Mbuti Culture Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Mbuti Culture - Research Paper ExampleThe Mbuti kinship group is dependent on the forest for all the aspects of their life including getting their food, clothes, materials for hunt, item of play, musical instrument etc. In the new-fashioned convictions the tribesmen adopt come in contact with the agricultural people living the peripheries of the forest. However hunting remains their primary source of subsistence. Even in their trade with the agricultural people they exchange the shopping centre they get from the forest in exchange for farm products (Tanno, n.d. pp. 1-51). The forest and hunting activities influenced the culture, fond structures, gender dealings and the beliefs and values of the Mbuti tribe associated with the Molimo ritual of the tribe. Social Organization The difference in the strategy for procuring the subsistence has attracted the interest of the anthropologist and ethnographers. along with the difference in the hunting technique some difference in the so cial structure has similarly been observed with reference to the upshot of members in the community. The inhabitants of the southwestern region, the net hunters live in a comparatively large camp consisting to seven to thirty families together. There method of hunting and distribution of the hunt be also of communal type. The women beat the under bush to drive the animals to the net which are looked after by the men. According to famous pygmy researcher Turnbull, this method of hunting requires a number of families to cooperate with for each one other in graze to procure their subsistence. On the contrast the archers live in small groups of tierce to five. Individual members hunt with the help of arches and bows. The different operations of arching are tracking and ambushing which requires less number of men than net hunting. Several reasons have been cited for this difference in hunting pattern and consequent social structure based on region. According to Turnbull, this has o ccurred due to the historical distribution of the forest. The southwestern parts of the countries have been subjected to encroachment for agriculture, mining, plantations, tourist centers etc. As a result the inhabitable land and the land for hunting and gathering have been reduced. On the other hand the population of the tribe has increased over the years. As a result the tribe was forced to increase their utilization of the reduced amount of available land. that due to the Law of Diminishing Return the tribesmen had to undertake more work individually in order to maintain similar level of consumption. Another interesting feature that has been pointed out by the scholars is that the pygmy tribe has a low exposure to the technological advancement. Therefore they are unable to increase the utilization of the diagram of land with the help of technology. To compensate for that, the tribesmen are required to increase the coordination and cooperation among themselves to maintain simila r level of consumption. (Abruzzi, 1979) noted anthropologist, Harako suggests another alternative possibility. According to him the original mode of hunting of the Mbuti tribe was archery. But some time in history a part of the tribe came in touch with the Bantu speaking tribes. In course of their interaction and exchange the Mbuti tribe learnt to use the net as a tool for hunting. This theory gives an explanation for the division of hunting methods