Affluence without abundance
Subtitle: the disappearing world of the bushmen
By: James Suzman
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Published: 2017
Language: eng
Number of pages: 297
ISBN-13: 9781632865724
Subjects: San (African people); History
Description: "A vibrant portrait of the "original affluent society"--the Bushmen of southern Africa--by the anthropologist who has spent much of the last twenty-five years documenting their encounter with modernity. If the success of a civilization is measured by its endurance over time, then the Bushmen of the Kalahari are by far the most successful in human history. A hunting and gathering people who made a good living by working only as much as needed to exist in harmony with their hostile desert environment, the Bushmen have lived in southern Africa since the evolution of our species nearly two hundred thousand years ago. In Affluence Without Abundance, anthropologist James Suzman vividly brings to life a proud and private people, introducing unforgettable members of their tribe, and telling the story of the collision between the modern global economy and the oldest hunting and gathering society on earth. In rendering an intimate picture of a people coping with radical change, it asks profound questions about how we now think about matters such as work, wealth, equality, contentment, and even time. Not since Elizabeth Marshall Thomas's The Harmless People in 1959 has anyone provided a more intimate or insightful account of the Bushmen or of what we might learn about ourselves from our shared history as hunter-gatherers."--Jacket flap.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 261-282) and index.
Table of contents: title: Part one: Old times; title: The rewards of hard work; title: The mother hill; title: A beachside brawl; title: The settlers; title: Living in the moment; title: Tsumkwe Road; title: Part two: The provident environment; title: the hollow tree; title: Strong food; title: An elephant hunt; title: Pinnacle Point; title: A gift from God; title: Hunting and empathy; title: Insulting the meat; title: Part three: New times; title: When lions become dangerous; title: Fear and farming; title: Cattle country; title: Crazy gods; title: The promised land.