We will me comparing and contrasting Khoisan cosmology and its relation to land use with Christian settler cosmology and its relation to land use. Dr. Mitchell introduces a view of history, called Historical Materialism. Historical Materialism focuses on economic production and goods as a way to interpret historical events. This can be contrasted with a focus on merely cultural accounts. The relationship between the Khoisan culture and the Europeans can be explained in terms of economic needs and activities. Water played a large role in determining where people could easily live. Climate and resources required that the Khoi be mobile, which in turn limits the amount of stuff people could acquire. Both cultures also put their wealth into livestock.
Origin myths are very revealing about a culture. They are cosmological insofar as they are about the nature of the cosmos, or the existence of the universe. This is the San creation story. In the beginning, humans and animals lived together with Kaggen, the creator and a trickster. They lived underneath the earth until Kaagen made a whole for the humans to rise to the surface. Some animals were able to get to the surface not through the hole but through the branches of a tree that had been planted next to the hole. Kaagen gathered the people and animals and warned the humans not to use fire. After the sun set, humans were afraid and cold without the sun's light. The animals, however, had natural adaptations to see in the dark and stay warm. The humans decided to light a fire, which scared the animals away and forced them to live in caves, trees and mountains.
Themes in this story include free will, heavenly realms (underground), the trickster/creator figure, transformation and the relationship between humanity and non-human animals. San religion also included the notion that spirits of humans and animals could go into the form of the other. Kaagen, the sometimes man, sometimes preying mantis, had a favorite animal, the eland. He punished his son for killing an eland by making humans hunt the eland in spite of the fact that they will rarely succeed. Eland were represented in much San art. Women are initiated into society by acting out the scene of joining a herd of eland (which is acted out by the other women). Men are initiated into society by a procession of eland hunters. Men wear cloaks as a symbol of a man wearing his wife. The eland is also a symbol meant to mediate between men and women. Both in the hunt of the male and in the menses of the woman, important blood is spilled. The blood of the eland is an important symbol.
The sources for this information comes from European descriptions of dances in the 18th century. San also told ethnographers about their stories in the 19th century. Current ethnogrophies in Namibia and Botswana also reveal parallel stories. We also have cultural artifacts and art left behind.
In one San story, "The Great Thirst", there are many elements shared with the creation story. Animals as a source of change, transformation and blood as life are three important themes. There are three worlds, the heavenly realm, the everyday world and the underworld. Those with strong spiritual power can move between the two realms. Humans and animals have obligations to each other. Another important theme is the ability of animals and people to transform into one another. Animals are also often portrayed as doing human things, such as in "The Lion and the Jackals".
Let's now consider Christian cosmology. The Christian settlers in 18th century South Africa did not expect their God to manifest himself in the real world. Rather, God lives in one of three realms: heaven. The other two realms are the world of humans and the underworld, or hell. In the Great Chain of Being, we see how God stands at the top of a hierarchy that goes all the way down to humans, animals, plants and even demons. Only God and angels are higher on the hierarchy than humans.
How did the Khoisan use the land? They moved around, following game, water and seasonal shellfish. They would use the same sites again and again although they maintained no permanent settlements. Wealth was measured by livestock. Contrast this with the way that settlers used land. They practiced extensive grazing and settled agriculture. Long term settled agriculture was facilitated by land rights. Land was demarcated, owned permanently (if one chooses) owned and alienable, meaning it can be transferred to heirs, or other people. People could either get a free hold grant, where the land was permanently owned. There were also loan farms, where people leased their land for a year. In practice, people held these leases for decades and transferred them to heirs. Settlers measured wealth in land, livestock, slaves and material culture such as houses and other structures.
Dr. Mitchell thinks that settlers had many similarities with Khoisan culture. Older South African nationalistic histories claim that the two cultures are irreconcilably different. She thinks that there were large differences between settlers, where some were limited in material resources and mobility, whereas other settlers had larger markers of wealth such as vineyards. She acknowledges that each interpretation has its own point to make, however.
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