From Hamar cattle to my cat

For me to figure out all the details of such differences, and learn to discern the different types of coats was really a matter of working together closely with the Hamar. Together talking and drawing. Together comparing coats to the way people and objects look. Together herding cattle and goats. The way in which the Hamar people make sense of the world around them is truly different from what I was used to.

The Hamar changed the way that I see the world. Not only when I am with them, but also when I am home in the Netherlands. Color, sheen, texture and patterns all play their role in defining the coat of the cow, but these also translate to the Hamar world outside of the herds.

Now I can see cattle coats in the Dutch skies, in the buildings, in people’s clothes, and in their behaviour.

And I can see and talk about the coat on my cat with Hamar eyes.

One day my cat was gone. I could not find him anywhere, and I decided to put him up as missing. How would I describe him in Italian, my first language, and in English and Dutch? I had to think and translate. When I went to the website for missing cats, I was immediately faced with the Dutch classification of cats' appearance. The Dutch website offered me two descriptions: “white with black” or “black with white”. But I wanted to be more precise in the description. At that moment, my mind went to the Omo Valley of Ethiopia. The Hamar would say that my cat is t'iá labál like the cow in another story: a very dark, black sheen makes him t'iá, but the white on the belly area is labál. To me and the Hamar this would be the perfect description. My cat is t'iá labál. The Hamar language in this case would have been a more efficient communicative tool to describe my lost cat.

This is the powerful function of language. Language connects us as people, and learning new languages widens our view on human experience and on humanity as a whole. Look around you in the coming days, what around you is zargí, bordí, shɔ́ta, labál, t'iá? And look up to the sky, is it shɔ́ta, or guitá?

Go on and read the other stories in this zone. Follow the link below. Oh, and by the way, my cat was found.