Object Details
- Orthography Note
- Ju/'hoansi are the speakers of the Ju/'hoan language. Various cultural descriptors used over the years include !Kung which is a language group containing three dialect groups, one of which is the Ju/'hoansi; San, which is now regarded by the Ju/'hoansi to have negative connotations; and Bushman, which ironically (given the derogatory history of this term) is now preferred by the Ju/'hoansi as a term of dignity. (Orthography information provided by Dr. Polly Wiessner, University of Utah anthropologist and longtime field worker among and researcher of the Ju/'hoansi.) The orthography of the Ju/'hoan language has changed many times, though an official orthography was agreed upon and accepted by the Namibian government in 1991. The finding aid, cataloging records, and shot logs for the Marshall collection at Human Studies Film Archives continue to use the orthography used by the Marshall family beginning in 1950. These spellings are usually anglicized versions of the official orthography. For example, the name ≠Oma was usually rendered by the Marshalls as Toma; the place name /Aotcha as /Gautcha or Gautscha. The majority of the footage was shot in a region of Namibia (formerly South West Africa) known as Nyae Nyae. In the 1960's, a portion of the Nyae Nyae area was officially established as a homeland for Ju/'hoansi by the South West African administration. This area, once called Eastern Bushmanland, is now known as Eastern Otjozondjupa, however it is still referred to as Nyae Nyae by Ju/'hoansi and others. The Nyae Nyae Conservancy, which encompasses a large portion of Eastern Otjozondjupa, was established in 1996.
- Filmography
- JU/'HOAN BUSHMAN FILM SERIES 1952 -- First Film [also known as !Kung Bushmen of the Kalahari] (by Lorna Marshall) 1957 -- The Hunters 1959 -- A Curing Ceremony 1961 -- A Group Of Women 1962 -- A Joking Relationship 1966 -- !Kung Bushmen Hunting Equipment (directed by Lorna Marshall) 1969 -- N/um Tchai: The Ceremonial Dance of the !Kung Bushmen 1969 -- An Argument About A Marriage 1970 -- The Lion Game 1970 -- The Melon Tossing Game 1971 -- Bitter Melons 1972 -- Debe's Tantrum 1972 -- Men Bathing 1972 -- Playing With Scorpions 1972 -- A Rite of Passage 1972 -- The Wasp Nest 1974 -- Baobab Play 1974 -- Children Throw Toy Assegais 1974 -- The Meat Fight 1974 -- Tug-Of-War 1980 -- N!ai, the Story of a !Kung Woman 1985 -- Pull Ourselves Up Or Die Out 1990 -- To Hold Our Ground: A Field Report 1991 -- Peabody Museum !Kung San Exhibit Video 2002 -- A Kalahari Family In addition to Marshall's many published films on the Ju/'hoansi, he was also involved in a variety of other film projects. He shot and co-directed Titicut Follies, a film by Fredrick Wiseman. Working in association with the Lemburg Center for Violence Studies at Brandeis University, he shot and directed a series of short films about a police squad in Pittsburgh, PA, known as the Pittsburgh Police series. He also shot and directed If It Fits, a film about the failing shoe industry in Haverhill, MA. Marshall was also the subject of two television programs: Bushmen of the Kalahari, a National Geographic special which aired in the United States, and a Japanese program called Forty Years in the Kalahari, part of the television series, Our Wonderful World. All of these, as well as Marshall's Ju/'hoan films, are included in this filmography. PITTSBURGH POLICE SERIES 1970 -- Inside/Outside Station 9 1971 -- Three Domestics 1971 -- Vagrant Woman 1972 -- 901/904 1972 -- Investigation of a Hit and Run 1973 -- After the Game 1973 -- The 4th, 5th, & Exclusionary Rule 1973 -- A Forty Dollar Misunderstanding 1973 -- Henry Is Drunk 1973 -- The Informant 1973 -- A Legal Discussion of a Hit and Run 1973 -- Manifold Controversy 1973 -- Nothing Hurt But My Pride 1973 -- Two Brothers 1973 -- $21 or 21 Days 1973 -- Wrong Kid 1973 -- You Wasn't Loitering OTHER FILMS 1967 -- Titicut Follies (Co-Director, Cinematographer; film by Fredrick Wiseman) 1972 -- Ghana Drumming (uncompleted; collaboration with Nicholas England) 1974 -- Bushmen of the Kalahari (by Wolper Productions for National Geographic) 1975 -- Vermont Kids (series of short films; released in 2007) 1976 -- Festival of American Folklife (uncompleted; shot for Smithsonian Institution) 1978 -- If It Fits 1988 -- Our Wonderful World: Forty Years in the Kalahari (by Nippon A-V Productions)
- Collaborator
- McElwee, Ross
- Blitz, Daniel
- Bishop, John Melville
- Baker, Peter
- Ritchie, Claire
- Young, Robert
- Terry, John
- Galvin, Frank
- Bestall, Clifford
- Gardner, Robert
- Asch, Timothy, 1932-1994
- Creator
- Marshall, John, 1932-2005
- Collaborator
- Marshall, Lorna
- Place
- Namibia
- Topic
- Anthropology
- Provenance
- The John Marshall Ju/'hoan Bushman Film and Video Collection was received over several years of accessioning from different parties.
- Collaborator
- McElwee, Ross
- Blitz, Daniel
- Bishop, John Melville
- Baker, Peter
- Ritchie, Claire
- Young, Robert
- Terry, John
- Galvin, Frank
- Bestall, Clifford
- Gardner, Robert
- Asch, Timothy, 1932-1994
- Creator
- Marshall, John, 1932-2005
- Collaborator
- Marshall, Lorna
- Culture
- San (African people)
- Bushman
- See more items in
- John Marshall Ju/'hoan Bushman film and video collection
- Sponsor
- Finding aid has been funded through generous support from the Arcadia Fund.
- Summary
- The John Marshall Ju/'hoan Bushman Film and Video Collection contains full film and video projects (outtake material), film production elements and edited films and videos, audio tapes, still photographs, negatives, transparencies, slides, published and unpublished writing by John Marshall and others, study guides for edited films, Nyae Nyae Development Foundation and Advocacy files, maps, and production files that include letters, shot logs, translations, transcriptions, editing logs, treatments, and proposals spanning from 1950-2000. This material comprises Marshall's long-term documentary record of the Ju/'hoansi of the Nyae Nyae region of the Kalahari Desert in northeastern Namibia. A great deal of the film and video footage focuses on one particular extended family, that of Toma Tsamko, whose ancestral home is at /Gautcha, an area with a large salt pan and a permanent waterhole. The life stories of some family members are captured in the footage; appearing as children in the 1950's, middle-aged parents in the 1980's, and pensioners in the final years of visual documentation. The Marshall Collection also documents other Ju/'hoansi living in Nyae Nyae and elsewhere, their relationships with neighboring ethnic groups, and national politics that affected Ju/'hoansi. Marshall also documented the local political body (the Nyae Nyae Farmers' Cooperative, or NNFC), the foundation he started (the Nyae Nyae Development Foundation of Namibia, or NNDFN), and the ways in which both groups worked with and were affected by international development organizations and foreign aid during the 1990's.
- Biographical / Historical
- John Marshall, filmmaker and activist, was born on November 12, 1932 in Boston, Massachusetts. He grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts and on his family's farm in Peterborough, New Hampshire. Marshall first picked up a camera in 1950, at the age of 18, during the first of several expeditions to the Kalahari organized by his father, Laurence Marshall, the founding president of the Raytheon Corporation. The whole Marshall family - including John's mother, Lorna, and sister, Elizabeth Marshall Thomas - became engaged in a multi-disciplinary study of the Ju/'hoansi. Marshall's father assigned him the task of making a documentary film record of Ju/'hoan life and culture. Between 1950 and 1958, he shot over 300,000 feet of 16mm film (157 hours). Marshall formed a close bond with many of his Ju/'hoan subjects, particularly with Toma "Stumpy" Tsamko, leader of the /Gautcha band. Amongst Ju/'hoansi, Marshall was known as Toma Xhosi, Toma "Longface". Probably because of this close relationship, he was forced to leave South West Africa in 1958 after his visa expired, and was not allowed back for twenty years. During the 1960's and 1970's, Marshall became well-established as a cinema vérité filmmaker. After leaving the Film Study Center at Harvard, which he had co-directed with Robert Gardner, he worked briefly with Robert Drew and D.A. Pennebaker, and later collaborated with Fredrick Wiseman on Titicut Follies (1967). He forged friendships with leading documentary and ethnographic filmmakers, including Timothy Asch, Ricky Leacock, and Jean Rouch. Throughout these years, Marshall continued to work with his extensive footage of Ju/'hoansi. He completed 15 short films, as well as the award-winning Bitter Melons. In 1968, Marshall partnered with Tim Asch to found Documentary Educational Resources (DER), to distribute and support the creation of ethnographic and educational film. In 1978 Marshall was allowed to return to Nyae Nyae to shoot N!ai, the Story of a !Kung Woman. Finding his Ju/'hoan friends beset by illness, poverty, and growing social ills, John turned his attentions to development and advocacy work. Virtually abandoning his filmmaking career, Marshall started a foundation to assist Ju/'hoansi and spent most of the 1980's helping them establish water access, subsistence farming, and a local government. He began using film as an advocacy tool, and released several urgent, issuefocused videos to raise awareness of the Ju/'hoan struggle for self-determination. Marshall continued his documentary record of Ju/'hoansi, directing his final shoot in 2000. A Kalahari Family (2002), his epic six-hour series, tells the story of the Ju/'hoansi from 1950-2000 and charts Marshall 's evolution from filmmaker to activist. He made his final visit to Nyae Nyae in 2004, and continued his advocacy work right up to his final days. John Marshall died due to complications from lung cancer on April 22, 2005. John Marshall Chronology 1932 -- Born in Boston, Massachusetts 1950-1958 -- Marshall Family expeditions to study the Ju/'hoansi of Nyae Nyae 1957 -- Awarded B.A. in Anthropology from Harvard University The Hunters released 1958-1960 -- Associate Director (with Robert Gardner) of the Film Study Center, Peabody Museum, Harvard University 1960 -- Awarded G.S.A.S. in Anthropology from Yale University 1960-1963 -- Director, Bushmen Film Unit, Harvard University 1962 -- Sha//ge Curing Ceremony (early version of A Curing Ceremony), A Group of Women and Joking Relationship screened at Flaherty Seminar 1964-1965 -- Cameraman for NBC covering civil war in Cyprus 1966 -- Awarded M.A. in Anthropology from Harvard University 1967 -- Cameraman and Co-Director of Fredrick Wiseman's Titicut Follies 1968 -- Founded Documentary Educational Resources (DER) with Timothy Asch (first known as CDA, Center for Documentary Anthropology) 1968-1969 -- Cameraman and Director of film shoots for the Pittsburgh Police series, produced through the Center for Violence Studies at Brandeis University 1970-1974 -- Edited and released numerous short films, from both Ju/'hoan (!Kung) and Pittsburgh Police series 1972 -- Collaborated with Nicholas England (musicologist) on a film project documenting a family of drummers in Ghana (this film was never completed) 1972-1973 -- Travel to Botswana to film National Geographic's Bushmen of the Kalahari, produced by Wolper Productions 1974 -- If It Fits, documentary on failing shoe industry in Haverhill, MA, released 1976 -- Director and cameraman of film shoots for Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife 1978 -- Film shoot in Nyae Nyae for N!ai, The Story of a !Kung Woman 1980 -- N!ai, The Story of a !Kung Woman released and broadcast on PBS as partof the Odyssey series 1980-1982 -- Conducted genealogical survey in Nyae Nyae with Claire Ritchie 1982 -- Founded the Ju/wa Cattle Fund (later known as the Nyae Nyae Development Foundation of Namibia) 1985 -- Pull Ourselves Up or Die Out, Marshall's first "field report" edited on video, released 1989 -- Returns to Boston after Namibian independence 1991 -- To Hold Our Ground, another "field report" is aired on Namibian television shortly before a national Land Rights Conference 1993 -- The Cinema of John Marshall published 1995 -- Awarded Honorary M.F.A. from Rhode Island School of Design 2000 -- Final video shoot in Nyae Nyae 2002 -- A Kalahari Family premieres at the Margaret Mead Film Festival in New York City; released for general distribution in 2003 2004 -- Makes final visit to Nyae Nyae; presents proposal for water point protections 2005 -- Dies in Boston, Massachusetts
- Extent
- 2 Boxes (map drawers)
- 3 Video recordings (published videos or video series)
- 99 Linear feet (714,405 feet (332 hours) 16mm film, 435 hours video tape, 309 hours audio tape, 21 published film and video titles, 29 unpublished film and video titles, 14 linear feet paper records)
- Date
- 1950-2000
- Custodial History
- The John Marshall Ju/'hoan Bushman Film and Video Collection, 1950-2000 is comprised of several individual accessions. In 1983 John Marshall deposited the film and audio created from 1950-1978. Prior to that time, the materials were held in various locales in the Boston, MA area where Marshall lived and worked. In 2005, 2008 and 2009, Cynthia Close, Executive Director of Documentary Educational Resources (DER), deposited the audiovisual materials, paper records, and photographs created from 1981-2000, as well as published and unpublished films and videos. These materials had been held in DER's offices and in a storage warehouse near Boston, MA. In 2008, maps and additional paper records were deposited by Marshall's wife, Dr. Alexandra Eliot Marshall. These materials had been kept at her home near Boston, MA. The older maps had been stored in the attic since 1992; prior to that they had been in Lorna Marshall's home in Cambridge, MA. Some newer maps had been located in Marshall's home in Peterborough, NH. In 2009, Mrs. Marshall also deposited master video elements for A Kalahari Family; these had been stored at DER's offices.
- Archival Repository
- Human Studies Film Archives
- Identifier
- HSFA.1983.11
- Type
- Collection descriptions
- Archival materials
- Video recordings
- Documentary films
- Citation
- The John Marshall Ju/'hoan Bushman Film and Video Collection, 1950-2000, Human Studies Film Archives, Smithsonian Institution.
- Arrangement
- This collection is arranged in 13 series: (1) Unedited Film and Video Projects, 1950-1978, 1981-2003; (2) Published Films and Videos, 1952-2002; (3) Unpublished Films and Videos, 1959-1962, circa 1965; (4) Audio, 1950s, 1978-1990; (5) Field Notes, Shot Logs, Translations, 1951-2000; (6) Production Files, 1952-2004; (7) Correspondence, 1968-2003 [bulk 1993-2000]; (8) Nyae Nyae Development Foundation & Advocacy Files, 1975-2003 [bulk 1984-2003]; (9) Published and Unpublished Writing, 1957-1958, 1980-1999, 2007; (10) Study Guides, 1974, 1982; (11) Writings by Others & Press, 1952-1953, 1965-2005; (12) Photographs, 1930s, 1946-2003; (13) Maps, 1872, 1879, 1914, 1933-1989.
- Processing Information
- The film and video projects were kept in their original, numbered order, which in most cases is the original shooting order. Likewise, original field audio recordings have been organized in chronological order by sound roll number. Published and unpublished films and videos have been organized alphabetically. The titles for published films and videos are written in all caps. "Known as" titles for unpublished works are written in title case. Assigned titles are placed within square brackets. The paper records in this collection were received partially organized; they have now been arranged in several series and subseries. Original folder titles were generally retained, with assigned titles placed within square brackets. For details on the processing of the 83.11 accession, see John Bishop's processing report and his article, Hot Footage/Cold Storage. There are also processing reports for the 2005.11, 2008.8, 2008.9, and 2008.10 accessions. Thanks to Mark White and Pamela Wintle for guidance in processing this collection, and to Daisy Njoku and Lorain Wang for assistance in crafting this guide. Processed by Karma Foley, April 2009. Encoded by Rihoko Ueno, December 2011. Revisions encoded by Jan Danek, October, 2017.
- Rights
- Contact the repository for terms of use. Information on reproduction and fees available from repository.
- Publications about Marshall's Work
- Anderson, Carolyn and Thomas Benson 1991 Tödliche Mythen, Die sichtbare und die unsichtbare Realität, -- The Hunters -- , Ein Interview von C. Anderson und T. Benson. In R. Kapfer, W. Petermann, and R. Thoms (Eds.), -- Jäger und Gejagdte: John Marshall und Seine Filme -- , pp. 9-50, 103-117, 118-122, 135-164. München: Trickster Verlag. 1993 -- Put Down the Camera and Pick Up the Shovel: An Interview with John Marshall. -- In Jay Ruby (Ed.), -- The Cinema of John Marshall -- , pp 135-168. Philadelphia: Harwood Academic Publishers. Asch, Patsy 2007 From Bushmen to Ju/'Hoansi: A Personal Reflection on the Early Films of John Marshall. In Beate Engelbrecht (Ed.), -- Memories of the Origins of Ethnographic Film -- , pp. 71-85. Frankfurt: Peter Lang. Asch, Timothy and Patsy Asch 1987 Images that Represent Ideas: The use of Films on the !Kung to TeachAnthropology. In Megan Biesele (Ed.), -- The Past and Future of !KungEthnography: Critical Reflections and Symbolic Perspectives -- . Hamburg:Helmut Buske Verlag. Biesele, Megan 1993 The Future of the Bushmen's Past: Developing People and Pictures. In Jay Ruby (Ed.), -- The Cinema of John Marshall -- , pp. 205-212. Philadelphia:Harwood Academic Publishers. Bishop, John 1993 Hot Footage/Cold Storage: The Marshall Ju/'hoan Bushman Archive. In Jay Ruby (Ed.), -- The Cinema of John Marshall -- , pp. 213-230. Philadelphia:Harwood Academic Publishers. 2008 Life by Myth: The Development of Ethnographic Filming in the World of John Marshall. In Beate Engelbrecht (Ed.), -- Memories of the Origins of Ethnographic Film -- , pp. 87-94. Frankfurt: Peter Lang. Cabezas, Sue Marshall 1993 Filmography of the Works of John Marshall. In Jay Ruby (Ed.), -- The Cinema of John Marshall -- , pp. 231-268. Philadelphia: Harwood Academic Publishers. Dickens, Patrick 1994 -- English-Ju|'hoan / Ju|'hoan-English Dictionary -- . Köln: Rüdiger Köppe. Draper, Patricia 1974 Review of -- !Kung Bushman Film Series -- by John Marshall. -- American Anthropologist, 76 -- (3), pp. 689-691. Durington, Matthew 2004 Review Essay: John Marshall's Kalahari Family. -- American Anthropologist, 106 -- (3), pp. 589-594. Gonzalez, Nancy 1993 An argument about a film. In Jay Ruby (Ed.), -- The Cinema of John Marshall -- , pp. 179-194. Philadelphia: Harwood Academic Publishers. Gordon, Robert 2003 Introduction: Essays on -- A Kalahari Family. Visual Anthropology Review, 19 -- (1,2), pp. 102-113. Homiak, John 2003 -- A Kalahari Family -- : Some Thoughts on Reflexivity, Voice and Social Location. -- Visual Anthropology Review, 19 -- (1, 2), pp. 128-134. Homiak, John and Keyan Tomaselli 1999 Structured Absences: Shot Logs on the Marshall Family Expeditionary Films,1950-1958. -- Visual Anthropology 12 -- , pp. 289-338. Lomax, Alan 1972 Review of -- Bitter Melons. American Anthropologist, 74 -- , 1018-20. Ritchie, Claire 1993 Death by Myth: Ethnographic Film and the Development Struggle. In JayRuby (Ed.), -- The Cinema of John Marshall -- , pp. 195-204. Philadelphia: Harwood Academic Publishers. Shankar, Guha 2003 The Kalahari Family: John Marshall's Films and the Promise of PartialEthnography. -- Visual Anthropology Review, 19 -- (1,2), pp. 135-140. Sylvain, Renee 2003 Between Rock Art and a Hard Place: Development and Display in theKalahari. -- Visual Anthropology Review, 19 -- (1,2), pp. 141-148. Speeter-Blaudszun, Sonja 2004 -- Die Expeditionen der Familie Marshall: Eine Untersuchung zur ethnographischen Erforschung der Nyae Nyae !Kung. -- Münster: Lit Verlag. Tomaselli, Keyan 2004 John Marshall's Kalahari Family. -- American Anthropologist, 106 -- (3), pp. 589-594. Tomaselli, Keyan and John Homiak 1999 Powering Popular Conceptions: The !Kung in the Marshall Family ExpeditionFilms of the 1950s. -- Visual Anthropology, 12 -- , pp. 153-184. Wiessner, Polly 2003 Owners of the Future? Calories, Cash, Casualties and Self-Sufficiency in theNyae Nyae Area between 1996 and 2003. -- Visual Anthropology Review, 19 -- (1,2), pp. 149-159. Wilmsen, Edwin 1991 Die Dokumentation war ein Vermächtnis: John Marshalls San-Filme inhistorischer Perspektive. In R. Kapfer, W. Petermann, and R. Thoms (Eds.), -- Jäger und Gejagdte: John Marshall und Seine Filme -- , pp. 80-102. München:Trickster Verlag. 1999 Knowledge as the Source of Progress: The Marshall Family Testament to the"Bushmen". -- Visual Anthropology 12 -- , pp. 213-265. 2003 A Kalahari Family Named Marshall: "I want a record, not a movie". -- VisualAnthropology Review, 19 -- (1,2), pp. 114-127.
- Marshall Family Publications
- Marshall, Lorna 1976 -- The !Kung of Nyae Nyae -- . Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 1999 -- Nyae Nyae !Kung Beliefs and Rites -- . Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Thomas, Elizabeth Marshall 1959 -- The Harmless People -- . New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 2006 -- The Old Way -- . New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
- Selected Bibliography
- Marshall, John 1957 Ecology of the Kung Bushmen of the Kalahari. Senior Honors Thesis,Anthropology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. 1958 Man as a hunter: huntsmen of Nyae Nyae. -- Natural History, 67 -- , 291-309, 376-395. 1984 Death Blow to the Bushmen. -- Cultural Survival Quarterly, 8 -- (3), 13-16. 1985a Plight of the Bushmen. -- Leadership S.A., 4 -- (1), 36-48. 1985b Review of the Report: -- Survey of the Bushmen Population in S.W.A. -- , by Francois Marais et. al. Windhoek, Namibia: Ju/'hoan Bushman Development Foundation. 1988 Bushmanland: Lives in the Balance (letter). -- African Wildlife -- , 42(6), 357. 1989 The Constitution and Communal Lands in Namibia, Land Rights and LocalGovernments: The Ju/wa Case. Windhoek, Namibia: Nyae Nyae DevelopmentFoundation. 1991 Local Development or Poverty and Debt? The Future of Communal Lands inNamibia. Windhoek, Namibia: Nyae Nyae Development Foundation ofNamibia. 1993 Filming and learning. In Jay Ruby (Ed.), -- The Cinema of John Marshall -- , pp. 1-134. Philadelphia: Harwood Academic Publishers Marshall, John, Timothy Asch and Peter Spier 1973 Ethnographic film: structure and function. -- Annual Review of Anthropology, 2 -- ,179-187. Marshall, John and Emilie de Brigard 1975 Idea and Event in Urban Film. In Paul Hockings (Ed.), -- Principles of VisualAnthropology -- , pp. 133-145. The Hague, Paris: Mouton Publishers. Marshall, John and Charles Hartung 1986 Ju/Wa Bushman Rural Development Project. Report submitted by the Ju/'hoanBushman Development Foundation to the Government of Namibia. Marshall, John and O. Levinson 1984 A People in Jeopardy. -- Windhoek Observer -- , Dec. 14. Marshall, John and Claire Ritchie 1982 Husbandry in Eastern Bushmanland. Development Plan Submitted to theGovernment of Namibia. 1984 -- Where Are the Ju/Wasi of Nyae Nyae? Changes in a Bushman Society: 1958-1981 -- . Cape Town: University of Cape Town African Studies Program. 1989 Ju/Wa Concepts of Property and Land Ownership. Windhoek, Namibia:Ju/'hoan Bushman Development Foundation. Marshall, John, Claire Ritchie, and J.R. Gordon 1984 Open letter on the Ju/'hoansi of Bushmanland. -- Cultural Survival Quarterly8 -- (1), 84.
- Genre/Form
- Documentary films
- Scope and Contents
- The John Marshall Ju/'hoan Bushman Film and Video Collection contains full film and video projects (outtake material), film production elements and edited films and videos, audio tapes, still photographs, negatives, transparencies, slides, published and unpublished writing by John Marshall and others, study guides for edited films, Nyae Nyae Development Foundation and Advocacy files, maps, and production files that include letters, shot logs, translations, transcriptions, editing logs, treatments, and proposals spanning from 1950-2000. This material comprises Marshall's long-term documentary record of the Ju/'hoansi of the Nyae Nyae region of the Kalahari Desert in northeastern Namibia. A great deal of the film and video footage focuses on one particular extended family, that of Toma Tsamko, whose ancestral home is at /Gautcha, an area with a large salt pan and a permanent waterhole. The life stories of some family members are captured in the footage; appearing as children in the 1950's, middle-aged parents in the 1980's, and pensioners in the final years of visual documentation. Beginning in 1978, Marshall often conducted lengthy and in depth interviews with many family members, in which they reflect on past, present, and future, and often comment on specific film footage from earlier years which was shown to them during the interviews. The collection is not limited to the /Gautcha family, however; it also documents other Ju/'hoansi living in Nyae Nyae and elsewhere, their relationships with neighboring ethnic groups, and national politics that affected Ju/'hoansi. Marshall also documented the local political body (the Nyae Nyae Farmers' Cooperative, or NNFC), the foundation he started (the Nyae Nyae Development Foundation of Namibia, or NNDFN), and the ways in which both groups worked with and were affected by international development organizations and foreign aid during the 1990's. The collection also documents changes to the landscape and wildlife of the Nyae Nyae region.
- Restrictions
- The John Marshall Ju/'hoan Bushman Film and Video Collection is open for research. Please contact the Archives for availabilty of access copies of audio visual recordings. Original audiovisual material in the Human Studies Film Archives may not be played. Materials relating to Series 6 Production Files are restricted and not available for research until 2048, 2063, 2072. Kinship diagrams in Series 13 are restricted due to privacy concerns. Various copyrights and restrictions on commercial use apply to the reproduction or publication of film, video, audio, photographs, and maps.
- Record ID
- ebl-1644605100161-1644605103316-0
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