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Bushmen (San/Kung) Language: The Busmen speak various Khoisan languages. Mostly bushmen tribes are found in the remote parts of the Kalahari Desert in Botswana, Namibia, Angola, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Zambia. There is a difference in linguistics between the northern peoples in Botswana and Namibia and the southern peoples of the Central Kalahari Desert and Angola.

Values: The most important thing that is valued by the Busmen is water. In the Kalahari Desert droughts can last many months, drying up waterholes and making water scarce. The society values making decisions as a group, both men and women included. The economy of the people is a gift economy, giving gifts instead of buying and selling goods.

Beliefs: One of the principle elements of Busmen spirituality is the "trance dance". The resident shaman will circle the fire during one of these dances until eventually falling into a trance. It is believed that within this state they can cure the sick, and communicate with the dead. The Bushmen go to the spirit world to entreat with their God for the lives of the sick, to make rain, and to control the movements of the animals they hunt.

Behaviors: Some people live in caves while others live in huts. Bushmen live in small groups of about ten nuclear families. Traditionally the way they found water was from liquid bearing melons and tubers. They also would bury sealed ostrich eggs filled with water during the wet season then find and uncover them during the dry season. Men will go off on long hunts armed with arrows and spears. Bushmen poison is legendary, made from mixes of snake venom, crushed scorpion, trapdoor spiders, and grubs of beetles. The men can determine the age and sex of animals by reading the signs that they leave behind. Women gather fruits, berries, tubers, bush onions, and other plant materials. These people use all of what they can, not wasting anything. Children have no jobs except to play.

The three factors of cultural change, technology, travel, and commercialization, have affected the Bushmen people to the extent that they are almost culturally exticnt. Palm Pilots that are linked to GPS have been introduced to the Bushmen. This is one beneficial aspect of modernization since it records the locations of animal sightings. It can be an enabling thing to the way the Bushmen hunt because it easily documents animal sightings. However, only very few have been taught how to work with the new technology. Missionaries have traveled to Africa and tried to convert Bushmen people to Christianity. Some have converted while the majority have stuck with their traditional spiritual beliefs. The most dangerous factor of change to the Bushmen is commercialization. Diamond mining is a big part of why the Government is trying to kick the Bushmen out of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. Within the Reserve are all of the species that the Bushmen depend on for their lives. Without being able to hunt they know of no other way to get food besides government handouts and some farming.

Works Cited: Godwin, Peter. "Bushmen." //National Geographic//. Feb. 2001: 90. //Student Resource Center - Gold.// Web. 26 Jan. 2011.

Hamlen, Matt. "Technology that follows the herd: Animal trackers use handheld in Africa." //Computerworld// (1998): 69. //Student Resource Center - Gold//. Web. 26 Jan. 2011.

Currington, Matt. "On the trail of the Bushmen.(includes related articles on history and languages of Bushmen)." //Geographical//. Feb. 1999: 12. //Student Resource Center - Gold//. Web. 26 Jan. 2011.

"Bushmen." //Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia//. Web. 26 Jan. 2011. .

Bushmen Mourn Lost Lifestyle BBC News