The Ju/'hoansi Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert

The Ju/'hoansi are bushmen of the Kalahari Desert who live in the area of northwestern Botswana near the border of Namibia. This location is important because the Kalahari and its relative isolation provide an environment that nourishes a significant foraging culture and isolates it from heavy penetration and influence by the outside world. This paper will examine how the Ju/'hoansi Bushmen's lives are influenced by their environment and how it affects their subsistence, political organization, mobility, and shelter.

In contrast to the conceptions of a Western industrialized culture as the pinnacle of human success, the Ju/'hoansi present a picture of steady work, steady leisure, and adequate diet (Lee iv). The traditional Ju/'hoansi need to work only a few hours a day to maintain a caloric level that enables them to live vigorous lives without losing weight. Many of their waking hours are devoted to celebrating their existence through ritual and dance, as well as leisurely and rewarding social interaction.

The Dobe area where the Ju/'hoansi live can be divided into three sections (Lee 12-13). The more northern waterholes are strung out along the !Kangwa Nyae dry river valley that has its source in the Nyae Nyae area of Namibia, transversing an area of limestone and granite known to the Ju/'hoansi as N!umsi. The area has permanent waterholes and a hinterland of gathering and hunting areas. South of the Ahas, a smaller dry river valley, the /Xai/xai Molapo, forms t

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one-piece combination garment-cum-carrying device that also serves as a sleeping blanket (Lee 42). The men make these garments from hides of the female kudu, gemsbok, wildebeest, or eland. It is tied at the waist with a thong, the back part covering the wearer's backside, and the upper half forming a carrying pouch for food, water, firewood, or babies. A variety of leather bags are made from the skins of the steenbok and duiker. Both men and women wear small handbags over the shoulder and under the armpit for keeping tobacco, fire-making kits, sewing materials, and other items (Lee 43). Larger bags are used for carrying foodstuffs. The men make an intricate knotted net which can be lined with grasses and used to carry nuts and berries (Lee 44). A carrying yoke is made from a rough wooden branch to carry full bags, nets, bundles of meat, and haunches of freshly killed game. Because mobility is so much a part of Ju/'hoansi life, and because of the nature of their diet, carrying devices are essential. Over 100 species of wild plants are considered edible by the Ju/'hoansi (Lee 45-46). Complex criteria are applied to arrange these plants into a hierarchy of classes and desirability. These include abundance, duration of e

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