywhere form 16 days to 18 days. Where up to 7.7 million liters are being consumed in the days of the festival. The culture of Germany is known for the large amounts of beer they drink and produce tying Oktoberfest largely to the culture of Germans. This interested me because I like beer and who wouldn’t want to drink beer for 16-18 days.
2. In Germany instead of sending your kids to a kindergarten, like we do in the United States, they go to what’s called a forest kindergarten, which is a school held outside in the woods. They then spend their entire day outside in any weather, they eat and use the bathroom outside, and enjoy the nature. Germans have a different approach to school showing their respect for the natural things. I would have loved to go to school outside when I was younger.
3. Something I found very interesting about Germany was their respect for Sundays and making them days to relax. Most stores are closed on Sundays and they have laws and rules about being too loud. For example, you are not allowed to drill or play musical instruments on this day because it will disturb the peace and quiet of your neighbors. I would enjoy Sundays like this where everything isn’t just constantly on the move.
4. Most of the Germans leisure time is spent in clubs. They have over 300,000 clubs in the country that the Germans of any age can take part in. They value the time spent with others, meeting new people and doing things that interest them. They have clubs for almost anything you can imagine. Sports clubs happen to be some of the most popular, I would join a rock-climbing club because that has always seemed like a fun thing to try and Germany has the mountains for it.
5. Nudity is a normal thing in Germany a lot of their lakes and beaches people will be nude at. They value the idea of being able to express yourself how you wish so if you wish to not wear clothes then you may choose not to. It is quite popular in the country I would not know how to feel about a nude beach I think I would have to skip the beach.
PART 4
1. I found this article on a website that had all the current news happening in Germany.
2. I used this article because the heading jumped out at me and made me want to read it to find out what happened. I had never heard of this kind of thing happening before, so I wanted to read it and see what the details were about the case.
3. This case was the largest serial killing case since postwar. I think that relates a lot to the country of Germany as in terms of it not being that violent of a country since this is the biggest case in the past several decades.
4. I found it very interesting that this man got away with killing patients for as long as he did and that other doctors, he worked with didn’t say anything sooner. I also found it odd that he had been in prison in 2006 for attempting murder and that he didn’t get his nursing license taken from him at that time.
Bibliography:
Written
Ann, Byers. Germany A Primary Source Cultural Guide. New York, The Rosen Publishing Group’s, 2005.
Flint, David. Focus on Germany. Milwaukee, World Almanac Library, 2006.
Idson, John E. Countries and Their Culture, Advameg, 2018. Accessed 17 Oct. 2018.
Interview-
I interviewed my Grandmother, Suzanne Zimmer, on 10/20 and 11/16.She just visited Germany in 2016 on a Viking cruise through Europe.
Visual (Documentary)
Rowlatt, Justin, and Bee Rowlatt, adapter. Culture Awareness Make me a German. , BBC productions. Accessed 17 Nov. 2018.
News Article
Huggler, Justin. The Telegraph, Telegraph Media Group Limited, 30 Oct. 2018. Accessed 17 Nov. 2018.
