Go to AfricaBib home

Go to AfricaBib home AfricaBib Go to database home

bibliographic database
Line
Previous page New search

The free AfricaBib App for Android is available here

Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:The influence of sedentism on sharing among the Central Kalahari hunter-gatherers
Author:Osaki, Masakazu
Year:1990
Periodical:African Study Monographs: Supplementary Issue
Issue:12
Pages:59-87
Language:English
Geographic term:Botswana
Subjects:San
subsistence economy
hunter-gatherers
sedentarization
External links:https://repository.kulib.kyoto-u.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/2433/68353/1/ASM_S_12_59.pdf
https://doi.org/10.14989/68353
Abstract:The sedentarization programme of the Botswana government has had a profound influence on the subsistence of the Central Kalahari San, traditional hunter-gatherers living in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, where the author carried out research in 1983. Gathering has become less important, and hunting methods have changed. Instead of traditional bow-and-arrow hunting, the San were using horses for hunting in 1982, which is so effective, that a great amount of meat is acquired in one hunting trip. Some of this meat is sold to visitors to get cash. Inequality in the first distribution of meat has developed. Equality remains unchanged in the sharing of the meat which is stored by horse owners, but the flow of the meat is one-way, always from the minority of the horse owners to the majority of others. Such a one-way flow of distribution did not exist in traditional San society. Besides equestrian hunting, dog hunting became popular in 1987. In contrast to equestrian hunting, everybody can participate in hunting with dogs on equal terms. The meat which is acquired by dog hunting is distributed equally among the participants, then the participants share the meat with nonparticipants within the same camp. The sudden spread of dog hunting proves that San coexistence is still governed by egalitarianism. It is concluded that, although sedentism has deeply influenced San culture, their tradition of egalitarianism remains a fundamental part of San society. Bibliogr., notes.
Views