One of the best features of the 1980 film comedy “The Gods Must Be Crazy” was the way Xi, the Ju/’hoansi hero, was valued for his ability as a tracker. Tracking skills continue to be important in that society. According to an interesting news story last week, three Ju/’hoan trackers… Continue reading…
Sporadic failures of rainfall in Namibia used to prompt coping measures by the Ju/’hoansi that helped foster their peacefulness, though the situation is different today due to the current drought. Reports indicate that it is the worst drought to hit the region in at least 30 years. In a normally… Continue reading…
The N≠a Jaqna Conservancy of the !Kung community, located in Tsumkwe West, has been invaded by Oshiwambo farmers from northern Namibia who are bringing their cattle into the conservancy lands. The N≠a Jaqna Conservancy is on the western border of the Nyae Nyae Conservancy in northeastern Namibia. The former is… Continue reading…
The disputes after a 2009 invasion of the Ju/’hoansi Nyae Nyae Conservancy by 32 neighboring Herero farmers may have finally been resolved in a Namibian court. Judge Nate Ndauendapo has ordered the national government to pay the 32 farmers from the Gam area, to the south of the Conservancy, damages… Continue reading…
Richard B. Lee, one of the foremost scholars of Ju/’hoansi studies, published a brief autobiographical account last spring that included some interesting tidbits about the Ju/’hoansi. Best of all, his description of his research work in the Kalahari, his professional achievements, his publications, and his interactions with the Ju/’hoansi themselves… Continue reading…
The news report from Tsumkwe last week was stark. Two men, one 25 and the other 29, argued over a woman, both claiming her. Both were under the influence of alcohol. The younger man pulled out a poisoned arrow, fit it to the bow he was carrying, and shot the… Continue reading…
A series of news articles over the past month about the Ju/’hoansi of Namibia provide some interesting new information about the desert dwellers. Richard Lee, an anthropologist who has studied the Ju/’hoansi extensively, wrote an article picked up by the news aggregating serve allafrica.com about an initiative to foster the… Continue reading…
The President of Namibia attended the funeral last week for the !Kung San leader John Arnold, his wife, and his grandson, and he paid tribute to Mr. Arnold’s character and leadership. The three died as a result of a tragic highway accident in early July. Mr. Arnold, who was the… Continue reading…
The Ju/’hoansi are a good example of a peaceful society that has problems with neighbors, but the ones in Namibia have legal ways of dealing with invaders who settle on their lands. A news story last week in the Namibian paper the New Era, written from the point of view… Continue reading…
Deutsche Welle, the prominent German international broadcaster, carried a news story about the economy of the Ju/’hoansi on Saturday that provided a fairly hopeful perspective on the prospects for their Nyae Nyae Conservancy in northeastern Namibia. The reporters described, in an English language report, several different ways the people are… Continue reading…
