Human Organization

Chapter 3: ● Environment - semi arid desert ○ We live in a semi arid desert hehe ● Lots of animals ○ Hartebeest, leopards, hyenas, hundreds of species of birds. ■ Ostriches are prized for their eggs ■ Use shells as water canteens. ● Bore a hole in top of shell ■ Westerners like ostrich egg omelet ● Headman’s permission has to be asked for permission to drink water at watering holes ○ Permission is always granted - balanced reciprocity ○ 3 types of reciprocity ■ Balanced - i give you something now, youll give me something later on ● Adaptive, increases chances of survival ● Right of passage - pattern, symbolic, action ○ All rituals, all rights follow a pattern\ ● Foraging is oldest adaptation of human society ○ Domestication of plants (agriculture) and domestication of animals (pastoralism) ● Two types of changes a creature can undergo ○ Biological (behavioral) ● Humility is their cultural adaptation to their environment ● Six kinds of poisonous snakes ● Ju hoansi - means the “real people” ● Main game animals - ungulates ○ Wart hogs, wildebeest, giraffe,eland, hartebeest ● Part not in book ● 6 factors that are characteristic of foraging ○ Division of labor by age and sex - specialized knowledge and unusual skill; men hunt, women gather ■ Generally women gather because theyre taking care of kids ○ Seasonal mobility ■ Changes in rainfall and temp means people have to move to survive (seasonal waterholes) ○ Seasonal congregation and dispersal - to exploit plants and animals efficientially, flexibility in camp size due to season, people change size of groups according to availability of food supply ○ Bands - structure of organization, small mobile groups of 50 or less. Size is flexible - individuals not permanently attached to any band. Members are usually close or distantly related kin ■ 50 is very large and rare. 15 is smallest ○ Reciprocal sharing based on need. Those who have more than they can immediately use share with others ○ Rights to resources - people have familiar, flexible patterned ways of allocating natural resources. Most foragers do not have exclusive access to an area. Generally territories are recognized as loosely belonging to a particular family ● Huts are thickly thatched ● Villages highly variable ● Band may occupy as many as 6 sites in rainy season ● In choosing a site for camp, what do ju hoansi look for ○ Good shade trees and area that has not been occupied recently ● Plaza - literal and symbolic area - playground but also where rituals are enacted ● Who builds the huts? - women hehehe ● Villages are organized in six zones and bush ○ Center is plaza ○ 2nd ring - ash heaps garbage dumps ○ 3 - cooking pits ○ 4th - empty ○ 5th - area of defecation ○ 6th - bush ● Huts not really used for living because they can get filled with bugsssss ● Houses with mud walls ○ Change to sedentary lifestyle ■ TB has been problem that resulted from this - you have more people in an enclosed area. Theres no problem w/ TB in bush because theres more area Chapter 4 ● Techniques for hunting are very simple, but their knowledge is quite complex ● They dont have to work very hard to survive ● Story of lee driving these women and men to a tree where they spent 2 hours collecting nuts ● Mainstay of Ju Hoansi diet - vegetable ○ Abundant and stable food source. Game animals are difficult ○ Can dig for root vegetables - nuts, fruits, etc ● For carrying, they have several types of containers ○ Kaross ○ Men make them for women out of animal hides ■ Reciprocity - sharing ● Occupy a campsite for a period of weeks and eat their way out of it ● Underground hunting ○ Burrows ● How successful are ju hoansi hunters - most days of hunting, they come back empty-handed ● Two large animals is considered fortunate but much easier to catch smaller animals ● Salting the meat to keep them humble ○ Reduces conflict in village ○ “Cools his heart” kinship ○ Standard kin terms mother , father, addition of terms distinguishing older siblings from younger ■ Alternating generations. You joke and are affectionate with your grandparents and grandchildren ○ Name relationship ■ A woman may never marry a man with her father or brother’s name ■ Cpnflict - could have name that suggests a familial relationship - when that happens through third system ○ Principle of wi ■ Elder person decides what relationship they will have ■ Older you get, more control you have over kinship Chapter 6 ● Marriages arranged at an earlier age ○ Women have right to refusal ○ Gifts are given ○ Open attitudes about sexuality ● Marraiges arranged by parents and may involve a decade or more of gift exchange before the children are actually married ● Problem of bastard children is rare because most girls are married before or after first period ● Married off to begin process of gift excahnge and to avoid men fighting over girl later in life ● Marriages are alliances between families - creates a kinship bond ● What traits do parents look for in choosing a mate for their daughter ○ Good hunter ○ Not a fighter (good disposition) ○ Good family ○ Good worker ● How long must a groom live w/ family ○ Many years (as much as 8 to 10 years) only after several children are born can he take wife and family to his own people ● Girls are usually married ● Boys married from 18 to 25 (older than girls) ● marriage by capture - mock forcible carrying of girl to marriage hut ○ Symbolic of groom stealing bride away - symbolic because everyone knows whats happening ○ Women not considered chattel ○ Expresses real conflict between husband and wife and between parents and children ■ Catharsis of tensions that may not be talked about openly ○ Ritual serves to reduce ten ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ○ If they persist, marriage is called off Close to 50% of ju/’hoansi first marriages fail ○ Women usually initiate more than men ○ Divorces are simple - one just calls it and leaves ○ Marriage means living together Forms of marriage ○ Everything except group marriage ○ Monogamy, polyandry (more than one husband), polygyny (more than one wife) Healing is a sign of power, having more than one wife is a status symbol Women usually object to polygyny ○ Why? - sexual jealously When homicide occurs - most likely caused by a woman Attitudes to sex - natural and unselfconscious - sexual play is a normal part of childhood Concept of virginity is meaningless Most and girls have some experience of sexual intercourse by 15 Homosexuality - attitude is besument and curosity instead of embarrassment or hostility Evidence of extramarital affairs? ○ HELL YEAH ○ A large minority of Ju/’hoansi partners have extramarital affairs, both husbands and wives take lovers Do they have equality ○ According to lee, yes. Women are not oppressed or dominated by men or subject to sexual exploitation at hands of men Domestic violence in ju’/hoansi is not common In yanomano they do view women as property Chapter 8: Conflict ● Groups of kinfolk own land among ju/’hoansi - kind of loose ownership ● Notion of property is much more flexible and ambiguous than ours ● Permission must be asked to access resources on n!ore (territory) but its rarely refused ○ Principle of reciprocity ● Each Ju/’hoan has rights to two n!ores, when you get married your rights expand ● Ju/’hoansi do not have a headman, having headman could lead to pride developing in individual. “Each one of us is headman over himself” ● The ju do have leaders ● What insult does N=isa say to other women in her village when she suspected adultery? ○ She said dirty women with “long black labia” were screwing her husband ● San fight about women, revenge, adultery. Humans tend to get into arguments and want to kill each other ● What three levels of conflict do the Ju/’hoansi recognize ○ FINAL EXAM ESSAY QUESTION - compared case studies of street gangs, yanomamo, and ju hoansi - what type of conflicts do they get into, what role does it serve, how do they resolve it ○ ● ● ● ● ● Three levels - talk, fight, kill ■ Usually stops at talk - talk involves threats and verbal abuse but no blows ■ Topics of dispute - include improper meat distribution, improper hxaro gift exchange, and laziness or stinginess. Form of negotiation and leveling technique ○ Male example of za (insult) - may death pull back your foreskin., for women _ may death kill your vagina ○ Fights usually last about 2 to 5 minutes. Joking usually ends the fighting. Laughter bursts bubble of tension and allows tempers to cool off and healing process to begin ■ They use talking to resolve conflict If it escalates to fighting ○ If someone takes poisioned tip arrows and shoots someone, that person has a 50 percent chance of surviing ○ This happens once every two years Retaliation and feuds ○ Three things to limit violence ■ talking , joking to avert a fight/limits seriousness ■ Group fissions to separate parties in conflict ■ Hxaro exchange (gift giving) ju’/hoan system of hxaro - primarily about social relations, goods are of secondary importance Mechanism for circulating goods, lubricating social relationships, maintains an ecological balance Items used in hxaro exchange ○ Every item of ju/’hoan material culture - karosses, dogs, pots, digging sticks ○ TWO THINGS NEVER TRADED - food and people (ON FINAL EXAM) ■ Why - there’s no slavery so you can’t own someone. There’s already an aspect of sharing food in their culture for meat distribution ■ Food and people are TOO valuable to exchange ■ Marriage thought of reciprocity - there’s a different symbolic system ■ They play down gift