I loved the Christmas in the Kalahari article! Naturally, through out the beginning of the article, I felt bad for him. Poor thing had no idea what was going on, he was just trying to be generous. I think that it might actually be helpful to have something similar in our own culture. There are so many arrogant people out there that really need to be brought down a notch, however, they are the way they are because our culture allows it. In some cases we might even encourage it. I think everyone is a little ethnocentric all the time, even when they do not intend to be, we can't help it. It seems to me that both the Bushman and Richard Lee were both being unintentionally ethnocentric. It is only natural. We grow up one way, and that way gets so ingrained in our minds that it becomes our own personal truth. So when another culture's truth challenges our own, we don't always understand and we react by getting angry, or in Richards case having his feelings hurt. Ultimately though, after being explained their tradition, he felt good about what happened and hopefully took some of those lessons back with him to his own society.
Doing Field Work among the Yanomamo to me illustrated how ethnocentrism can be overcome by making an attempt to understand and respect another culture. Obviously at first the culture-shock that Napoleon suffered was inevitable. I'm sure if I was naive to a culture living in such violent and ruthless conditions I would have reacted much worse than he did. At first I thought it rude of him to deny the people begging him for food, but the more I read the more I put myself in his position. He is just trying to survive the same way they are. That is what makes their culture so different than his/ours. They have to fight for survival. They are constantly working for their next meal, or the next tool they can use to get what they need for themselves and their families. I was very impressed with the way he collected the names of the deceased tribes people, as soon as he figured out what not to say. The less ethnocentric he became, the more he got things done and was able to make friends, and get all the information he wanted from/about the people. Of course, not being ethnocentric takes a lot more work than being so, but it is clearly worth it to sacrifice your own traditions in order to embrace something far outside your comfort zone. It's good for the soul.
I love how you described the yanomamo article. I agreed and actually had and wrote similar ideas. AT first I thought him to be rude and selfish, but then I realized if he had shared and done the things the people wanted him to do then he would not have survived.
ReplyDeleteDear Rebecca,
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with your comment that we should have something of the life-lesson in Dr. Lee’s experience in our own culture. If we practiced and encouraged the spirit of humility in our day-to-day lives, it will make men’s hearts “gentle” as the Bushmen make theirs. A lot of people in our own culture have to struggle with the issue of pride, and many complain about how the world would be much happier if everyone swallowed it once in a while. Compared to the Bushmen’s way of life, they don’t have to deal with the problem so much. They continually bash each other so that arrogance will quickly disappear among themselves, and this method really does work! I like it how the Bushmen treated Dr. Lee as one of their own, treating him with the same respect as they do for each other. This shows how willing they were to take on an outsider into their family circle. But Dr. Lee didn’t realize this at first because he was so caught up in his selfish display of the Christmas feast.