The San and the Mbuti can both be found in the continent of Africa. The San is the name of one of two groups on the southern side of Africa. The other group is the Khoi and together they are named the Khoisan. The Mbuti are located in central Africa in the Ituri Forest (Kaufmann, R. K. and Cleveland, C. J. 2007). The location makes a significant contrast between these groups because the difference in the environments shapes and effects their lifestyles. As stated before, the Mbuti live in the Ituri forest. The group believes that they are children of the forest, therefore making the forest part of their family as “mother” and “father” as well as “friend”, “lover”, “the great provider” and “God” (Turnbull C. M, 1961:125, 145; 1965a:257; 1965b:251-254; see also Schebesta 1938-1950). The San, however, see their environment of mainly sand and rocky outcrops differently. To them, the environment is animated, different objects of the environment have genders such as clouds and rocks (Thomas, E. M. 1959:147). 


A similarity in the San and the Mbuti is in that they both have beliefs about where the animals they share their environments with come from and how to treat them. Members of the San believed that some lions were certain sorcerers who were once “medicine men who had chosen to become poisoners and magicians instead of healers” (Thomas E. M. 1959:43). The Mbuti believe in the Meat Myth which tells that hunting and eat meat is a crime which pollutes people and if hunting was to be stopped, humans would once again become immortal as they once were (Turnbull C. M. 1983). 


When it comes to the perception and approaches to relationships among The San and the Mbuti, there are a few differences. The Mbuti, firstly, do not perceive gender and only specify it in having different names for the mother (“ema”) and the father (“eba”) every other family member – including the forest – whether male or female, has the same name, for example, in their language grandparent is “tata”, sibling becomes “apua’i” and child is “miki”. There are no gender variated names. As everyone is the same, kinship is not necessarily blood family (Turnbull C. M. 1983). In comparison, The San do perform marriages. However due to the fluidity of families, these marriages are not restricted in terms of gender, however, they are in names. To elaborate, there are 35 possible names in the group and the rule is you cannot marry somebody with the same name. People of the San who get married can also separate if they believe the marriage is not good. This can happen after any length of time. To contrast, unlike the Mbuti, in this culture, all marriages are arranged marriages. (Lee R. B. 2003) 


References 


Kaufmann, R. K. and Cleveland, C. J. 2007. Environmental Science. Dubuque, IA: McGraw-Hill                  Available at http://www.trunity.net/envsciClone/articles/view/180057/?topic=81585 


Lee R. B. (2003) The Dobe Ju/’hoansi Wadsworth Thomson Learning 


Schebesta (1938 – 1950) 


1938-50 Die Bambute-Pygmaen vom Ituri. L'Institut Royal Colonial Belge, Section des ences Morales et Poligoes, Vols. 1, 2, 4. Brussels. 


Thomas, E. M. (1959) The Harmless People London, Secker & Warburg Ltd 


Turnball C. M. 


(1961) The Forest People: A Study of the Pygmies of the Congo. New York: Simon and Schuster. 


(1965a) The Mbuti Pygmies: An Ethnographic Survey. American Museum of Natural History. Anthropological Papers 50:138-282.  


(1965b) Wayward Servants: Two Worlds of the African Pygmies. New York: Natural History Press. 


(1983a) The Mbuti Pygmies: Change and Adaptation. New York