essay
Ju/'hoan women's tracking knowledge and its contribution to their husbands' hunting success
African study monographs. ary issue • (26) • Published In 2001 • Pages: 67-84
By: Biesele, Megan, Barclay, Steve.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
1995 fieldwork in the Nyae Nyae area of northeastern Namibia identified a substantial contribution to their husbands' hunting success by Ju/'hoan women. This contribution came from a more active use of tracking knowledge than previously reported in anthropological literature on San and other hunter-gatherers. A mixed-gender team composed an an experienced hunter/tracker (Barclay) and an anthropologist /Ju/'hoan translator (Biesele) recorded in detail 1) the events of several collaborative hunting trips with Ju/'hoan husband-wife teams and 2) interview information about the kind and frequency of such collaboration. This team also recorded linguistic and technical details of hunting paraphernalia and techniques hitherto unelaborated in the literature, focusing on snares used by both men and women.… The current paper presents the 1995 finding in the context of relevant information on gender and hunting from other societies. It invites colleagues to share ideas and information on this topic. In particular, it poses the question: does the current observed frequency of spousal cooperation in hunting in Nyae Nyae reflect very recent circumstances, or 2) does it, as some Ju/'hoan statements suggest, have substantial time-depth? The conclusion reached is that 1) and 2) are not necessarily opposing propositions, and that further investigation is needed (p. 67).
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Theoretical orientation in research and its results
- Hunting and trapping
- Weapons
- Gender roles and issues
- 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 TypesThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Ethnologist
- Hunter
- Tracker
- 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
- John Beierle ; 2003
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1971-1995
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1971-1995
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Ju/'hoan people, Nyae Nyae area, northeastern Namibia
- NotesAdditional notes
- Megan Biesele, Steve Barclay
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 81-84)
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 83644713
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- San (African people)