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Competition between foragers and food-producers on the Botletli River, Botswana

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 December 2011

Elizabeth Cashdan
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Extract

The immigration of food-producing groups into areas occupied by hunters and gatherers must have been a common occurrence in prehistory. How were the hunter-gatherers affected by this? I describe here two groups of Kalahari Basarwa (‘Bushmen’), one living along the flood plain of the lower Botletli river, the other occupying the savanna a short distance away from the river. These two groups differed in subsistence and social organisation and were affected by immigrant herders and farmers in strikingly different ways. Today the Basarwa of the flood plain are wealthy cattle owners, whereas those of the savanna are poor and have few or no cattle. How and why did the two groups respond so differently to the same competitive threat?

Résumé

Concurrence entre les producteurs de cultures alimentaires et de fourrages sur la rivière Botletli au Botswana

L'immigration des groupes producteurs de denrées alimentaires dans les régions occupées de peuplades vivant de la chasse et de la cueillette avait dû constituer un phénomène courant dans la préhistoire. Comment ce phénomène affectait-il ces peuplades vivant de la chasse et de la cueillette? Je décris ici deux groupes de Bochimans Basarwa, l'un vivant le long de la plaine d'inondation au bas de la rivière Botletli et l'autre occupant la savane, à une faible distance de la rivière. Ces deux groupes possèdent des moyens de subsistance et une organisation sociale différents et furent affectés par les bouviers et les fermiers immigrants de diverses façons. Les Basarwa de la savane pratiquaient une politique égalitaire et occupaient une région riche en pâturages mais pauvre pour la culture agricole. Lorsque la chasse à outrance et la concurrence de grands nombres de bestiaux réduirent la quantité de gibier dans leur région, ils n'eurent d'autre choix que de s'occuper du bétail des riches propriétaires absents. Les Basarwa vivant le long de la plaine d'inondation de la rivière Botetli étaient différents de ces groupes (et des Sans décrits dans la documentation) car ils possédaient des chefs qui détenaient le pouvoir de répartition des terres ainsi que la propriété des riches terres arables à répartir. Ils pouvaient utiliser leur contrôle sur la plaine d'inondation pour acquérir du bétail et maintenant ils sont aussie riches que leurs voisins de langue bantou.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 56 , Issue 3 , July 1986 , pp. 299 - 318
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 1986

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