The Himba Ideology - Essay Example

The Himba Ideology This is an intimate work on the lives of a small group of cattleherders, the Himba, who reside in and around the settlement of Otutati in northwestern Namibia. For more than five centuries, the Himba people have breathed the hot and filmy air of the Earth’s oldest desert, raising fat, prosperous herds of livestock in an astute network of grazing lands, and honoring their ancestors through prehistoric sacred fires and venerated grave sites (Crandall 7). Smeared with otjize, a blend of butterfat and powered iron ochre for protection against the baked climate and blistering sun, the Himba are physically distinct as the “Red People” on the brown and gold landscape of Southwestern Africa (Crandall 9). “ In dispersed homesteads of 20 to 30 people” the Himba “move with the seasons to new settlements in search of water and grazing lands” (Bensman 25). Putting up semi-permanent gardens of melons, pumpkins, and maize, the Himba primarily live off the yogurt and butter fat of their livestock (Ezzell). As animals are consecrated to the Himba, the passing of an elder is the only momentous occasion for cattle to be slaughtered. By relocating ancestral fire to the exact place of burial, community life is physically and centered internally on the fire. The Himba consistently migrate back to sacred sites and burials, taking with them ashes of their sacred fires (Salopek). Ritualistically blessing each morning’s cattle milking at the fire through their ancestors, the Himba are spiritually reinforced and sustained each day by their cattle, ancestors, and Creator (Crandall 72). The Himba are outstanding people to look at. The women are topless and clad in mini-skirts made of goat skins decorated with shells and jewellery made of iron and copper. The men wear goatskin loin cloths. Both men and women smear their skin with a mixture of rancid butter, ash and ochre to guard them from the harsh desert climate. The paste (Otjize) is often mixed with the aromatic resin of the Omuzumba shrub, a little like adding cologne to a suntan lotion. As well as protection from the sun, the deep red color is a highly needed look in the Himba culture. It is certainly eye-catching and very beautiful. The Himba use the same paste (Otjize) on their hair which is long and plaited into complex designs. You can tell the marital status of a Himba lady by the way she puts her hair. The men also change their hairstyle to denote their social position. A married man for example wears his hair in a turban. The leather used is not treated, so it a pretty smelly. For the most part, the modern world hasnt yet interrupted on their traditional way of life which is why (ironically) more and more tourists are keen to visit the Himba. That is not to say that the Himba are a remnant of the past, no tribe on earth lives in a time capsule. But rather, they have apprehended their traditions and adapted to outside influences in their own way. Because of the harsh desert climate in the region where they live and their seclusion from outside influences, the Himba have managed to maintain much of their traditional lifestyle. Members live under a tribal structure based on joint descent that helps them live in one of the most extreme environments on earth. Under joint descent, every tribe member belong to two clans, one through the father (a patriclan, called oruzo) and another from the mother (a matriclan, called eanda) (Junek & Thacker 14). Himba clans are led by the eldest male in the clan. Sons live with their fathers clan and when daughters are married they go to live with the clan of their husband. However, inheritance of wealth does not follow the patriclan but is determined by the matriclan, i.e. a son does not inherit his fathers cattle but his maternal uncles instead. The narrative accounts is the events of a single year, though within that year are found the events of a lifetime: birth, aging, death, maturation, meanness, generosity, accomplishment and failure. Through subtle yet brilliant description, the author draws the reader into a human world that appears so absolutely different. However, as the leading characters lives and personal qualities, their joys, hopes and concerns unfold the exoticism of their world fades and the involvement of life rings strangely familiar. Indeed, the narratives power lies in its finely woven description of the great commonality of human life and the human condition in the midst of a weird and foreign world. If this is an admission anthropologists are traditionally detest to make, yet it is so; and the reader is left with a beautiful and persuasive portrait of a world and a people in which the familiar and the outlandish freely mix and mingle. For the Himba, everything including their homes, their society, their origin of the supernatural is shaped by their understanding of family. Living in homesteads, groupings of huts resided by close relatives and surrounding the familys livestock, Himba families are ran by a patriarchal figure, one of whose duties is to maintain the ancestral fire, where he prays for the blessings of deceased forebears on behalf of his family. Although much of Crandalls inquiry has explored the distinctive aspects of Himba culture, his book also defines areas of meeting between him and the Himba. This approach goes against the prevailing grain in anthropology, which recommends that culture, not a generalized humanity, defines human experience and that cultures are so dissimilar that it is impossible to really understand people outside ones own culture. Part of Crandalls interest in going to research the Himba and what became the notion for his book was to find out how he related to these people half a world and deviating worldviews away. The book was "a good deal of self-exploration to figure out who I am in relation to these people," (Crandall 68).What he discovered was that once he broke through the cultural barrier, the Himbas struggles, worries and desires were familiar to him."If culture parts us in a profound way, why do we feel we can appreciate one another?" Crandall wonders in his book. "Why do Kavetonwa, Ngipore, Wandisa, and Mbitjitwa so often laugh and tell me, I know just what you mean! People, we people, were all alike. Is this just a foolish sham, or is there a level at which human beings can comprehend one another despite the cultural gap? Is it even conceivable that as universal and inescapable as culture is, it remains only skin deep?”(Crandall 132). Crandall retorts to these questions by telling the story of the people of Otutati. Readers can recall similar feelings as they read about Rikutas excitement at joining her peers around the fire to flirt and dance; they can recognize Watumbas exhaustion and fear as she go in a second day of childbirth; and older readers nod expressively when Ngipore playfully dirges, "I just dont know what to make of children anymore theyre almost as naughty as we were!" (Crandall 46). Anthropologists usually focus on the cultural dimension of human behavior, which means a focus on what is standardized and de-individualized. Crandall scrutinizes the individual acting out not as a robot but as a person, feeling, and unique thinking. He exceeds the commonplace anthropological approach to comprehending human behavior. As he notes at the conclusion of his book, “That this could have happened between people so widely detached by geography and cultural purview strikes me as remarkable. It must then follow that something deep within us a species of human soul is not only present but perhaps even more significant than culture. And it is this, coupled with the largely unchangeable movement of human life, that allows human beings to step beyond their limited limits and experience commonalities with people who, at first blush, appear so entirely different" (Crandall 263). Yet all these human activities are set against the setting of an earth created by Mukuru (God), and Himba know that there is no sense in believing life to be anything other than what it is. (Crandall 15) The opening words of the Himbas attitude toward life strikes an acquainted ring of irony. The idea of believing life to be nothing other than what it is comes in sharp disparity to the manner in which the Himba live. They have created a complex web of a falsetto that has infused every facet of life. This imaginary world created by the Himba influences human thinking and agency by child nurturing, explanation of societal norms, and education of the earth and its main laws. The imaginary world that is fashioned by the Himba is tightly woven and amazingly elusive in its effort to drench the society. The Himba explain the manner and nature of the earth in a way that ignores modern findings. They do not wish to become involved the outside world, so they create a covering that detaches them from the world around them. They clarify the earth to be flat. Their clarifications include the fact that we are not continuously walking uphill, and that cattle and rocks are stable, not falling. The earth on which we live is flat. What other form could it probably take? It is ridiculous, against all common sense to believe the earth anything but flat. Crandall (22) comments and beliefs that the earth is flat and could be no other way purposely disregard the findings of science. Once the leaders, or persons of status and power believe that the earth is flat in nature, then that information and notion is passed on to younger generations. The imaginary world created by the Himba spreads beyond the earth’s geology and cosmic makeup. The way in which earth acts toward the Himba and nature’s interactions with the people is invented to detach them from a divinity. The Himba believe in a God (Mukuru), but in order to escape his possible shaming for disobedience, nature is given a detachment from God. It is simply a pattern of the world that follows a set of rules and laws that are universal. The world only is. There will be good seasons and bad seasons, but not because Nature is good or bad, but because this is the pattern of life. Crandall (74) asserts that nature is not argentic. It doesn’t possess the ability to choose to be bad, nor good. But the notation of Nature signifies that Nature is a being. It is a real entity. God doesn’t control Nature. Anything that comes as a bad thing from Nature is not a bad thing form God. God doesn’t drive anything negative on the Himba, he only blesses them. Only Mukuru knows our conditions and he provides for us. One year may vary from the next, but over a person’s span of years the good of life offsets the evil (Crandall 74). The good of life is a blessing directed by Mukuru and the evils that the Himba encounter is the hardships created by nature. The imaginary world that is created by the Himba can from afar seem comical and absurd. From a thoughtful view, the world seems logical and thrifty. From an agrarian standpoint, your viewpoint of the world is seen in terms of livestock and agriculture. When the Himba claim that the world must be flat, their explanation is based on the behavior of their animals and surroundings. If the earth were egg-shaped then stones and cattle and other objects not securely fixed to the ground would tumble over and roll down the sides of the earth! We know this is not so; simple knowledge tells us otherwise. (Crandall 22) Ignoring information about gravity and Newton’s laws, this logic seems correct in its assumptions. We look off to the distance and there is an end to what we see. These simple observations lead to the hypothesizing that the earth is flat, and simply couldn’t be otherwise. Similarly, the Himba’s declarations concerning nature seem to be logical, concise, and precise. The flow of the earth’s hydrological system, the rising and setting of the sun and other phenomena of the earth seem to be off of any controller. The belief that nature is not argentic, and has no decision making powers on whether or not to be evil, good, or indifferent. Nature is uncaring. It takes no account of our sufferings or hoys, and though it belongs to Mukuru, it is neither cruel nor compliant (Crandall 74). This shared imaginary world influences all human thinking, and agency. The Himba seem to have no control over what happens to them. It is all predetermined by Mukuru. Watuwamo is defined to have been blessed with an attractive figure. She is described to be of a full figure and with voluptuous curves. It was truly a gift since the size and shape of ones physique had nothing to do with diet. Mukuru has made the one woman fat and the other woman thin (Crandall 32). The Himba believe that the size of a person has nothing to do with the intake of food they receive. Because all women essentially receive the same amount of food, someone has to be consecration these women with beautiful full figures. The Himba’s thinking is twisted. They do not believe that forces on the earth can control things. Everything must come from on high, a distant place that is forever inaccessible. Not only does the false world create turbulences in human thinking, it destroys personal agency and independence. The Himba have no chose over what they become, it is all determined by Mukuru. To be afflicted with a bad heart is a dreadful thing. But being a parent is more boring still, especially when a child is afflicted with a bad heart. And despite all the parents’ worries and efforts, a pretender’s heart remains selfish and dishonest (Crandall 155). For community members that are covetous, selfish, and hard-hearted, it is not their fault. This make-believe world creates a parting from responsibility. Because someone is selfish, rude, etc. is because Mukuru willed it so. They are not to blame; it was in their plan from God to be the way they are. This lack of backbone in adults transfers to the children as well. The parents believe that it is in Mukuru’s plan for their child to be bad. Moreover, they have no power within themselves to correct the child’s ill behavior. They cannot choose for themselves how they will be and how they will raise their children to be. All human beings can relate to the realism that is the Himba’s world of make-believe. Most humans are torn between the attraction of a perfect world, or one with annotated rules, and the world of our thoughts, feelings, and desires. A person of well-versed status would walk a path straight down the middle, conceding on a healthy balance between the two worlds. Most of us travel a curved path that winds in and out of the two worlds, or sometimes may remain in a particular world. As humans we need to create the wants and desires of our heart, and the goals we need to achieve to make those wants a reality. Once we have known what we want in life, then we need to walk down the path in a way that will achieve those goals, but allows for time to deviate in the wonders of our imagination. We need to have that escape from our wishes to invigorate us to the end. We need to remember what we are pushing for. That goal has to be something that is of pure desire in order for us to walk the balance between realism and fantasy. I doubt that much of what we profess to know to be essentially true of the world, whether material or immaterial, can ever escape the loop of simple yet profound belief (Crandall 264). The world in which the Himba reside in is one of great imagination. While these possess problems on one hand, it delivers answers to many others that have overwhelmed humans. We need to recall our goals, but also live in mindless ecstasy. That concession every once in a while will keep us fixated on what is really the desires of our hearts. We human beings do not exist without the insight that our fundamental comprehension of the world and human life are anything other than timelessly true and commonly valid; yet empirically, we can never know them to be what we think they are (Crandall, 264). Works Cited Bensman, Todd. “Proposed Dam Threatens To Wash Out African Subsistence Tribes Way of Life.” Pew International Journalism Program 2002. Reprinted with permission of The Dallas Morning News. London: Continuum International, 2003, 3-58. Crandall, David. The Place of Stunted Ironwood Trees. London: Continuum International, 2000, 3-296. Junek, Bruce and Thacker, Tass. “Himba Tribe: Northern Namibia.” Images of the World: Educational School Assembly Programs and Books Emphasizing Social Studies, Science and Geography. London: Continuum International, 2003, 2-39. Read More