Mbuti Pygmies
Mbuti Pygmies
The Mbuti Pygmies are a semi-nomadic/foraging group of people from the Ituri rainforest of the northeastern Congo in central Africa; they inhabit one of the least developed areas in the Ituri. The Mbuti live in the Ituri tropical rainforest of Zaire, a place of consistently warm temperatures and a place filled with dense trees, many different animals, birds and a rich plat life due to the thick canopy of trees and rain keeping the soil rich and moist, which in turn provides much plant life and insects to nourish their bodies with. “The Mbuti spend much of the year hunting and gathering for food and then the rest of the year, they live with nearby farming villagers for whom they provide labor in exchange for outside goods and garden vegetables” (Bonta, 2006); This is how the Mbuti have survived over the years. In this exploratory paper will begin by discussing the Mbuti pygmies and their culture and how these foraging people survive in the Ituri rainforest. It will then discuss the Mbuti beliefs and values, sickness and healing and lastly, social change and how it effects the tribes and their everyday life. The Mbuti pygmies are foragers. They have great endurance and can orient themselves and travel long distances very easily (Turnbull, 1983), they are very great hunters and knowledgeable gatherers, they can tell what plants are poisonous by sight, and the Mbuti even harvest their own honey. The forest provides them with a great source of food, that they do not have to be gone for days to find food, it only takes hours and they can come back to their camps and enjoy their social time. The Mbuti are a very close-knit group of families, the tribes are a bit different than other foraging societies, as in the Mbuti society; the women do marry outside of the Mbuti villages with frequency (Mosko, 1987). As foragers, normally the men hunt and the women gather, but in the Mbuti communities, the women may join in on the hunt and the men will
The Mbuti Pygmies are a semi-nomadic/foraging group of people from the Ituri rainforest of the northeastern Congo in central Africa; they inhabit one of the least developed areas in the Ituri. The Mbuti live in the Ituri tropical rainforest of Zaire, a place of consistently warm temperatures and a place filled with dense trees, many different animals, birds and a rich plat life due to the thick canopy of trees and rain keeping the soil rich and moist, which in turn provides much plant life and insects to nourish their bodies with. “The Mbuti spend much of the year hunting and gathering for food and then the rest of the year, they live with nearby farming villagers for whom they provide labor in exchange for outside goods and garden vegetables” (Bonta, 2006); This is how the Mbuti have survived over the years. In this exploratory paper will begin by discussing the Mbuti pygmies and their culture and how these foraging people survive in the Ituri rainforest. It will then discuss the Mbuti beliefs and values, sickness and healing and lastly, social change and how it effects the tribes and their everyday life. The Mbuti pygmies are foragers. They have great endurance and can orient themselves and travel long distances very easily (Turnbull, 1983), they are very great hunters and knowledgeable gatherers, they can tell what plants are poisonous by sight, and the Mbuti even harvest their own honey. The forest provides them with a great source of food, that they do not have to be gone for days to find food, it only takes hours and they can come back to their camps and enjoy their social time. The Mbuti are a very close-knit group of families, the tribes are a bit different than other foraging societies, as in the Mbuti society; the women do marry outside of the Mbuti villages with frequency (Mosko, 1987). As foragers, normally the men hunt and the women gather, but in the Mbuti communities, the women may join in on the hunt and the men will
References: Ashley-Farrand, T. (1999). Healing Mantras (1st ed.). New York, NY: The Random House. Bonta, B. (2006). Mbuti. Encyclopedia of Selected Peaceful Societies. Retrieved from http://peacefulsocieties.org/Society/Mbuti.html Drake, K. (2006). Gold and Ethnic Conflict in the Ituri Region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Retrieved from http://www1.american.edu/ted/ice/ituri.htm Fabbro, D. (1978). Peaceful Societies: An Introduction. Journal of Peace Research. (15)1, 67-83. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/422870 Mosko, M. (1987). The symbols of “Forest”: A Structural Analysis of Mbuti Culture and Social Organization. American Anthropologist. (89)4, 896-913. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/677863 Turnbull, C. (1983). The Mbuti of Zaire. Location and Environment: Shaping Traditional Lifestyle. Retrieved from http://www.ucc.uconn.edu/~epsadm03/mbuti.html Woolf, M. & Brown, C. (2005). Global Warming: The US Contribution in Figures. Retrieved from http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0613-02.htm