The Batwa
I went to the Anthropology Film Society Launch at my university yesterday.My Analysis of Indigenous People tutor, Chris Kidd gave the talk. It was all about his fieldword with the Batwa, a displaced (or if you prefer, evicted) forest people from the border region of Democratic Republic of the Congo (Apologies if this is incorrect - I now add freshers flu to my month long bout of lurgy), Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda, Chris mainly working from the latter area. It was an eye opener. The Batwa were evicted from their original home in the rainforest as a part of a preservation move to protect the rainforest and mountain gorillas (Only 750 left in the wild). Unfortunately, in all their commonsense, the authorities left no place for the BAtwa to move to. So now they are either living on land belonging to another group, squatting or living on donated land, the latter not being so bad, but with its limits.
The Batwa face extreme discrimination from the authorities and other peoples living around them, seen as basically subhuman and are denied the very basic of human rights. Rape, murder and abuse is not uncommon. Those allowed to live on others land in return for cultivating it can be thrown off at a moments notice. An example of this is seen in the fact that Batwa living on land like this don't build more than simple accomodation, like the home seen in the photo. If they do, there is every chance the landowner will throw them out and move in family instead.
On top of all this, the Batwa live in eztreme poverty. It's hard for them to get work, the kids find it hard to go to school and they can't even afford firewood to cook with, using only stems as fuel. Providing food is hard - they either recieve a miniscule amount in return for casual labour, exchange things such as firewood collected and snuck out of the forest, or illegally hunt in the forest. The forest is out of bounds and the authorities come down hard on those who are caught in there. Three friends of Chris' from his fieldword were actually murdered for hunting in the forest - the police, when he asked them how the investigation into their deaths was going, was told "You don't investigate the murder of dogs". Going into the forest though is the only way the Batwa can feed themselves.
In a way they are getting some help and Chris acts as an intermediary of sorts when in Uganda, mainly making headway by approaching government and talking to NGOs attempting to improve things. The Batwa themselves have found it hard to be allowed to represent themselves, with many people acting on their behalf but without asking what they want. Examples being NGOs taking the government to court on behalf of the Batwa, even after they themselves said they would prefer starting negotiations on a 'grassroots' basis. Other Philanthropic groups have bought land for the Batwa to live on, but in the examples given by Chris, no housing provision was made or the land was infertile. It seems the most popular way to assist the Batwa in housing is by providing Tarpaulins to waterproof their houses! A happier note is that there is a development group which has been set up and is run by the Batwa themselves, which Chris helped in setting up.
Things like that put things into perspective, especially when you moan about the NHS, having to get up at silly o clock to go to a lecture or sit up most of the night to keep up with coursework, moaning about living on beans and toast or the house being too cold. At least we're lucky enough to have that!
The Batwa face extreme discrimination from the authorities and other peoples living around them, seen as basically subhuman and are denied the very basic of human rights. Rape, murder and abuse is not uncommon. Those allowed to live on others land in return for cultivating it can be thrown off at a moments notice. An example of this is seen in the fact that Batwa living on land like this don't build more than simple accomodation, like the home seen in the photo. If they do, there is every chance the landowner will throw them out and move in family instead.
On top of all this, the Batwa live in eztreme poverty. It's hard for them to get work, the kids find it hard to go to school and they can't even afford firewood to cook with, using only stems as fuel. Providing food is hard - they either recieve a miniscule amount in return for casual labour, exchange things such as firewood collected and snuck out of the forest, or illegally hunt in the forest. The forest is out of bounds and the authorities come down hard on those who are caught in there. Three friends of Chris' from his fieldword were actually murdered for hunting in the forest - the police, when he asked them how the investigation into their deaths was going, was told "You don't investigate the murder of dogs". Going into the forest though is the only way the Batwa can feed themselves.
In a way they are getting some help and Chris acts as an intermediary of sorts when in Uganda, mainly making headway by approaching government and talking to NGOs attempting to improve things. The Batwa themselves have found it hard to be allowed to represent themselves, with many people acting on their behalf but without asking what they want. Examples being NGOs taking the government to court on behalf of the Batwa, even after they themselves said they would prefer starting negotiations on a 'grassroots' basis. Other Philanthropic groups have bought land for the Batwa to live on, but in the examples given by Chris, no housing provision was made or the land was infertile. It seems the most popular way to assist the Batwa in housing is by providing Tarpaulins to waterproof their houses! A happier note is that there is a development group which has been set up and is run by the Batwa themselves, which Chris helped in setting up.
Things like that put things into perspective, especially when you moan about the NHS, having to get up at silly o clock to go to a lecture or sit up most of the night to keep up with coursework, moaning about living on beans and toast or the house being too cold. At least we're lucky enough to have that!