EATING Christmas in the Kalahari

Michael Christeen
Eating Christmas in the Kalahari
By Richard Lee
Article 2


Richard Lee used a couple different methods to try and understand the events that took place in the dessert. First he watched the events through his own point of view to try and understand what was happening as he was told more and more often that he had made a serious miscalculation. Then he began to branch out to other individuals that he used as informants to try and understand why things were not going the way that he had anticipated, and finally he was able to detect the humor that was supposed to be evident to him. After that he was able to ask questions about the custom and why any meat that is brought in is torn down and said to be worthless.
The rapport among the Kung and Richard seemed to be a kind of playful teasing. Even amongst the natives there is ribbing and a playful argument going on. Even the way that meat is brought in and the reaction that the hunter receives when he informs others of his kill shows this playfulness. To me it seems that this is there to not break down the community but to build it stronger and evenly so that they might be able to minimize conflict.
The most interesting thing in the whole article is not the way that they celebrate their Christmas or the way that they make fun of each other when it comes to meat. The thing that really made an impact on me was why they do it. Think about it providing food for a group of people is a noble thing but even after that you have to accept criticism of your act. And why do they do this to not make conflict between the members in the community. To me this shows an amazing amount of foresight that even in the simple task of gathering food can build resentment and not only that but they have found a way to work around it.

another essay of mine

anthro seems fun i seem to think this way naturally which i find very strange maybe even stranger than crazy people or those assholes that fuck everyone over for two cents on the dollar it seems to me that we are all as crazy as each other