Summary Of Living With Reciprocity By David Kung

In the essay Too Many Bananas, Not Enough Pineapples, and No Watermelon at All: Three Object Lessons in Living with Reciprocity by David Counts, there is a misunderstanding between cultures about the rules of sharing. The events in David Counts's essay were humorous anecdotes about fruit. Unfortunately for the !Kung people, differing ideas of sharing can sometimes be catastrophic for a culture. The previous social interactions of the !Kung became unworkable when they were forced to switch to a cash-based society.

1. Colonization and land ownership ----- Staying in one place -- more conflict
These cultures didn't mesh because they both had very different concepts of land ownership. Unfortunately for the !Kung, the Boer's concept of land
ownership became more widely recognized because it was easier to enforce. Another factor that contributed to the Boer's land ownership was that they had guns. The Boer's concept of land ownership meant that the !Kung were forced to stay in one place. The documentary stated that hunter gatherer tribes often had less difficulties because they were able to move away from their enemies. In the video, the inverse of this is also true. Trapped together, the !Kung began to get on each other's nerves. The !Kung lacked their typical coping mechanism for anger: distance.

2. land ownership ---- Hunting gathering stops--- Staying together---More conflict
In addition to trapping the !Kung together, the Boer ideas of land ownership forced the !Kung to stop hunting and gathering. When the !Kung stopped hunting and gathering, they lacked didn't just want resources, they wanted their old culture back.

3. Hunter gathering stops----sharing stops---Mealy Meal ---More malnutrition ---lack of food leads to suspicion and discord among the !Kung
These cultures didn't mesh because they both had very different ideas of what ownership of property meant. The limited resources led to high need among the !Kung people. When some members of the tribe started to adopt the Boer's ideas of ownership, these members of the tribe were less willing to share. Some members of the tribe were sick with tuberculosis. Quite understandably, the rest of the tribe was angry.

In the end, a combination of confined space, of lack of resources, and culture differences caused great difficulty for the !Kung culture. The two cultures came together, but they did not become whole.