kung san
Among the many cultures in Africa, one of the most well known cultures would be the Kung San. The Kung San are a very unique culture and are the most studied foraging society in the world. As with numerous other cultures around the world, the Kung San are faced with many problems. But one problem the Kung San don't face is that of being a nonentity, partially because of the popularized view of the Kung San shown in the movie The Gods Must Be Crazy.
The Kung San are a hunting and gathering people living in southern Africa. Kung San are a varied people in terms of looks and language, and include people living Angola, Botswana, Zambia, and Namibia. The Kung San, like many human groups, have a rigid sexual division of labor, with women doing most of the gathering, food preparation and child care, and men doing hunting and some complementary gathering. There does exist a limited socioeconomic hierarchy by age, with adults controlling more resources and manufactured goods than children. The Kung San usually eat small meals during the day and eat a large supper with the whole family in the evening. Water is a limiting factor in the Kung San environment. The Kung San will disperse in the wet season, and aggregate in camps in the dry season around the few permanent water holes. A Kung San encampment consists of grass huts arranged roughly in a circle, constructed around an area of clearing in the center; these huts are constructed quickly and rarely used for more than a few months at a time. The Kung San maintain a level of egalitarianism so that no one person is revered more than the next and so that no one thinks they are any better than the next. In the Kung San culture, many are married as young as eight years old in order to keep conflicts and extramarital relations down to a minimum. One of the Kung San's favorite activities is to sit in the shade talking amongst themselves. They are afraid of angry words and violence so the occasional dispute is worked out before it becomes a major one. Since competition might bring dispute, they try to live as equals. The Kung San effectively employ talking and joking to
In the book “Sacred Rice” author and anthropologist Joanna Davidson delves into the life of Jola farmers in west Africa and explores how rice plays an important role in their lives. She uses storytelling, often personal in nature to demonstrate how rice plays a vital part not only in the gastronomical aspect in the lives of people in north-western Guinea-Bissau but also in their social, cultural, economic, religious and political aspects.
The housing of the Batek is quite simple and consists of a camp-like structure, with each camp consisting of about five to six nuclear families. Thus, nuclear families consist of a father, a mother, and their children. Their economic organization is based on hunting, gathering and collecting forest products for trade, although hunting is the primary mode of subsistence. Due to the theory of equality both men and women in this society produce and share food. The responsibilities of the women is to daily gather vegetable food while the men concentrate on hunting game, although, roles can be reversed. The equal contributions of each person to the food- supply are considered equally important. No rules are set for separating the activities of the sexes in hunting and gathering food, once the plant resources are depleted, they move to another area within their habitat in order to survive and live.
Marjorie Shostak, an anthropologist who had written this book had studies the !Kung tribe for two years. Shostak had spent the two years interviewing the women in the society. The !Kung tribe resided n the Dobe area of Northwest Botswana, that’s infused with a series of clicks, represented on paper by exclamation points and slashes. Shostak had studied that the people of the tribe relied mostly on nuts of the mongongo, which is from an indigenous tree that’s part of their diet.
In this essay, I will argue that though Strawson’s Basic Argument is sound, society has constructed a more applicable version of the term “acting morally responsible” which holds us all accountable for our actions. Firstly, I will provide a brief overview of the Basic Argument as well as distinguish between Strawson’s and society’s definitions of being morally responsible. Secondly, I will justify Strawson’s first premise. Finally, I will raise and refute the response of author Ian McEwan.
Much of !Kung life consists of caring for one another and there is a strong effort put forth to keep everyone relatively on the same status level. A great example of this exists in the traditions of hunting. When a man returns to the village after killing a large animal, there is a certain role-playing he is expected to participate in. As people approach him about what happened, he pretends that nothing worth mentioning took place. This signifies to the rest of the !Kung that the hunt was a success as they continue to inquire for further detail. The successful hunter continues to tell his story, however, if he appears to be too proud the people will not hesitate to make jokes as a means of humbling him. The credit for the hunt invariably goes to the one who made the arrow (which, although rare, can be a woman as well as a man) and it is his (or her) duty to divide the meat fairly between everyone in the village. One way or another, either directly or indirectly, everyone will be given a part of the animal.
In the text “Eating Christmas in the Kalahari”, Richard Borshay Lee is exposed to the lifestyle of the !Kung. Some of the advantages of researching in a remote unfamiliar location might be in terms of exploring the area. Because
In the world of non-profit organizations the fiscal year and its financial stability are just as important as its mission. One cannot exist without the other. An organization needs a mission, a set of values, and a vision the entire organization and its employees can unite behind. In large organization the leaders must determine the organization’s ethics and leadership structure to model and guide others in maintaining ethical practices.
Ethnographically, people like the !Kung bushmen are very specialized. In actuality, any and all of the remaining societies that have survived outside of mainstream culture must be very specialized. There are few places in the world untouched by civilized man (perhaps none at all), and the only places that have managed to elude him thus far are the regions that are generally unwanted. These places, like the Kalahari, Arctic Circle, and South American Jungle, are the only locations containing native people living in their traditional ways. All of the people living in these places have to live in a very specific way, or they simply cannot survive on what the land gives them. Of, course all of the ethnographic records we have show highly specialized people, we killed all the ones that lived where they could be more generalized and still survive.
In the “Iks” by Lewis Thomas, the author describes how a small tribe of hunters from northern Uganda called the Iks tries to survive after being forced by the government to give up their homes and living area and move to a poor hills and become farmers. Society is extremely harsh towards the Iks and this causes them to rebel and become abnormal. The Iks were a bunch of selfish people who only cared about themselves, left elders to starve and die, and did not cared about the children. They didn’t share things with each other and they find joy in the other’s misfortunes. Anthropologist were sent to observe the Iks, an anthropologist described the Iks to be ill- mannered fashion. Over the two years he had studied there, he was constantly being harassed and disgraced. After he had published his book, he wrote how he despised the Iks. Thomas then went on to say that he now sees similar behaviors implying on nations and cities compared to the Iks making points saying that the Iks share common characteristics of greed, cruezl, and selfish just like different nations fighting against each other.
Worth, M. J. (2011). Nonprofit management: Principles and practice. (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
The key point of this article would be that Lee needed to understand the culture better to understand how they interacted with each other. By the !Kung Bushmen insulting the ox Lee had purchased, it was showing respect and how their culture functioned. “When a young
Kung people of the Kalahari, are a very primitive group of nomads that travel in groups throughout the Dobe desert in Southern Africa (Kinsley 1996:39). There are several groups of Kalahari throughout this region, they are hunters and gatherers, which migrate to different watering holes during dry periods. The fact that they live so freely, openly, and untouched by modern society is amazing. Kinsley (1996:39-40) says, regardless of their primitive culture, they are a fairly healthy group of individuals, which work together, sharing what they have with everyone in the group. Kung healers can be anyone within the group that wants to learn or are given healing powers from Gods, ancestors, or severe illnesses they have overcome giving them the
Greece’s capital is the largest and most populated ancient Athens and is situated in Central Greece at approximately 38° N 23.7° E. Athens is now known as one of the safest and most affordable cities in the world and is also the world-renowned home for the ancient Acropolis- (acro: edge, polis: city), the home of the statues of the gods and goddesses like Zeus and Athena. The majestic statue marvels are no longer in the Acropolis, but in local museums because of the threat of pollution. The city of Athens has become Greece’s largest center for industry as well as an urban center.
The Greek culture has had a huge impact on the history of the world. There is something Greek in almost everything, especially in the world’s architecture. Greece no longer had one king, so they focused on building temples for their gods. Architecture began small and plain but evolved into impressive pieces of art. As time passed from the Archaic period to the Hellenistic period, the people of Greece developed a type of formula for their buildings and their pieces of art.
South Africa is a nation with a wonderful and varied culture. This country has been called “The Rainbow Nation”, a name that reflects the diversity of such amazing place. The different ethnic and cultural groups of the South Africa do, however, appreciate their own beliefs and customs. Many of these traditions, besides African culture, are influenced by European and Western heritage. The complex and diverse population of the country has made a strong impact to the various cultures. There are forty-five million people; about thirty million are black, five million white, three million coloured and one million Indians. The black population has a large number of rural people living in poverty. It is among these inhabitants that cultural customs are preserve the most.