Year: 2007
Type: article
Abstract: The San peoples who have lived in the Kalahari desert of the southern Africa, are known as a typical example of the egalitarian society. They have the distribution system of food like animal meat caught by hunting or edible plants in the camp or settlement. It is said that it is very difficult for them to accumulate the private property because the distribution system.This paper aims to clarify the characteristic of their economic behaviors which have the both aspects of subsistence and commercial from the perspective of moral economy as the strategies for the risk. The regional diversity of sharing among the San and the practice of sharing and the method of food storage in the particular settlement are described Results have revealed the following points.The owners of caught animals and harvest have been fixed by the rule roughly according to the kind of subsistence like hunting and gathering etc. among the San. They have the system of distribution from “those who have” to “those who do not” in not only caught meat and gathered food, but also cultivation crops. Especially in the farming the crops were distributed to some other group who migrated to the cultivated fields during the harvest time. They also distinguish the meat for subsistence and commercial ones, and the meat for subsistence are distributed equally among the camp members. Lastly, goat raisings has a important role of their society and some farmer's community commonly in the tropical Africa.
Source: Journal of African Studies
Author: Kazunobu IKEYA
Institutions: National Museum of Ethnology, National Museum of Ethnology
Language: English
Subfield: Anthropology
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: No poverty
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2313747145