Family Values and the Human Touch

I don't know about you guys but I am a fairly 'touchy' guy. I enjoy hugging people and expressing my friendship and love physically. I generally find that most people are the same minus the few who absolutely hate hugs. After a several weeks in the jungle, I discovered that this method of showing affection is very Western and I was left trying to find new methods of showing such love to people who see physicality in an entirely different light.

People in the Sursurunga tribe see physical touch as a sexual gesture. In their culture, a man and a woman holding hands in public is equivalent to a man and woman having sex in public in our culture in terms of shock value. Hugging is not even considered. 

Which makes you wonder what a family unite must look like.

Once a brother reaches puberty it is mandatory that he leave his house and never interact with his sister. This doesn't mean that he leaves the village, it simply means he can't go back into his house or involve himself in the privacy of his sister.

If a brother and sister are seen going into the same house together it is presumed that they are participating in something sexually deviant.

The men end up raising themselves in what they call "Men's Houses" where the village elders and young men meet, smoke, and discuss life.

If you are married in that tribe you may not engage in sexual activity in your house. Instead, you must take a trip to "the jungle" and finish your business there.

There is such an extreme sense of privacy and a distance from physical emotion in that culture even among family - so much so, that I began to go through emotional withdrawal. You are surrounded by people that you cannot communicate with and cannot interact with physically. How do you show them that you love them? That you care about them?

Emotional improvisation was a unique experience. I hugged and kissed my family when I got home.

Your friendly neighborhood giant,

~Alan