Demanding from Others: How Ancestors and Shamans Govern Opacity in the Kalahari

Among Jú|’hoànsi in the northern Kalahari, there are differences way people address their suspicions about what others might be thinking or feeling – other words, confront opacity of minds. friends, playful forms mockery allow to express ill-feelings directly, without fear causing harm. relatives, by contrast, and typically concealed. While may talk minds when those not around, they refrain from direct confrontation. To one’s relatives is make them feel ‘pain hearts’, do so risk losing sickness damaging enduring arrangements care. Ancestors shamans, who can see hear more than others, play a crucial role here governing opacity: exposing cannot speak them.