Pull Ourselves Up or Die Out
This video, shot between 1980-1984, was an outgrowth of research conducted by John Marshall and Claire Ritchie during those years. Intended to raise awareness about issues facing Ju/'hoansi, Pull Ourselves Up or Die Out explores: problems and issues...
Men Bathing
In Nyae Nyae, water often remains in open pans. Sometimes if the rains have been heavy, water stays in these pans, like small lakes, all year. In this film five Ju/'hoan men visit Nama pan. /Ti!kay washes the clothes he acquired on his trip to rescu...
The !Kung San: Traditional Life
This video depicts traditional Ju/'hoan life by using vignettes from longer films in the !Kung San series. Footage selected shows tool-making technology, hunting and gathering, social life and children at play, and gives the viewer a feel for the va...
N/um Tchai: The Ceremonial Dance of the !Kung Bushmen
Tchai is the word used by Ju/'hoansi to describe getting together to dance and sing; n/um can be translated as medicine, or supernatural potency. In the 1950's, when this film was shot, Ju/'hoansi gathered for "medicine dances" often, usually at nig...
The Lion Game
/Gunda, a young man (who later marries N!ai), pretends to be a lion. He is "hunted" and "killed" by a group of boys.
Playing with Scorpions
Children tempt fate, playing with scorpions.
N!owa T'ama: The Melon Tossing Game
Women from three separate Ju/'hoan bands have gathered at a mangetti grove at !O to play an intense game in which under-tones of social and personal tensions become apparent. The game itself is simple: women form a semi-circle which moves counter-cl...
The Meat Fight
In this film, an argument arises between two bands when an antelope killed by a hunter from one band is found and distributed by a man from another band. The film illustrates conflict mediation in traditional Ju/'hoan society and the Ju/'hoan leader...
!Kung San: Resettlement
In comparison to !Kung San: Traditional Life, this video shows some of the dramatic changes in life-style that Ju/'hoansi had experienced by 1986. No longer able to rely on hunting and gathering for subsistence, Ju/'hoansi collect mealie meal welfar...
The Hunters
This re-release of an early classic in anthropological film follows the hunt of a giraffe by four men over a five-day period. The film was shot in 1952-53 on the third joint Smithsonian-Harvard Peabody sponsored Marshall family expedition to Africa ...