L.M. Schulte
Jul 25, 2017 · 1 min read

Definitely. It’s hard not to be struck by the similarities between the story of the Ju/’hoansi that of Native Americans. In the U.S., native tribes — including those that lived as hunter-gatherers — were forced onto reservation land (in other words, like the Ju/’hoansi, effectively denied access to the resources they needed to live as hunter-gatherers) and expected to live as farmers on land that was unsuited to farming. It’s no surprise that today, most Native Americans hold non-farming jobs and many tribes have come to depend on non-traditional casino money for prosperity (or even subsistence). Other traces of tribal culture were practically wiped out by different tools of colonial oppression, such as forcing Native American children to attend schools that forbade traditional dress, language, etc. It sounds like alcohol caused similar problems in Ju/’hoansi and Native American tribal societies, too.

That piece on cargo cults sounds fascinating, btw.

    L.M. Schulte

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