![]() Since hunting is a collaborative effort the group makes use of a redistribution system, although it is quite unequal and based more on connections to the distributor than contribution to the hunt. In fact, there are very few transactions in the forest at all. We quickly learned that, while currency is sometimes necessary to conduct transactions in the village, money never changes hands while in the forest. Even in the somewhat short time among the Pygmies, we can glean a great deal of insight into the economic system of these people. However, due to the book's focus on individual encounters, a functionalist approach may have been just as effective. ![]() ![]() ![]() This approach was beneficial because it is difficult to compare the culture of the BaMButi to other cultures and because of the need for the entirety of the group to work together in order to prosper in the forest. When I began this fieldwork simulation I chose the anthropological theory of the structural-functionalists who attempt to look at society as a whole and evaluate it on its own terms. Without a wife, no shelters or cooked meals are provided to young men and unless everyone participates in the hunt, it is difficult to obtain food at all. Throughout the study, it has become quite obvious that this band's cooperative efforts are vital to survival. ![]() We have examined their every day lifestyle as well as what happens in times of joy and in sorrow. In the past 15 chapters of Colin Turnbull's T he Forest People, we have been immersed into the lives of the BaMButi people. ![]()
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