Bambuti Pygmy Analysis

Kenge, a 22 year old man from a local Pygmy village in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, aided a man, C.M. Turnbull, who traveled to the area to study the life and culture of the BaMbuti Pygmies. Kenge had spend all of his life living in the dense forest surrounding his village. Because of being isolated by the forests all of his life, the sight of new images would appear complex and confusing. The thick forests blocked Kenge and the local villagers’ view of distant animals, mountains, and the sun and moon on the horizon. It is because Kenge was so limited in what he saw and experience in his life that his perceptual development, or the ability to perceive a familiar object as being the same size regardless of distance, was limited. Turnbull’s …show more content…
It is also new. For many it is their first time being completely responsible for themselves. Kenge was isolated for a grand majority of his life, away from what we consider the simplest of sights. college would certainly be a new experience, completely unlike anything he had ever known before. I think the different types of people, more than anything, confuse him. I think the quantities of people he could get to see on a particular day would frighten him. He has seen and experienced people, and to some degree, human interaction, but not in as large quantities as college life offers. Kenge has never seen so much as a book. Most inanimate objects on a school campus would greatly confuse him: books, pens, cars, notebooks, chairs, tables, flags, and even the school building itself. Everything he sees and experiences at a college has the potential to frighten him or cause him confusion, or both. He would be able to understand only that of which his limited life had allowed him to experience. For example, family. Kenge had interaction with other people, Turnbull being one of those people. He would understand, to a degree, family and friends and human interaction and the basic needs every organism has such as food, water or …show more content…
He would really only be able to understand that of which he has learned or experiences previously. Concepts such as family and friends, the need for food, water and shelter, and trees and some animals, would not frighten him. In contrast, he would be somewhat understanding towards them. All other concepts and ideas: colors, personal items, computers, phones, classrooms, buildings, cars and more could all, depending on given circumstances could cause him distress and