Back To The Future

In this Nomadic profile we’d like to feature the Hadza tribe in Africa.  They are the last functioning hunter-gatherers in Africa.  This is based on an article by Michael Finkel which was featured in National Geographic lately here.  I will summarize and highlight the pertinent details as they relate to the NuNativs “mythology” and global nomadism.  For those with a short attention span, please read the end quoted passage which contains the most important part, (in our opinion), of the Hadza outlook on Life.

Though reading through the article does not initially motivate one to pursue the Hadza lifestyle which sounds like a severely harsh existence, the main motivating principles are the attractive and beneficial effects of living as they do.  The resulting emotional and mental states they experience, as well as the individual degree of freedom attained is a sharp contrast to that of the average civilized person.

In the end, most of us have no desire to go back to the pure primitive existence embodied by the Hadza lifestyle, but as modern nomads we do want to capture the positive aspects that are absent, missing and ultimately unattainable in modern society.  Of course, NuNativs is about the cross synthesis of the timeless primitive ways though transcending its harshness, with the benefits of modern culture though minimizing its intrusive qualities.  We are attracted towards extracting and molding the two together into something greater than both singly, emphasizing and embodying the positive aspects of both.

The Nomadic Hunter Gatherer Roots In Us All

The reason this tribe is utterly fascinating is that they are still living essentially the same life we’ve been living since the dawn of humanity.  Keep in mind “fixed civilization” only began some 10,000 years ago with the advent of agriculture.  For more on this read Insurgent Desire.

A quote from the Hadza article regarding the beginnings and causes of civilization:

• “For more than 99 percent of the time since the genus Homo arose two million years ago, everyone lived as hunter-gatherers. Then, once plants and animals were domesticated, the discovery sparked a complete reorganization of the globe. Food production marched in lockstep with greater population densities, which allowed farm-based societies to displace or destroy hunter-gatherer groups. Villages were formed, then cities, then nations. And in a relatively brief period, the hunter-gatherer lifestyle was all but extinguished”.

All practicing NuNativs fear winter.  We feel it is a debilitating practice that humans engage in to endure winter, by living in places surrounded by ice and snow, basically living in a freezer, though living in deserts in summer is equally shunned.  A global human migration policy is desired, whereby borders come down allowing us to freely circulate and move with the seasons around the globe. Being able to pursue and obtain sunshine and warmth on our naked skin year round, will be a great start towards a healthier existence for all.  Of course the home, job, home loop will have to be abolished and/or transformed.

From the article describing Onwas’,(a Hadza elder), reactions to winter weather having looked at pictures of it from the author:

• “… the idea of winter weather terrified him”.

Seeing a photograph of the author participating in a polar bear swim prompted:

• “A man who can leap into ice, Onwas must have figured, is certainly a man who’d have no trouble facing a wild baboon (emphasizing great bravery)”.

The Wild Provides Better Than We Do

Self sufficiency from the landscape is our long term goal.  It will take work and re-education, but the benefits are manifold and immeasurable.  We don’t want anyone having to work the land for us, while we work indoors at jobs, foraging at grocery stores completely disconnected from the food chain.  In a short amount of time we can setup a noble diet system for all based out of the wild.

A few descriptions describing the degree of self sufficiency:

• “He can start a fire, twirling a stick between his palms, in less than 30 seconds. He can converse with a honeyguide bird, whistling back and forth, and be led directly to a teeming beehive”.

• “Hadza women gather berries and baobab fruit and dig edible tubers. Men collect honey and hunt”.

• “This may be one reason farming has never appealed to the Hadza—growing crops requires planning; seeds are sown now for plants that won’t be edible for months. Domestic animals must be fed and protected long before they’re ready to butcher. To a Hadza, this makes no sense. Why grow food or rear animals when it’s being done for you, naturally, in the bush? When they want berries, they walk to a berry shrub. When they desire baobab fruit, they visit a baobab tree. Honey waits for them in wild hives. And they keep their meat in the biggest storehouse in the world—their land. All that’s required is a bit of stalking and a well-shot arrow”.

• “The Hadza diet remains even today more stable and varied than that of most of the world’s citizens”.

The Birthright Of Individual Autonomy

Individual autonomy is the prize and most sought after basic right of all, as we feel that we cannot properly take care of ourselves on all levels without it.  We feel it is our birthright to be able to call the shots of the daily precious moments of our lives as the Hadza do:

• “They enjoy an extraordinary amount of leisure time. Anthropologists have estimated that they “work”—actively pursue food—four to six hours a day. And over all these thousands of years, they’ve left hardly more than a footprint on the land”.

• “People sleep whenever they want. Some stay up much of the night and doze during the heat of the day”.

• “Individual autonomy is the hallmark of the Hadza. No Hadza adult has authority over any other. None has more wealth; or, rather, they all have no wealth. There are few social obligations—no birthdays, no religious holidays, no anniversaries”.

Assimilate Or Die

Like most free hunter gatherer tribes including the Native Americans of the past, they are targets of assimilation by a society that is itself not free.  Harnessing the people usually begins by domesticating the population into settling down, and then persistent brainwashing to adapt to the mob by emphasizing that it is a noble duty of some kind to conform.  The Hadza are so far removed from THAT mentality they can see it coming:

• “Though the youngsters in Onwas’s group show little interest in the outside world, the world is coming to them”.

• “One minister has referred to the Hadza as backward. Tanzania’s president, Jakaya Kikwete, has said that the Hadza “have to be transformed.” The government wants them schooled and housed and set to work at proper jobs”.  (Proper jobs?!?, isn’t that a misnomer).

• “The school-age kids I spoke with in Onwas’s group all said they had no interest in sitting in a classroom. If they went to school, many told me, they’d never master the skills needed for survival.  (Smart kids)”!

Freedom From Worry

Most interesting is the emotional and mental poise of the Hadza compared to the modern person in civilization who’s endless worries about material concerns occupies most of one’s day to deleterious effect.  Witness the amount of drugs and alcohol, both legal and illegal to adapt to THAT stress:

• “There are things I envy about the Hadza—mostly, how free they appear to be. Free from possessions. Free of most social duties. Free from religious strictures. Free of many family responsibilities. Free from schedules, jobs, bosses, bills, traffic, taxes, laws, news, and money. Free from worry”.

• “Onwas, as he repeatedly told me, doesn’t worry about the future. He doesn’t worry about anything. No Hadza I met, in fact, seemed prone to worry. It was a mind-set that astounded me, for the Hadza, to my way of thinking, have very legitimate worries. Will I eat tomorrow? Will something eat me tomorrow? Yet they live a remarkably present-tense existence”.

• “The days I spent with the Hadza altered my perception of the world. They instilled in me something I call the “Hadza effect”—they made me feel calmer, more attuned to the moment, more self-sufficient, a little braver, and in less of a constant rush”.

God Is Right Outside The Window

This ending quote is perhaps the biggest lesson to take away from the Hadza’s.  As we have stated in our article about longevity, this may be the only life we have, as an afterlife is mere speculation, except for the recycling of our bodily material.  The biggest clue to take away is the quote about their god, the sun:

• “The Hadza are not big on ritual. There is not much room in their lives, it seems, for mysticism, for spirits, for pondering the unknown. There is no specific belief in an afterlife—every Hadza I spoke with said he had no idea what might happen after he died. There are no Hadza priests or shamans or medicine men

• “I once asked Onwas to tell me about God, and he said that God was blindingly bright, extremely powerful, and essential for all life. God, he told me, was the sun”.

Paradise lost?!?

All quotes are from the article Hadza by Michael Finkel.

Tags: hunter gatherer, individual autonomy, migration, nomad