Category FAQs Search : Intermittent Diet
Question: War and peace among Kalahari San
Answer: Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explain the discrepancy between ethnohistorical accounts on north-western Kalahari San of the nineteenth to early twentieth century and recent ethnographic accounts, the former depicting the San as intensely warlike, the latter as basically peaceable.
Design/methodology/approach
Review of historical, ethnohistorical and ethnographic source material (reports, journal articles, monographs).
Findings
The warlike ways of the nineteenth-century Kalahari San were reactions to settler intrusion, domination and encapsulation. This was met with resistance, a process that led to the rapid politicization and militarization, socially and ideationally, of San groups in the orbit of the intruders (especially the “tribal zone” they created). It culminated in internecine warfare, specifically raiding and feuding, amongst San bands and tribal groupings.
Research limitations/implications
While the nineteenth-century Kalahari San were indeed warlike and aggressive, toward both intruders and one another, this fact does not warrant the conclusion that these “simple” hunter-gatherer people have an agonistic predisposition. Instead, of being integral to their sociality, bellicosity is historically contingent. In the absence of the historical circumstances that fuel San aggression and warfare, as was the case after and before the people's exposure and resistance to hegemonic intruders, San society and ethos, in conformity with the social structure and value orientation of simple, egalitarian band societies, is basically peaceful.
Originality/value
A setting-the-record-straight corrective on current misunderstandings and misinformation on hunter-gatherer warfare.
(Source: , 29 Jun 2021)
Source Link: https://doi-org.onlinedatabase.librarynet.com.my/10.1108/JACPR-02-2014-0005