"A Paleolithic Woman in the Twentieth Century"-Answering Questions

“A Paleolithic Woman in the Twentieth Century”

Nisa's account is useful in learning about the culture of women in early Paleolithic people. Her account shows evidence of her family being the gatherer-hunter society that was prominent in Paleolithic times: “We lived in the bush and my father set traps and killed steenbok and duiker and gemsbok and we lived, eating the animals and foods of the bush. We collected food, ground it in a mortar, and ate it” (Strayer 48). She shows an awareness of a wider world in calling other people that she may interact with “stingy” but addresses that her whole life has been lived “in the bush.” In calling others stingy, this addresses that Nisa understands a family outside of her own in the bush, as well as her interactions with her other lovers.

Nisa's account indicates that San attitudes toward sex are liberal but somewhat structured. Since she is expected to have sex with her husband, there is some evidence of cultural expectations on a wife, but in taking a lover, the society shows its leniency towards sex as a pleasurable act, and not just one for married people: “But sitting with just one man? We don't do that. Does one man have enough thoughts of you?” (49). These attitudes are much less strict than those in contemporary society; there is an expected behavior one must assume with each lover, and in marriage one is expected never to take lovers whom are not the spouse. Even in relationships, we are expected to only have sex with our designated partner, not lingering outward or searching for others to appease our sexual desires.

Nisa sees God as an all-knowing, all-powerful being whose idea of humanity is unimportant compared to His greatness. When her husband passes away, she becomes upset with God, labeling him as stingy as the people her family does not interact with: “God is stingy! He just takes [people] from you. God's heart is truly far from people” (49). Her view on healing rituals seems to be somewhat to attempt to spite God or let God know that humans are capable of having their own will without His help. When she practices n/um, the San healing ritual, she says that it “is powerful, but it is also very tricky. Sometimes it helps and sometimes it doesn't because God doesn't always want a sick person to get better” (50). I think the independence from religion Nisa demonstrates due to her own personal experiences is something less orthodox in San culture, but interesting nonetheless.

Nisa's overall assessment of San culture is likely slightly romanticized but on the whole, sounds realistic. Since she does not know any other life, it is impossible for her to compare her lifestyle with an industrialized lifestyle. The details of her life become gritty at times, such as the death of her husband, and in these passages, she admits the difficulty of her life and the problems with the life she has been given: “The death of your parents, husband, or children—they are equal in the amount of pain you feel when you lose them” (49). However, the more romanticized parts come from Nisa's love of simplicity, how life is set in a certain order and does not become complicated or complex and messy: “Here I am, long since an adult, yet even now, if a person doesn't give something to me, I won't give anything to that person” (48). It seems that Nisa is truly happy to live a San life, and would not trade it for anything else.