Kinship System Of The San Americans

Kinship Systems of the San Cultures
Lynn M. Mudd
ANT 101: Introduction to Anthropology
Instructor Cynthia Livingston
March 22, 2011

Kinship 1 The oldest social structure in human existence are societies known as bands. These are people who have lived their entire lives as hunters and gatherers, or foragers, in order to survive, feeding themselves, and their families. Now these families might not be exactly what, or how we may describe our families in today’s society. In these bands, people resided in small, self-sufficient mobile groups. The exploitation of fauna and the local flora is how Band socioeconomic life is based. The foraging people live within a defined territory and exist in what is called
Foragers called the San, for example, have very strong kinship systems, which impacts their way of life and the way the culture behaves. The San have lived their lived for thousands of years in the same location, the southwest of Africa. It is here, where these strong kinship systems have taken place for these thousands of years, which has impacted their lives in many ways. The San, of the Kalahari Desert, have been known as the best hunting and gathering communities in the modern world. They also operate with behaviors of reciprocal exchange, which is commonly found in band societies.
Reciprocity, is a mutual, agreed-upon exchange of goods and services, which is a major function in this type of society, making it easier as to not spoil foods or meat among their kinship. If a man were to go out and kill a large animal, his immediate family would certainly not go without meat for a while, and in fact, they would more than likely have too much to consume before it were to go bad. In order to make the most out of the meat, and to help the kinship of the other households who might not have meat (or even the ones that do), they will share that
Well, maybe only when it comes to the

food sharing, and not letting anyone else go hungry. My family has actually gone through some hard times in the past, where my Father had recently lost his job as an architect, and myself and my own daughter had moved back in with my parents, due to the separation and then divorce with my own husband. We practically had to ration food amongst the entire family, which had included my parents, myself, my daughter, and my younger brother, who was still living with my parents at the time. As far as the hunting and gathering, we do not hunt in my own family, and never really gathered any food or berries for food consumption. As far as conflict is concerned, we do have rules and laws to abide by, and our government is our organizing principle. So in conclusion, the kinship system of the San is relatively different than the kinship system in my society, and my own life. The behavior in my society, and that of my own family is much different than of that of the San culture located in The Kalahari Desert in Africa. Other than the food sharing we have had to do, I would think that really would be the only