Affluence without abundance : the disappearing world of the bushmen / James Suzman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Suzman, James, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

San (African people).

South Africa--History.

South Africa.

History.

Anthropologists--South Africa.

San (African people.).

Local Subjects:

Anthropologists--South Africa.

San (African people.).

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xii, 297 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Bloomsbury USA, 2017.

Summary:

"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.

Contents:

Part one: Old times

The rewards of hard work

The mother hill

A beachside brawl

The settlers

Living in the moment

Tsumkwe Road

Part two: The provident environment

the hollow tree

Strong food

An elephant hunt

Pinnacle Point

A gift from God

Hunting and empathy

Insulting the meat

Part three: New times

When lions become dangerous

Fear and farming

Cattle country

Crazy gods

The promised land.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 261-282) and index.

ISBN:

9781632865724

1632865726

OCLC:

960238836