San Tribe Research Paper

I have chosen to write about the San Tribe because their ways are very intriguing to me. The San or also known as the “Bushman”, are located in the Kalahari Desert. These tribes have lived in this area for around four thousand years. They have a diet of primarily nuts, fruits, melons, and berries. Since their women gather about eighty per-cent of the food for their unit there is more of these fruits and other things than there is meat. Their men gather meat about once or twice a week and accountable for about twenty per-cent of the food which is meat of some kind. San is a group of people who know how to enjoy their lives since only gathering food two or three times a week they spend the rest of their time on leisure activities. These activities could include any of the following, visiting one another or just sleeping. (Lee, 1979) When you do not have to get more and more you can enjoy what you have and not have to over work yourself and it would have to b4e more comfortable for your body with less strain and worry.
The San is a Ban society and their livelihood comes from foraging, which is hunting and gathering what they require to survive.
These Nomadic tribes of kin people travel over the land year after year to prime locations for known where they gather food and water and not only do they survive they are a thriving community. They travel in small independent communities that break apart and then rejoin other members at different times. They tend to live in the most marginal environment in the world. Their community is a reciprocal unit in the fact that they have an exchange economical system. Among the kinship group, there is a form of giving of services and goods in a mutual agreed upon atmosphere. This is not only among the family unit but also by the completely camp residents and visitors alike share in the quantity of food available
equally.
The collectors distribute the food in either a raw or a prepared portion and then distributed around to each. You can find a constant flow of nut, berries roots as well as melons around the fireplaces of each resident all given to meet the standard of equality (1969a’p.58). This foraging system is an immediate return system; they must consume to stop spoilage. (Woodburn, 1988) It is also a way to prevent a large amount of produce from remaining in the event of there moving about, as they tend to move constantly. This foraging system works because even as they give without expectation of exchange or immediate return there is an unwritten rules that all has even in the event there is no kill by some of the parties on a certain day. There are some times when hunters can go weeks without a kill and they must rely on the hunters that have luck in those times. Even though San men are widely skilled at hunting there can be different level of success but this does not have a status level on it for anyone as far as being accepted. There is a great deal of modesty in the village as the hunters return to camp upon a successful hunt. The hunter coming into camp does not give off an atmosphere of bragging; in fact, it is to the contraire. There are unspoken rules followed by the hunter as well as the others. This keeps one from feeling inferior or superior to another bringing forth feelings of jealousy. This also brings a reinforcement of social ties and helps to be closer knitting together of family units. You could also feel safer in the event a family member is hurt or was to become ill and could not provide their part of the food for a while..
Well I am afraid in comparison to our society there is not a great deal to say is the same as foraging. We here are more likely to let those that will not work go hungry. Of course, we have the welfare system and food pantries that do make it easier for those who do not have to get food. However, we do not work on the general idea of every one being equal those that work harder have more. The more you apply your self the more you have. We also do have leaders that can make us do things whether we want to or not. The seat belt law is an example of this. As far as kinship in our family my children and grandchildren would be considered one that I personally would share anything I have with but not all in our family feels this way. We are in a dog eat dog society and I fear it has rubbed off on most everyone. I believe if you do not work for it, you do not get it and I have tried to teach my family these same rules to live by. However, we do tend to do for our own kin folk first in taking care of them. We look out for our immediate family in providing for them and making sure, they have what they need. I remember as a child we lived in the city and my mothers family (brothers, sisters and some of their children would come and stay with us and we would help them get a job and get started. Dad owned an apartment house so they could stay in one of our apartments and we would feed them until they could do for themselves. Rules followed now are less kinship in our society in this present time.