Moore, Remy, & Fortune

[Mathew Forstater]

This is also true of relations between groups at the community wide level.
In East Africa, for example, interdependent relations between peoples
practicing hunting-gathering, agriculture, and pastoral modes of
subsistence are key to social reproduction of the entire community.
The interdependent coexistence of various systems of food production
increased the viability of specialization in one form.  Also, boundaries
between groups were very fluid, with significant mobility between groups
(making it appear that mode of subsistence determined group membership 
rather than the other way around).  Humorous teasing, joking, bragging
about the superiority of pastoralism over agriculture, for example, were
one part of a number of institutions that played an important role in
social reproduction.  Even cattle raids may to some extent be seen as a
kind of agreed upon intercommunity sport.  The tragedy is that while it is
clear these groups understood their important relations, colonial and post
colonial State officials and "development planners" did not, justifying
separation of agriculturalists and pastoralists on grounds that "they
didn't get along."  One excellent source is _Persistent Pastoralists_ by
Peter Rigby, one of the greatest, yet little known, contributions to
marxist anthropology.

Relatedly, much has been written on thesocial significance and African
roots of playing "the dozens."

unsolicited plug: I don't know if this came up earlier, but Michael Yates'
book _Longer Hours, Fewer Jobs_ is excellent and would be of interest to
people on this list (Monthly Review Press).

Mat Forstater

On Sat, 21 May 1998, Michael Yates wrote:


> In gathering and hunting societies, teasing can be a way to prevent a
> perosn from using say a good skill to obtain more of the food or gain
> some power.  In a hunt, the band might comment that the best hunter's
> role in the kill was minimal or that his animal is pathetically skinny.
> Women might tease a man about his sexual performance or the size of his
> penis again as a way to maintain the egalitarian relationships of their
> societies.  To an outisder this probably sounds vicious, but it is a
> good way to maintain harmony and equality.