The !Kung San: Men Women and Work in a Foraging Society (Volume 0)

About this book

For most of human history hunting and gathering was a universal way of life. Richard Borshay Lee spent over three years conducting fieldwork among the !Kung San an isolated population of 1 000 in northern Botswana. When Lee began his work in 19863 the !Kung San were one of the last of the worlds people to live this life. By 1973 when Lee last lived with the group it appeared that they !Kung were a society on the threshold of a transformation that signalled the end of foraging as an independent way of life at least in Africa. The !Kung San: Men Women and Work in a Foraging Society an ecological and historical study is Professor Lees major statement on his research. By maintaining simultaneous historical and synchronic perspectives Lee is able to extend his analysis of core features from the contemporary !Kung to prehistoric societies. These basic principles become the means to understanding the form of human life that has been obscured by the developments and complications of societies during the last few thousand years.