Kalahari Desert, Essay Example

This assignment poses a question similar to the age old, “If you were stranded on a desert island, what one item would you most want to have?” Questions like these are common conversation starters on bus trips and at dinner parties. In the course of an anthropologist’s work, however, these questions are often necessary and require serious answers. Because some anthropologist’s do go off to rather isolated and remote areas of the world, similar in ways to being stranded on a desert island. The desert in question here is not an island, however. It is the Kalahari Desert and it is not deserted, but inhabited by traditional, semi-nomadic Ju/’hoansi Bushmen. The work is to live with a band of Ju/’hoansi for an undetermined amount of time, perhaps the rest of my life. The question is what five items to take with?

After careful consideration, the five items I have chosen to take with me to the Kalahari Desert are a mini photo book with pictures of my family, my electronic notebook, a Voltaic Generator solar bag, a very thick paper notebook and pen, and a bag of Swedish fish candies. Some of these items are “wants” and some are “needs”. Regardless, they all contain a specific significance for me and a certain reason for inclusion. Living in a semi-nomadic culture will be different from my life here in the United States. There are consequences of a mobile lifestyle to consider concerning my sense of home, my relationship with the natural environment, my attitude toward material possessions, and my social ties.

A want is something you feel you must have, something you desire and wish for. A need is a requirement, something that is necessary. The items I have chosen to bring with can be broken into these two categories of want and need. The Swedish fish are easy, they are a want. I have no necessity of them; I could easily survive without them. But they are my favorite candy and will provide a small comfort and bit of private enjoyment in a strange place. After the candy, the classification of the remaining four items gets a bit more difficult. I have a need to remain connected to my family and the photo book providing visual representation of them is an aid that will assist in actively maintaining the connection. However, it is not the only item I could choose as an aid. My connection to my family would not disappear if I lost the photo book. So, the photo book, too, is a want. My electronic notebook is, I think, the hardest to classify. Arguments can be made for both categories. One the one hand, the computer is not necessary to my survival. In an instance of emergency, it could provide a point of contact for help, but so could a cell phone or a radio. The computer is not necessary, but it is desirable. It can be turned on for a couple hours a day and used to log observations and notes, giving me a backup for information, as a real time point of contact with the outside world and family when a wireless signal is available, and as a way to access current news through remote login to other computers. So the electronic notebook is a want. The Voltaic Generator solar bag is a complement to the electronic notebook and that makes it a need. By itself, the bag would be a want, however it provides a way to directly power the notebook for short time periods or to fully recharge the notebook batteries in an environment where power outlets would be limited or nonexistent. The last item is the thick notebook and pen. Though technically this is two items, they are so necessary to each other in the art of writing that I insist on considering them one unit. A necessary unit. The human mind can only remember so much detail; a written account of observations is necessary to provide an accurate account of my time in the desert and since the notebook can only be used a couple hours a day due to reliance on battery power, a paper notebook and pen for writing observations as they take place is required. So, the extra thick notebook and pen is a need. To summarize, the Swedish fish, electronic notebook, and mini photo book are wants. The Voltaic Generator solar bag and extra thick paper notebook with pen are needs.

I find it interesting that out of the five items I chose to bring with me to the Kalahari Desert, three of them are wants. Perhaps this shows that much more in our lives, or at least in mine, are comprised of wants than actual needs. We live in a society where basic survival is rarely considered. For the most part, food is readily available for a small cost and money comes in the form of a paycheck or handout from mom and dad. On the whole, we are a nation of convenience and material wealth. So most of the items we use each day and would put under consideration to take with, are items of want, not of need. The semi-nomadic lifestyle of the Ju/’hoansi is rather different from what I am used to. The mobility of a semi-nomadic lifestyle does not allow for the acquisition of material goods or for a permanent location designated as “home”. It forces a relationship with the natural environment, as well as strong social interaction and social ties with the people within one’s band. What items the Ju/’hoansi carry with them must be mostly items of need.

The obvious reason for this selectivity is their mobile lifestyle. Since they have no single permanent “home” location, it means there is not a place to store necessary items. So items of hygiene, clothes, and trade tools must all be carried from place to place. For my part, I am used to having a single permanent location to call home. It is where I store my items of need, as well as items of want. My immediate family all call the same location home. We sleep under one roof, eat meals together, and interact socially. It is my family base, my comfort zone. It is my point of safety. To transition to a semi-nomadic lifestyle will be to shift my entire notion of what home is and this will be no easy task. A lifetime of cultural learning has taught me that home is a location, something that does not hold true for the Ju/’hoansi. There is an association to location for the Ju/’hoansi. After all, there is a certain marked territory they travel within. But no single spot within the territory called home. Living in their society, I imagine my personal sense of home would become less linked to my permanent location in the United States, and more closely associated with those close to me I will travel with. I will come to see home not as an idea rooted to a place, but as an idea linked to people I love.

In keeping with the focus on people, I suspect that the importance I previously placed on material items would shift from things to an emphasis on strong social ties with people. Being able to carry only a few items would make it necessary to rely on others for some needs. Also, it would require teamwork among the band to travel from area to area together. And if our sense of home is tied more to the people within the band, then positive social relations would be desired so that the notion of home would be a positive one.

Another consequence of a semi-nomadic lifestyle is the forced relationship with the natural environment. There is no reliance on convenience foods as we know them here in the United States. Food must be grown, gathered, hunted, and prepared without the aid of a modern kitchen. Most of the time spent awake is spent outdoors. There is no plumbing, no pipes or hot water heaters. No washers and dryers to clean the clothes. All of these activities must be performed outdoors using the natural environment. It can only lead to a greater respect for the possibilities of the natural environment and a realization of what our industrialized nation has repressed.

In summary, I imagine that time spent living with the traditional Ju/’hoansi in the Kalahari Desert would shift my idea of home from focus on a location to focus on the people I desire to be with. My dependence on items of convenience and the urge to gather to me wanted material items would diminish, while at the same time my appreciation of these items would grow. Through experience, I would come to value social ties that can only be gained from personal, face-to-face interactions.

Bibliography

Pfaffe, J. F. (2003), The Ju|’hoansi. The Peoples of The World Foundation. Retrieved May 20,    2012, from The Peoples of The World Foundation. http://www.peoplesoftheworld.org/hosted/juhoansi

Voltaic Systems, Inc. (2012), Generator Solar Laptop Charger. Voltaic. Retrieved May 20, 2012, from Voltaic Systems, Inc. http://www.voltaicsystems.com/generator.shtml