Eating Christmas In The Kalahari

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Eating Christmas in the Kalahari is an effective piece of literature which shows that a culture might understand a holiday or another's cultures traditions in a sense but they might practice it in another way and might find something offensive which wouldn't be in another culture. Richard Lee went to Southwest Africa to the !Kung expecting for the people to be happy and grateful that he brought the fattest oxen but the oxen were no more generous than the expression of his gratitude for the assistance and hospitality.

Richard Lee set off in his last year in South Africa to buy the biggest ox for the Christmas dinner. However, after deciding on oxen, thinking it was the biggest and would provide the most meat. Unfortunately, the !Kung didn't …show more content…

In the !Kung culture in the horns are big on an oxen they will say that "Did you think that somehow you were going to boil down the horns for soup?" and to respond respectful you just say "I agree,'this one is not worth the effort; let's just cook the liver for strength and leave the rest for the hyenas. It is not too late to hunt today and even a duiker or a steenbok would be better than this mess.", I believe this is very interesting because in our society, just like Richard did, people would instantly begin to argue back and try to persuade the person or group to their side. Richard questioned why would you insult a man and his hunt even though he is going to share it and response from the elder was arrogance because when a young man returns with a large hunt or kill, they then believe they are the big man or chief. I believe this is actually extremely smart because once a kid or young man gets a job or begins supporting themselves, they start to forget about everyone who helped get you there. Richard finally asked why Tomazo didn't tell him this was the custom and Tomazo responded "Because you never asked me". I like this part because many people don't ask and will just try when they are given a task, and they could have asked for advice or

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