The complexities and the ever-increasing strife of modern human life bids one to learn more about the normal and natural human cultural experiences, so that misconceptions about modern ‘civilized’ ways of life and ‘progress’ are clarified, in a way helping him in creating a more egalitarian and sustainable society. The is the significance of the study of cultural anthropology – it helps man to analyze and evaluate himself, his culture and his society, while gaining an in-depth understanding of other ways of life. The life and culture of the Dobe Ju Hoansi, the ethno-linguistic group of people of the Kalahari Desert in Southern Africa, presents the advanced Western community with such normal and ‘natural’ human cultural experiences; Richard Lee describes it in fine detail in his book titled ‘The Dobe Ju/'Hoansi.’

Called by western anthropologists as the “Dobe !Kung”, the Dobe Ju Hoansi, are essentially a hunting and gathering kind of people living near waterholes in northwestern Bechanaland (presently Botswana) region in the Kalahari Desert in South Africa. Popularly known as “bushmen” and living essentially by hunting and foraging until the 1960s, for a contemporary outsider, particularly a Westerner, the nomadic and fierce Dobe Ju Hoansi may seem to be a barbaric and uncivilized group. It is only when one gets to know their living conditions and their cultural adaptations for survival as a community that the complex and superior cultural elements underlying the seemingly oafish ethnic community becomes apparent.

‘The Dobe Ju/'Hoansi,’ written by Richard Lee, an anthropologist at the University of Toronto, after conducting about 15 months of fieldwork among the Ju Hoansis between1963 and 1965, presents an extremely informative and analytical study of the culture and nature of life of the tribal society from a socio- environmental perspective. His description presents a clear idea of the extremely harsh living environment prevalent in the Kalahari Desert, which demands highly complex environmental and cultural adaptations for the continuance of human life, and, the unusual and sophisticated ways of community living norms and customs devised by the Ju Hoansis for survival.

From the perspective of industrialized culture of the outside world, the community might seem uncultured, barbarian and lacking development, however, given the harsh conditions of life in the desert, lack of water and other hardships, surviving as a community by itself implies the success of the group. Lee suggests that the success of the Ju Hoansis lies in their adherence to a collective mode of production that insists on culture of sharing and egalitarianism – a highly refined culture of coexistence that may be foreign to the so-called civilized world.

When Richard Lee was first introduced to the Ju Hoansi, they were a thriving group of the san community, whose essential livelihood continued to be hunting and gathering. Meat and nuts of mongongo, an indigenous tree, provided for the staple diet. While the Ju Hoansi men largely engaged in hunting, the women typically gathered. Lee reports them to be have been a highly developed, egalitarian community living in small nomadic bands, in which men and women shared equal status, with no official community leaders or chiefs. The women enjoyed a fair amount of authority and responsibility and did more food gathering than the men. The Ju Hoansi also placed great importance in kinship for creating order to marriage, interpersonal relationships and inheritance. [Lee, v]

Environmental preservation and sustainable living is at the core of Ju Hoansi way of life. Hunting was essentially pursued to fulfill the food quest; hunters were modest and insulted by the community by devaluing their exploits, so that heroic tendencies are squashed. Whenever a large animal was killed, a feast was organized were people gathered from miles, irrespective of their bands and the cooked meat was meticulously distributed. If cultural sophistication implies a kind of social behavior and custom that promote equitable coexistence, the Ju Hoansi were indeed a cultured group of people.

However, it is important to understand the complex and vital cultural adaptations of the Ju Hoansi. Lee observes that, “Each Ju is not an island unto himself or herself; each is part of a collective. It is a small, rudimentary collective, and at times a fragile one, but it is a collective nonetheless. This living group pools the resources that are brought into the camp so that everyone receives an equitable share. The !Kung and people like them don't do this out of nobility of soul or because they are made of better stuff than we are. In fact, they often gripe about sharing. They do it because it works for them and it enhances their survival. Without this core of sharing, life for the Ju/'hoansi would be harder and infinitely less pleasant.”[Lee, 60] While this cultural adaptation may have been crucial to the survival of the tribal society, the fact that the primitive “bushmen” realized the importance of equitable sharing of resources is suggestive of the complex cultural strands that unite the members of the community.

The harsh living conditions, in a way, made them to understand and appreciate the significance and necessity of strong social relationships. The Ju Hoansi maintained strong relationships, not only within families and their own group or band but also with other groups. Relationship was established through a peculiar system of exchange, what they call the Hxaro exchange, which the industrialized community even fails to comprehend. According to the Hxaro system of exchange the value of the commodity is less important as compared to the relationship established between the groups.

The Ju Hoansi banks on this social relationship in times of hardship; the Hxaro exchange serves as a cultural tool for survival. During times of hardship, caused mainly due to environmental calamities, the Ju Hoansi group in the region breaks and joins other bands with whom they have already established kinship. This practice lessens the impact of the environment on the community and vice versa – once the environment recovers the Ju Hoan returned to his land. It is striking to note that when the so-called modern ‘civilized’ society advances by exploitation – exploitation of the environment and the fellow beings – the seemingly barbarian Ju Hoansis have developed a highly egalitarian and sustainable livelihood based on communal and ecological harmony. Which of the two is truly superior remains a question to ponder.

Like any other tribal community in the world, during the 1980s and 1990s the Ju Hoansi have been exposed to Western modernization. However, when one tries to assess the level of advancement or progress of the community, the picture is rather bleak. With increasing modernization the Ju Hoansi livelihood has rapidly changed –while hunting and gathering made up 85% of the food calories in 1964, presently it contributes only 30% of the calories consumed. The remaining is provided by milk and meat from domestic stock, store-bought, or governmental mealie meal. [Lee, 156] While the rapid changes in the Ju Hoansi lifestyle may seem progressive – from a foraging to a more ‘civilized’ community— in reality, the impact of the lifestyle changes has proved detrimental.

The social problems of poverty have begun to rise. Diseases and ailments such as high blood pressure, heart disease, rise in cholesterol etc. that were once uncommon are today a common occurrence, the reason being heavier smoking, alcohol consumption, diets of carbohydrates, and other changes in lifestyle. Though education and schooling have been introduced, the severe environmental conditions prevalent in the region requires the Ju Hoansi to be mobile, due to which education levels continue to be low. However despite the adverse impact of modernization on the community, the Ju Hoansis have been largely successful in reproducing themselves as a society, adapting to new conditions by creating a new socio-political system based on their traditional core values of egalitarianism and equitable and sustainable way of life.