Egalitarianism and the Cash Economy among the Central Kalahari San Essa

Egalitarianism and the Cash Economy among the Central Kalahari San Jiro Tanakas look on the Central Kalahari San explored the changes in the San association and determined the overall effects on the culture. Tanaka looked at a group of people who had recently switched from a hunting and gathering existence to a more sedentary appearance of life. She run aground that though there were differences in the everyday lives of the San, they were able to keep on their language, cultural identity, and egalitarian exalteds. Tanaka attributes the changes in the San ball club to influences by the government and Christian missionaries in the 1970s. Tanakas research, which occurred in the 1980s, found that the Sans views on labor, the fashion goods were given and received, and their value system had altered as a prove of their contact with outside groups. The groups promoting these changes were attempting to modernize the San. The various groups in the Central Kalahari began to e gest sedentary lifestyles built around villages which included schools, medical facilities, a imperishable water supply, and agricultural systems. The changes in the San society were far reaching. Sedentary vivification meant that higher concentrations of people were living in smaller areas, and the gatherers soon found the plant resources almost depleted in the area around the settlement. In addition, collective equestrian hunting gained prominence over solo bow-and-arrow hunting. though some families have been successful at livestock raising and elaboration of crops, Tanaka found that these are not significant contributors to the economy of the San. The idea of a dominant cash economy was completely new to the San. Before the 1980s, they had totally traded on a sm... ...bility to reproduce themselves as a society bandage limiting the accumulation of wealth and power (1993174). Thus, like Tanaka, Lee believes that though they have altered their lifestyle, the Dobe hav e not abandoned their fundamental ideal of egalitarianism. They have managed to assert some control over the degree to which their society is modernizing. The analyses formed by Lee and Tanaka leads one to question to role of the hunter-gatherer society in the present mindset of those who study these cultures. Do we feel as if modernization de-romanticizes our conception of hunter-gather societies? Is it affirmable that groups are happier in with their new lifestyles? Is it possible for us to decide what is best for these groups? Was change inevitable? These are sightly some of the questions which come to mind when exploring the changes in different cultural groups.