Entry Four

Chapter Three

“Beyond this point, in Negro eyes, the forest was evil -- full of animals, malevolent spirits, and Pygmies.”

                This quote reflects the importance of context to the human brain. Since the Negroes do not live in the forest, and since they do not need the forest for survival, their context for understanding the forest will be limited. Because they do not understand the forest, it becomes a place of fear and evil. Any perceptions related to the forest are necessarily affected by the notion that the forest is a place of evil.

“The Pygmy is not in the least self-conscious about showing his emotions; he likes to laugh until tears come to his eyes and he is too weak to stand. He then sits down or lies on the ground and laughs still louder.”

                This quote relates to expression. Because the form of expression above has become a cultural norm, the Pygmies are able to express themselves using a significant amount of emotion without being self-conscious.

Kenge’s practice of making fun of people for “walking like the BaNgwana” (a tribe disliked by the Pygmies for their inability to walk in the forest as they should, i.e. “swiftly, silently, and easily”) shows the influence of the Pygmies’ biological adaptation to their world. Because they live in the forest, they have adapted to it, so their brains have set conceptions for how someone should walk in the forest. Other examples of the Pygmies’ biological adaptation influencing their values include the value placed on being a good hunter and on having good drinking water. Since the village in contrast lacks clean water, the Pygmies’ biological adaption explains their conception of life in the forest being superior to life in the village.

The description of Kondabate and the way that she decorated herself (dying her body with designs of fruit and vines, filing her teeth to sharp points) (70) is a good example of expression—how someone externalizes their internal self. In this case, she is expressing her culture’s value of what is beautiful, and her realization of her own beauty.

Brief Paragraph:

This chapter reveals some unique quirks of the Pygmies, which are necessary to have a fuller understanding of their culture. These unique and individual aspects of Pygmy culture require detailed observation. Detailed observation is a characteristic of Particularism and Relativism, in which the researcher gathers more and more data and takes into account all the details.