Synopses & Reviews
This classic paperback is available once again and exclusively from Harvard University Press.
This book is the story of the life of Nisa, a member of the !Kung tribe of hunter-gatherers from southern Africa's Kalahari desert. Told in her own words earthy, emotional, vivid to Marjorie Shostak, a Harvard anthropologist who succeeded, with Nisa's collaboration, in breaking through the immense barriers of language and culture, the story is a fascinating view of a remarkable woman.
Review
"We have a remarkable anthropologist to thank for an absorbing account." New York Review of Books
Review
"[A] scrupulous, sad, exciting book." New York Times
Review
"Both Nisa and Shostak are unusual people, and their collaboration has resulted in an unparalleled account of !Kung life from a personal rather than social or ecological perspective. Even more important, their work results in a revelation of the universality of women's experiences and feelings despite vast differences in culture and society. Nisa helps us know what it means to be !Kung, to be a woman, and finally, to be human." Choice
Review
"When I reread Nisa, as I have done regularly in teaching over the years, I experience its originality, poignancy, and excitement afresh each time. Few books that were so influential in changing the look and feel of ethnography for entire generations of anthropologists have held up so well. It is a classic, with currency and continuing possibility." George Marcus, Professor of Anthropology, Rice University
About the Author
Marjorie Shostak was a Research Associate in the Department of Anthropology at Emory University and an award-winning photographer.
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- 1. Earliest Memories
- 2. Family Life
- 3. Life in the Bush
- 4. Discovering Sex
- 5. Trial Marriages
- 6. Marriage
- 7. Wives and Co-Wives
- 8. First Birth
- 9. Motherhood and Loss
- 10. Change
- 11. Women and Men
- 12. Taking Lovers
- 13. A Healing Ritual
- 14. Further Losses
- 15. Growing Older
- Epilogue
- Notes
- Glossary
- Acknowledgments
- Index