Nisa: The Life and Words of a !Kung Woman

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:	9780674256712
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	11/14/2000
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	384
File size:	5 MB

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
1	Earliest Memories	41
2	Family Life	59
3	Life in the Bush	73
4	Discovering Sex	95
5	Trial Marriages	115
6	Marriage	133
7	Wives and Co-Wives	151
8	First Birth	159
9	Motherhood and Loss	181
10	Change	193
11	Women and Men	213
12	Taking Lovers	237
13	A Healing Ritual	259
14	Further Losses	273
15	Growing Older	287
	Epilogue	309
	Notes	333
	Glossary	345
	Acknowledgments	353
	Index	357

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.

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