Essay on The !Kung Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert - 715 Words

The !Kung Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert The !Kung Bushmen of Botswana inhabit the semi-arid northwest region of the Kalahari Desert. Their average annual rainfall is poor, only six to nine inches a year. Field work for this article written by Richard B. Lee, was done in the Dobe area, which is a line of eight permanent waterholes. The Dobe area has a population of 466 Bushmen. This includes 379 permanent residents living in independent camps or associated with Bantu cattle posts, as well as 87 seasonal visitors. The Bushmen living in independent camps lack firearms, livestock, and agriculture. The !Kung are entirely dependent upon hunting and gathering for subsistence. Although Dobe-area !Kung have had some contact with†¦show more content†¦Also, a diet based on mongongo nut is more beneficial health-wise as cereal crops such as maize or rice. In addition to the mongongo, the Bushmen have available eighty-four other species of fruits, berries, and melons, and another thirty species of roots and bulbs. Th ere are 54 species of animals classified as edible by the Bushmen, but only 17 species were hunted on a regular basis. All of the !Kungs food supply can be obtained in a six-mile radius of camp, and usually takes a full day to travel the twelve mile round-trip. The !Kung Bushmen of the Dobe area live a long productive, and seemingly satisfying lives. Longevity compares favorably to any industrialized society. The old people are fed and cared for by their children and grandchildren. The old people are also actively involved indecision making and ritual curing. Young people are not expected to provide food regularly until they are married. Girls usually marry between the ages of fifteen and twenty, and boys about five years later. It is not unusual to find healthy, active teenagers visiting from camp to camp while their older relatives provide food for them. The people in the age group of twenty to sixty support the nonproductive and old. These productive members work about tw o and a half days a week, about twelve to nineteen hours a week to get food. A woman gathers enough food in one day to feed her family for three days, and spends the rest of the timeShow MoreRelatedThe Hunters; Scarce Resources in the Kalahari Essay1689 Words   |  7 PagesThe !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 whereRead MoreThe Field Of Anthropology As A Field2218 Words   |  9 Pagesimportance of the writings of those who have successfully done so. Marjorie Shostak’s â€Å"Nisa: The Life and Words of a !Kung Womanâ₠¬  and Leslie Marmon Silko’s â€Å"Ceremony† are two examples of ethnographic works whose authors chose different techniques for examining other cultures. Shostak’s book is a true work of ethnography, as it is based on her experience living with the !Kung Bushmen, while Silko’s novel is a fictional exploration of the Laguna tribe. These two methods for understanding cultural differenceRead MoreThe Effects Of Music On African Music Essay2137 Words   |  9 PagesAfrica. An Intro to Traditional African Music) Finally, South Africa. Home of the Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert, whose ability and language are unique among the people of Africa. They establish communication with specific clicks, sounds, and gurgles from the mouth and have influenced other groups around them and their music. Their music contains very little words and short syllables. The Kung tribe of Bushmen makes music for most of the day. The sanza is a popular instrument in the region. ItRead More Alcohol Drug Abuse: A Psychobiological Trait In Human Societies2550 Words   |  11 Pageshunted and collected animals and plants. Ancient foraging, nevertheless, involved people depending on nature for food and other necessities. Today, few people live this way. One main African foraging area is the Kalahari Desert, the home of the San (Bushmen), who include the !Kung, or Ju/hoansi as they call themselves. Before the Ju/hoansi were contacted and studied by scientists in the 1950s for the first time in history, the group did not use habitSHY;forming drugs or alcohol. However