The Dobe Juhoansi
Lee, Richard B., 1993, The Dobe Ju/ ?hoansi. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, (second edition). Bushman: a member of a group of short-statured peoples of southern Africa who traditionally live by hunting and foraging. While the term ?bushman? has come to be known as both racist and sexist, it is easily the most recognized term when describing the people living amongst the bush of southern Africa. The San, as they are now known as, are a cluster of indigenous peoples of southern Africa who speak a click language and who have a tradition of living by hunting and gathering (10). In the book The Dobe Ju/?hoansi, Richard B. Lee, an anthropologist from the University of Toronto, takes an interesting and in-depth look into the San life by centering his studies on one specific group. Lee?s focus of study takes place on the border between the countries of Namibia and Botswana in an area called the Dobe. Here there live a tribe of people known as the Dobe Ju/?hoansi. Lee centers on several important issues of the Ju/?hoansi culture and lifestyle throughout the book. He provides a tremendous amount of information that is broken into twelve chapters that continually draws deeper into the internal thinking of th
He proceeds to ?set-up? the reader with an outline of the Dobe Ju/?hoansi people as well as describing the scene to the reader as if they were a part of the anthropological case study themselves. Sexual play is also considered just another part of childhood. Instead, Lee allows the Ju/?hoansi to speak for themselves through their own stories and experiences. The method of Lee?s book is done very well, in my opinion. Once contact has been established, Lee delves into covering basic background information such as the environment that they live in including climate, physical features, and settlement patterns. The large majority has little or no schooling and job prospects are low. This includes oral and anal sex, bondage, and sado-masochistic practices. The most interesting part, in my opinion, was the limited number of personal names. There has also been a rise in their cholesterol, high blood pressure, and heart disease. Lee suceeds where others have failed in that he is able to take a difficult and complex topic (social organization of kin) and create an easier way to understand it. Most commonly, this area is considered dull, difficult, and confusing. Poverty remains high with little prospect of change. Parents and children sleep in the same bed, under the same blanket and sex is performed discreetly as the child sleeps. As Lee observed on a trip to a mongongo tree, that within a two-hour period, a woman gathered 30-50 lbs.
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