The Ik On the eastern side of the African continent, near the borders of Kenya and South Sudan, in the mountains of northern Uganda you will find the Ik people. With a current population estimate of less than 10,000, they are a small African tribe (“The IK people of North-East Uganda”). Their villages consist of individual grass and stick homes with a small courtyard and fire pit, individually surrounded by a stockade with a doorway, leading into a communal stockade with gates to the outside. Certainly the design of the stockades ensures privacy, and nearly complete physical separation from one’s neighbors.
The Ik, who, according to archeologist Colin M. Turnbull, are notorious for sharing partial truths, and outright lies if the interviewer …show more content…
As an illustration, children are turned out from their parents’ homes at about 3 years old to fend for themselves. Consequently, to survive the children band together into two groups, a younger group ranging in age from approximately 3 to 7, the older group from 8 to about 13. The bands work together, swarming the land looking for food. While the size of the group provides some protection, the children do not actively help each other find food. Rather, the children seem to follow the example of their elders and eat whatever they can find for themselves, however, they do not hoard thereby depriving their fellow band members of food. Surprisingly, the Ik can recite their genealogy several generations back and do still acknowledge their family relationships, however, all other meaning of the word “family” inferred in Western culture is absent in their culture. Indeed, it seemed to be they invoked family relationships only when it resulted in a selfish benefit. For example, upon death, it is culturally expected that the family of the loved one holds a feast. To avoid this responsibility, deaths were often hidden with shallow graves inside their individual enclosures. Turnbull recounts the experience in which someone had died and everyone knew it, suddenly all who claimed relation was at the door of the widow expecting a feast. Or, upon passing, the adult children, who would not shelter, feed, clothe or care for their dying parents, would descend upon the corpse to strip the body and the home of everything of any value-leaving the body to decay right where the person had died, or carelessly flinging the body out of the home or
The Ik, who, according to archeologist Colin M. Turnbull, are notorious for sharing partial truths, and outright lies if the interviewer …show more content…
As an illustration, children are turned out from their parents’ homes at about 3 years old to fend for themselves. Consequently, to survive the children band together into two groups, a younger group ranging in age from approximately 3 to 7, the older group from 8 to about 13. The bands work together, swarming the land looking for food. While the size of the group provides some protection, the children do not actively help each other find food. Rather, the children seem to follow the example of their elders and eat whatever they can find for themselves, however, they do not hoard thereby depriving their fellow band members of food. Surprisingly, the Ik can recite their genealogy several generations back and do still acknowledge their family relationships, however, all other meaning of the word “family” inferred in Western culture is absent in their culture. Indeed, it seemed to be they invoked family relationships only when it resulted in a selfish benefit. For example, upon death, it is culturally expected that the family of the loved one holds a feast. To avoid this responsibility, deaths were often hidden with shallow graves inside their individual enclosures. Turnbull recounts the experience in which someone had died and everyone knew it, suddenly all who claimed relation was at the door of the widow expecting a feast. Or, upon passing, the adult children, who would not shelter, feed, clothe or care for their dying parents, would descend upon the corpse to strip the body and the home of everything of any value-leaving the body to decay right where the person had died, or carelessly flinging the body out of the home or