Skip to main content

In The Forest People, Colin Turnbull comes to a specific conclusion about Pygmies: that the people whose culture he studied have something that we...

According to Colin Turnbull, there is a deep connection between the generations in Pygmy society; he believes that American culture lacks this sense of interconnection and social cohesion.


Throughout the book, Turnbull relates both his fascination with and admiration for the rituals that bond successive generations. The molimo, elima, and nkumbi characterize the three main rituals that encapsulate Pygmy life. Boys as young as nine to twelve years old must endure circumcision, whippings, and other tortures for two to three months before they emerge with full adult privileges. Eschewing the image of Pygmies as "one-legged troglodytes," Turnbull  portrays the tribe as pragmatic realists who demonstrate a deep respect for family and community.


Similar to the nkumbi, the elima signifies the "transition from girlhood to the full flowering of womanhood." Under the watchful eye of parents, young girls are able to accept the sexual attentions of eligible bachelors within the Pygmy community. Although both the villagers and the forest-dwelling Pygmies share similar nkumbi and elima rituals, the Pygmies view menstrual blood as more than a "danger." It is also "a gift, received with gratitude and rejoicing—a rejoicing that the girl is now a potential mother, that she can now proudly and rightfully take a husband."


During an elima celebration, mothers and older female relatives teach the younger women the "arts and crafts of motherhood." There is happiness, singing, dancing, and feasting within not just the female Pygmy community, but also throughout the entire tribe. Young men await the appearance of fertile, potential brides: "For the Pygmies, the elima is one of the happiest, most joyful occasions in their lives." Older men sing, feast, and rejoice that a new group of initiated young adults will soon take their place within Pygmy society.


Similarly, the nkumbi strengthens the bonds between older male relatives and their young male charges. Although the nkumbi can be a brutal experience for the boys, the ritual itself is punctuated by joyful periods of singing, dancing, and feasting. The Pygmy transition between childhood and manhood is a natural and organic process: "A boy proves himself capable of supporting a family when he kills his first real game, and proves himself a man when he participates in the elima." Thus, adolescence is never prolonged in Pygmy society; the young people are lovingly guided by their elders through the rituals that will initiate them into adulthood. They are taught what is expected of them as they join the ranks of adults within their community. The whole process is both a bonding and an exciting experience, linking the generations in harmony, trust, and hope.


According to Colin Turnbull, the Pygmies also view life as a wonder (as evidenced by their cooperative existence with nature); thus, through their unique way of life, the Pygmies are (in Turnbull's opinion) far ahead of their American counterparts.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

A man has a garden measuring 84 meters by 56 meters. He divides it into the minimum number of square plots. What is the length of the square plots?

We wish to divide this man's garden into the minimum number of square plots possible. A square has all four sides with the same length.Our garden is a rectangle, so the answer is clearly not 1 square plot. If we choose the wrong length for our squares, we may end up with missing holes or we may not be able to fit our squares inside the garden. So we have 84 meters in one direction and 56 meters in the other direction. When we start dividing the garden in square plots, we are "filling" those lengths in their respective directions. At each direction, there must be an integer number of squares (otherwise, we get holes or we leave the garden), so that all the square plots fill up the garden nicely. Thus, our job here is to find the greatest common divisor of 84 and 56. For this, we prime factor both of them: `56 = 2*2*2*7` `84 = 2*2*3*7` We can see that the prime factors and multiplicities in common are `2*2*7 = 28` . This is the desired length of the square plots. If you wi...
Post a Comment
Read more

What warning does Chuchundra issue to Rikki?

Chuchundra, the sniveling, fearful muskrat who creeps around walls because he is too terrified to go into the center of a room, meets Rikki in the middle of the night. He insults Rikki by begging him not to kill him. He then insults him by suggesting that Nag might mistake Chuchundra for Rikki. He says, "Those who kill snakes get killed by snakes."  He issues this warning to Rikki not to help keep Rikki safe but as a way of explaining why Rikki's presence gives him, Chuchundra, more reason to fear.  Chuchundra starts to tell Rikki what Chua the rat told him--but breaks it off when he realizes he might be overheard by Nag. He says, "Nag is everywhere, Rikki-Tikki." Rikki threatens to bite Chuchundra to get him to talk. Even then, Chuchundra won't overtly reveal any information. But he does say, "Can't you hear, Rikki-Tikki?" This is enough of a clue for the clever mongoose. He listens carefully and can just make out the "faintest scratch-s...
Post a Comment
Read more