Ethnicity, hunter-gatherers, and the "other" : association or assimilation in Africa / edited by Susan Kent.

Format:

Book

Government document

Contributor:

Kent, Susan, 1952-2003.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ethnicity--Africa.

Ethnicity.

Ethnic relations.

Assimilation (Sociology).

Traditional farming.

Herders.

Hunting and gathering societies.

Africa.

Hunting and gathering societies--Africa.

Herders--Africa.

Traditional farming--Africa.

Assimilation (Sociology)--Africa.

Africa--Ethnic relations.

Physical Description:

xiii, 360 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Washington [D.C.] : Smithsonian Institution Press, [2002]

Summary:

As the world continues to shrink owing to globalization, the need to understand the diversity of culturally distinct societies and their interactions with neighboring groups becomes greater than ever. Susan Kent has invited an international team of experts to present their insights into how one type of society, African hunter-gatherers, has managed to survive long past the first contact between foragers, farmers, and pastoralists.

The contributors explore many issues, including culture change, trade, tribute, inter-group relations, autonomy, dependence, and differential contact histories and rates of change. They consider why the association of hunter-gatherers with non-hunter-gatherers has sometimes led to trade between autonomous societies and in other cases has led to assimilation. The book illuminates both past and present foraging societies by presenting new data and reinterpreting previously collected data within the framework of inter-group interactions.

Contents:

Interethnic encounters of the first kind: an introduction / Susan Kent

Encapsulated bushmen in the archaeology of Thamaga / Karim Sadr

Autonomy or serfdom? Relations between prehistoric neighboring hunter-gatherers and farmer/pastoralists in southern Africa / Susan Kent

Optimistic realism or opportunistic subordination? The interaction of the G/wi and G//ana with outsiders / Kazuyoshi Sugawara

Independence, resistance, accommodation, persistence: hunter-gatherers and agropastoralists in the Ghanzi Veld, early 1800s to mid-1900s / Mathias Guenther

Dangerous interactions: the repercussions of western culture, missionaries, and disease in southern Africa / Susan Kent

Solitude or servitude? Ju/h́oansi images of the colonial encounter / Richard B. Lee

Cultural contact in Africa, past and present: multidisciplinary perspectives on the status of African foragers / Alison Brooks

The complexities of association and assimilation: an ethnographic overview / Alan Barnard and Michael Taylor

Why the Hadza are still hunter-gatherers / Frank Marlowe

Putting hunter-gatherer and farmer relations in perspective: a commentary from central Africa / Axel Köhler and Jerome Lewis.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 307-347) and index.

ISBN:

1588340600

OCLC:

48943963