Eating Christmas In The Kalahari By Robert Borshay Lee

I have written this paper to better understand the !Kung San tribe. After reading Robert Borshay Lee’s article “Eating Christmas in the Kalahari”, my findings are that d Status is defined as “a term used by sociologists to refer to any of the full range of socially defined positions within a large group or society” (Schaefer, 100). Different statuses in a society invoke different reactions. For instance, in America the president is the highest status that a person can have. The president runs the country and handles all situations in dealing with government issues, other countries, and other statuses. Unlike the !Kung San, the United States and other countries with leaders are high dependent on their leaders. The !Kung San has no set leader and simply just work together to gather food and whatever else is needed for their tribe. This can be seen every day, including holidays such that as Christmas. Christmas time with the !Kung San can be better understood through explanation of Status,
Gemeinschaft, and Mechanical Solidarity. Status is looked at every day by everybody.
When going on a date, some women ask the man what job he has. A person’s job is a part of the social status. A doctor receives much more social respect than a sewer cleaner. This judgment of status is evident throughout all countries except the !Kung San. The !Kung San have no set jobs or statuses. They simply live and work to help their tribe prosper. For each meal, they find a large animal and slaughter it for its meat. During Christmas time, a buffalo is either bought or hunted for the feast that is held. No matter what the buffalo looks like, the Bushmen tell the hunter/buyer that it’s no good and is too scrawny to be eaten. A person’s status can sometimes go to their head and make them too arrogant so in order to prevent that, the !Kung San tell their hunters/buyers that their meat is awful. They believe that arrogance can lead to someone thinking they are better than others and murder them. (Lee,
4)

Sociology defines Gemeinschaft as “a term used by Ferdinand Tönnies to describe a close-knit community, often found in rural areas in which strong personal bonds unite members” (Schaefer, 108). This term describes the !Kung San perfectly. They are a very close-knit tribe and live to help each other each and every single day. They help find food for the whole tribe not just their family and themselves. The !Kung look out for one another in the long run. The people of the tribe believe that someone with a “big head”, so to speak, will look at the rest of them as servants and eventually murder them. In order to put a stop to this, they tell each other that their meat is awful and cannot be used. (Lee, 4)
Unlike the !Kung San tribe, America and other countries all have jobs to be done. As a supervisor of a company, one must distribute out the jobs to be done to all the workers. On the other hand, the !Kung San tribe has no jobs to distribute. Everyone works together to get everything done for the tribe. They have no formal authority figure or chief, but govern themselves by group consensus. Disputes are resolved through lengthy discussions where all involved have a chance to make their thoughts heard until some agreement is reached. (as stated in Shostak, 1981). As a result the solidarity of the group is strong.
The interworking’s of the !Kung San tribe can be explained through Mechanical Solidarity, Gemeinschaft, and Status. Although the !Kung San tribes are not fully documented, they are indeed partially understood. While comparing America and the !Kung San tribe, one can interpret there are many differences and similarities. In order to fully understand the tribe, one must walk in the tribe’s shoes.