Gender Roles
The Baka
are extremely coexisting. The male-female relationships are completely
egalitarian where sex role flexibility is a norm and language is genderless.
Husbands and wives participate in a wide range of activities and nothing is
singled out to be meant for a male or female. Women are just as essential to
the work team as men and share responsibilities evenly. Women contribute to the
diet among the people and are involved in the exchange of food as much as men.
Both genders take on a role in hunting which is also usually done together. It
is not uncommon to see the men gathering food and firewood, fetching water,
cooking, cleaning, and tending to babies. It is equally common to see a women
taking on heavy work and taking part in discussions with men. Unlike many
African cultures, child bearing is not just the mother’s role. Fathers are
actively involved in the caring of their infants. The Bake men engage in more
infant caregiving than fathers in any other known society spending almost fifty
percent of their day holding or within arm's reach of their infants.
(Cervantes, Quixote).
Some of the
small differences found in research was on an occasion where an anthropologist
named Paul Raffaele arrived at a Baka village by the name of Mossapola, he
described the women to be wearing tattered sarongs while squatting around
several fires as they warmed water and cooked their cassava. The men were said
to be uncoiling large nets by the beehive huts. The night that he left the
village, the women were said to be singing a chant of welcome to the great rain
forest spirit while the men danced wildly to the music of drums (Raffaele).
Another situation where differences among men and women are seen is during
marital conflicts. Though these conflicts are rare, they do sometimes occur.
Quarrels between men and women are commonly carried out by the women tearing
down the man’s house to reveal their displeasure. The women tend to be more
skilled at house building therefore the huts in which the Baka’s live are seen
as a woman’s property. Normally the woman is stopped halfway through by the man
and the conflict is settled through some sort of discussion. If the woman is
not pleased with what the man has to say, she will continue to tear down the
house which is when the rest of the village people with usually get involved to
resolve the dispute (Cervantes, Quixote).
Morals and Values
The Baka’s
value several characteristics including positivity, trust, respect,
cooperation, and empathy. They possess an enlightened moral code that has been
in place long before the missionaries attempted to impose their world view on
them. Under this code are rules against killing, violence towards women,
adultery, lying, theft, blaspherry, devil worship and sorcery, lack of love for
children, disrespect for elders, and other forms of misbehavior. They also have
never engaged in cannibalism, human sacrifice, mutilation, sorcery, ritual
murder, intertribal war, debilitating initiation issues, and other cruel
customs. (Cervantes, Quixote).
Another
value that is embraced as a norm is the lack of privacy among tribe members.
The Baka’s are rarely ever alone. All activities including eating, drinking,
bathing, and even sexual intercourse all take place within close proximity.
(Cervantes, Quixote).
Family is a
highly valued aspect of life for the Baka. Parents are expected to respond to
the needs of children with warmth and calming attitudes in order to raise them
into a positive world image. Child neglect and abuse are almost unknown in the Baka society; cruelty to children is the
most serious violation under the Baka laws
and commandments. (Cervantes, Quixote).
Another
extreme value in the Baka culture is the strong faith and worship they have
toward the forest. They reflect this appreciation by carrying out positive
attitudes toward the world, maintaining feelings of independence, and a sense
of basic trust. They express this faith through their great molimo songs which
is another reason why music is such an important aspect to their lives.
(Cervantes, Quixote).
The Baka Society as
Seven Lessons for Effective Teamwork
Lesson 1: Members respect and trust each other.
Given the
potential hardships of the forest, survival depends on interdependence for the
Baka. Food is not always plentiful and hunting can be dangerous therefore there
must be instructions that everyone must follow in order to overcome such
threats. Trust and mutual dependency play a crucial role here. Without trust,
the hazard of these existing dangers would multiply so each person needs to be
depended upon. If the trust is not present,
other factors that affect team behavior become irrelevant because when there is
no sense of understanding and togetherness among the members of a team, the
group soon becomes dysfunctional. However, trust does not occur automatically.
Trust grows best if the basics were met for each team member in childhood and
delicately taught through life.
The entire
camp of any village is consistently supporting one another in any issues and
always stands together as one. The peace among the tribe is a majorly
emphasized factor and will take whatever measures to maintain that such as
gathering around a marital conflict among two members of the tribe to help
resolve the issue.
Everyone in
the Baka society possesses the right to expect, demand, and give participation
in all events. Obedience to authority figures is minimal among the Baka due to the
idea that no
single member has the right to force someone to do something against his or her
will. No one is ever afraid to speak his or her mind resulting in a minimal
power gulf between the group members. Interaction and involvement is encouraged
of all members. Disputes are settled in by conflictive construct and he or she in
questions always has the right to get others involved in the matter until a
resolution is found.
To give
team members a sense of purpose and focus, team goals and methodologies need to
be distributed very clearly. If a goal is ambiguous or ill-defined, the group
can potentially lack motivation and commitment to the task. Although goals have
to be within realistic boundaries, group members are encouraged to
"stretch." When one’s stretch goals are achieved, it gives the
individual a sense of pride in their work.
Baka elders want their youngsters to
share a common heritage with them. To reinforce the behaviors of the heritage,
rewards and punishments are handed out when necessary. Sharing, cooperation,
independence, and autonomy are among the basic values in the Baka society.
Teamwork is
a balancing act. It is a form of participation that can flourish only in an
environment that encourages individual freedom and creative opportunity all the
while following the overall organizational goals. Teamwork possesses an
interdependent balance between the needs of the individual and the needs of the
organization. However, to make such a balance work each member of the team
needs to recognize the limitations on his or her freedom.
The Baka society is characterized by a
disarming informality. It is difficult to talk about a single leader. Unlike
other African societies, the Baka groups
have no "big men" among them due to their view that leadership is not
a monopoly of one glorious leader. No single person has an ultimate authority
leading them not to be intimidated by rank, seniority, or status. Respect may
be given to elders, but it is based not on wealth or status but simply on
knowledge and expertise.
(Cervantes,
Quixote).
The Pygmies Plight
2008 Academic Search Premier, Electronic document, http://ehis.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.lib.usf.edu/eds/detail?sid=8cc9fbd8-8c6e-4111-bc4e-276434a424ef%40sessionmgr104&vid=16&hid=2&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#db=aph&AN=35392238 , accessed November 27, 2012.
High-Performance Teams: Lessons of the Pygmies
1999 Business Search Premier, Electronic document,
http://ehis.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.lib.usf.edu/eds/detail?sid=8cc9fbd8-8c6e-4111-bc4e-276434a424ef%40sessionmgr104&vid=20&hid=20&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#db=buh&AN=1622389&anchor=toc , accessed November 27, 2012.
This post was written by Bria Bequette.
