Cultural Changes In The Yapese Culture

A massive and sudden influx of tourism can bring about massive cultural changes. The Yapese people have been changing with time, because no culture stays the same forever. Money has already been incorporated into Yapese marriages and funerals. Once a marriage is declared, gifts are given from each group’s estate (tabinaw) that is gendered male (thumag) or female (ggaan). Similar gifts are also given to the host of a funeral. Imported goods have been incorporated into these gift giving practices as well. Items like bags of rice or canned fish can be used in these ceremonies, instead of fresh caught fish or homegrown vegetables. Since the wage economy has also been present within their society for generations, money can be used in place of the gendered gifts. To the Yapese people, money is not gendered, therefore, it can be given by anyone. This would allow the Yapese …show more content…
Even though the Yapese people have incorporated the imported items and work in the wage economy, they still retain their self-identity as Yapese people, and if ETG’s project comes to fruition, the change may be too drastic. First, ETG leasing the land from the Yapese people would cause problems with the way they inherit the land. Land is passed from a brother and sister pair to the children of the brother, which is another brother and sister pair. The inheritors and the wife of the land giving brother must suffer through hardships that prove they are worthy of inheriting the land. The children and the wife face hardships and preserve through it to prove that the children are worthy to inherit the land. The land owning pair determine if the newcomers are

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