Boiling energy : Community Healing among the Kalahari Kung

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!