The Recent Changes in the Life and Society of the Central Kalahari San

Abstract

Sedentarization of the Central Kalahari San, a hunting-gathering people, is in progress following the introduction of school, medical clinic, stable water supply, etc. to their habitat. This paper describes the changes in hunting and gathering activities, residential patterns, and distribution of meat among individuals due to these introduced impacts, and analyzes the people's reactions to the modernization reflected in the coexistence of traditional egalitarianism and introduced monetary economics, the conflicting old and new value systems, and the changes of social maintenance mechanisms due to the concentration of population. The concentration of about 500 people at one settlement resulted in the disappearance of vegetable foods around the settlement and the gathering activities became inefficient and infrequent. Also the hunting field became distant, and, in place of the former solitary bow-and-arrow hunting, equestrian hunting by means of horses and donkeys became popular. The inflow of monetary economics, change of hunting methods, and concentration of population induced a great change in the distribution of meat in spite of little change in the per capita supply of meat. Although there coexist the traditional value system and the introduced value system in various perspectives, the people selectively imbibe the introduced culture, and integrate it into a new culture of their own. However, the present state is transitional, and there are many problems.