The Ik people (sometimes called Teuso although that term is derogatory) are an ethnic group in northeastern Uganda near the border with Kenya. The group is unarmed and habitually peaceful, numbering approximately 13,939 people. They have experienced and been affected by various human rights violations, including forced evictions and/or exclusions from ancestral lands and natural resources, with 70% of the land lost to conservation initiatives, as well as violence and destruction of property, which result in continued impoverishment, social and political exploitation and marginalisation. Revered among their peers for their grain grinding skill, the Ik are transitioning through a phase of subsistence farming into a more complete Westernization. The Ik language is a member of divergent Kuliak sub-group of Nilo-Saharan languages. Community structure The Ik people live in several small villages arranged in clusters comprising their community. Each village is surrounded by an outer wall tand portioned into family/friend "neighborhoods" called , each being surrounded by a wall. Each is sectioned into walled households called , with front-yards for community-based interactions, and, in some cases, granaries. Culture According to Western tests based on the dictator games, Ik individuals are equal in generosity to all other individuals outside their culture. The Mountain People In 1972, anthropologist Colin Turnbull published an ethnography about the Ik, The Mountain People. The research provides an examination of Ik culture/practices based on information he gathered during a 1965–66 study. He depicts the Ik as a people forced into individualism to survive. Although Ik consider non-productive individuals such as the elderly and infirm to be burdens on the society, a few remaining elderly Ik are used as sources for his descriptions of the former Ik society (including hunter-gatherer practices, marriage, childbirth, death rituals/taboos, religious/spiritual beliefs, and other aspects). Although quickly outdated by their rapidly-evolving culture, much of the research focused on the then-current condition of the Ik people during a severe famine during a drought. On the Ik language: Turnbull became very involved with the Ik people, recording his horror at many of the events he witnessed, such as their disregard for familial bonds... leading to the death of children and the elderly by starvation. He writes warmly about certain Ik, and describes his "misguided" efforts to give food and water to those too weak to farm/forage, standing guard over them to prevent others from stealing the food. Turnbull shares these experiences to raise questions concerning basic