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San Kinship

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San Kinship Organization

Kaleb Michaels

ANT 101

March 1, 2013

The San of Southwest Africa, located in the Kalahari Desert have a very basic yet powerful kinship within their culture and sub cultures. The entire culture is based on living harmoniously with each member or kin of the band as well as with nature. The very core of survival for the San is to take care and support their fellow kin. Having been around for thousands of years, they are the true meaning of the word community. They rely on this to be successful and to thrive as a culture.
As the text book states: “Among foraging cultures, for example, high value is placed on working together and sharing, as opposed to competing with others to secure individual wealth.” Nowak, B. & Laird, P. (2010). The very survival of this culture is to rely on one another when it comes to the task of providing food for one’s family. However, the San are also known as the “original affluent society”. The culture forages together, taking and using the resources that they need to sustain life. This leaves them with plenty of time to socialize with members of their culture as well as indulge in day to day things that they enjoy to do. One of the things that make this culture very unique is their system of reciprocity that is used between kin and other bands. Because the San do not build storage units for harvests and game hunted, everything they acquire must be used. Furthermore, the San are a nomadic culture so hauling goods would be a daunting task for them. To avoid spoilage of food, it is shared and given to others within their community. In addition to food spoilage and transporting the load, the San share food because of their tight knit kinships. If one member of the organization had an unsuccessful hunt but his fellow kin was successful; not wanting his comrade to go hungry he would share his bounty with the unsuccessful hunter and his family.
This basic act of fellowship has inspired a certain way of thinking throughout the San culture. They believe that no one man is greater than another. “In contrast, an overzealous hunter might be viewed as wanting respect or power beyond what people are willing to give—demanding a status within the community that places him above all others. This will result in him being "cut down"; the other hunters might say the hunted animal he secures is scrawny, or that it is not tasty.” Nowak, B. & Laird, P. (2010). The San are a culture that hones their individual strengths for the sake of their community. If there is a member of the society that tries to implement the “alpha male” ethnology, the other members will go as far as to bruise the pride to bring the individual back to the tier the society is on as a whole.
Everything the San does is for the greater good of their culture. To maintain a well balanced society, everyone must have the same information and general understanding of the band’s position, situation and condition. “Conflict exists in every culture. How conflict is controlled and resolved differs from culture to culture. Among many foraging cultures, conflict or disruptive behavior is rare. These communities have no rulers, no written laws, no formal rule enforcers, and no formal mechanisms for controlling, capturing, or punishing rule breakers. One reason that major conflict is rare is that bands are small. Kinship is the central organizing principle.” Nowak, B. & Laird, P. (2010). The bands are so in tuned with one another that conflicts barely arise. However, when they do, they are resolved with fellowship and laughter. This shows that the San culture is one of harmony and peacefulness. Overall the San culture is highly social and the success of the bands depends on everyone realizing they are one small piece to an elaborate system. “This kind of sharing reinforces important social ties. Generalized reciprocity is based on socially recognized family and kin relationships. The people you are sharing with are not only your neighbors, but also your kin. They are your parents or parents–in–law, your siblings or your spouse's siblings. They are not strangers. Generosity in sharing maintains kin and social relationships while providing a safety net.” Nowak, B. & Laird, P. (2010). The San live by realizing that respect and the care for each individual in their band is a community effort. The society relies on one another in high-quality conditions as well as rough hardships; this entails both their physical and social well being. The sense of the community and fellowship that the San have for one another does not totally reflect in my immediate social setting and life. The San are a very generous and social society. While I can be generous, I do not show that type of generosity to my community. I am more outwardly giving to close friends and family. I love their aspect on conflicts and conflict resolution. I for one do not hold a grudge against my fellow man. However, I do come from a culture where I was taught, “If someone hits you and there’s no adult around to get help from, you hit that person that.” When comparing “typical” American culture to the San, we have some of the same methods but in different forms. While a person may not buy groceries and feed their neighbors everyday; we as a community do pull canned goods together a few times a year for the less fortunate. If a person is going through economical hardship, they can rely on the government for a timed period of financial relief. Unfortunately, this causes political conflict within the country. Additionally, it is not always given with the same good nature that the San gives to their kin and bands. Americans are bread to be stingy because to have more is wealth and power. The San believe in the T.E.A.M acronym: Together Everyone Achieves More.

References

Nowak, B. & Laird, P. (2010). Cultural Anthropology. San Diego, CA. Bridgepoint Education, Inc.

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