timu forest; the end

academic urban legends suggest that the ik were traditionally hunter-gatherers, and that a lifestyle involving intensive food production (like agriculture or cattle-keeping or something like that) is a relatively recent development. dimmendaal (1989) doesn’t agree with this view, suggesting that perhaps the ik (and the other kuliak groups) are an ‘impoverished cattle culture’—that they once were cattle cultures along the lines of the neighboring nilotes, but were overpowered economically and socially, resulting in their current status. terrill schrock has described them as opportunists—not mainly favoring this mode of production or that mode of production, but instead simply taking advantage of any opportunity for acquiring food. some fields, some animals, some hunting, some gathering, some scavenging.

after nine or ten days, stephen and i left timu forest. it had been a great stay, but there was still work left to do. i had only gathered four or five texts in nyang'i, and i didn't know anything about what they meant. we had to track komol down again and get back to work.

it's strange that people are people and not just bodies.