Hunter-Gatherer Culture

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The entirety of week three had a chief focus on the social, economic and cultural constructs that make up a wide majority of African countries, and on a larger scale, an encompassment of Africa as a continent. Primarily, emphasis was put under the evolution, or stages, of human development in Africa, and their respective varying degrees of resource harvesting and cultural structure. The study began with one of the most primitively defined groups – the hunter-gatherer. As hinted in the name, the hunter-gatherer structure relied on a joint-responsibility of both men and women for survival; men were to hunt for game, while women collected fruits – all for the well behind of the greater clan. The hunter-gatherer culture was heavily focused on egalitarianism, and correspondingly, displayed equal rights among all people.…show more content…
Much like the hunter-gatherer, their survival depended heavily on features of the eco-system, likely focused around the Savannah and the Sahel. What seems striking to me is the recognition that both hunter-gatherer and pastoralists were at very least semi-nomadic. Within the former’s context, a nomadic lifestyle makes sense, as the clan would migrate to wherever seems best fit. However, it seems obscure to this of the Pastoralists as even semi-nomadic, considering they have such an abundance of livestock to move. In addition, a nomadic culture does not seem very logical considering they grew (albeit a limited amount) crops. Following were the cultivators, almost contrastingly defined by small-scale farming, while still mainly residing in the Savannah and Sahel regions. In addition, the cultivators were considerably similar to the hunter-gatherers in their egalitarian approach to family structure, as opposed to the Pastoralists who employed a patriarchal
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