Zea Cronico

Madel Domens
Julie Estopace
Hearty Gallano
Kim Habana
Noime Lavadia
Julie Anne Lazona
BSA- V

THE KALAHARI DESSERT:

LAND OF THE IKUNG BUSHMEN

The iKung who lived as hunter-gatherer occupied the harsh, semi dessert environment of Kalahari
dessert for as long ago as 11, 000 years before the present. They live in a nomadic lifestyles. The iKung
don't all live together, they live in small band of ten to fifty people. They live with no rulers, no schools,
no money, no written language, no hospitals, and no inequalities of wealth or privilege. All the iKung
people share distinctive physical appearance like small in stature (men under 5 feet 3 inches, the women
considerable under 5 feet) and have light brown skin. Since they have no written language,
anthropologists attempted to write down the click sounds which the iKung use in their everyday life.
Eventhough there is a competition for survival in Kalahari dessert the iKung live in peaceful life and share
what they have so that everyone can survive. However, because of some circumstances some bushmen
were slaughtered, many of them were kidnapped and made to work in people's homes and on farms,
and some were absorbed by intermarriage.

iKung Culture: A Design for Living

The iKung are a part of the San people who live mostly on the western edge of the Kalahari desert,
Ovamboland (northern Namibia and southern Angola), and Botswana.

They live together in non exploitative manner and strikes equality between sexes. They recognize
a supreme being called EROB who is the creator and upholder of life and knows everything. Have belief
in the existence of spirits of the dead (llgauwasi) who live immortally in the sky.The llgauwasi can come
to the earth and interact with humans. iKung fear the llgauwasi, pray to them for sympathy and mercy.
The iKung practice shamanism to communicate with the spirit world, and to cure what they call "Star
Sickness". Star Sickness is cured by laying hands on the diseased. Any member of the iKung tribe can
become a healer because it "is a status accessible to all". A boy becomes a man the moment he kills a
large game. After doing this, he is then eligible to marry and have a family. A girl is considered a woman
the moment she bears her first child.

ǃKung women give birth with the earth as primary midwife (a form of unassisted childbirth),
walking away from the village camp as far as a mile during labour and bearing the child alone, delivering
it into a small leaf-lined hole dug into the warm sand. The child's cord is not clamped or cut.

Social Structure and Group Life

 iKung Society, statuses and roles emerge as a result of repeated interaction between individuals
were there is no central authority and which is limited to the family and the band. Marriage in iKung
creates nuclear family, where the woman gave birth to only 4 to 5 children and an average nuclear family
comprised of two to three living children but nuclear family never live independently, because marriage
links into an extended family when a husband move in with his new wife's family were the boy must feed
his wife's parents when they gets old and feed his wife to prove that he is capable and responsible. It
also involve reshuffiling of band membership and band are not mandated by kinship to remain together,
people can adjust the size of their group to environmental conditions and resources. iKung bushmen are
not much interested in keeping tracks with relative more that two generations, and the important part of
!kung kinship has to do with relationships of band to thier territories ( N'ore) and with an older people
who lived in a band a long time called the owner (K'ausi). In iKung Society, they have a principle of an
alternating generation. A joking relationship which is relaxed, affectionate,and familiar, where you can
joke around with relatives in your generation, your grandparent's and your grandchildren's generations.
The avoidance relationship which is more respectful and formal, you have to avoid relatives in your
parents and childrens generations and you may never marry someone in the avoidance relationships.
Lastly is a fictive kin where !kung bushmen takes the whole kinship structure such as relationship by
blood and marriage, alternating generation, joking relationships and Avoidance and apply it to fictive,
were the system is based on the names. Women works as gatherer and when band moves camp women
carry their belongings and children, they also gather wood, tend fires and cook vegetables food, they
build shelters and make households objects, while Men hunts small games with spears, clubs and snares,
and they hunt big game with bow and poisoned arrow and the game is used for foods, make animal
hides into clothing and bags, their bones and horn for tools, sinew for bowstrings and nets.

Social Inequality

The iKung Bushmen are known to have minimal inequality in their society. In fact, the only
inequalities present in their society are the gender and status inequalities. About the status inequality,
some people gained more respect from others because of their outstanding skills and pleasant
personalities. But being more known or respected than others do not result to a gain in power or wealth.
There is no speacial treatment to those people. However, it gives them more opportunities. The iKung
have no laws, police or other authorities that would make rules and punishment to the wrongdoers.They
rely entirely on the informal sanctions in their society. Negative sanctions include the mocking song,
gossip, teasing and avoidance. In their society, those are already considered as punishments because
iKung fear having others laugh at them. Positive sanctions, on the other hand, include group approval,
loving attention and companionship. It was said that in the iKung society, there are no deviant roles or
careers. Because most of the time, iKung people accept group norms and act, talk, and think in ways that
are expected of them. But there are still some cases where they commit deviant acts, like failing to share
food, fighting, boasting, engaging in adultery, or killing another person.

Social Change and the Future

iKung life has changed dramatically,and in order for them to live,they must adapt to these
changes. These changes were actually due to outside influence. From foraging life, they settled as
herders to Tsawana, Herero and Europeans. They learned the concept of labor to these people so some
have decided to go to South Africa. Along with this, they learned the concept of "vices " as liquor was
introduced to them. Since they were already earning money and with the support of the
government,they began tk adapt patterns of village life but along with this ,major ecknomic changes
pushed the iKung off their land. The Tsawan and Herero entrepreneurs started a large scale ranchung in
Kalahari ao iKung were forced to share their limited water holes ,this resulted to contamination.iKung
Bushmen slowly embraced their new ways of living to safeguard their land since people who only live in
villages can file official claims to land and people without herds are looked upon with cintempt Through
the government intervention especifically the Botswana and Namibian black government made it
possible for iKung to achieve independence. Botswana leaders helped them by creating the Office for
Basarwa Development which provided scholarships for children ,safeguard iKung land from takeovers by
speculators and gave agricultural advice. These changes allowed iKung men to live in modern society but
these also brought disastrous losses and threat to their culture as inequality has grown, women and old
people became less respected and they used the environment in more destructive ways.

SOCIALIZATION

Socialization in iKung society is quite successful. They learn to play new roles
all throughout their life. Besides the basic gender
division, there are no other specialized roles. There is
no formal socialization, since there are no schools but
there are formal ceremonies that mark important
transitions.

Childhood Socialization

ikung begin their lives with an immensely secured early childhood. Babies
sleep beside their mothers at night and carried all day in slings.

Ages 3-4

Relinquish the role of an infant and adapt the much more independent role of
a child. Ikung mothers bear their child with an average birth interval of 4 years.

Children Socialize Each Other

Ages 7-12

Children spend most of their time in each other's company playing traditional
games in mixed-age and often mixed-sex group. They play in a cleared "central
plaza" of the camp or nearby "children's village”.

Girls and boys hold their own "pretend" trance dances. Away from disproving
parents, children also experiment with sex, imitating parents glimpsed in the dark,
looking and touching but not initiating actual intercourse.

Anticipatory Socialization

- Children learn by observing and imitating the roles they will play as adults.
Adults Socialize Children

Children learn norms in daily life. they are taught about the norms of sexual
modesty. They learn that adults do not kiss or hug each other in public. Girls and
boys learn that it is dangerous to sit where the opposite sex has sat.

A. Man sits in a place touched by a woman's genitals - ability to hunt will be

impaired

B. Woman sits in a place touched by a man's genitals - will get an infection

Ages 10 or 12 (now closer to 16)

- an iKung girl becomes a young wife and begin to gather in earnest with the
company of her mother or perhaps her aunt or sister.

- an iKung boy is given by his father his first bow, arrows and quivers, and begin
hunting that he may also accompany an older man, perhaps his grandfather. (12yo)

Rights of Passage to Adulthood

These events are marked by public ceremonies celebrating a person's change

in status before the whole community.

BOYS

1. The First Buck Ceremony

 Between ages 15 and 18, a boy becomes a fully adult hunter when he kills his
first big antelope with a poisoned arrow. Killing the first big animal is the
result of hard work in hunting and this is recognized with two important
ceremonies- for the first male and first female animals killed.
 The young man is given small cuts and tattoos on his chest, back, and arms:
hunter in the eyes of the world. Further cuts strengthen his vision, stamina,
aim, and determination. After killing his first buck, a young man is considered
eligible of marriage.

2. Choma (initiation)

 Between ages of 15 and 20, they participate in a 6-week long initiation rite
called choma. This is an elaborate rite which sacred male knowledge is
passed on to a new generation. Choma is a challenging of hunger cold and
thirst.

The first buck ceremony and Choma are performed away from woman.

GIRLS

A traditional iKung girl would be likely to experience marriage first. But

niether events signal abrupt transition to adulthood.

1. Marriage
  Usually arranged by parents of close relatives. The marriage ceremony itself
is almost casual, hearthside occasion attended mostly by children.
 Girls typically resist marriage. They are usually preadolescent and in no hurry
to grow up. The disparity in ages and sexual maturity of a bride and a groom
is a source of real difficulties. Social relations may be postponed for years but
will ne unavoidable as soon as she begins menstruation.
 ikung society tolerates a girl's objection to marriage. Girl can initiate divorce.
It is common to enter 'trial marriages'.

2. First Menstruation

 Celebrated in a more public, ceremonial manner than is marriage. The rite

marks sexual maturity not full adulthood. After her first menstruation, a girl
usually settles down with her original or a new husband. With the birth of the
first child, a girl becomes fully adult.

Polygyny

 A man must be a very good hunter to attempt polygyny. A second marriage

may increase a man's status or political influence. Polygynous marriages
have the greatest chance of success when the second wife is the widowed
sister or the unmarried younger sister of the first.

The Roles of the Old

Old people are treated with respect and often have an infuential voice in the group.
Old age may be a time of intense religious exploration. Spiritual powers strengthen
with age; pften become valued healers.