ANTH 1170 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Jamie Uys, Kalahari Desert, Egalitarianism
12 Nov 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Bands and tribes as political systems that are egalitarian societies. An example of a modern day band are the bushmen, or san, of africa"s kalahari desert. Bands are both politically and economically egalitarian; their members have equal access to resources and prestige as well as a great degree of gender equality. Gathering as the more productive means of survival for hunter-gatherers (traditional feminine role; increased feminine influence on norms?) Extended family network as inherently advantageous due to its high mobility and generalized reciprocity. This shared use of collected resources that lacks privacy is known as reciprocity. Reciprocity is formally defined as the practice of exchanging things with others for mutual benefit. Balanced when it centers on the act of mutual giving and the relationship it establishes. Negative when there is a degree of animosity involved in the exchange (eg. the horse raids among various tribes of native americans located across the plains)
