THE KUNG, a former gathering and hunting society living in
the Kalahari Desert of southern Africa, have been intensively
filmed, studied, and interviewed by anthropologists
for over thirty years. What is the special appeal of these
people? For one, they are among the few remaining representatives
of a way of life - foraging - which was, until
12,000 years ago, the universal mode of human existence.
For another, observers are attracted by their extraordinary
culture, their narrative skills, their dry wit and earthy humor,
and the rich social life they have created out of the
unpromising raw materials of their simple technology and
semidesert surroundings.
Despite the many reports written about the Kung, certain
areas of their life remain little understood. The ritual of the
healing dance is one such area. This dance has been the
main focus of religious life among the Kung. At weekly
dances, while the women clap and sing, men and women
dancers enter a trance-like state and go among the assembled
Kung, laying on hands and casting a shield of spiritual
energy over the group.
The main contours of this dance and its associated beliefs
had been described, but no study in depth from a psychological
perspective had ever been attempted. Much remained
to be learned of the altered state of consciousness
in the dance, of the long and painful training process, of
the folk theory of illness and healing that lies behind the
ritual, and of the esoteric knowledge held by the masters of
healing, the handful of charismatic "gurus'7 who personify
the most sacred of Kung traditions.
Richard Katz has now given us such a study. A community
psychologist long interested in human potential, Katz is
well qualified to bridge the chasm between humanistic disciplines
and field anthropology. He is comfortable in both
fields and skillful at rendering intelligible the arcane mysteries of other cultures without reductionism and without
condescension to either the reader or the subjects.
Responding to the Kung request to "tell our story/' Katz
sets himself five tasks. He describes the fascinating healing
rituals themselves in graphic detail, and he shows how they
are perceived at the experiential level in the words of the
healers and other Kung. He attempts to trace the role that
healing plays in the lives of the healers and for the community
at large, and he offers a compelling sociological
analysis of how the form and function of healing are
molded by the specific character of the Kung social order,
based as it is on political egalitarianism, food sharing, and
collective ownership of resources. Finally, he tells how this
social order is being challenged by the economic changes
sweeping Africa.
We learn, for example, that traditionally the healing
power, though in the hands of individuals, is not hoarded,
to be doled out for a fee; it is freely given to the community
as the need arises. An important point, this, but not the
whole story. We also learn that not all healers adhere to
this ideal. In fact, during Katz's study, the question of fee
for services was a major controversy which sharply divided
the healers. Several who had received goods or cash for
treating members of other ethnic groups argued that if
others placed a cash value on their services, they could not
continue to provide the same service to the community for
less. Against this view were the majority of healers who
continued to heal other Kung as they always had, for free.
This issue fascinated me. We know that the Kung are
changing and are being rapidly drawn into the cash economy.
This debate among healers graphically illustrates how
individuals attempt to grapple at the level of consciousness
with the wrenching changes that accompany the shift from
a communally based economy to an economy based on the
impersonal forces of the marketplace.
It is hard not to be captivated by the Kung; many have
fallen under their spell. Yet a danger lies here, the real danger
of romanticizing them and portraying them in Utopian
terms as all-sharing, all-loving, and selfless primitives. Such
Foreword xi
a portrayal, however tempting, would not only be inaccurate
but ultimately do a disservice to the Kung. The Kung
are part of the contemporary world and not of the mythological
past; like the rest of us, they share all of contemporary
humanity's frailties. To his credit, Katz is aware of the
danger and he struggles largely successfully to avoid its pitfalls.
Further, throughout the book he keeps us constructively
aware of Katz the observer. Instead of hiding behind
a mask of objectivity, he uses his likes and dislikes creatively,
as an instrument of discovery.
There are treasures here to be savored. The spiritual
strengths of the healers are drawn from the community,
and the community in turn benefits from the lonely battles
healers carry on with the malevolent ghosts of ancestors
and with their own inner fears. The net effect is of a body
of protective spiritual energy endlessly recycled from healer
to community and back in a process that extends deep into
the past. What do the Kung have to teach us? Plenty! With
Richard Katz as your guide, read on!