Mbuti Culture Essays - 2460 Words

In the Congo, of Africa, lives a tribe known as the Mbuti. They are pygmies (dwarf like people) living in a luscious rain forest known as the Ituri. The Ituri Forest existed prior to the last ice age. The universe of the rainforest is one of purged sunlight below a lofty, expansive cloak of trees, where abysmal peace exists with the punctuating cries of the numerous birds and animals that share the forest with the Mbuti. A consistent, peacefully affable warmth, ample rainfall, damp air, and rich earth nurture the abundance of vegetation that grows. The abundance of vegetation benefits animals, birds, and insects that are soon to become a nutrimental source of the Mbuti diet. The culture of the Mbuti derived from their dependents on the†¦show more content†¦Around the 19th century people began to explore the Congo more. The images that Homer and Aristotle portrayed through their writing begin to slowly fade. The Mbuti were no longer visualized as mythical and sub-human creatu res, but as people (Suroviak, para. 9, 1996 a). It has been shown that most societies that depend on foragers and hunting rely on close family ties for survival. Kinship is important because of the lack of resources (Nowak, 2010). Mbuti is a tribe of foragers and hunters, living on the resources they extract from forest. The Mbuti live in an area with an abundance of resources and close ties are not needed. Mbuti is the aboriginal name of the tribe; however the tribe is divided into sub-group (Mbuti and Efe). The name of the tribe depends on the dialect spoken. The Mbuti predominately speak the language of the Bantu and the Efe dialect is of the Sudanic language. The two clans of pygmies share a tropical rainforest stretching into the northeast sector of the Congo. The â€Å"Forest† is the core of the Mbuti culture (Mosko, p. 898, para. 6, 1987 a). Kinship becomes important to the Mbuti when selecting a spouse. Kinship recognition is only important when choosing a wi fe or husband. No person is allowed to marry kin on their mothers or fathers side of the family. Unlike, western societies, there are no formal ritual for marriage or divorce. People are considered married once the couple moves in together. They believe marrying outside their ageShow MoreRelatedMbuti Culture1130 Words   |  5 PagesMbuti Culture Micheal Smith ANT 101 Prof. Tracy Samperio September 24, 2012 Mbuti Culture Mbuti primary mode of subsistence is Foraging. A forager lives as hunter and gatherer. The Mbuti hunt and gather food from the forest, and they trade as well for survival. They are referred as hunter-gatherer. They are a small band of kinship groups that are mobile. All foraging communities value their lifestyle. The Mbuti show how their kinships, beliefs and values, and economic organization areRead MoreEssay on The Mbuti Culture2257 Words   |  10 PagesMbuti Culture Introduction The Mbuti people are known as foragers because their main source of survival lies on hunting and gathering as they move from one place to another. They originated from a region in Africa called Congo. The Mbuti people even with their fairly decent population prefer to be grouped into smaller groups or bands which are mostly made up of close relatives. They live in the rainforests of central Africa, where they have lived popularly for more than 6000 years now. DifferentRead More Children of the Forest by Kevin Duffy Essay1208 Words   |  5 Pagestestament of an anthropologists everyday dealings with an African tribe by the name of the Mbuti Pygmies. My purpose in this paper is to inform the reader of Kevin Duffys findings while in the Ituri rainforest. Kevin Duffy is one of the first and only scientists to have ever been in close contact with the Mbuti. If an Mbuti tribesman does not want to be found, they simply wont be. The forest in which the Mbuti reside in are simply too dense and dangerous for humans not familiar with the area toRead MoreThe Mbuti Pygmies in the Ituri Forest Essay2107 Words   |  9 PagesThe Mbuti Pygmies in the Ituri Forest The Mbuti Pygmies in the Ituri forest in central Africa are foragers who use a combination of foraging, net hunters, and archers. Their kinship, social organization, and gender relations make them a unique band. Even though they live in the rainforest of equatorial Africa with hardly any possessions, they are happy, peaceful people. The pygmies are small people who are typically less than five feet tall. The Mbuti have lived in the Ituri forest for many thousandsRead MoreMbuti People of Zaire2211 Words   |  9 PagesThe Mbuti is an indigenous pygmy group who lives in the Ituri Forest in Zaire. In doing research for this paper it was found that the Mbuti is referred to as Bambuti quite frequently, however, they are only one of four cultures that make up the Bambuti. Researchers believe that pygmy people have lived in the rainforests of central Africa for more than 6000 years. Mbutis are primarily foragers who hunt or gather most of their food. The culture of the Mbuti or Bambuti is one of egalitarian whereRead MoreThe Forest People By Colin Turnbull1753 Words   |  8 PagesColin Turnbull an anthropologist, rise in a wealthy English family which discover his fulfilment in life; which were the Pygmies. Turnbull then wrote a book called â€Å"The Forest People†, which Turnbull spent three years studying about the Mbuti Pygmies; who lives in the Ituri rainforest of the Democ ratic Republic of the Congo. In â€Å"The forest people†, Turnbull display the world of the Pygmy tribe, its environment, and how pygmies adopt to its surrounding in order to survive its everyday life. The IturiRead More Anthropology: Cultural Norms Essay617 Words   |  3 Pagescomparison. Many of the people in a culture similar to the U.S. would probably find most of the cultures we have studied to be â€Å"slow†, strange, or undesirable. In fact, it seems that many of the societies actually prefer to live the way they do and accept it as normal. â€Å"Normal† is a relative term, and it is difficult to establish evidence to label a culture or its characteristics abnormal. What may seem to work here often would be disastrous to other cultures. Our society stresses individualityRead MoreAfrican Music Essay1119 Words   |  5 Pagescompare and contrast the music-culture and society of the Mbuti and that of the Venda, it becomes difficult to comment on sound when we havent heard any Venda music. Its easy to recognize that for the Mbuti the music embodies the heart of the forest, and for the Venda the relation to nature is the act of a mother giving birth. Thinking about concept and behavior this makes the music performed by the two cultures separate and distinguishable. This is where culture and environment become importantRead MoreGed210 Introduction to Cultural Anthropology Unit 2 Exam1063 Words   |  5 Pagesorganize things, events, and behaviors †¢ that languages and behavior are the same †¢ that classification systems in all societies are random 7. Linguistic anthropologists find that people who are forced to abandon their native language and culture: †¢ begin to lose their self-esteem †¢ all speak English †¢ are better off socially and economically †¢ easily regain both in 100 years 8. The concept of ____________ maintains that societal change occurs when societies borrow cultural traitsRead MoreFunctionalism And Radcliffe Brown s Functionalism1275 Words   |  6 Pagesstructure, the emphases on the individual rather than the emphases on the society as a whole, and they work off of different solidarity theories. Malinowski’s functionalism deals with biology and physiological needs. Malinowski argues that all of human culture is developed to satisfy those biological needs. He created a theory of needs that said that humans in a society will create systems to feed themselves to satisfy a metabolic need, will create systems of kinship to satisfy reproductive needs, will