Publié en 81 par Harvard University, traduit en Français en 83. Ce livre "dit" d'anthropologie se situe entre document, enquête observation et récit. 2 femmes, l'une (auteur) américaine se faisant la complice de l'autre (Nisa) au milieu des siens aux confin du Botswana. En est extrait la quintescence de l'humanité, de la féminité, des idées, pensées, pratiques et usages quotidiens. Excellente approche et introduction à la matière "Anthropologie". Très aisé à lire. Ce n'est pas un roman mais l'histoire et le cadre, le contenu et le propos amènent à beaucoup de sagesse. Oubliez les guides et autres méthodes de développement dits "personnels", ce document laissera bien des traces. S'il n'est exceptionnel, il est à tout le moins simple et brillant. Un livre dont on se souvient pour longtemps et avec solidité entre l'absolu et le relatif, ici et là, des uns et des autres. Aurait sa place dans la collection de référence Terre Humaine (Plon) au côté de M. Mead . du Bon et Beau Travail

(Critique initiale du 4 mai 2017) ( )

Intersting book, kind of depressing. I read it for class

Nisa is an interesting collection of writings. The bulk of the book is made up of stories told to the anthropologist Marjorie from the !Kung lady Nisa. The rest of the book consists of Marjorie's ethnographic observations of the !Kung's people life and beliefs. The book is paced very well, and oftentimes Marjorie's observations prove to be just as interesting as Nisa's life is. The information is presented in a non-biased way and the points in Nisa's life that are exceptional are dutifully explained as such.

I came away from this book having enjoyed it (in spite of how long it took me to finish it.) I feel that the !Kung people did prove to be a very interesting case study - their way of life has been the way the bulk of human's lived for most of our earthly existence. I left the book a bit sad to see the way of life disappearing, especially when it boasts a decent amount of advantages over modern civilization.

So, all in all I would recommend this book to people interested in the anthropological field or the sociological field. ( )

women's lives is nisa telling a story or telling her life? sad change of an ancient way of life. ( )

There should be a movie in this. A comedy actually since the story of an eager ambitious anthropologist who needs to publish to succeed realizes that the best (or only ) person for their study is someone who is next to impossible. Nisa, is the assumed name of the !Kung woman. She is a member of the larger San group of hunter gatherers in the Botswana region. She is not easy to get along with and seems to fight constantly until her later years. She is what they call "spirited" meaning she doesn't go along with the plan. But she also is subjected to a number of tragedies including the loss of her children and brother. It would be a cheap shot to say that sexual foraging seems to be the order of the day and that there are more hookups than Dangerous Liasons but you can't judge another culture based on your own proclivities or norms. This is proven at the end of the book when Marjorie arranges to do a study of the effect of menustration on !Kung women and finds they are not as moody nor irritable as Western women. But that result must be understood within the context of the cultural pressure to be stoic since the women are extraordinarily so regarding childbirth. Nisa goes by herself into the bush. She does not cry. According to this book the !Kung are emotive and very social. The many fistrightst that Nisa is involved in are broken up by neighbors and families. But not only do people have a number of lovers but often the household is conflictual because there is more than one wife, something that Nisa, knows she could never handle. This book gives a window on a culture that was beginning to disappear by the end of the study with the pressure of agricultural communities pressing in, offering not only money but compromising the hunting prospects with their livestock. And then there was beer to drink. The !Kung like most humans enjoy ribald humor and I particularly liked the descriptions of what Nisa would say when someone (usually a husband) had ticked her off. The !Kung have a delightfully direct way of having at you, saying in effect Death to Your Genitals. While they did not have much longevity the San people seem emotionally vibrant and as universally human as you could want. And no one could miss Nisa's rage at God for her suffering. ( )