The Ju/’hoansi peoples - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

The Ju/’hoansi peoples

By: Mohammed.I, Tariq, Amiin, and OsmanSlide2

How Ju/’hoansi communicate with a verbal language of a limited set of sounds

The Jul’hoan or southeastern Xuun

, is the southern variety of the Kung dialect continuum spoken by about 30,000 people in the northeast of Namibia, and by another 5,000 in northwest district of Botswana, specifically the Kalahari Desert.

T

he

smallest unit of sound that can be altered to change the meaning of a word is called a phoneme. In English for example, the words win, pin, kin, and sin all have different meanings due to the fact of the phoneme or initial sound is different.

T

he

san languages of southwest Africa (which

are

spoken by the Ju/’hoansi and other ethnicities) use some sounds that are not found not only in the English language, but

most

other languages around the world

.

T

he

sounds they use are like clicks which serve as consonants, and the Ju/’hoansi language has

distinct

kinds of clicks that are produced pulling the

tongue

away from different locations in the mouth. The

ju

/’hoansi have an unusually large number of consonants, 48 click consonants to be precise, and they’re made up of

4 kinds of clicks

which

are dental, lateral, alveolar, and

platal

.

There

are also five vowel qualities, however these may be nasalized,

glottalized

, murmured, or combinations of these, and most of these possibilities occur both long and short. There are about a good 30 vowel phonemes and in addition to many vowel

sequencesSlide3

Ju’/hoansi grammatical rules for constructing sentences

Moving on from the phonology of language to morphology, morphology has to with a languages grammar and the grammatical rules for constructing sentences, and how the sounds of the phonemes are combined into larger units called morphemes

In

a single morpheme, the plural diminutive enclitic (which basically means a word pronounced with so little emphasis that it is shortened and forms part of the preceding word, e.g.,

n't

in can't.) only occur in loan

words

Only

a small set of consonants occur between vowels within roots, and they are

Labial(sounds from lip

), Alveolar(sounds articulated with the tongue against or close to the

superior teeth), Velar(sounds pronounced

with the back of the tongue near the soft

palate), Uvular(sounds articulated with the back of the

tongue),

and

Glottal (sounds articulated with the glottis and vocal cords)

Labials

are very rare initially, though common between vowels. Also, velar stops (oral and nasal) are rare initially

as well

.Slide4

Video of Ju/’hoansi man counting to ten in

xuun dialect://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgMqdcCuLoUSlide5

How the Ju/’hoansi use age and gender

to classify peopleThough children do not have a responsibility to provide food, they do periodically accompany their mothers in the gathering of food. While they are young, they are allowed to play and entertain themselves. When they grow older they are expected to provide a contribution to the village. In fact, a young man is only eligible to marry after making his first big game kill. In doing this he has proven he can support a wife and

family.

On the contrary, a young woman is not considered a woman until she

gains her first menstruation and finally

has her first child, which is generally only after being married.

Usually by their early twenties

men

are able to start killing larger animals

. These young

men

go

through an initiation called

Choma

. This initiation lasts six weeks and allows for the

ritual

knowledge of male matters to be passed down from one generation to the next.

These

are the primary ways young men learn their place in society.

Elders, while few in number and unable to contribute to the group economically,

are

highly respected in the community. This is generally due to their knowledge of the

culture.

The elders

give the Ju’/hoansi connection

to their history and the ability to continue to preserve their culture as best as they could.Slide6

How the Ju’/

hoansi classify people based on descent relationshipsNuclear family members (shaded in green) are assigned unique terms, and extended family members are grouped into categories on a bilateral basis without any distinction between father's and mother's sides. Thus we could provide an exact English gloss for any of the terms above: 

tsu

 = 

uncle

, 

ga

 = 

aunt

, 

kuna

/

tun

 =

cousin

, 

tsuma

 = 

nephew/niece

.

The gender of the speaker becomes a significant factor in the term given to nieces and nephews. Males use the term "

tsuma

" and females use the term "

gama

", a reflection of the fact that they are reciprocals of "

tsu

" and "

ga

".

(the

gama

term is only used for sister's daughter but such a usage seems to involve an inconsistency).

The relative age of the speaker is also significant. The diagram above gives the terms for older siblings and cousins. Younger relatives receive a different designation as indicated in the following diagram. (Note that the younger cousin terms -- 

kuma

 and 

tuma

 -- are reciprocals of 

kuna

 and 

tun

.Slide7

Continued….

The main feature that can now be observed is that the terms for older cousin (kuna/tun)are the same as the terms for grandparents, representing a principle that Lee identifies as an "equivalence of alternate generations". The same pattern is evident in the use of equivalent terms for:

uncle and great-grandfather (

tsu

)

aunt and great-grandmother(

ga

), and

niece/nephew and great grandchild (

tsuma

/

gama

).

The same patterning is reflected in the identification of younger cousins (

kuma

/

tuma

) with grandchildren as indicated below.Slide8

Ju/’hoansi (San) Kinship chart and termsSlide9

How the Ju’/hoansi raise children in some sort of family setting

The roles of men and women are taught to children through enculturation both directly and indirectly. Growing up, children, both boys and girls, accompany their mother when she gathers (some stay in the village and play). When boys get a little older (around 12-14) they begin to go out on hunts with their fathers to observe. Usually by their early twenties young men are able to start killing larger animals.

Women, in turn, learn their roles through observation and direction given by their mothers. Young girls gather with their mothers and marry young (around 16).

The

Ju/’hoansi rarely display aggression so their children have little opportunity to emulate aggressive behavior.

Whenever

children do exhibit signs of aggression, adults quickly intervene to diffuse their hostilities.

The

close physical proximity of their huts—tightly clustered around central clearings—meant that children seldom got to play away from the ear of an adult, and aggression rarely had a chance to develop.Slide10

How the Ju/’hoansi display a sexual division of labor

The !Kung(Ju/’hoansi) are an egalitarian society, meaning everyone has access to the valued resources.

The pattern of subsistence the Ju/’hoansi follow is foraging (hunting and gathering)

Everyone

prized the meat that the men hunted but they really lived on the vegetable foods gathered by the women, which provided 60 to 80 percent of their diet. The women thus derived a lot of self-esteem from their contributions to their families. The

women

foraged many miles from the men without weapons, despite the possibility of encountering large predators such as lions and leopards. They did not need permission from men or assistance from them in their food-production work. Men and women could be absent from the camps for days at a time, so there was no inequality with men being gone while women maintained the home. The Ju/’hoansi valued the sexes nearly equally.

The

roles of men and women are taught to children through enculturation both directly and indirectly. Growing up, children, both boys and girls, accompany their mother when she gathers (some stay in the village and play).

When

boys get a little older (around 12-14) they begin to go out on hunts with their fathers to observe. Usually by their early twenties young men are able to start killing larger animals.

Women

, in turn, learn their roles through observation and direction given by their mothers. Young girls gather with their mothers and marry young (around 16). Slide11

How Ju/’hoansi display a concept of privacy

First and foremost Birth done in private. Ju/’hoansi women give unassisted birth walking away from the village camp as far as a mile during labor, and bearing the child alone, delivering it into a small leaf-lined hole dug into the warm sand. When a

young woman gets her first menstruation, she is brought to a hut made especially for the

occasion, and no men are allowed in

. During this time, it is considered very bad luck for the hunt if a man were to see the young woman's face.

The

segregation of men and women during the celebration of a women's first menstruation is comparable to the secret segregation occurring for a young man's initiation. Other than these two instances, however, not much segregation among the sexes

occurs.

The Ju/’hoansi are people of little privacy, due to their villages being arranged around central fires and families sleeping together in simple huts. When it comes to sex between the parents though, typically the parents try to be discreet about it. However, children often become aware of this and will lay awake at night to curiously observe it.

Lovers for married adults are also kept discreet, because it could cause a lot of conflicts with their spouse. There are many cases where a wife leaves her husband or a husband beats, even sometimes kills his wife, because of their loverSlide12

Ju/’hoansi

rules to regulate sexual behaviorChildren of the Ju/’

hoansi

learn about sexual behavior at a very early age.

This is because of the limited amount of living space that has to be shared between families, resulting in parental sex being carried out discretely beneath the same blanket, while children are asleep

.

W

hen children reach around the age of 7 they start to catch on thanks to their curiosity, and go around and engage in sexual activities themselves. Adults know that the kids engage in sexual acts, because they did so themselves while they were younger, but if they see the kids doing it in front of them, they will scold them, as it is deemed disrespectful to perform such acts in front of your elders.

Up to the teenage age, children play in the village without having to cover their genitals. This attitude towards sex also means that sexual play is considered as a normal process of childhood, with children as up to the age of 15 mixing playtime and sexual activity.

An implication of this is that the meaning of ‘virginity’ as we know it is actually not valid in the !Kung context, since most children would have some experience with sexual activity very early, like around age 8 on average.

When looking at the adults, the adults can have sex with their spouses, or their lovers. However the lovers are kept discreet as to avoid any conflict and sexual relations are done when the husband is out, or outside in the bushesSlide13

Distinguishing between good and bad Ju/’hoansi behavior

Good behavior - bringing meat into the village is highly celebrated, and a positive sanction(reward) men receive for this act is that they gain a larger range of influence and power in the village.

Bad behavior - Whenever children

exhibit

signs of aggression

, they receive a negative sanction(punishment) of adults lecturing and scolding them.

Also they regard stinginess with great hostility,

and

are even more strongly opposed to arrogance. A hunter who announced his success to his camp, or a woman who made a point of displaying her gift to another is arrogant. They have

negative sanctions which include

downplaying gifts, self-deprecating comments, rough humor, put-downs, and back-handed

compliments for these actionsSlide14

Ju/’hoansi body ornamentationSlide15

Continued

The Ju/’hoansi do not have much body ornamentation as children aren’t required to wear anything at all, and when they reach teenage years the men and women simply have to cover their genitalsAlot of the Ju/’hoansi adults and elders wear tattoo geometric designs on their foreheads and cheekbones

The women also wear beaded necklaces, and arm bands, and ostrich shell ornaments.

When the men go hunting they take pride in carrying their bows and arrows with them, and sometimes even decorate themSlide16

Ju/’hoansi jokes and games

Since there are very few Ju/’hoansi children in each village, competitive games would be hard to organize since it would be difficult to find an age-mate to compete with, much less enough to form viable team sports. This accords with the Ju/’hoansi cultural opposition to competitiveness. While the children exhibit widely differing abilities in their games, they don't

compete and

all play for the sheer pleasure of it

.

A lot of the games they play at a very young age are very sexual, such as pretend marriage, and this again has to do with their curiosity

With Ju/’hoansi jokes, a lot of jokes are made to have fun, but also to demean others because of inappropriate acts they commit, and are usually

very sexual.

Eg

. If

a man makes an unwarranted sexual approach towards a woman, she’ll joke that he has a

smelly penis

.

There is actually a Joking kin, which means that there are only a certain designated people you’re allowed to make jokes to. You are

expected to maintain

affectionate

relationships

with them and

mark

you’re

intimacy by extensive joking involving insults, mock threats, and ribald

remarks

(which

is referring

to sexual matters in an amusingly rude or irreverent

way)

There is also an avoidance kin, which

are people

you are

supposed to be respectful

and

reserved

with, and in

some extreme cases, such as mother-in-law/son-in-law relationships,

you should

not talk to each other at all.Slide17

Ju/’hoansi artSlide18

Continued

Trance Dances: At the all-night trance dances, the men dance around a circle of chanting, clapping women, who sometimes also join the dancing. As the dancing increases in energy, the n/um (energy) rises in the healers until they reach a state of !kia (altered consciousness) in which they can begin to cure physical and mental illnesses by laying their hands on the sick people and pulling out the sicknesses

.

Namibian

music: Music is an extension of practical

language for the Ju/’hoansi bushmen. Examples of music they take part in is a collective of singing

and healing songs (both as forms of entertainment) as well as singing

gamesSlide19

Continued

http://www.allmusic.com/album/namibia-songs-of-the-juhoansi-bushmen-mw0000063528Slide20

Ju/’hoansi leadership

roles for the implementation of community decisionsThe Ju/hoansi leadership practices are a very good example of egalitarianism. The

J

u/

hoansi

do not have a headman or chief because that would cause a rift in the equality of the people.

Everyone

is considered equal, men and women so a headman is unnecessary and could cause social problems. Instead of appointing a leader for the overall group, the Ju/hoansi practice ad-hoc leadership.

Ad

hoc leadership is described

as

leadership for the certain task at hand and only for that time being. A leader may be appointed for a specific fishing trip but only for that trip. This keeps the people at a certain level so that no one thinks they are higher ranked of better than anyone

else.

Discussions of issues that might lead to conflicts, such as laziness, stinginess, or unfair distribution of meat are normally maintained at the level of gossip, open criticism, or humor. Occasionally, when both parties become angry, conversations escalate to the level of a “talk,” which is characterized by

sudden and spontaneous comments

poured out at a rapid rate. If tempers flare, however, everyone tries to resolve the dispute before serious fighting erupts, but sometimes either a physical fight occurs or the group splits apart.Slide21

Citations

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ju%C7%80'hoan_dialecthttps://umanitoba.ca/faculties/arts/anthropology/tutor/case_studies/san/san_joke.html

https://

umanitoba.ca/faculties/arts/anthropology/tutor/case_studies/san/san_terms.html

http://

social-shadow.tripod.com/family.html

http://

www.peacefulsocieties.org/Society/Juhoan.htmlSlide22

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