essay
The !Kung Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert
Peoples of Africa • New York • Published In 1965 • Pages: 243-278
By: Marshall, Lorna.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This summary article on the !Kung San was written by a cultural anthropologist especially for this volume. The authenticity of her descriptions derives from a decade of field research experience among the San. Due to its recency and comprehensiveness the reader should examine this source prior to consulting other specific material in the San file. The author's theoretical outlook is ecological -- using data on San environmental adaptations, resource potentials of their habitats, population-settlement sizes and distributions in order to develop some functional generalizations about the relations between San subsistence economy and the nature of the sociopolitical institutions, implying that the level of productivity sets limits to the sociocultural forms that arise. Stress is put on the significance of kinship reciprocity and its relations to food gathering and seasonal movements, extensive regional kinship bonds, and the egalitarian political structure. Her ethnographic description is excellent, especially her notations on the religious-ritual complex, life cycle and socialization, the kinship basis of headmanship and group leadership, and material culture and technology. Also found are brief interpretations of San historical origins and affinities, the kinship correlates of the naming relationship in uniting the bands, the family cycle, and the effects of acculturation. The introductory comments on pages 241-242 were written by the editor, James L. Gibbs, Jr.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Culture summary
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- San
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2005
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Africa
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Southern Africa
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- essay
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Cultural Anthropologist
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Gilbert Winer ; 1967
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1951-1961
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1951-1961
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Nyae Nyae region, Namibia and Botswana
- NotesAdditional notes
- Lorna Marshall
- The footnotes at the end of the article are on pages 273-275. The footnotes have been indexed for the categories to which they specifically pertain.
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 276-278)
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 65010276
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- San (African people)