The Forest People

The BaMbuti travel to Negro villages regularly, to trade meat and other forest provisions for foodstuffs. Though they engage in this trade, they abhor village life, wanting nothing more than to return to the safety and sanity of the forest. The BaMbuti view village life as noisy and hostile. They think of the villagers as pushovers whom they can swindle food from. This theory flies in the face of other anthropologists who claimed that the BaMbuti were dependent on the Negro villagers. As Turnbull points out, the BaMbuti allow the Negro villagers to think that they are masters, that they own the BaMbuti, when in reality the villagers have no control over when the BaMbuti will arrive or if they will.

The villagers also try to control the BaMbuti through beliefs and ceremonies. The villagers use the nkumbi, an initiation ceremony where Negro boys and BaMbuti boys are circumcised and considered men, to try to corral the BaMbuti way of thinking. The villagers believe this ceremony makes BaMbuti boys believe in village religion, and helps to civilize them. For the BaMbuti, however, the ceremony is nothing more than a foot in the door of village life. If BaMbuti boys did not partake in the ceremony, they would not be considered adults. And if they are not considered adults, they cannot have access to the village. Turnbull shows how the BaMbuti allow village customs to infringe on them, though they are sure not to take any of these customs into the forest when they return.

Village life also has serious effects for the BaMbuti, as shown by Turnbull. BaMbuti are not immune to the diseases that run rampant in villages, and can get sick easily. Moreover, they are not used to direct sunlight, and so when they try to live in villages, they often die from heatstroke. Villages are also noisy, and the spirit of a village runs counter to the freedom of the forest, thereby making BaMbuti sullen and withdrawn. Turnbull shows how the BaMbuti feel most alive when they are safe in the forest.

The BaMbuti are a communal society, as highlighted by their reliance on one another to survive. Though roles are assigned to men and women, as with most cultures, the BaMbuti roles are not rigid. The women and children are instrumental to hunting, for instance, as they drive prey into the waiting nets of the hunters. Likewise, though women and children pick mushrooms, fruits, and nuts, men also pick these foodstuffs so there is plenty of food.

Food is divided between the families in the community, as is as work. When a camp is set up, the families that finish their huts first will often move on to help others who are still setting up their huts. Work is not seen as something to be done on one’s own. Work, like cooking or hunting, is viewed as a social endeavor. Parenting is also a communal effort. Turnbull notes how the words for “father,” “mother,” “brother,” and “sister” are applied to everyone in the age bracket fits the name. Children are raised by the community, just as they are disciplined by the community. Though children know who their parents are, they are also reared, taught, punished, and fed by everyone else in the community.