Nisa: the Life and Words of a !Kung Women Essay

The Death of Woman Wang, by Jonathan Spence is an educational historical novel of northeastern China during the seventeenth century. The author's focus was to enlighten a reader on the Chinese people, culture, and traditions. Spence's use of the provoking stories of the Chinese county T'an-ch'eng, in the province of Shantung, brings the reader directly into the course of Chinese history. The use of the sources available to Spence, such as the Local History of T'an-ch'eng, the scholar-official Huang Liu-hung's handbook and stories of the writer P'u Sung-Ling convey the reader directly into the lives of poor farmers, their workers and wives. The intriguing structure of The Death of Woman Wang consists on observing these people working on

“Nisa: the life and words of a !kung woman” written by Marjorie Shostak is a book about a woman named nisa of the !kung people. It entails the stories of her struggles and the many horrific tragedies in her life and how it shapes who and how she is. The book Is basically an interview of a fifty year old nisa, it is written in her perspective of what it is like to live in such a society. She suffered quite a few devastating tragedies as aforementioned which included, the death of four of her children, two as infants and two as adults. Even shostak says that none of the !kung women suffered tragedies the way nisa did.

Hunting is very valuable to me, but the value is deeper than just hunting. There are so many aspects of hunting that I love. But I cherish my bow above all of them. Having my bow with me when I’m in the stand or when I’m at my neighbor’s house practicing, gives me a since of dominance. Also brings me pride knowing I’ve worked hard and stayed committed to something I truly love. There are all kinds of animals to hunt and different ways to hunt them. My favorite type of animal to hunt, is the white tail deer. While hunting the allusive deer I like to follow a code of ethics, which a lot of people don’t follow. Even though I would have liked to be given all my hunting needs, I’m proud of myself for going out and getting those needs by myself. Buying my bow and getting into bow hunting, caused me to take responsibility and taught me to stay committed to a true value in my life.

The Hmong were well known for being a self-sufficient people producing their own food, making their own weapons, hunting their own game including birds, monkeys, deer, wild pigs, tigers, and more. They fished, gathered fruit, wild vegetables, and honey. These individuals were farmers and have very intimate relationships with the natural world(pg 120). Foua Yang grew up in a mountainous clan such as this. She had revealed that everyone in her village performed the same tasks therefore causing no class system. “Since no one knew how to read no one felt deprived by the lack of literacy.” They believed that anything of importance that the children needed to know could be learned through spoken word or by example. The elders were essential for teaching the younger generation among many things how to hold sacred their ancestors, play the qeej, conduct a funeral, how to court a lover, how to track a deer, and how to build a

Hunting is something we've done since we've been on this planet. We used to do it out of necessity, but in the modern world we do it for many other reasons. As technology has increased, we have developed different methods of hunting. These methods have carried over to today, but two have prevailed: bowhunting and rifle hunting. These methods are both hunting--obviously--but they're different in almost every other sense. Bowhunting and rifle hunting are different based on the weapon used, the way you hunt, and your connection with the animal and the land around it; however, the same in the way the respective methods bring people together.

According to Statisticbrain, The total number of people over the age of 16 that hunt annually is over 12.6 million. Families used to hunt to feed themselves, and even younger children were taught to hunt to help contribute to their family’s survival. Over the years it has changed but the tradition of hunting together is still passed down from one generation to another. While hunting for meat is no longer a necessity, wild game is still much better for you and healthier than meat bought in a grocery store. Hunting also requires a person to take a class in Hunter Safety before they can legally hunt, where firearm safety and shooting skills are taught. Hunting as a family is a bonding experience where time is spent outside together instead of indoors sitting down watching television or playing video games. There is a saying that goes “Take your kids hunting and you won’t have to hunt for your kids” - kids who are involved with their families more and spend time doing things they enjoy together are much less likely to get in trouble. People who grow up learning how to handle guns safely and respect firearms are much less likely to use one irresponsibly.

In the short essay “Why I Hunt” by Rick Bass, the writer gives the reader his personal perspective of what hunting is like for him. Rick Bass goes on to share the story of his family’s move from the hills of Fort Worth, Texas to the very remote Yaak Valley of Montana. The move to this area makes Bass want to hunt more since there is a better variety of prey, and due to everyone that has lived in what Bass calls “the Yaak”, has hunted their entire lives, he feels obligated to do it more than what he did when he lived in Texas (655). In “Why I Hunt, Bass argues that his love for hunting is an enjoyable hobby that develops his imagination and gets him in touch with nature, and that people should put down technology and try hunting. Bass uses imagery to show the beauty of hunting, and pathos to describe his emotions towards hunting.

3. Modernization has affected the Kung in regards to gender roles and relations in some very interesting ways. I was not surprised to learn that the Kung are a predominantly

Lee begins to assess the day-to-day quality of the !Kung by keeping records of their food sources and water sources. He makes table depicting the !Kung’s movements during dry season to wells of fresh water. He documents how many different groups stay at which well. He tables all the available species of crops and food and comes to the conclusion that out of 75 percent of the listed species of food the !Kung are only using a selected few. One of the most utilized food is Mongongo nut that

Ng’s portrayal of Leila as a school teacher and how difficult it was to connect with the Asian children’s parents is a situation relating back to the separation of education and the home in Asia. Another difficult barrier in education was the role of the student. In Asia the student learns what material is given to them and interaction with the teacher is uncommon. The parent – teacher – student interaction was a brand new idea to Asian families. Adapting to this new system could take generations of work by devoted teachers.

Richard B. Lee’s book, The Dobe Ju/’hoansi, showed multiple differences between the Dobe Ju/’hoansi society and our current American society we live in. The cultural ethnographically book takes place in the Kalahari Desert, located in South Africa, in the 1960s. Lee a Canadian anthropologist, traveled to South Africa to do ethnographic research of modern day foraging societies of San tribes. Foreigners saw the Ju/’hoansi as having a primitive and un-sophisticated culture, but little did they know surviving foragers had much to teach us. The book gave detailed descriptions on San people society’s aspects of life which

I observed a multitude of children for this notebook activity because I felt like it was necessary to observe as many children as possible in order to see what differences there were not only between ages, but also between genders. The first child that I observed was Malachi. We played with a ball and I observed his throwing and catching techniques. He seemed to not be as developed in this area as he was with kicking the ball. Malachi was actually more physically developed in some areas than others. For example, he was riding a two wheel bicycle without any assistance, which is a skill that most children do not develop until the end of their fourth year of life. During

The !Kung bushmen of the Kalahari Desert in Southern Africa are one of the few bands of hunter-gatherers left in the world. They survive by foraging for their meals while traveling, never settling in one specific area. Hunting and gathering was the primary mode of survival until about ten thousand years ago. Anthropologists have made assumptions about the hunting and gathering lifestyle of current populations because it seems like a precarious method of living. Moreover, the Kalahari area where the !Kung live in was perceived to be baron because it is a desert. However, a study done over a period of years beginning in 1960 led by Richard Lee disproved the common misconception of the life of these foragers, proving that they were not

Men and women have different pre-existing gender structure expectations imposed by their country's society. In the Philippines, women are often expected to do the "reproductive labor... [which] includes household chores; the care of elders, adults, and youth; the socialization of children; and the maintenance of social ties in the family (Brenner and Laslett, 1991; Glenn, 1992)" (Parreñas, 29). Men, on the other hand, primarily perform "'nonnurant reproductive labor' (2007: 323) as janitors, food preparation workers, or gardeners, questioning the notion that they do care work" (Parreñas, 50). As stated by Parreñas, women are often expected to do more reproductive labor than men, shaping the gender patterns of migration in the Philippines.

When people continue on hunting, it’s become a tradition for family and friends to create a special bond with one another. While hunting you’re starting to learn the ways of nature, how it’s made and to become one with it. Hunting is one skill that somewhat takes time because while hunting, you’re learning the functioning with one another, the different type