Hunter and Habitat in the Central Kalahari Desert

by George B. Silberbauer

Overview

The Central Kalahari Game Reserve in Botswana is a sand desert covered by scrub and thorn forest, dry and bitterly cold in winter and extremely hot in summer before the short wet season. The only kinds of vegetation surviving this climate are short-lived annuals and deciduous species that lie dormant in the dry season. In this inhospitable territory live the hunter-gatherer G/wi bushmen. George Silberbauer has lived and worked among the G/wi for over ten years. In Hunter and Habitat, he analyses the ways in which G/wi society and culture have been shaped by the rugged natural environment. The book provides a thorough analysis of G/wi society, describing their social, political, and economic organization, their living patterns, subsistence technology, and seasonal adaptations. In short, Hunter and Habitat describes and elucidates the foundation of G/wi society: the interrelationships of the bushmen, their sociocultural system, and their habitat.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521281355
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	04/30/1981
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.79(d)

Table of Contents

Preface; Acknowledgements; Note on orthography; 1. Introduction; 2. The habitat; 3. The G/wi universe; 4. Social organization; 5. Utilization of the habitat; 6. Socioecology of the G/wi; Bibliography; Index.