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Cattle Cer

The Ndotsheni people in Cry, the Beloved Country traditionally pay bride price in cattle, known as lobola. This custom led to overgrazing as more cattle were needed to meet the demand for lobola payments. The overgrazing depleted grasslands and reduced soil nutrients, leading to erosion. A demonstrator tried to help by introducing new farming methods and reducing cattle herds, but changing this traditional custom proved difficult. While necessary to restore the land, reducing cattle conflicts with the emotional and economic importance of cattle in Ndotsheni culture.

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84 views

Cattle Cer

The Ndotsheni people in Cry, the Beloved Country traditionally pay bride price in cattle, known as lobola. This custom led to overgrazing as more cattle were needed to meet the demand for lobola payments. The overgrazing depleted grasslands and reduced soil nutrients, leading to erosion. A demonstrator tried to help by introducing new farming methods and reducing cattle herds, but changing this traditional custom proved difficult. While necessary to restore the land, reducing cattle conflicts with the emotional and economic importance of cattle in Ndotsheni culture.

Uploaded by

api-281184514
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 3

C.E.R.

V O L U M E

1 ,

I S S U E

C L A R I S S A

S M I T H

Ndosheni Cattle Calamity


And hardest of all would be
the custom of Iobola, by
which a man pays for his
wife in cattle, for people
kept too many cattle for this
purpose, and counted all
their wealth in cattle" (Paton
287). The humanenvironment conflict referenced in this quote above
involves a difficult change
and severe environmental
impacts.
The Ndotsheni people have
an individualized preference
for cattle because they hold
value, just as paper currency
does. Since they need to
make a supply to meet the
demand, the amount of cattle
rose (Wheelan). With an increase in cattle came an increase in the amount of resources those cattle used up.
In the rest of the quote, the
demonstrator goes on to say
that because of the cattle,
the grass had no chance to
recover (Paton 287). This is
because the large population
of cattle consumed the grass.
The removal of grass is the
next piece of series of effects.

ditions to cattle population


(Linde). They are even described as miserable cattle by
the demonstrator (Paton
300). How sad. The absence
of manure removes the nutrient release it could have otherwise provided to the grass.

Without those plant roots,


soil erosion was more prevalent.
In the gallery walk, it was
explained that too much manure from cows can harm
plant development. This is
because there is too much
Nitrogen. However, in Cry the
Beloved Country, despite
many animals, the amount of
manure was low. It seems
that the animals are malnourished. Lack of rain in Ndotsheni also may have contributed according to a 2008
study that linked climate con-

In the same chapter, the


Ndotsheni people are using
new and different plowing
methods. The fields no longer look as they used to look in
the old days of plowing (Paton 299) as well as
building a kraal in an attempt
to more easily collect dung.
However, it is stated that
providing the grass to feed
them will be a hard thing.
To supply the grass, land below the dam was given up to
grow what is referred to as
white mans grass. Water
cycle manipulation certainly
can increase productivity of
an area when properly managed, but use of dams tend to
have many more negative
effects that dont outweigh
its benefits.

PAGE

Ndosheni Cattle Calamity


In addition, the demonstrator would get rid of the
cows that gave the smallest
yield despite it being
something hard for the
people because they counted their wealth in cattle.
While it is very hard, the
text repeatedly makes
mention of the Ndotsheni
peoples emotion. There is
something new in this valley, some spirit and some
life (Paton 300). Many of
the people are sullen, but
there is also some hope.
The cattle
overgraze the
fields and the loss
of the grass leads
to loss of nutrients
and soil erosion.

C.E.R.

In the novel Switch, the


authors stress that one of
the 3 key parts of the behavior changing framework
is to motivate the elephant,
or in other words, engage
peoples emotional side.
Just like the mothers in the
Philippines, the people in
Ndotsheni are emotionally
engaged because the livelihood of the cows and in
turn the soil, and crops, and
so on is impacts the nourishment and the health of
their families and neighbors. The children need
milk! And according the
demonstrator, not the
white mans milk.
The demonstrator directed
the rider by giving the people crystal clear direction,
for example using the new
seed and building the kraal.

The demonstrator also


changed the situation; he
split up the land.
One of the human conflicts
however, is that the demonstrator is teaching imported solutions. The bright
spot was the Jarvis farm
which was doing great
while the Ndosheni farms
nearby were not. He has
less cattle, and uses different crops. The demonstrator is teaching farming
methods brought by the
white men. The old ways of
plowing, crop choice, etc.
are left behind for new
practices that have been
successful in the Jarvis
farm. While there is not a
huge knee-jerk response as
suggested in Switch, many
of the Ndotsheni people,
particularly the ones swindled out of their land and
given crummier plots, were
quite sullen about the
whole ordeal.
The lobola custom is hard
to break because, as stated
in Switch, changing requires
a huge amount of selfcontrol which is exhausting.
When people try to
change things, theyre usually tinkering with behaviors that have become automatic, and changing
those behaviors requires
careful supervision by the

rider And The bigger the


changethe more it will
sap peoples selfcontrol (Heath 11).
However, it is beneficial for
them to break this custom
because the overgrazing of
cattle reduces productivity
and diversity of land, causes destruction of food webs
as well as loss of top soil
much like what happened
in the American Dust Bowl.
If they were to have less
demand for cattle, they
would decrease their overgrazing problem, which
after several years would
result in improvements:
more grass and fertile
lands, more topsoil with
bacteria and fungi, and
they would sustain stronger
food webs by having a stable top and bottom.
In conclusion, the lobola
practice is not a custom
that can be sustained because the demand for cattle
causes environmental damage such as soil erosion. It
will be a difficult change for
the Ndosheni people because it is a behavior that is
almost automatic, but a
necessary change to stop
the overgrazing .

Sources
Heath, C., & Heath, D. (2010). Switch: How to change things when change is hard. New York: Broadway Books.

Marion, P. (2010) Cattle Return Home [Digital Image].


Retrieved from: https://www.flickr.com/photos/phil_marion/5747695303/in/photostream/lightbox/

Paton, A. (1948). Cry, the beloved country. New York: C. Scribner's Sons.

Wheelan, C. (2002). Naked economics: Undressing the dismal science. New York: Norton.

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