Boiling Energy: Community Healing among the Kalahari Kung

by Richard Katz

This account of the ancient healing dances practiced by the Kung people of southern Africa’s Kalahari Desert includes vivid eyewitness descriptions of night-long healing dances and interviews with Kung healers.

Genres: Anthropology, Nonfiction, Psychology

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

Reviews

[Michael B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

It has been at least 20 years since I read this book but I remember clearly the impact it had upon me. In studying other cultures we can learn so much about our own culture. The Kung people described in this book have evolved a fascinating set of community practices that are used to "heal" ills within the community. "Ills" here are more than just personal aflictions but also include interpersonal conflict, all experienced as harm that these rituals are designed to address. No psychoanalysis needed here, as there is also no need to sit down and hash stuff out. The discomfort from these ills are addressing through trance and an activity know as pulling energy. Sounds a bit like a new age cultish thing, but now we understand where the new agers got all of this stuff from.

[Mahmoud Awad · Rating 3 out of 5]

I skimmed this for the specific description of shamanic rituals, rather than broader anthro/cultural context. Similarities of !Kung hyperventilation technique to gtummo and tsa-lung indicate an interesting convergence. I'd be interested to explore other potential similarities to the Yogas of Naropa innovated by these people.

[Mary Thornell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I met the author back when I was a student taking a directed study at the Witte Museum in San Antonio Texas. I had not heard of him before, but by the time he finished the first hour of his presentation, I was enthralled by his stories of working with the Kalahari !Kung (not to mention his ability to speak the language!) He was a very nice gentleman and I wish I had had the presence of mind to ask him more questions.

The book itself is a wonderful study of the aboriginal people of South Africa. If you have ever seen the movie "The Gods Must Be Crazy" you will get a taste of the singular character and resilience of these people. Katz presents an aspect of their nomadic culture that is rarely studied and even more rarely found in this modern world, that of a ritual dance that acts as a balm for cultural tensions that occur in the tribe(s). We modern day cultural behemoths in our technological grandeur may think we have sorted all of those things out, but in reading Boiling Energy you come to understand that often the simplest societies understand humans best. Do we have ways of 'dancing out' the energies that build up within us? We really have to stop and think about it, don't we? But for the Kalahari !Kung, it is a part of their life, and their way. It is what they do.

[Shane Wallis · Rating 4 out of 5]

With militant atheism increasingly gaining a foothold in the public realm, it just as important today to have a countering voice to dismiss the neocolonialism of knowledge. Written in a clear and accessible manner, Boiling Energy, manages to remain capable exactly that. Drawing from his field research among the Ju| Hoansi, Dr Richard Katz presents an interesting and engaging account of the trance dance and the role it plays among Ju| Hoansi culture. He identifies it as providing a means of supporting and maintaining both social cohesion, inter and intra, as well as their 'egalitarian' values. Make no mistake it is not without flaws, a bit too ahistorical and falls into the noble savage trap, that being said it does do a good job of balancing the field a bit more. This becomes even more evident as it is not just militant atheists that are of concern, but as Katz identifies there are also the Christian groups seeking to 'free' them of their 'superstitions'.