The Hadza People

Background

The Hadza people are considered one of the last hunter-gatherer groups on the planet. They call themselves Hadzabe, as the suffix of "be" means people in their language (Crittenden n.d.). They live in northern Tanzania, a country in Eastern Africa and have an estimated 1300 members (National Geographic 2018). They speak Hadzane, a unique clicking language which is only spoken and not written (Wood 2021; Crittenden n.d.).

History

The Hadzabe do not appear to be closely related to any other people and their language is considered an isolate, meaning it cannot be grouped into a larger family of languages. The Hadzabe ancestors probably have lived in modern day Tanzania for tens of thousands of years and they have not changed their lifestyle significantly over that period of time. Outside groups have tried and failed to force the Hadzabe into settlements. The British attempted to force the Hadzabe to farm in 1927 and 1939, but both times the Hadzabe left the settlements quickly after arriving. In 1965 Tanzanian armed forces escorted the Hadzabe onto a settlement. Many of them died due to an increase in disease transmission, and the remaining Hadzabe left (Crittenden n.d.).

Lifestyle

The Hadza people are hunter gatherers, meaning that they do not grow their own food but instead survive by hunting with homemade bows and arrows and foraging for edible plants. They have never kept domesticated livestock or stored food, and have only recently incorporated dogs into their hunts. The Hadzabe diet consists of plants, meat, fat, and honey. They roam as necessary to find game, berries, and plants, and build temporary huts with branches and dried grass. Their lifestyle has recently become threatened by farming and herding groups that encroach on their land (Nature Conservatory 2021). They have lost between 75%-90% of their land over the last 50 years (National Geographic 2018).

Two Hadzabe with their bows and arrows

Group of Hadzabe men on a hunt

Hadzabe woman eating honey

Culture

The Hadzabe do not have any governing system but instead make decisions based on compromise and discussion. Women and men are fairly equal and there is no real difference in status between people. The tribe is organized into bands, or groups, of about 20-30 people (Crittenden n.d.). Conflict between band members can result in one member leaving his or her band and joining a different one (Wood 2018). The Hadzabe shun material possessions and do not own anything besides what they can carry from camp to camp (Crittenden n.d.).

Family is very important in Hazdabe culture. The Hadzabe typically practice monogamy, but it is not socially enforced. They trace their decent bilaterally (meaning from both their mother and father). Once a couple is married, it is up to them to decide to live either with the bride's or groom's family or to live in a camp without either the bride's or groom's family (Crittenden n.d.).

Hadzabe do not have an organized religion, but do have a creation story about how the Hadzabe came to populate the earth. The Hadzabe do not have any medicine men or women, witchcraft, or village shamans. They do have a cosmology including the sun, moon, and stars and pray to Ishoko (the sun) or Haine (his wife) during hunts (Crittenden n.d.).

Learn More

To David Choe talking about living with the Hadzebe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRrbjiOs4no

To a first person view of hunting with the Hadzabe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ny4bHOnSg0o

To a fund which helps get the Hadzabe access to health care: https://www.hadzafund.org/

To an article discussing the microbiome found in the Hadzabe people: https://www.wired.com/2014/04/hadza-hunter-gatherer-gut-microbiome/

Works Cited

Crittenden, Alyssa. n.d. “Hadza Fieldsite in Tanzania.” Culture and the Mind. Retrieved September 30, 2021 (https://philosophy.dept.shef.ac.uk/culture&mind/people/crittendena/).

“Helping the Hadza Protect Their Homeland.” Helping Hunter Gatherers Protect Their Homeland. Retrieved September 30, 2021 (https://www.nature.org/en-us/about-us/where-we-work/africa/stories-in-africa/the-hadza-helping- hunter-gatherers-protect-their-homeland/).

National Geographic Society. 2018. “Hadza.” National Geographic Society. Retrieved September 30, 2021 (https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/hadza/).

Wood, Brian. 2021. “Hadza Foragers - Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.” Max Planck Institute. Retrieved September 30, 2021 (https://www.eva.mpg.de/ecology/fieldwork/hadza-foragers/).

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