Nisa: The Life and Words of a !Kung Woman by Shostak, Majorie - 1983

New York: Vintage Books - A Division of Random House, 1983. 402 Pages Indexed. January 1983 Edition. Originally published by Harvard University Press in 1981. A used book with no marks or stamps and interior text pages are tight and white. Illustrated with black and white photographs throughout. Nisa, a member of the !Kung tribe of hunters-and-gatherers from southern Africa's Kalahari desert, now in her fifties, would be considered a remarkable woman in any culture: as a small child she saved her newborn brother from infanticide; first married at the age of twelve to a man she did not want, she was separated, divorced, remarried, widowed. She bore four children, none of who survived. Dependent on no one, she foraged for food in one of the world's most hostile environments. This book is the story of her life, as told in her own words, earthy, emotional, vivid, as told to Marjorie Shostak, a Harvard anthropologist who succeeded, with Nisa's collaboration, in breaking through the immense barriers of language and culture. 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. Contents in 15 Chapters: Earliest Memories, Family Life, Life in the Bush, Discovering Sex, Trial Marriages, Marriage, Wives and Co-Wives, First Birth, Motherhood and Loss, Change, Women and Men, Taking Lovers, A Healing Ritual, Further Losses, and Growing Older. Plus Epilogue, Notes., and Glossary. . First Vintage Books Edition. Trade Paperback. Very Good. 5" x 8".