The Himba

Himba

Environment and Human Adaption

 

Namibia

                                                                              Desert elephant 

Let me take you to an incredible and beautiful yet cruel and unforgiving place. On the lower west side of Africa is a place called Namibia. Within Namibia is the Kunene region. It’s a harsh environment to survive in. Temperatures run about the low 70’s in the winter up to the high 90’s in the summer. In the last two hundred years the climate has been changing and becoming warmer and more unpredictable. Droughts are common for prolonged periods of time. The Kunene region sees as little as 250mm rainfall annually. However, with the weather being so unpredictable it may receive up to 450mm of rainfall, which causes devastating floods. This was the case in 2010 where people lost their livelihoods and buildings along with homes when they were destroyed by the flooding. The rainfall is heavy at times, but still short lived and far in between. With the high temperatures rising and little protection as far as shade from the intensity of the sun, the environment is very dry and scarce on water. Thriving in this environment are Lions, Giraffes, Ostriches, and Zebras, along with Desert elephants, and Black Rhinoceros, both of which have been trying to grow from near extinction. The semi-desert like environment's flora includes the famous Welwitchia plant, Aloe Zebrina, Baobab tree, and the Mopane tree.

Showing the size of the Welwitchia plant

Since the Kunene region is so cut off from the world, due to its size, and ruggedness of the access routes, the people who inhabit this land live in rural villages. The one best known group of people is the Himba. They are able to survive so well due to a couple physical adaptions they have acquired. First the melanin pigment they have is like a natural sunscreen for the skin. It helps prevent skin cancer by protecting them from UV rays.  They also have longer limbs to help cool them off. Their limbs grew longer so their bodies could have more surface area, which allows more body heat to be lost. Along with physical adaptions there is still a need for cultural adaptions as well. The Himba make a paste-like substance called otjize. They mix butter fat, ash, and ochre.  Twice a day they rub it all over their bodies to help with the harsh sun exposure. They also wear very little clothing, so they don’t over heat. The men wear loin cloths and the women wear mini like skirts made out of goat skin. They rarely come across westernized clothing.  When they do, the men are the ones that wear it. Being a nomadic tribe, when resources become diminished in an area, the village will pack up and move to new grazing lands with a new water source. That way they never run out of the essentials to survive in such a climate. They are so isolated from big cities, globalization, and urbanized populations that the Himba people have managed to live almost exactly the same way for centuries.

                                                               Isolated Himba village

Language & Gender Roles
The Himba people speak a language called Otjihimba. Centuries ago the Himba and the Herero were once united as one. In the middle of the sixteenth century they came from Angola but split into two tribes. This is why they share the same language. After other marauding tribes that took almost all their cattle they escaped back to Angola. Since the 1920’s the Himba have reestablished themselves in the Kunene region. At the end of the 19^th century a missionary named Gottlieb Viehe translated the bible into the Otjihimba language using script based on the Latin alphabet.  

Himba alphabet

The Women work very hard every day. They take care of the livestock, do all the gardening, care for the children and the elderly, make all the clothes and jewelry, prepare the food,  and milk the cattle. They also walk long distances to fetch the water for the village. It’s common to not find the men in the villages. They are either tending to the grazing animals away from the village or more recently moving to the cities to find work. The children are very independent compared to most other societies. At twelve months they are seen walking, running, playing, feeding all on their own. The children will stay close to their mother till the age of three. Than they move in with their other siblings. The children are looked after by all members of the village. They help with the chores around the village.

A Himba woman milking the cattle

Himba mother and child

                                                                                                          Family

Subsistence & Economy

The Himba own livestock but only eat meat once sometimes twice a week. Their cattle is very precious to them which is why they eat mostly maize flour or just mealy mixed with curdled milk or they just have curdled milk similar to plain yogurt. Making this meal requires hard work. They wake up in the morning and milk their goats or cattle. They place the milk out into the sun to curdle, and then they spend hours mixing it. They eat few vegetables and almost no fruit. Sometimes during the droughts when the cattle are at risk, they are able to survive off of the nuts from the ongongo trees. Now with the tourism in Africa increasing the Himba are able to make some money and now it’s becoming more and more often that you will find the Himba men at bars and the women at the grocery store.

At the store

The only food that the Himba produce is from their livestock. It’s what helps them survive. They don’t trade it because it’s about their only food source. They are so in touch with their livestock that they only milk two of the four teats, so the calfs can drink from the other two. They spend most of their days grazing their livestock making sure there is water and food for their cattle.

The woman looking after the cattle

The Himba women make incredible jewelry, Beautiful necklaces and bracelets that they sell to tourist sometimes for Kwanza. With the money they earn they can go to the stores to buy food and sometimes medicine. Since they are able to buy medicine the Himba are starting to lose their old remedies and soon it will be lost in their culture. When visiting a Himba village it is customary to bring them pasta, flour, sugar, coffee or tobacco.

                                                                       Jewelry

Marriage & Kinship

When Himba girls are at a pre puberty age, they wear their hair in 2 to four braids in front of their face. Once they hit puberty the braids are then styled in to smaller strands that still cover the face. Once she is of age to marry, her hair is lengthened using goat hair extensions and tied away from her face. When the boys are of age to also marry they wear their hair in braid that sweeping the back of their heads. Once they marry the women put on a head piece and the men wear a turban on their heads. Because the cattle are of such importance the Himba want to exchange their livestock with matrilineal or their patrilineal kin. They take on the endogamy rule. And since it will cost the husband to be 20 head of cattle they want the cattle to stay within the family. This is why they prefer to marry cross cousins. Once a girl is born her husband is already picked out for her and she will marry between the ages of 15 to 17. The Himba culture is polygamists that are encouraged to have more than one spouse. The richer the man with cattle marries multiple times so that the women can help take care of the livestock.   

Himba girl

Himba boy

The Himba don’t just pick one decent line over the other. Their family linage is the bilateral descent. Both sides are equally important. This makes them an egalitarian culture. The leader of the clan is the oldest male. He keeps the family ancestral fire burning and speaks to their ancestors. But, when wealth is distributed it doesn’t go to the son. It is passed on through the maternal uncle's instead. They acknowledge both sides.  

Social & Political Organization

Himba villages are set up in districts. The districts cover large areas and each district has a chief. Each village has a male elder called the headman. The headmen make up a senior council. If there are problems with the village the headman will go to the chief to work them out. The chief helps the villages within his district sometimes even going to the government to make sure his district is taken care of. They are there to stop wars and keep the peace within the villages. The headmen are the chief’s advisors but, if the chief is not doing his job the headmen can kick him out and pick another replacement.

Himba headman

The Himba are not involved with too much violence and law breaking. If there is a dispute over cattle, like which cattle belongs to who between the villages, the headmen bring this dispute to the chiefs and he calls upon both parties involved and works it out. If a man is caught in the act of rape, he is to pay the victim and may receive a severe beating.

Belief Systems & The Arts

The Himba religion is a monotheism religion. They believe in one god named Mukuru but also worship their ancestors. They believe that Mukuru is so busy that the ancestors act as his representatives. They believe that man; woman and cattle were produced by Mukuru hitting a tree with lightning and out they came. They have managed to contain the fire produced by the lightning and make sure that it never goes out. The headman of the village is the only one to tend to the fire due to its importance. His hut is the only hut allowed to face the fire and no one is allowed to walk between the fire and his hut. Once every week the headman uses the fire to worship these ancestors and ask for rain, reproduction amongst the cattle and wellbeing and blessings.

The Himba are known for the red tint on their skin. Also doubling as sun protection the butter fat and ocher mixture is beautiful to the people. Like eyeliner, mascara, and lipstick, the Himba consider the mixture as their makeup. They apply it every morning before they leave their huts like we apply ours before we go out. They even rub the mixture in their hair to style it like we style ours.

                                                             Getting the Ochre ready for mixing

The Himba spend a lot of time creating crafts to sell to tourists. This includes jewelry, dolls and carved gourds depicting animals.  

                                                                  Hand made Himba doll          

  

Himba crafts

                                                       Traditional Himba dance and singing

conclusion

The Himba people are considered one of the last true traditional cultures still out there. But no matter how true to their traditions they are, with the increasing number of tourists and missionaries that tread on their way of life, they are starting to lose their way. In some ways it’s a positive thing. More and more Himba children are becoming educated due to the traveling schools and the women are able to make some money selling their crafts to the tourists. They are able to buy medicine that will aide in issues they couldn’t help before. But with the positive also comes the negative. The educated children are leaving their homeland to experience more. The men are leaving the village more to go to the cities and work, but they are also going to the bars and getting drunk. The men are preforming adultery, and with the aids epidemic in Africa, are spreading aids in the villages. Now that they are going to the stores to buy their medicine their traditional ways of medicine will be lost. And with practicing less and less of their old ways it will eventually lead to their disappearance.  

Unfortunately the Himba culture does not have a huge influence on modern societies. They are very tight knit and work together as a community. The women help take care of not only their children but the children of others. They all cook together and take care of the livestock. They remember and pay tribute to their ancestors unlike the modern world who mourn the loss of a loved one but more often then not will be less appreciative and start to forget them as time goes on. The modern world seems to think that they need to influence the Himba culture. People bring them candy when they don’t have a dentist or tooth brushes and translating their religious beliefs into the Himba language causing the Himba to question or forget their own. Others need to realize that just because they seem primitive it doesn’t mean they are not happy.  

                                                              Little Himba boy with a lollypop



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http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0401/feature2/
http://www.namibian.org/travel/namibia/kaokoland.htm
http://www.namibian.org/travel/namibia/population/himba.htm
http://www.discoverafrica.com/kunene-region/
http://www.ywamafrica.org/South_Central/Angola/Kunene/about-h/about-h.htm
http://www.on-the-matrix.com/africa/himba.asp
http://traditionscustoms.com/people/himba-people
http://www.newafricanfrontiers.com/countries/namibia/people-of-namibia-himba-tribe.htm
http://www.gregdutoit.com/index.php?page=beautiful_people_ftf
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/2008/0205/p20s01-woaf.html/(page)/2
http://www.himba-trust.org/publications/himba_info.pdf
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/herero.php
http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Namibia/Kaokoland/blog-108633.html
http://www.palkiewicz.com/ekspedycje/index.php?p=himba
http://books.google.com/books?id=SsPO7wYv1VkC&pg=PA301&lpg=PA301&dq=himba+marriage+patterns&source=bl&ots=JpsId49VbE&sig=PFjlwGI8O4YkAUcTIvT8GQhgt3I&hl=en&sa=X&ei=OMQMUKygGpTzqwH01uDMDA&ved=0CGEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=himba%20marriage%20patterns&f=false
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwQ0SivVOQk

 

Art as a culture

The Lascaux Caves

A.      The cave artist in my opinion was trying to tell others what they cherish. I think in drawing the horses first than the bulls and so on show that the artists were trying to show which animal ranks the highest. All the animals were drawn in different proportions but some horses and bulls were huge in size up to 5.6 metres (meters) long.

B.      I believe there are more animals depicted in their drawing over other plant life and humans because animals were important to them. Important to their survival by using their flesh for food, their skin for warmth, and the fat for fires. Their lives evolved around the wildlife. Not even plants were drawn because they didn’t eat much of them.

C.      The paintings tell us how advanced the people were. It was assumed that they were not capable enough to figure out a way for a light source but soon hundreds of handmade lamps were found in the caves. Also the drawings Show the artists as being creative when it came to showing their talent in drawing a horse rolling on the ground or using the walls to their advantage when drawing depths in the animals or wanting to give a certain appearance.  

D.      It had to have been very challenging for these artists to paint. First lighting was an issue. There is no light in caves. So they made a kind of lamp to help and torches to light the way. Also, the walls in the caves were not flat like a canvas. The artist had to adapt the every section of the walls. Different techniques had to be used. Either by using a brush, engraving or using a spray technique. Even getting to the paintable surfaces was challenging. There are not only paints on the walls but high up and even on the ceilings. It was said that scaffolding had to be used.

E.       I believe they used this art as a form of teaching others of the wildlife. They are showing the animals of importance down to the least important like the bears and felines. I also believe that it might be a way of keeping a record of the animals. Almost like a time capsule to remember. Last I think in some of the pictures like the charging animals and the rolling horse to the arrow with the collapsed stag are a form of storytelling.

It thinks even in modern day people still draw things that mean sometime to them. Life is more complex now compared to early humans. To them it was about survival and wildlife was their key. Don’t get me wrong survival is important to us but so is our music, love, and self-expression. These are things that we draw, sculpt and sing about. We want to remember and teach others. Cherish and pass on like records to the next generation.

I love Urban Art! I love going down to Venice and watching the street artists or driving in Hollywood and seeing all the art people have made on the sides of buildings and under freeways. And NO I don’t mean gang signs that are indecipherable letters or numbers scribbled on the side of a trash can or porta potty.

A.       Urban art was born and represents city life. Like most art it’s a form of expression. You draw what you feel. It can be a simple random thought or a feeling.

It can also be a quick image in your mind of something beautiful.

Sometimes you could be screaming in your head and have to get it out in a flash of colors.

Or you want to get the word out on a political subject.

This form of art has an international cultural following from the U.K to Berlin. There are annual art shows all over the word representing this form of expression. Banksy is a famous urban street artists who have sold his work for millions of dollars to people like Brad Pitt and Angelina.  Urban artist tend to travel the world creating images for everyone to see. Its function is to represent city culture and sometimes spread the word on political or environmental issues. This type of art is relatively newer than most art forms and some people consider it to be vandalism. It tends to be illegal because most of the time they paint on other people property without permission for all to see. Sometimes they create in galleries, but what they create is beautiful and full of expression and feeling.

Yanomamo

Yanomamo

Unlike the western culture, the Yanomamo lack the police to punish, judges to sentence and prisons to incarcerate. They don’t have the laws that most countries have. Laws that that discourage the murder of another person. In western societies when someone is killed, the killer is arrested and personally punished either by the death sentence of years in prison. If a Yanomamo kills another Yanomamo the victim’s family retaliates on the killer and his kin. Killing the first person they see, sometimes more. But, by retaliating they than make themselves targets for the same violence. When taking revenge on others, you benefit by striking quickly. That shows you as being aggressive and others will fear you to much to attack back.

The status of a Unokais is enticing because of the benefits of being considered an aggressive, responsible, ambitious person and willing to take risks for you kin. They are characteristics you want to posses when trying to acquire a mate. And with a mate comes offspring and since children are encouraged to be aggressive and valiant, it is likely that they will also become Unokais. Villages with the most Unokais are feared more and attacked less than the villages that have more non-unokais and are considered cowards.

Each village has one or more political leaders. These men are polygynous and are able to produce multiple offspring. They are the men who decide actions taken after a killing. In order to be a leader one must be a Unokai.

By performing revenge killings and being the most successful, insures you village s having a higher status versus the weaker ones who have not participated in the raids.

With revenge killing, the village with the most kinship density has power in numbers over smaller villages. It’s like when you go into battle you want to know that you have the advantage and there will be people there to have your back if something goes wrong. More people who will revenge your death if you are slain. This causes a close bond with fellow kin and a good reason to stay in that village.

It has been noted that from data collected and analyzed, that men who have taken part in revenge killings and have lived under their belt are more desirable as mates. Building an alliance with a skilled Unokais who have already proved successful in raids is beneficial to the family.

The laws that western cultures have for killing help the murders from getting out of control. If someone were to harm m family I would want justice. If I knew that there wasn’t going to be any I would take it into my own hands. “Hushuwo” is an overwhelming feeling and makes people do things they may regret.

Kinship Interview

Kinship Interview



    I decided to interview my father, John Barrios, for my Kinship interview. He knew little about most of his Grandparents since all but his Grandmother Maria Barrios passed away before his first birthday. Except that both Great Grandparents from his mother’s side were born in Germany and both his Grandparents from his Father’s side were born in Mexico. He was incredibly close to his only surviving grandparent, Maria, till the time he was 21 when she passed away. She was a devoted catholic and attended mass every Sunday like clockwork. Not having much money, she lived in a small 1 bedroom house in Los Angeles, CA. Every Saturday she would make an elaborate dinner for her kids and their children. Everyone would pile into the small kitchen and living room to have a feast. He remembers despite her always counting her change, she would have these huge get together. The last handful of years of her life she was unable to host such events. She was like the glue that held the family together. His Father, Ramon Barrios, Aunt Stella and Uncle Albert didn’t have the same family loyalties as his Grandmother did and so no one picked up the Saturday tradition. As soon as she fell ill his Aunt Stella moved her five kids and herself to Fresno, CA and stayed there. By the time he married his wife Theresa Barrios, he knew little about his Aunt and cousins. He knew that she gave birth to two more little girls but soon after the babies were born, the father kidnapped them and fled to Mexico. As far as he knows his Aunt Stella never heard from them again. The rest of his cousins from his Aunts side stayed in trouble always in and out of jail, he decided to follow in his father’s footsteps and sever ties with them. To this day he knows almost nothing about them. He did however stay in touch with his Uncle Albert who had three children all about the same age as him. The oldest cousin being Gary, the middle Linda and the youngest Allen. Despite his grandparents being very religious, His father nor his Uncle raised their children in a setting were Church was required and prayer was said at every meal. His parents worked hard for what they had. His father worked at the DMV and his mother worked for the police department. They gave birth to a son named Dan and five years later gave birth to him. Born in Glendale, CA, he was raised along with most of his family in Los Angeles. He met his future wife in High School when he was only 17. They married when he was 25 and soon after had a son also named John. Three years later they had a daughter and named her Kimberly. By the time his son John was born, His mother and father relocated to Anaheim, CA. He pursued a career as an X-Ray technician and his wife became a Nurse. They raised their children in Los Angeles till his youngest was 21 and the last to move away. Now living in Pine Mountain, CA, he is now retired and his wife is still hard at work as a Nurse. He considered his brother, Dan, to be his best friend. Unfortunately Dan passed away unexpectedly five years ago. Now the only relatives he keeps in contact with are his brother’s children and his Uncle Albert’s kids, Linda, Gary and Allen.

    The Interview went very well. For most of it I felt very comfortable and relaxed up until I started asking questions about his Aunt Stella and her kids. As soon as I showed interest in them he seemed to get angry. Like he was remembering things that he didn’t want to share. The only thing he really said about them was a brief sentence on his cousin Paco stealing something from him and how much he hated him for it. This made me curious about that side of the family but the more I pursued it, the less he was willing to talk. I think that If I wasn’t related to him I would have accepted his unwillingness to tell and moved on. But since he is my father I became angry and protective. I didn’t even know what was taken from him but I wanted to know in hopes that there is something I could maybe do about it.

    I think there is more emphasis on the paternal side only because His mother was an only child and her parents passed away long ago. No traditions were passed down, No Aunts and Uncles or far off cousins were known about. Now as far as his family being larger or smaller, I would have to go with smaller. He does have a large decent group but only considers about half to be his true family. I don’t believe ethnic differences had anything to do with the family’s lack of social interactions. I believe that somewhere along the lines social differences caused the differences. They may share the same blood but that’s it.

    When it comes to my family there are a lot of members that I don’t know. I don’t see my extended family for holiday and never send or receive even a Christmas card. That goes for both my parent’s sides. There are a few cousins that I am close to on my father’s. But there are much more of my cousins that I wouldn’t even recognize on the streets. My mother’s side lives in Michigan and is very religious. My mother growing up never agreed with their religion and because of that tension she left and never looked back. When it comes to the decision maker in my family I would have to say my grandfather on my father’s side. I was only four when he passed away but, whenever he is brought up in a conversation tears are sure to be shed. Being so young I don’t have much memories of him but my older cousin’s talk of him as being like the Godfather.  Surprisingly other than my parents most of my father’s side of the family is single or divorced. But, as for my sister in law and my husband being married into the family they are not treated differently than those of us born into the family. They are showed just as much love by my parents as my brother and me. As far as different attitudes based on gender I would say yes.  That is only really based on memories of my childhood. I remember growing up in Los Angeles my brother was only three years older than me. He was allowed to walk to his friend’s house around the corner by himself at seven years old. I couldn’t wait to have that kind of freedom and after three years when I wanted to go to my friend’s house I was denied because I was only seven. Now looking back I see how ignorant I was. But, I was angry and felt that I was treated unfairly because I was a girl.

    I knew that my family like most has issues. But conducting this Kinship interview really made me look at how much anger and sadness is present.  I hope that in my family’s future there is less hostility. I envy my husband’s family where everyone knows everyone and holidays consist of forty plus over for dinner. At first it was over whelming but now I realize how important family is.