The
!Kung people traditionally tend to live in small nomadic villages, ranging in
size from 10-30 people. This means they travel in bands. Their substance strategy is foraging. They see everyone as having a duty to the tribe,
whether it's hunting for meat or gathering fruits, and as a result they think
everyone is important, not one gender being better than the other. They will
share the resources evenly between each other, even in times of drought.
However, when a child is born in a time of famine or drought, they will let the
child die rather than waste resources on them. There are rarely any conflicts
between neighboring tribes, mainly because they all make sure to stay far away
from each other.
In more recent times, however, the !Kung have taken up cattle ranching and horticulture. They no longer hunt and gather, and they definitely don’t migrate any more. While before they had troubles finding water in the wilds, they now have troubles finding enough water for themselves and their cattle. The cattle also eat up a lot of the sparse vegetation, so wild animals can no longer live on those lands. Now that they can earn money from the rest of the world for working, the men are valued more than the women.
Despite being in bands, the !Kung are a chiefdom, which means villages have a chieftain. However, they have very limited power, similar to a Big Man. Because of their small sizes, their laws are in forced by ridiculing and shunning anyone who doesn’t follow them. When a problem does arise, rather than have the leader solve it, the whole community comes together to either solve the problem or remove it, giving them a unique conflict resolution method. There is little importance to the leader, since the tribe is mostly about working together rather than listening to one person.
Because
of their lack of a true leader, the !Kung have had problems in the modern
world. During the colonial times, it was easy to oppress them as there was no
one person to defend them. In more modern times, The !Kung are finding they are
losing more and more rights in the governments eyes, and are getting smaller
and smaller lands to call theirs. Because of their lack of political identity
in the local government, they are losing their cultural identity.
Social-Shadow Tripod. 2005. Cultural Analysis: !Kung San. Retrieved
September 20, 2015 (http://social-shadow.tripod.com/index.html)
Their Story Isn't That Sad.
ReplyDeleteI feel like the website I found portrayed the !Kung as having many troubles. Although yes, globalization has forced their society to change, it isn't as bad as the website made it seem. Their culture is changing, so although they are losing a lot of the characteristics that defined them before, this is a normal thing for cultures to do. They're no longer a hunter-gatherer tribe, they're settling down to farm. The problem isn't that they're changing their way of life, but that no one is teaching them how to change. They're farming animals when they don't know how to make sure they don't use all the resources in an area. If someone could teach them how to farm properly, they wouldn't have half the problems they have.
The website seemed to imply the government was doing everything they could to hurt the !Kung, and that's not true. More than likely the site was written by someone who thinks governments are always trying to hurt native tribes for their own good, and they let those views seep into their website. I found a few other websites that made it seem like things aren't as bad for the !Kung as the author of my source said. The author may have been too reflexive, using his position as the one talking about the tribe to try and get people to do everything they can to help, when the !Kung don't really need that much help.
Even though the website was a little biased, it was still fairly reliable. The author cited all of their own sources, and had a bibliography anyone could check out. They knew what they were talking about, even if they made it seem worse than it is to try and get people to help. I would have tried to not let my own political views get into my website, but other than that I would probably set everything up similarly to how they did their website.
I can relate to how the !Kung society treats its members. I've never really seen people as man or woman. Yes, I acknowledge their gender, but I don't believe one is better than the other. I also understand why they won't feed infants in times of need. Although it may seem cold-hearted and cruel, it's better than wasting food on them when they'll probably die anyways. I also agree with how they don't have a true leader, instead relying on the tribe as a whole to uphold their laws. Although we come from different cultures, the !Kung and I share many beliefs.
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