From: Michael M. Butler (butler@comp-lib.org)
Date: Thu May 16 2002 - 09:53:38 MDT
Sylvia Morscher wrote:
> um... are you referring to the "Kalahari Bushmen" (sorry i don't know how
> to reproduce clicks in ascii so i can't refer to them by a correct name)?
>
> don't they live in a _desert_, and have very advanced hunting and
> gathering and navigation technology, considering that they survive in an
> environment that defeats most other people?
Hi, Sylvia!
Yes, they do, but no, I'm not.
I'm referring to BaMbuti. The tropical, equatorial African "little people of
the forest." Sorry I didn't make that explicit, but I'd forgotten their name
for themselves and didn't want to use the pejorative "pygmy". Thanks for
forcing me to google 'til the penny dropped.
There are other "pygmy" "races" I have seen named, such as the Twa about which
I know less than nothing; they might even be the same folks under a different
name; but my limited understanding of the Mbuti is that they have a pretty
soft life compared to many other people who don't live nomadically in a lush
dense tropical jungle with a stable climate year round. It's a local maximum
for ease.
The San (the name that scholars now try to use as a less pejorative name than
"bushmen") number about 45,000, and as you say, have a quite challenging life.
Two random links re the San:
http://www.animamundi.org.uk/hcamp2.htm is a site that describes the cultural
plight of the Khwe (a different subgroup than the Kung) in Botswana. "Suvival
International" is a group that deals with the preservation of tribal cultures
in general.
"When Bushmen get a large supply of meat, they eat until they are drunk..." a
report from a missionary: http://www.tagnet.org/fama/Pdf/Kalahari.htm
--
butler a t comp - lib . o r g
I am not here to have an argument. I am here as part of a civilization.
Sometimes I forget.
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