Affluence Without Abundance: The Disappearing World of the Bushmen

Affluence Without Abundance is an exploration of the life of the Kalahari Bushmen. They are one of the oldest civilizations still present on earth. They are also very tied to their place, with two different groups not too far apart showing almost no signs of intermixing. Studying them became the "in thing" to do, especially after the realization that their lifestyle truly could be a life of "leisure", with very little "working" time required.

The Bushmen have very little concept of history. They are concerned with the "now". They are also perfectly willing to adapt to the tools and items they have at their disposal. They had developed a means of poisoning animals using the contents of a small "nut" fallen from a tree. This enabled them to kill larger animals with smaller bows. The meat could provide a significant part of their diet. They also gathered various fruits from trees. However, the growth tended to be seasonal. Only a time after the rains would their be abundant fruits to gather. Human agriculture in the area has fenced off many of their roaming areas and finally put an end to a lifestyle that had lasted for millennia.

The bushman had a number of cultural traditions that were needed for their nomadic life. Big meat kills were shared via an orderly means. Gifts were given to help improve relationships. The number of material goods were limited to what they could carry. Their nomadic lifestyle did not dispose themselves to farming and ranching. However have found themselves forced into the the agricultural life, working for white farmers or other African groups.

The God's Must Be Crazy showcased the "primitive" bushman life. Some self-appointed critics criticized the inaccurate portrayal of modern Bushmen and the poor salaries they received for the movie. However, the Bushmen themselves liked the movie and found the salary more than enough. (In fact, they found it difficult as the extra income brought with it extra demands from others. There are other bushmen that "dress up" as their primitive ancestors in order to provide a show for tourists. However, for the most part, hunter gathering culture is gone.

Today, the Bushmen hunter-gatherer culture is pretty much gone. The fences put up by farmers and ranchers and the sectioning off of land make that lifestyle nearly impossible. They were only able to endure this long because their unforgiving environment prevented the incursion of agriculture. Now, man has learned to tame even more difficult environments and take over the land. Most of them live in poverty. The knowledge of hunting and gathering has gradually faded. Their lifestyle "was not simply based on their having few needs easily satisfied; it also depending on no one being substantially richer or more powerful than anyone else." With the modern world and mass communication, it would be extremely difficult to recreate this egalitarian affluence. With knowledge and possessions, people desire more. They desire to be relatively more wealthy than others. (Consider the "occupy" movement where people that rank as the top 1% in the history of the world complain they don't have as much as those in the top .01%) To move on the path to the non-abundant affluence, we must "embrace the affluence we have created, and recognize value in things other than our labor."