Soc 290 Final : The Gods Must Be Crazy

In the book “The Dobe Ju/’hoansi”, the author Richard B. Lee, an anthropologist, provides a detailed look into the lives of the South African tribe known as the Dobe Ju/’hoansi. Lee did a great job capturing one of the only societies that live a way of life very similar to our ancestors. I believe each and every reader will take from this book that living this way was not easy and will be grateful for all that we are blessed from in our western societies. Throughout his time with one of the only foraging societies that still exist today Lee takes us on a journey through the Dobe Ju/’hoansi traditional way of life. With this rare lifestyle may question their way of life and its sustainability. When reflecting back on this great read we can grasp their impact on their environment and how globalization can impact the Dobe Ju/’hoansi way of life.

The Apache community of the southwest culture area consists of nomadic peoples that have lived in the desert southwest for hundreds of years (Sage, 2016). Power, similar to the Netsilik and Lakota, plays a role in the daily lives and culture of the Apache. Anthropologist Keith Basso (1970) explains, that to the Apache, power is known and understood but it so complex that to talk about it would not provide satisfactory explanation (37). For the Apache this notion of power is similar to the Lakota’s, the Apache call the supernatural powers that are unexplainable godiyo. However, power for the Apache is not as communal as the Netsilik and the Lakota peoples. For the Apache, the majority does not have power but those that do have it can make use

To begin, the differences between popular culture and indigenous culture can be seen through the evidence that the indigenous culture is content with the very few materials and items that they own. While in civilized cultures, people are constantly wanting more. When an item of the popular culture was introduced to the Bushmen people, they had to face the difficulties that many encounter in today’s modern societies. Instead, the simplicities of life that the indigenous held, came hand in hand with simple emotions and simple problems. This is why they were able to remain happy and at peace within their life. In phenomenology, people would give an object its meaning. The Coke glass, for example, within popular culture this would be seen as something to drink or to enjoy with a cheeseburger. Many from popular culture would not have made this connection to the glass bottle without knowing its exact meaning. Like the Bushmen people, they had not given what civilized people would consider the “correct” purpose

They also pray for rain, and administer ordeals which are the ordinary form of trial.” Most of the tribes seem to have a notion of Supreme being, but it's not easy to find whether the word which they use really denotes a personality or striking examples of a superhuman force. For example, the sun, thunder or violent rain. The ethical standard was lower than most including ours today. For example, marriage is as seen as a sale. If you committing a crime such as murder, you are able to pay a fine and have it revoked. Women usually end up doing all the household chores and field work. The family remains strong and the children usually show appreciation to their

In the film, the Bushmen society is considered to be the primitive while the people

Commonly referred to as Bushmen by the general public and thought of as being harsh wild people that live in the “unlivable” Kalahari Desert. The Ju /’hoansi tribe native to the southern African desert, located along the border of Namibia and Botswana, have been misunderstood and stereotyped for a long time. This is until a man by the name of Richard B. Lee came along and wrote an ethnography about the local systems of the Ju and completely changed how an outsider might view this rural tribe, along with being a fine example of proper long-term field research in social anthropology. This highly regarded book on the Ju /’hoansi is titled “The Dobe Ju /’hoansi.” Although Lee states in the

One of mankind’s greatest achievements is the development and organization of diversified societies that regulate life and ethical values for those enticed within it. Societies bring interpersonal relationships that expand within a geographical region, usually populated by a collection of people sharing the same cultural, spiritual or ethical expectations. Today, we can be thankful for some of histories earliest civilizations, for they passed on diverse aspects of ethnicity into the everyday life of humanity. These ancient peoples were the building blocks for trial and error, contributing to modern day care and how we govern today’s most successful societies. Surprisingly enough, they were great educators of how societies can rise with control and authority but, even more; on how societies can weaken and crumble when negligent to the environment.

The !Kung bushmen of the Kalahari Desert in Southern Africa are one of the few bands of hunter-gatherers left in the world. They survive by foraging for their meals while traveling, never settling in one specific area. Hunting and gathering was the primary mode of survival until about ten thousand years ago. Anthropologists have made assumptions about the hunting and gathering lifestyle of current populations because it seems like a precarious method of living. Moreover, the Kalahari area where the !Kung live in was perceived to be baron because it is a desert. However, a study done over a period of years beginning in 1960 led by Richard Lee disproved the common misconception of the life of these foragers, proving that they were not

It has been shown that most societies that depend on foragers and hunting rely on close family ties for survival. Kinship is important because of the lack of resources (Nowak, 2010). Mbuti is a tribe of foragers and hunters, living on the resources they extract from forest. The Mbuti live in an area with an abundance of resources and close ties are not needed. Mbuti is the aboriginal name of the tribe; however the tribe is divided into sub-group (Mbuti and Efe). The name of the tribe depends on the dialect spoken. The Mbuti predominately speak the language of the Bantu and the Efe dialect is of the Sudanic language. The two clans of pygmies share a tropical rainforest stretching into the northeast sector of the Congo. The “Forest” is the core of the Mbuti culture (Mosko, p. 898, para. 6, 1987 a).

It isn't sufficient to see, in a now rather dated anthropological colloquialism, that seeker gatherers live in 'stateless social orders', as if their social lives were by one means or another lacking or incomplete, holding up to be finished by the transformative advancement of a state contraption. Or maybe, the primary of their socialty, as Pierre Clastres has put it, is on a very basic level against the

Different anthropologists such as Nowak and Laird (2010), and Butler (2006), recommended that these residents of jungles contain an exclusive background; position, morals and everyday life is entirely through big adjustment. It can be said that the

The groups that fall along the Chad/ Cameroon pipeline worked at levels of normal economy to the degree that livelihoods around these groups to a great extent relied on upon the woodland for a wide mixed bag of woods items. These chasing and angling groups relied on upon the woodland for kindling, building materials, honey, restorative plants and bramble meat. All household fuel wood was gathered from the timberland, the most supported species being Carapa, Grandiflora and Nuxia Congesta. Many building materials including shafts, bamboo and filaments were reaped from the woods. They additionally depended on angling extractions for supportability (Pegg, 2005). The backwoods and the water locales likewise held extraordinary social essentialness to the individuals who every once in a while performed customary ceremonies around some of these common destinations to conciliate their progenitors and dodge regular catastrophes. Horticulture around the Pygmy and Bantu Communities along the pipeline was truly not standardized but rather the propensity to depend on the indigenous habitat was high (Agrawal, 2003).

In his work, The Nuer, E. E. Evans-Pritchard presents findings from his field research among the Nuer people of the Sudan in Africa. From the onset, it is clear that cows are regarded as being of extreme importance in Nuer society. The Nuer are a pastoral society, highly dependent upon their environment. The only labor in which the Nuer delight, Evans-Pritchard suggests, is the care of cows. Most social activities revolve around cattle, and he urges any research of the Nuer be focused on how cows relate to society. Names of individuals are often derived from cows, such as one's favorite cow, or the cow he or she happens to milk. The games children play are primarily cow-themed,

The Zuni people have lived in the American Southwest for thousands of years. Their cultural and religious traditions are rooted, in large part, in the people's deep and close ties to the mountains, river ways, forests, and deserts of this ancient Zuni homeland. Primarily being farmers, the Zuni people raise maize and wheat and engage in Jewelry making. It has become an important additional source of income for the people. Traditional Zuni life is oriented around a matrilineal clan system and a complex ceremonial system base on a belief in the ancestors (ancient ones). There are six specialized esoteric groups, each with restricted membership and its own priesthood, devoted to the worship of a particular group of supernaturals. During the well-known

Barth examines three groups in their relationships with the natural habitat and with one another in terms of using the concept of a niche, meaning “the place of a group in the total environment, its relations to resources and competitors” (Barth, 1079). The three groups Barth examins are the Pathans who are the sedentary agriculturalists; Kohostanis who practice agriculture and transhumant herding; and lastly the Gujars who are nomadic herders. The Gujars are under a single political leader that organizes groups by lineages and clans. The Pathans are seemed as the most powerful ones. All groups had different political systems that worked with one another.