9/5/10
6/13/10
GOVERNMENT OF BOTSWANA AND THE BUSHMEN
Botswana is located in the southern part of Africa. They are so many ethnic groups in Botswana, most of them have adapted to modern life. In this bunch of tribes they is one called Bushmen (Basarwa). This are the indigenous people of Botswana.
Even though we are living in the era of convergence, were we are relying mostly on the media and technology, some people do not find all this useful. This people do not consider it useful due to some apparent reason. It could either be some cultural believes or lack of knowledge on the use of those equipments. They is this particular ethnic group in Botswana called Bushmen, this people still leave in the past era were people relied on traditional equipments for communication, hunting and transport. This equipment includes spears, smoke signals and donkey sleigh. All this equipments had been modified many times and people do not see it useful anymore as they do not suit their modern life, but to Bushmen they are the best things they will ever have. They use them on their day to day lives and it seems like those equipments works for them as they have been exposed to modified equipments and yet they still choose to use old fashioned ones.
Even though I discourage the use of those equipments and Bushmen lifestyle I do believe that the new equipments should work hand in hand with the out dated ones not replacing them, I say so because most people who use the modern equipments and live the modern life sometimes they suffer in such a way that it forces them to consider out dated lifestyle or equipments. For example during hunting season in Botswana most people would hire Bushmen as they are regarded as the best animal trackers and they are good at trapping animals.
In this world were people depend mostly on advanced technology, live by their rights, their rights are being respected and whatever they own is being protected legal, some people are not counted on that list, whatever other tribes have access to, when it comes to the Bushmen is the other way round. This tribe has a good background of art, their paintings makes the history of Botswana. It is considered genuine work as the paint used was from their tradition; they were no use of Photoshop or adobe illustrator to make Tsodilo hills paintings. This painting represents their beliefs, seasons of the year and their festivals. Their paintings are not copyrighted thus they is no a bushmen whose work is legal protected from duplication or distribution which is not fair because other tribes work cannot accessed easily hence they are of low quality.(Tsodilo hills)
Even the government who should be protecting the Bushmen, he use obtained the paintings illegal because he never got the permission from them. The paintings are used as a way of attracting tourists to Botswana; the money generated on this work is used to develop tourism industry and the whole nation instead of developing Bushmen. The government does not support the lifestyle of Bushmen and yet it rips the fruits of their culture. This people are not given chance to enjoy the fruits of their work. The government takes advantage of this people as they are illiterate and they know nothing about copyrights law.(Steve Collins,2008)
Almost in all countries the media is controlled by the government. It is responsible for what goes in and leaves the country. The government has the power to reject and protect its people from any inhuman or immoral acts that might be done to them, but when it comes to the Bushmen the government seems not to care about what is being done to them, all that matters to him is promoting its tourism. Even though the government discourages the Bushmen's culture, it went on to an extent where it made tourists to include the Bushmen in their package for tourism, which I found offensive and inhuman. This happened after the government of Botswana granted film maker's access to make a movie about the culture or lifestyle of the Basarwa people, the movie is called "the god must be crazy''. As the media is the powerful weapon to convey message, I think this movie real changed the minds of people on the way they perceive the Bushmen's lifestyle or their culture. The script and action was extremely disgusting, the script was written by a person of a different tribe therefore he/she spiced the movie by exaggerating on some of the scenes. They made people belief that Bushmen are some kind of mental sick. Looking at the period when the movie was released (1980 and 1989), I think this movie had a great impact on the Bushmen culture because that was the time when people were more intolerance, that's when people began to underestimate those people. When I was young I knew that Bushmen came second after me just because of what I saw on the movie.
People may wonder why on earth this people chose to use the title "THE GOD MUST BE CRAZY", looking at the title, characters and their actions, I will say those people who made this movie somehow they think god was crazy when creating those kinds of people, which means to them they do not think bushmen culture should be existing.
Bushmen (Basarwa) are people who like to isolate themselves from other tribes, which mean they want their privacy. I blame the government of Botswana and the new media for the uncivilized of Bushmen, it did not protect them, and rather they helped their killer. Even now the government does nothing to address the matter. Recently a person was arrested after he said the current Botswana president he is Bushmen or san. (Gasebalwe Seretse,2009)
All this shows how technology, converging of equipments and media can affect the lifestyle of an individual.
REFERENCES:
Seretse,G.(2009).The story of Seretse' mother; mmegi online. Retrieved April 29, 2010. From http://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?sid=1&aid=184&dir=2009/October/Friday23
Tsodilo hills;Musu Safari tours. Retrieved April 29, 2010.from http://www.mosusafaritours.com/tshodilo.php
The god must be crazy two (1989); Internet movie database. Retrieved April 29, 2010. From http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097443/
Srinivasan, R (2006).indigenous people, ethnic and cultural articulations of new media. International Journal of cultural Studies, 9(4), 497-518.
The god must be crazy; All movie. Retrieved 29 April, 2010. From http://www.allmovie.com/work/the-gods-must-be-crazy-20084
Clavijo, M. (2006).Botswana Conference focuses on strengthening the cultural industries. Retrieved April 29, 2010. From
http://www.iipi.org/nav_newsroom/detail.asp?itemID=145
Lessig,L.(2006), Four puzzles from cyber space. In L. Lessig code version 2.0(pp 9-30), New York; Basic Books.
Collins, S.(2008).Recovering Fair use. M/C Journal 11(6). Retrieved from http://journal.media-culture.org.au/index.ohp/mcjournal/article/view/105
3/4/10
1/24/09
1/13/09
THE BIRTH OF HIP-HOP ATTIRE(BUGGY TROUSERS)
''According to my observation ,more/most succeeding hip-hop artists are the blacks''
Hip-hop was founded by the blacks in some centuries/years back ,They used hip-hop as a way of expressing their feelings,In some centuries back, blacks were captured from Africa ,they were sold to the whites as slaves ,mostly teenagers as they were strong& fit ,they worked in farms of the whites ,As they offered cheap/ free labour they did not have money to buy clothes nor foods,their salary was lunch& supper sometimes only lunch,As they had nothing to wear ,their
masters gave them their old over size clothes ,(sometimes a 12yr old could be given an XX XL trouser)As time goes on they became used to it ,it passed on form generation to generation.''that was the birth of hip-hop attire''they were also given oversize leather shoes ,as they worked in hard ,tough,harsh conditions,they believed that over size was good for them as it will fit to their size as they grow up,
12/28/08
My Life your fa Comeddy
somebody just told me that if i continue ,criticizing her ,she'll spill tha ,hey girl i don't care that's not a big ,stupid don't u thing i was helping u ,
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