The Harmless People

Bushmen are a people who live in the Kalahari Desert, which is a hard environment. They live by hunting and gathering every day. In Elizabeth Marshal Thomas' ethnography, The Harmless People, she describes her experiences living with the Bushmen. In Durkheim's "The division of labor in society", he made the distinction between mechanical and organic solidarity, the ways in which a society bonds. Mechanical solidarity is when people are bonded together through the same beliefs. Organic solidarity is when people have specific roles in their society and they all rely on each other to help function. Thomas mentions how hunting is more than just for food in the Bushmen society; it is their way of life. Hunting influences their social standing, marriage, spiritual powers/religion, and security with nearby tribes. These things along with hunting also influence the solidarity of the Bushmen.

From the earliest age, Bushmen are instructed and raised to be hunters. The children depend on their father, or other Bushmen to learn to hunt. Sometimes the Bushmen boys will trap and hunt rabbits and birds, or practice their accuracy with a bow and arrow all for "fun". They start at an early age because they believe hunting is the primary responsibility of male Bushmen and it bridges the gap between adolescence and manhood. They believe quite literally, that an aspect of a man's masculinity is his power to hunt (Thomas, 161). Once a boy becomes a successful hunter, and even long after he has been one, he continues to live with a hunting mindset.

When Gai was next to a herd of wildebeests without an arrow, even though he did not have a bow and arrow to kill the animal he proceeded to stalk and then shoot the animal with a blade of grass because all Bushmen are bonded by the belief that "a bushmen hunter will never miss a chance to practice his aim" (Thomas, 59). Hunting affects manhood, which affects the rest of his life. It is what sets up what kind of life he will be living. In the Bushmen society they believe that you have to be able to hunt before you can be a man.

Hunting is a highly revered skill in the Bushmen culture, so highly regarded that it affects their relationships amongst themselves. Bushmen are bonded with the same belief that those who are successful at hunting are special and often put them on a pedestal, and even at times seen as a god. Marshall explains that one bushman in particular, Short Kwi, was famous in his own right, famous as a hunter. He often killed more game in one year than many other man kill in their lives, a great hunter among hunting people. His great ability set him so far apart from ordinary people that for once the Bushmen forgot their jealousy and agreed that he was the best hunter the Kalahari had ever known which is another example how hunting brings solidarity.

Another example is Toma, because of his success as a hunter "the people connected with him and ate a great deal of meat and his popularity grew" (Thomas, 182). After their headman died, even though Toma's brother in law had the right to headman ship, Toma's ability to resolve conflicts, handle people and hunt resulted in the position given to him. "No bushman wants prominence," yet when Toma became headman, "it was not a position he held by force or pressure but simply by his wisdom and ability to provide after the people"(Thomas, 182). Because the Bushmen all had the same idea of what a great hunter and leader should be, they were able to agree that Toma should be their headman. This eliminates some risks for division in a tribe. This also helped create solidarity because they could continue to rely on him for food and guidance as Toma could rely on the people to do their duties as well.

Hunting affects marriage because Bushmen have to shoot down a buck and undergo initiation before they can marry (Thomas, 147). They must shoot a buck to be a man, and then, they must be able to hunt on a consistent level to show they are ready for marriage. According to custom, after shooting their first buck, they give most of it to the parents of their bride, proving they can hunt and provide for their daughter. In the Bushmen culture they believe that the degree of which a man can hunt is related to the degree in which he can provide for a family, let alone a woman. This creates solidarity because the parents of the daughter rely on the man for food and other needs. In exchange for this, the parents let the man marry their daughter.

Another way you can tell how well a bushman hunts is by looking at how many wives he has. Because food can be scarce at times, Bushmen often postpone their family expansion, and typically have one wife at a time with a family of 2-4 children (Thomas, 163). However, the better he is at hunting, the more people he can provide for. For this reason Bushmen are held together by the same belief that "A man is allowed by custom to have as many wives as he can afford, depending how well he hunts" (Thomas, 11). This creates solidarity because they have a system in place in which women who need to be taken care of can rely on a man who can provide for them.

However, once Bushmen have three children, or arrive at the age when that typically occurs, and if they can still hunt well enough they can leave their wife's parents and form their own band. By starting their own band, people who aren't as good at hunting, or have other needs can depend on each other for moral support and help. This will help their society build solidarity because they continue to depend on each other to live.

On the flip side, the capability to hunt not only influences marriage but divorce as well. For example, there was an instance where the man's wife left him because he was a bad hunter and could not acquire new clothing for her or their children. All Bushmen believe that such an act is understandable because they believe hunting is crucial to everything a man stands for. Bushmen believe that the men are the primary provider of the family. Therefore, if a man cannot provide for his family, he has failed to do his responsibility. Later on the woman who leaves her husband for another man returns and is forgiven, she doesn't get in trouble or get scolded or kicked out of the tribe (Thomas, 86). This is because all Bushmen are held by the same belief that it is okay for a woman to leave her husband if he cannot provide for her.

Another example is when Short Kwi was bitten by a puffer snake and eventually became crippled. People thought his wife would leave him because he would not be able to hunt. They thought