Bushman: a member of a group of short-statured peoples of southern Africa who traditionally live by hunting and foraging. While the term ?bushman? has come to be known as both racist and sexist, it is easily the most recognized term when describing the people living amongst the bush of southern Africa. The San, as they are now known as, are a cluster of indigenous peoples of southern Africa who speak a click language and who have a tradition of living by hunting and gathering (10). In the book The Dobe Ju/?hoansi, Richard B. Lee, an anthropologist from the University of Toronto, takes an interesting and in-depth look into the San life by centering his studies on one specific group. Lee?s focus of study takes place on the border between the countries of Namibia and Botswana in an area called the Dobe. Here there live a tribe of people known as the Dobe Ju/?hoansi.

Lee centers on several important issues of the Ju/?hoansi culture and lifestyle throughout the book. He provides a tremendous amount of information that is broken into twelve chapters that continually draws deeper into the internal thinking of th

The Dobe Ju/?hoansi are a hunting and gathering group of people, which is thought to be how early man lived. Therefore, it is easy to see why Lee acknowledges the importance of studying the Ju/?hoansi while they are still relatively isolated. Here we are able to view a culture that retains our early ancestral pattern. As recently as 1964, 85% of their calories were the result of hunting and gathering (156). That number has since decreased due to the increased Westernization. The most interesting feature of the Ju/?hoansi foraging is the relatively little amount of work needed to feed a village. As Lee observed on a trip to a mongongo tree, that within a two-hour period, a woman gathered 30-50 lbs. of nuts enabling a person to eat for ten days (40).

e Ju/?hoansi culture. The method of bringing out this information is delivered first externally with their environment and examples of hunting techniques while moving into deeper issues such as sexuality and religion. Lee also informs the reader on the Ju/?hoansi?s kinship, social organization, marriage, as well as conflict, their politics, and social change.

The Ju/?hoansi today are very different from the life lived in the 1960s. The Ju/?hoansi have been in more contact with modernization. Whereas in 1964 hunting and gathering made up 85% of the food calories, now only 30% of the calories come from it. The rest is found in milk and meat from domestic stock, store-bought, or governmental mealie meal (156). There has also been a rise in their cholesterol, high blood pressure, and heart disease. These were uncommon ailments before, but diets of carbohydrates, heavier smoking, alcohol consumption, and changes in lifestyle are the reasoning behind this. Finally, the education level of the Ju/?hoansi is very low. The large majority has little or no schooling and job prospects are low. Poverty remains high with little prospect of change.

The sexuality of the Ju/?hoansi is also very inte

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Approximate Word count = 1323
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)