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- Convenor:
-
Akira Takada
(Kyoto University)
- Location:
- 301 A
- Start time:
- 18 May, 2014 at
Time zone: Asia/Tokyo
- Session slots:
- 1
Short Abstract:
Numerous ethnographies have described hunter-gatherers' use of distinctive ecological knowledge in their movements. How is mobility organized socially? How does mobility organize society? This panel will discuss at length these questions and inquire into the nature of hunter-gatherer sociality.
Long Abstract:
Mobility was once dominant in hunter-gatherer lifestyles. Numerous ethnographies have described hunter-gatherers' use of distinctive ecological knowledge (EK) in their movements, such as in tracking animals based on their spoors, moving back and forth between camps, and participating in long-distance trade. Inspired by recent technological advances in research methodologies, such as data collection using GPS, GIS, and action cameras, this panel session will discuss at length the following questions about the mobility of (post-) hunter-gatherer groups.
How is mobility organized socially? EK takes shape at the intersection of habitus and habitat, both of which reflect hunter-gatherers' long-term involvement with the environment. In addition to verbal utterances, various kinds of gesture, posture, and group member configuration compose vital parts of EK. Moreover, EK is expressed, exchanged, and shared among participants while they are engaged in movement. Hence, detailed analysis of their wayfinding practices allows us to delve into the social organization of EK.
How does mobility organize society? Movement patterns also suggest how hunter-gatherer societies are organized. For example, the range and frequency of visits among various camps reveal not only social relationships, but also the hidden moral ideal shared in the society. All hunter-gatherer societies are experiencing dramatic changes, and these societies face the urgent need to find their bearings. Under such circumstances, the way in which each individual participates in movement sheds light on what it means to be a hunter-gatherer.
Taken together, the presentations in this panel session inquire into the nature of hunter-gatherer sociality.
Accepted papers:
Session 1Paper short abstract:
I examine the mobility of the Batek, drawing from twenty years of observations. I’ll be focusing on shortcuts, and the knowledge involved in finding markers in the rainforest. My larger purpose will be to reflect on how to understand changes in mobility, landscape, and knowledge.
Paper long abstract:
As scholars our task is to understand "why" hunter-gatherers move around a lot but for the hunter-gatherers themselves mobility is simply the way to "be" and needs no involved explanation. This is what I found with the Batek of Pahang, Malaysia. Moving in the forest with them, mobility never feels strange: it may be burdensome but it seems eminently reasonable and, indeed, the only way to resolve many everyday problems. The problem, however, is that when something is not articulated and valorized, it is also more vulnerable to gradual decline.
In this paper I examine the mobility of the Batek, drawing from twenty years of detailed and then sporadic observations. In particular, I'll focus on shortcuts, and the knowledge involved in finding markers in the rainforest. My larger purpose is to reflect on how to understand changes in mobility, landscape, and knowledge. My early conclusions were that mobility was central to how social and ecological knowledge emerges. These days, many Batek move less than before. They also move differently. What is the place of mobility in the Batek's sense of self today? And what of their ties to the forest? As the Batek craft their ways through modernity, are they becoming like other hunter-gatherers, losing traditional knowledge and practices while gradually shifting to sedentary ways of reckoning space and location, or are they in the process of reconfiguring space while retaining their identities as mobile hunter-gatherers? And what of sociality?
Paper short abstract:
The Baka hunter-gatherers have apparent different body decoration from their neighbors, the Bantu-speaking people. How do they transmit it across areas and generations? How do they address new fashions? This paper will discuss these questions by focusing on the Baka’s mobility and cultural transmission.
Paper long abstract:
The Baka in southeastern Cameroon are a Pygmy hunter-gatherer group living in the tropical rain forests of central Africa. They had settled down around the road nearby the village of Bantu-speaking people since 1950s. They still keep hunting and gathering in the forest, but had already adapted themselves to the village life. They typically have many scars on their skin resulting from treatments for diseases or procedures to protect themselves from disease. However, they also have some scars that are only for aesthetic purposes. Sharpened front teeth, tattoos, brandings, and piercings are common body modifications among the Baka. This paper treats over 1000 points of data about Baka body modification, observed in eastern Cameroon.
Through comparing tattoo designs of each area, apparent area gap is not found, and there is no linkage showed up between the Baka's tattoo designs and their clan, ethnic group of neighbors or location of their camp. According to observation and interview, Baka women are usually chatting and exchanging their ideas and skills of body decoration, and they travel frequently especially when they are adolescences. Hence, these patterns could be spread with their travelling. Although the performance of tattoo is not mandatory ceremony in Baka society, adolescences are still high on body decorations. Even so, there are changes of popular designs across generations. This paper will hold Baka's body decorations as an example to discuss whether adolescences are the dynamic of cultural innovation in Baka society and how do the Baka meet and address a new cultural object.
Paper short abstract:
I analyzed the wayfinding practices of the G|ui/G||ana and found that they relied on human artifacts and natural landforms; they also framed their experiences in terms of both new and familiar conditions. Thus, they transformed a new geographical setting into their personal environment.
Paper long abstract:
Two groups of San, the G|ui and G||ana, have lived in the central part of the Kalahari Desert. However, their lifestyle has changed since the Government of Botswana relocated them to permanent settlements, and their hunting and gathering activities appear to have declined. They have relied on various spatial concepts, which have played important roles in their wayfinding practices. A |qaa, roughly translated as "dry valley", is an example of such a concept. In this presentation, I analyze interactions during hunting excursions (1) around a |qaa and (2) in a new geographical setting to understand the ways in which they perceive their environment. I found that their use of Tswana merchants' trails in the new geographical setting was analogous to their use of |qaa in that they used the trail as a frame of reference to determine their relative location. Utterances, gestures, and other semiotic resources were used effectively for this purpose. My analysis suggests that their wayfinding practices relied on human artifacts and natural landforms and they framed their experiences in terms of both new and familiar conditions. Folk knowledge played a major role in their integration of accumulated empirical observations with the imagined attributes of their environment, which were also in constant flux. Such sensitivity to the surrounding environment is necessary to enable G|ui/G||ana people to orient themselves in the relatively flat terrain of the Kalahari. Moreover, this sensitivity has motivated them to transform a new geographical setting into their personal environment.