Mbuti Culture Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Mbuti Culture - Research Paper ExampleThe Mbuti tribe is dependent on the forest for all the aspects of their life including acquire their food, clothes, materials for laming, item of play, musical instrument etc. In the recent times the tribesmen puzzle come in contact with the agricultural people living the peripheries of the forest. thus far hunting remains their primary source of subsistence. Even in their trade with the agricultural people they deputize the meat they get from the forest in exchange for farm products (Tanno, n.d. pp. 1-51). The forest and hunting activities influenced the culture, social structures, gender relations and the beliefs and values of the Mbuti tribe associated with the Molimo ritual of the tribe. Social Organization The difference in the strategy for procuring the subsistence has attracted the fire of the anthropologist and ethnographers. Along with the difference in the hunting technique some difference in the social structure has also been obs erved with reference to the number of members in the community. The inhabitants of the southwestern region, the net hunters live in a comparatively large camp consisting to seven to thirty families together. There method of hunting and distribution of the hunt are also of communal type. The women beat the under bush to drive the animals to the net which are looked after by the men. According to famous pygmy police detective Turnbull, this method of hunting requires a number of families to cooperate with each separate in order to procure their subsistence. On the contrast the archers live in low groups of three to five. Individual members hunt with the help of arches and bows. The different operations of arching are tracking and ambushing which requires less number of men than net hunting. Several reasons have been cited for this difference in hunting pattern and consequent social structure based on region. According to Turnbull, this has occurred due to the historical distributio n of the forest. The southwestern split of the countries have been subjected to encroachment for agriculture, mining, plantations, tourist centers etc. As a result the inhabitable land and the land for hunting and gathering have been reduced. On the other hand the population of the tribe has increased over the years. As a result the tribe was forced to increase their example of the reduced amount of unattached land. Moreover due to the Law of Diminishing Return the tribesmen had to undertake more work individually in order to maintain similar level of consumption. some other interesting feature that has been pointed out by the scholars is that the pygmy tribe has a low exposure to the technological advancement. Therefore they are unable to increase the utilization of the plot of land with the help of technology. To compensate for that, the tribesmen are required to increase the coordination and cooperation among themselves to maintain similar level of consumption. (Abruzzi, 1979 ) Renowned anthropologist, Harako suggests another alternative theory. According to him the pilot light mode of hunting of the Mbuti tribe was archery. But some time in history a part of the tribe came in touch with the Bantu disquisition tribes. In course of their interaction and exchange the Mbuti tribe learnt to use the net as a tool for hunting. This theory gives an explanation for the division of hunting methods