Eating Christmas in the Kalahari
OR:
EGO & OX DUNG IN THE DESERT
In his article "Eating Christmas in the Kalahari" (1969), Richard Borshay Lee tells of his three years spent living with the !Kung San Bushmen, of some of their customs, of how they celebrated Christmas and of how they dealt with 'gifts' or rather his gift to them in particular.
Lee explains that the local people thought him a miser because he "maintained a two-month inventory of canned …
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…meaningful hunting custom?
In closing, I admit to agreeing with Lee's statement "there are no totally generous acts"(p 114). Every act of gift giving is inextricably attached to an expected or preconceived return or reciprocity either in manner or kind and this may be nothing more than 'feeling good'.
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REFERENCES:
Lee, Richard Borshay
1969 "Eating Christmas in the Kalahari" reprinted in A. Podolefsky and P. Brown (eds.), Applying Cultural Anthropology: an introduction. (1991), Mountainview: Mayfield, pp. 110-114.
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