The Koegu people, numbering about 300 individuals, live along the
western bank of the Omo River in the extreme southwestern corner of
Ethiopia. They practice flood cultivation along the banks of the river,
with durra as a main crop. Hunting and gathering make a large contribution
to their daily diet, and especially fishing in the river, which is a
men's activity, provides a main resource for their protein supplies.
They have a culture concentrating on fishing, for instance a lot of
fish songs, which are sung mostly by men, and they have a good
knowledge of fishes. They categorise fishes into pairs of "brothers",
which are sometimes seasonal variants of a species. Also they categorise
fishes into those which live in the surface of the river and the others
which live in the deeps. Their concept of "brothers" is a cultural one,
which is not so directly related with the environment, while their
knowledge of the habitat of fishes is directly connected with the environment.
Their concept of "brothers" is acquired more highly by men than
by women and the progress of the acquisition is quite slow. On the
other hand the sexual difference in the acquisition of their knowledge of
the habitat of fishes is relatively small and the progress of the acquisition
is rather rapid.
Thus, the cultural cognition is restricted to one social category men
who participate in the culture, while the cognition connected directly
with the environment is held in common by all social members.
コエグの人と魚 : 環境認識の習得
KH_017_1_003.pdf
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