Nisa: The Life and Words of a !Kung Woman

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Summary: Educational & Entertaining (Mentions of Experimental Sex)
Review: My anthropology professor at Western Michigan University assigned this book. Of the books she assigned, this is the only one I read cover to cover. Nisa sounds like a formidable, admirable woman, one I'd like to meet and to hear speak. She's got wonderful tales to tell. If you're into women's studies, anthropology, or just enjoy things like educational television about various cultures around this magnificent world of ours, you will enjoy this book. If, however, you don't enjoy reading about sexual progression and/or experimentation in primitive cultures, this book may be a bit much for you.

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Summary: A window into another world, culture, and lifestyle
Review: NISA was an incredible book. Anyone who wants to learn about another way of life, FROM A WOMEN'S POINT OF VIEW, will enjoy this. Nisa talks about marriage, life, death, love, pain, etc... Truly remarkable

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Summary: Nisa is a great account of a life in a nonwestern culture!
Review: Nisa! This book is a perfect book to invest in and read if you are interested in a constructive perspective of any kind of ethnography...... I highly recomment reading this book with the constant reminder of how you live your own life...

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Summary: This is a fascinating account of women of another culture
Review: The author's method of giving an anthropologist's perspective on a particular topic followed by Nisa's stories relating to the same topic was a wonderful balance of the scientific and the personal. I enjoyed this book immensely and it made me think deeply of how different are culture is from our roots as hunter-gatherers.

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Summary: One woman's life, all women's lives
Review: The story of Nisa is the story of a !Kung woman in Africa. Her life is told in her own words, with Shostak writing to elaborate on !Kung life and social customs. The !Kung people are hunter-gatherers, seemingly far removed from modern American culture. Through reading this book though, one can see and understand that humans live similarly and have the many of the same problems, no matter which culture they live in. Women have the same problems and triumphs as well, transcending country and culture and technology. This book, in teaching you about the !Kung people, helps teach you more about yourself

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Summary: Nisa: The Life and Words of a !Kung Woman
Review: There are many angles by which to praise this classic. It has a voice for feminist, postmodernist, etc. I think it also has a great lesson in writing ethnography. This book was very helpful in my writing my recent book/ethnography, "Native Americans in the Carolina Borderlands: A Critical Ethnography, Carolinas Press, 2000). The author does a superb job of blending ethnographic descriptions and interpretations with oral history. Yes, Nisa is allowed for most of the book to talk in her own voice! Yet, with the ethnographic articulations of the author, the reader gains a more complex portrait of Nisa's people. A must read for ethnographers, novice and experienced, as well as undergraduate students in Anthropology and qualitative methods.

Rating:
Summary: Great Example of Ethnography/Oral History
Review: There are many angles by which to praise this classic. It has a voice for feminist, postmodernist, etc. I think it also has a great lesson in writing ethnography. This book was very helpful in my writing my recent book/ethnography, "Native Americans in the Carolina Borderlands: A Critical Ethnography, Carolinas Press, 2000). The author does a superb job of blending ethnographic descriptions and interpretations with oral history. Yes, Nisa is allowed for most of the book to talk in her own voice! Yet, with the ethnographic articulations of the author, the reader gains a more complex portrait of Nisa's people. A must read for ethnographers, novice and experienced, as well as undergraduate students in Anthropology and qualitative methods.

Rating:
Summary: enjoyable reading
Review: This book is a very enjoyable reading but the reader should be warned not put too much trust in Nisa's words. This is not hard science. Nisa might have had an agenda of her own. She might have been careful enough to tell Shostak only what she wanted to hear. Shostak, after all, have been paying her for those interviews, and if Nisa hadn't fulfilled her expectations then she would have been fired. Don't we all tell our bosses what they want to hear? The author admits she interviewed many other women but somehow she didn't like what she heard and decided to drop them. Maybe Nisa was the only one who was smart enough to manipulate Shostak into continuing to employ her by twisting her stories to make them sound spicier.
It is quite unfortunate that the reader can only guess what were the exact questions asked by the author. My guess is that the story was heavily manipulated by those questions. The excessive sexual content of the stories may be nothing more than reaction to Shostak's blunt questions about sex. In the Epilog of the book Shoskak admits that her reputation among the !Kung was that of a woman who only cares to talk about sex.
It is quite unfortunate that the book focuses too much on the sexual experiences of !Kung and doesn't reveal much about their psychology. Even their sexual life is described rather superficially. We learn nothing about the courtship process among those people. The reader may get the impression that a !Kung woman will have sex with anyone who brings her meat.
One cannot blame Nisa if she exaggerated in her stories. She did it for food. It was up to Shostak's to find a way to collect as much accurate information as possible. Unfortunately, I was left with the impression that she lacked the necessary skills and experience for the job.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed reading the book. It has its own charm. I hope my criticism will not prevent anyone from reading it because it has a lot to offer. The reader can still learn a great deal about the life of the !Kung and maybe something about the way our ancestors lived. This book is highly recommended for all who are interested in human evolution and psychology.

Rating:
Summary: enjoyable reading
Review: This book is a very enjoyable reading but the reader should be warned not put too much trust in Nisa�s words. This is not hard science. Nisa might have had an agenda of her own. She might have been careful enough to tell Shostak only what she wanted to hear. Shostak, after all, have been paying her for those interviews, and if Nisa hadn�t fulfilled her expectations then she would have been fired. Don�t we all tell our bosses what they want to hear? The author admits she interviewed many other women but somehow she didn�t like what she heard and decided to drop them. Maybe Nisa was the only one who was smart enough to manipulate Shostak into continuing to employ her by twisting her stories to make them sound spicier.
It is quite unfortunate that the reader can only guess what were the exact questions asked by the author. My guess is that the story was heavily manipulated by those questions. The excessive sexual content of the stories may be nothing more than reaction to Shostak�s blunt questions about sex. In the Epilog of the book Shoskak admits that her reputation among the !Kung was that of a woman who only cares to talk about sex.
It is quite unfortunate that the book focuses too much on the sexual experiences of !Kung and doesn�t reveal much about their psychology. Even their sexual life is described rather superficially. We learn nothing about the courtship process among those people. The reader may get the impression that a !Kung woman will have sex with anyone who brings her meat.
One cannot blame Nisa if she exaggerated in her stories. She did it for food. It was up to Shostak�s to find a way to collect as much accurate information as possible. Unfortunately, I was left with the impression that she lacked the necessary skills and experience for the job.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed reading the book. It has its own charm. I hope my criticism will not prevent anyone from reading it because it has a lot to offer. The reader can still learn a great deal about the life of the !Kung and maybe something about the way our ancestors lived. This book is highly recommended for all who are interested in human evolution and psychology.

Rating:
Summary: An Addictive Pageturner
Review: This book kept me interested from the beginning, as it outlined not only the story of Nisa, an unusual !Kung woman, but the cultural differences between the author and her surroundings. Additionally, each chapter of Nisa's life is prefaced with objective anthropological findings of typical !Kung behavior. The enthralling story of one woman is juxtapositioned with its historical and sociological context. I recommend this book for people who like trying to get a full picture of other cultures.