Nisa: The Life and Words of a !Kung Woman / Edition 1

by Marjorie Shostak

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674004320
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	11/14/2000
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.00(d)

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

What People are Saying About This

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

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

Editorial Reviews

[A] scrupulous, sad, exciting book.

New York Times

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

Nisa is a humbling and inspiring book.

Wall Street Journal - Tim Jeal

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

We have a remarkable anthropologist to thank for an absorbing account.

New York Review of Books

Nisa is a humbling and inspiring book.
— Tim Jeal

Wall Street Journal