Book
Nisa, the life and words of a !Kung woman
Harvard University Press • Cambridge, Mass. • Published In 1981 • Pages:
By: Shostak, Marjorie.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
Through the eyes of a Dobe area !Kung woman in her 50s, the author paints a portrait of !Kung life cycle and sexuality. The book is nearly all told in the first person, by Nisa (pseudonym), with a short topical summary at the beginning of each chapter. Although the author often questions Nisa's veracity, she always comes to a positive conclusion. This is a valuable source with additional anecdotal material on gathering, ceremony, and healing.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Life history materials
- Sexuality
- Sex training
- Extramarital sex relations
- Menstruation
- Childhood activities
- Family relationships
- Sexual intercourse
- Basis of marriage
- Ingroup antagonisms
- Polygamy
- Regulation of marriage
- 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
- Book
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Ethnologist
- 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
- R. A. Wagner ; 1989
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1969-1971
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1921-1971
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Dobe area, northwest Botswana
- NotesAdditional notes
- Marjorie Shostak
- Guasha is a !Kung camp in the Dobe area, where Nisa lived. Her life story no doubt includes places in the surounding area, as well. Shostak interviewed Nisa when she was around fifty years old, placing her birth around 1921.
- Includes bibliographical references and index
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 81004210
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- San (African people)