The Mbuti: Keeping the Peace: Displacement and Discrimination Devastating Forest Dwellers

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Displacement and Discrimination Devastating Forest Dwellers

Home to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Mbuti tribe has made a life style by hunting and gathering for some 10,000 years. But in the past few decades, the forests which they call home have been devastated by logging, war, and encroachment from farmers. With continuous expansion of these imposing areas, their lives have become increasingly impossible and their strong ties to their forests are under strain like never seen before. The Mbuti tribe is being faced with serious threats and challenges they have never encountered before and learning how to deal with these situations can become the difference between life and death for some. Central to the heart of these peoples is their intimate connection to the forest lands they have lived in, worshiped and protected for generations. “Jengi”, the spirit of the forest, is one of the few words used. The importance of the forest as their spiritual and physical home, and as the source of their religion, medicine and entire culture cannot be underestimated. However, due to new conservation projects and the massive spread of agriculture, what forests remain are being degraded by logging, expansion of farms and intense commercial trading. Although the Mbuti tribe has not been the only one of the forest peoples to be affected, almost none have received any sort of compensation for the loss of their home, community, and for many, their lives. Now this tribe, along with many others are being faced with extreme levels of poverty including serious diseases and infections with not only no help, but no hope.

Sources:

1.) "Pygmies - Survival International."
Pygmies - Survival International. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Apr. 2014.

2.) The Rise of Hierarchy."
(Peter Gelderloos). N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Apr. 2014.

2 comments:

UnknownMarch 28, 2014 at 4:04 AM
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UnknownApril 7, 2014 at 2:33 PM
When researching this topic for my ethnographic post I tried to think from a anthropologists perspective on ethnicity. When members of a certain ethnic group are together and separate from societies they share certain beliefs, values, habits, customs and norms because of their common background. They then define themselves as notably different from society and expects outsiders to respect and understand that but in reality, they don't. As a way for profit, other people, such as contractors, are looking at land that is known to one group of people as their native home and village to a new construction zone for others. It is creating a near devastation for a lot of people and others are going on without a care.
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Background Information

The Mbuti hunter-gatherers are part of the ethnic, indigenous group pygmy, located in the Congo region of Africa. They have lived in the Ituri Forest for thousands of years, and may even be the earliest natives of Africa. During the 19th century, explorer Henry Morton Stanley came to the Congo and his exploration resulted in Colonial exploitation. Bantu villagers, whose lives were based on agricultural near the Mbuti, were forced to migrate from their land to the edge of the Ituri Forest where the Mbuti resides. With years of contact, the Mbuti and Bantu eventually created a strange relationship that has helped them both survive, which resulted in acculturation. In their activated ignorance, both groups view the other as inferior, but somehow work together remain sustainable. The Bantu see the Mbuti as a good source for cheap labor. The Bantu are too afraid to go to the forest to hunt, so they depend on the Mbuti for meat, whereas the Mbuti depend on trade with the villagers for crops and other supplies. Although the Bantu have assumed authority over the Mbuti, the Mbuti feel that they have no obligation to the villagers.

From 1964 to 1970, the Simba Rebellion occurred, which directly affected the Mbuti and villagers. The rebels came to the Ituri form the west along roads that were built as a result of the Belgian colonial period where the colonists came and developed on land that had been untouched for decades. The rebels first tries to assert their authority in the region, but they were not organized and government forces followed them, causing many of the Ituri’s people to be slaughtered due to the disorder. Some Mbuti fled with their villagers during the rebellion, helping them in the forest which they knew so well. Others associated themselves with the rebels or government soldiers and fought.

The rebellion greatly affected the history of the Ituri and political authority was disrupted. There was a reduction to the population and many had to relocate while the forest opened to new people. The government tried to settle Mbuti as
farmers in villages along the roads, but failed because the forest is their home.

Now the Mbuti’s skills in forests are taken advantage of and they have had to adapt to different lifestyles. Instead of living in peace in the forest, they are hired by timber businesses to identify and cut trees, guide and scout for illegal prospectors and elephant hunters, and, in the interest of commercial traders, hunt and deplete the local wildlife populations.

Sources:

Hart, John A. and Terese B. Hart

2010 The Mbuti of Zaire. Electronic document, http://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/democractic-republic-congo/mbuti-zaire, accessed February 24, 2014.

Turnbull, C.

1983 The Mbuti of Zaire. Electronic document, http://www.qvcc.commnet.edu/brian/saroviak/mbuti.html, accessed February 24, 2014.

Vision

The iCross-Cultural Citizen Project’s vision is to create an online cross-cultural space for students, professionals, and youth to learn and exchange cross-culturally sensitive information about contemporary indigenous experiences. From that outsider student’s perspective, we will try to theoretically explore possible collaborative solutions to problems that affect the indigenous populations of our planet. Finally, we hope for the future creation of a space where indigenous youth can share their experiences and their realities with us for real mutual collaboration to take place.

Mbuti in their forest

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Displacement and Discrimination Devastating Forest Dwellers

2 comments: