The Dobe Ju/Hoansi Essay - 1233 Words

Cultural Anthropology The Dobe Ju/’hoansi Commonly referred to as Bushmen by the general public and thought of as being harsh wild people that live in the â€Å"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 â€Å"The Dobe Ju /’hoansi.† Although Lee states in the†¦show more content†¦A large contributing factor has to be the desire and efforts put forth by Lee to not only see the Ju lifestyle, but to feel it. The desire and effort by Lee is conveyed in a quote about him getting initiated into a familyâ€⠄¢s kin by saying, â€Å"I signified my pleasure with the turn of events. Here was a whole family to be a part of, one with genealogical links to throughout the Dobe area.† (Lee 2003: 60) Lee started to become a member of the Ju /’hoansi as a tool to learn more about the culture they live in. After Lee was given a name, /Tontah, by the adoptive family it led him to believe that, â€Å"It was clear I had a lot to learn about the kinship system and social organization.†(Lee 2003: 60) Lee’s subjects are portrayed as having individual personalities rather than grouping the whole tribe based on a few personalities. This sums up how Lee approached his work and how with the emic perspective he was able to uncover much more than from an observational standpoint. Regardless on Lee’s expressed neutrality in The Great Kalahari Debate his book has been prompted to the front lines of the clash between traditionalists and revisionists. Being used as the poster book for the traditionalist side Lee obviously demonstrates the holistic approach by stating that no one â€Å"had bothered to systematically ask the Ju people themselves for their views of their own history.†(Lee 2003: 213) This attitude combined with the extensive amount of time spent doing fieldworkShow MoreRelated The Dobe Ju/ hoansi Essay742 Words   |  3 Pages The Dobe Ju/ hoansi nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Ch 10: The Ju/ hoansi amp; their neighbors onbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;The Ju/hoansi share the Dobe area with the Herero and Tswana pastorals. onbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;They grow crops and have herds yet are all based on kinship and are dont have developed markets or governments. onbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Hereros are the largest groups of in the Dobe area. They are Bantu speaking people. onbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Were influencedRead MoreThe Dobe Ju/’Hoansi Is An Ethnography Written By Richard975 Words   |  4 Pages The Dobe Ju/’hoansi is an ethnography written by Richard B. Lee. In this ethnography, Richard B. Lee reports on a group of peoples living in South Africa. The ethnography covers everything from their foraging plans, how and what they hunt, how the animals they hunted are divided among the people, kinship and organization in the group, marriage and sexuality, conflict and politics, the exchange of goods, and religion. This paper is just going to touch on a few of these different topics. The DobeRead MoreThe Ju/’Hoansi of the Kalahari1675 Words   |  7 Pagesoccupy their ancestral land; the Ju/’hoansi. Due to war, displacement and the introduction of drugs and alcohol, their societies have continued a downward spiral into poverty and despair. Attempts have been made for the San people to become self sufficient in the modern world. These programs have been tried, including the Nyae Nyae Farmers’ Collective, and they have failed. This paper will examine the current issues of the San people, highlighting the Ju/’hoansi tribe, and their current struggleRead More Dancing Skeletons: Life and Death in West Africa1701 Words   |  7 PagesThe Dobe Ju/’hoansi have recently started putting in schools to help children receive an education to help them have better success with the surrounding peoples and culture, but there is a lack of attendance in these schools. There are also many education issues in proper sexual practices that would help stop the spread of HIV and AIDS, in a place in the world were theses illnesses are at surprisingly high levels. The first part of this paper will discuss the education problems in the Dobe Ju/’hoansiRead MoreThe Dobe Ju And The Maasai Tribe From The Kalahari Desert Essay2788 Words   |  12 PagesEvery culture has their own set of traditions, beliefs and traditions. For this report, there will be a discussion about the Dobe Ju/’hoansi located in the Kalahari Desert. Then there will be a comparison between the Ju/’hoansi and the Maasai tribe from the southern Kenya and northern Tanzania. There will be an exploration regarding their cultural domains, belief systems, politics and kingship. Each of these tribes have a developed sort of principles from which they live their daily lives withinRead MoreCompare and Contrast Dobe/JuHoansi1863 Words   |  8 PagesThe book, The Dobe Ju/hoansi is a great example of an ethnography. It is a very detailed description of every aspect of the San peoples life. From the environment they inhabit to the food they eat, the book goes into great detail on how these people survive. More importantly, the book describes their personal relationships with each other and other band level societies, marriage and sexuality topics, and how they solve disputes. Personally, I feel the attention directed towards their interpersonalRead More Egalitarianism and the Cash Economy among the Central Kalahari San891 Words   |  4 PagesRichard B. Lee entitled The Dobe Ju/’hoansi describes the changes which have occurred within the !Kung San people. He also found changes in the lives of the Dobe as their lives were becoming more sedentary, their economy more cash based, and Lee recognizes an overall modernization of the culture. Similar to the San in the Central Kalahari, these influences came from outside sources, and as Lee claims, the Dobe had very little control over them. Lee’s observations of Dobe life in the 1990s, showed thatRead Morecomparative ethonographic review Essay2961 Words   |  12 Pagesmarriage is o ne necessary representation of the society’s culture. Marriage regulates, organizes and legitimizes sexual relations. Human societies have many different marriage systems, and in my review of â€Å"Everyday Life in Southeast Asia† and â€Å"The Dobe Ju/’hoansi†, it seems that this recurring theme of marriage is always constrained by the cultures, or rules, that were built upon it. While we see illustrations of elaborate structures within culture that determine if a union between two human beings throughRead MoreThe Human Mark On The Environment2347 Words   |  10 Pagesobserves that among Ju/ hoansi (!Kung), a contemporary foraging people of the Kalahari Desert, bush foods are rough and difficult to digest:   To survive on such foods a child would have to be older than two years--preferably substantially older. (1981, 66).   (See EthnoProfile 19.1: Ju/ hoansi [!Kung]).   By having her child nurse exclusively for six months, a mother does not have to find and prepare food for the infant in addition to her ordinary routine. Among the Ju/ hoansi, infants over theRead More Alcohol Drug Abuse: A Psychobiological Trait In Human Societies2550 Words   |  11 Pages(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, they did possess n/um, a substance that lies in the pit of the stomach of men and women who are n/um kkausi (medicine owners), and becomes active during a healing dance (Lee, 1993, p. 115). The Ju/hoansi believe that the dancers heat up the n/um