article
Unstable households in a stable Kalahari community in Botswana
American anthropologist • 97 (2) • Published In 1995 • Pages: 297-312
By: Kent, Susan.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
In this article, Kent examines 'the dynamics behind community organization in small-scale societies undergoing the transition to sedentism' (page 298). A new government drilled borehole at Kutse provided year round drinking water. Kent states that it was both resource availability and the desire for social interaction that attracted people to Kutse. She found community membership fluid with more recently settled residents more inclined to pick up and move on, keeping true to their nomadic lifestyle. However, the community core was not very stable either, as households moved away from the original center over a six-year period, even when it meant longer travel time to haul water. Kent found that social discord was the centrifugal force operating in the camp. In the new dispersed settlement pattern households clustered themselves according to sharing networks. She concludes that an egalitarian ethic remains strong among residents and sharing networks dispel potential conflict as fights usually erupt over lack of sharing.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Settlement patterns
- Social relationships and groups
- Friendships
- Kin relationships
- Community structure
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- San
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2005
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Africa
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Southern Africa
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- article
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Ethnologist
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Ian Skoggard ; 2003
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1987-1993
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1987-1993
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Kutse, Botswana
- NotesAdditional notes
- Susan Kent
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 311-312)
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 17015424
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- San (African people)