Inayat Kaur
February 25, 2009 (Due:Feb 25)
ANT 1001 TV24A/ Gaunt
2nd Year (Finance)
Richard Borshay Lee. “Eating Christmas in the Kalahari”
The story is a true account of an Anthropologist who is studying the !Kung tribe of Africa. He has been living among the !Kung for the past three years and he’s going back to his country after Christmas . As a social anthropologist studying the hunting and gathering subsistence economy of the !Kung, he was required to not provide them with any kind of food. However, he decides to present the people with an ‘Ox’ for the ox custom they observe every Christmas. It would be his goodbye gift and a way of saying thank you to the people in Kalahari for all that they did for him.
So, Richard set out on a search for a meaty ox. His search soon yielded results and he paid $56 for the solid black, fat ox that would be his gift. Soon, news spread throughout the tribe of Ontah’s( Richard’s Bushman name, which literally meant ‘Whitey’) purchase. Richard was quite pleased with himself and hoped the news made the Kalahari’s happy.
When Ben!a questioned Richard about his solid, black Ox and called it a ‘Bag of bones,’ he was astonished. That evening, a young man came to see him and he too called the ox an old wreck. A few other people made similar comments. By now, Richard was angry with himself and couldn’t understand why the people would call such a big, fat ox a thin, weak wreck.
As Christmas approached, Richard got nervous. He wanted his goodbye gift to atleast be liked by the people. On the day of Christmas, as the people slaughtered the ox, it was fat and meaty. And they still joked around calling it was a bad purchase. That’s when Richard understood that all along, the !Kung’s were playing a prank on him. And so when he asked one of his informants about the prank, his suspicion was confirmed. In their culture, they don’t appreciate a good catch. The reason being that they don’t’ want the hunter to become egoistic about his catch.
This was the last bit of information that Richard needed for his ethnography. He departed happily with this knowledge.
Bibliography
Eating Christmas in the Kalahari. Richard Boirshay Lee. Conformity and Conflict.
February 25, 2009 (Due:Feb 25)
ANT 1001 TV24A/ Gaunt
2nd Year (Finance)
Richard Borshay Lee. “Eating Christmas in the Kalahari”
The story is a true account of an Anthropologist who is studying the !Kung tribe of Africa. He has been living among the !Kung for the past three years and he’s going back to his country after Christmas . As a social anthropologist studying the hunting and gathering subsistence economy of the !Kung, he was required to not provide them with any kind of food. However, he decides to present the people with an ‘Ox’ for the ox custom they observe every Christmas. It would be his goodbye gift and a way of saying thank you to the people in Kalahari for all that they did for him.
So, Richard set out on a search for a meaty ox. His search soon yielded results and he paid $56 for the solid black, fat ox that would be his gift. Soon, news spread throughout the tribe of Ontah’s( Richard’s Bushman name, which literally meant ‘Whitey’) purchase. Richard was quite pleased with himself and hoped the news made the Kalahari’s happy.
When Ben!a questioned Richard about his solid, black Ox and called it a ‘Bag of bones,’ he was astonished. That evening, a young man came to see him and he too called the ox an old wreck. A few other people made similar comments. By now, Richard was angry with himself and couldn’t understand why the people would call such a big, fat ox a thin, weak wreck.
As Christmas approached, Richard got nervous. He wanted his goodbye gift to atleast be liked by the people. On the day of Christmas, as the people slaughtered the ox, it was fat and meaty. And they still joked around calling it was a bad purchase. That’s when Richard understood that all along, the !Kung’s were playing a prank on him. And so when he asked one of his informants about the prank, his suspicion was confirmed. In their culture, they don’t appreciate a good catch. The reason being that they don’t’ want the hunter to become egoistic about his catch.
This was the last bit of information that Richard needed for his ethnography. He departed happily with this knowledge.
Bibliography
Eating Christmas in the Kalahari. Richard Boirshay Lee. Conformity and Conflict.
