Intergroup Cooperation in Shotgun Hunting Among BaYaka Foragers and Yambe Farmers from the Republic of the Congo

Abstract

Whereas many evolutionary models emphasize within-group cooperation or between-group competition in explaining human large-scale cooperation, recent work highlights a critical role for intergroup cooperation in human adaptation. Here we investigate intergroup cooperation in the domain of shotgun hunting in northern Republic of the Congo. In the Congo Basin broadly, forest foragers maintain relationships with neighboring farmers based on systems of exchange regulated by norms and institutions such as fictive kinship. In this study, we examine how relationships between Yambe farmers and BaYaka foragers support stable intergroup cooperation in the domain of shotgun hunting. In the study village, shotgun hunting is based on a specialization-based exchange wherein Yambe farmers contribute shotguns and access to markets to buy cartridges and sell meat while BaYaka foragers contribute their specialized forest knowledge and skill. To understand how costs and benefits are distributed, we conducted structured interviews with 77 BaYaka hunters and 15 Yambe gun owners and accompanied hunters on nine hunting trips. We found that hunts are organized in a conventional manner within a fictive kinship structure, consistent with the presence of intercultural mechanisms to stabilize cooperation. However, because bushmeat demand is high, gun owners can gain significant cash profit, while compensating hunters only with cigarettes, alcohol, and a traditional hunter’s portion of meat. To level payoffs, hunters strategically hide kills or cartridges from gun owners to feed their own families. Our results illustrate how each group prioritizes different currencies (e.g., cash, meat, family, intergroup relations) and provide insights into how intergroup cooperation is stabilized in this setting. The example of this long-standing intergroup cooperative system is discussed in terms of its contemporary entwinement with logging, the bushmeat trade, and growing market intersection.

Dyadic inter-group cooperation in shotgun hunting activities in a Congo Basin village

“…The critical feature of these exchanges is that the Yambe own the shotguns, but the BaYaka have the skill and traditional ecological knowledge to successfully hunt. As described more fully by Kandza et al ( 2023 ), the nature of the exchange varies depending on the quantity of game the organiser of the hunt is hoping to receive. Yambe will recruit BaYaka to hunt game for their families’ immediate consumption but also to sell on the bushmeat market.…”

“…Yambe will recruit BaYaka to hunt game for their families’ immediate consumption but also to sell on the bushmeat market. The money they earn is used to support their children's school or buy medicine, clothes or other needs (Kandza et al, 2023 ). Without direct access to markets or schools, BaYaka hunters claim to participate in these exchanges only for meat to share with their family and other group members (Kandza et al, 2023 ).…”

“…The money they earn is used to support their children's school or buy medicine, clothes or other needs (Kandza et al, 2023 ). Without direct access to markets or schools, BaYaka hunters claim to participate in these exchanges only for meat to share with their family and other group members (Kandza et al, 2023 ). While this may appear to give asymmetrical power to the Yambe, who have greater control over the flow of cash, it is important to note that hunters can refuse to hunt for the Yambe, and state that they choose to pursue this type of hunting because of the efficacy of the shotgun (Kandza et al, 2023 ).…”

“…Without direct access to markets or schools, BaYaka hunters claim to participate in these exchanges only for meat to share with their family and other group members (Kandza et al, 2023 ). While this may appear to give asymmetrical power to the Yambe, who have greater control over the flow of cash, it is important to note that hunters can refuse to hunt for the Yambe, and state that they choose to pursue this type of hunting because of the efficacy of the shotgun (Kandza et al, 2023 ). Moreover, in other parts of the northwestern Congo Basin, it has been shown that foragers continue to trade meat with farmers even when they can sell meat for cash, probably because of the value of maintaining the social relationship with the farmers (Lupo & Schmitt, 2017 ).…”

“…Moreover, many forest resources gathered by foragers are sold nationwide, including foods, medicines and other materials like mongongo leaves that are used to wrap the ubiquitous kwanga manioc bread, making these relationships foundational to an unknown proportion of the Congolese economy. Importantly, the region is also being actively logged by international forestry companies whose workers are fed by bushmeat that comes in part from sale by farmers who acquired it through exchange with the foragers (Kandza et al, 2023 ). Thus, there is some urgency to understanding how these exchange relationships in general, and those around hunting in particular, impact the management of biodiversity in this region, a global biodiversity hotspot (S. L. Lewis, 2006 ).…”