Myths and Reality About “Savages” and “Civilization”

Abstract

Among the many works that discuss the links between the notion of “savages,” the lifestyle of hunter-gatherers, “civilization” and inequality, Kelly’s 2013 book The Lifeways of Hunter-Gatherers is probably the one that provides the most clear, succinct, empirically based, and unbiased account on both the myths and facts about the changes that normally occur from nomadic hunter-gatherer groups to sedentary ones and then eventually to agricultural groups. Indeed, Kelly has a much more neutral and pragmatic take of the long-standing “Hobbes versus Rousseau debate” than most other authors have. As noted by him, the fact that for six millions of years there were—and there still are—hunter-gatherers groups, particularly nomadic ones, raises an important question that has too often been addressed by using imaginary ethnocentric teleological narratives about “cosmic purpose” and principally about “progress”:

“Writing appears to be necessary for the centralized, stratified state to reproduce itself…has accompanied…the integration…of a considerable number of people into a hierarchy of castes and classes…it seems to favor rather the exploitation than the enlightenment of mankind”

(Claude Levi-Strauss)