Demography of the Dobe! Kung

First published in 1979, this is a classic study of the population of the Bushmen of the Kalahari Deselt of Botswana. Using methods that are simple and fully illustrated, the author presents empirical descriptions of the fertility, mortality, and marriage patterns of the famous !Kung hunter-gatherers.

Nancy Howell is Professor of Sociology, Department of Sociology, University of Toronto.

Preface and Acknowledgments

xi

An Overview of the Population Study of a Hunting and Gathering People

The !Kung as an ``Ethnographic Analogy'': Problems of Valid Generalization

3

(3)

The Dobe Area

6

(3)

The Duration of the !Kung Adaptation: Refugees or Aborigines?

9

(7)

The Status of the !Kung in the 1960s

16

(1)

The Definition of the Population of the Dobe Area !Kung

17

(7)

Age Estimation and Age Structure

Demographic Techniques of Assessment and Correction of Age Estimates

24

(17)

Age Structure of the Population

41

(7)

Causes of Sickness and Death

Sanitary Conditions and Customs That Affect Mortality

48

(3)

Social Costs of Morbidity and Mortality

51

(3)

Occupational Hazards of the Hunting and Gathering Way of Life

54

(5)

Interpersonal Violence, Homicide, and Suicide

59

(3)

Infectious and Communicable Diseases

62

(4)

Degenerative Disease

66

(2)

Causes of Death in Comparative Perspective

68

(5)

The Measurement of Mortality

The Conceptual Framework of Life-Table Analysis

73

(2)

Model Life Tables

75

(5)

!Kung Mortality

80

(20)

Simulating Mortality

The Universe of !Kung-like Populations

100

(1)

Simulating !Kung-like Populations

101

(3)

Life-Table Indicators of Mortality

104

(10)

AMBUSH Perspectives on Assessment of the !Kung Mortality Data

114

(8)

An Overview of !Kung Women's Fertility: Completed Reproductive Careers

The Measurement of Fertility

122

(1)

Production of Live Births

123

(5)

Entrance into the Childbearing Population: Age at First Birth

128

(5)

Birth Intervals and Their Evidence for Fertility Limitation

133

(2)

Causes of Low Parity

135

(3)

Fertility Performance, 1963--1973

Age Patterns of Current Fertility

138

(7)

Numbers of Children Born Per Woman

145

(1)

The Length of Birth Intervals

146

(5)

Summary of Fertility Performance, 1963--1973

151

(2)

!Kung Fertility Performance in Comparative Perspective

Comparison Populations

153

(3)

Parity Progression Ratios

156

(2)

Age-Specific Marital Fertility Rates and Patterns

158

(2)

Declining Fertility with Age

160

(2)

Duration of the Reproductive Span and the Length of Birth Intervals

162

(3)

The !Kung and the Hutterites: Accounting for the Differences

165

(2)

Primary and Secondary Sterility: Normal and Pathological Causes

Primary Sterility

167

(14)

Secondary Sterility

181

(4)

The Costs of Veneral Disease to the !Kung

185

(5)

Fatness and Fertility

Frisch's Critical Fatness Hypothesis

190

(2)

Application to the !Kung

192

(18)

The Status of the Critical Fatness Hypothesis

210

(3)

Population Size, Growth Rates, and the Age Distribution: Simulations of Fertility and Mortality

Population Growth in the !Kung Population

213

(3)

AMBUSH Simulations of Population Size and Growth

216

(7)

Assessing Errors in Age Estimation

223

(2)

Inadequacies of This Simple Simulation

225

(3)

Marriage and Remarriage Among the !Kung

Prohibited Spouses

228

(1)

Preferential Criteria for Selection of Spouses, and the ``Marriage Market''

229

(2)

Marital and Non-Marital Sexual Behavior

231

(1)

Legitimacy and Custody of Children

232

(1)

Marital Status of Adults in 1968

233

(14)

The ``Two-Sex Problem'' in Marriage

247

(1)

Marriage Success Rates for Men and Women

248

(4)

Sources of Recent Change in Marriage

252

(1)

Fertility Performance of !Kung Men

Growth and Development of !Kung Men

253

(5)

Age at First Marriage

258

(3)

Men's Age-Specific Fertility Rates

261

(4)

Men's Fertility by Age and Age of Wife

265

(2)

Differential Success

267

(2)

Men's Parity Distributions

269

(4)

Population Growth as Measured Through the Male Generation

273

(5)

The Simulation of Fertility Within Marriage

The AMBUSH Method for Generating Marriage

278

(3)

The AMBUSH Method for Generating Births for Marriages

281

(5)

Viability of the Stimulated Populations

286

(1)

Age Distribution

286

(2)

Marital Status in the Simulated Populations

288

(3)

Fertility Performance in the Stimulated Populations

291

(8)

Parity of Newborns and Generational Growth

299

(4)

A Review and Overview of the Simulations

303

(3)

Social Structural Implications of Demographic Parameters: Kinship Ties and Kinship Groups

The Cultural Definitions of Kinship

306

(1)

Variability in Kin Ties

307

(15)

The Total Inventory of Kin

322

(2)

Households and Kinship Groups

324

(4)

Number of Simultaneously Living Generations

328

(1)

Kinship Relations as Resources

329

(1)

The Early Social Prominence of Women

329

(1)

Kinship and Demography: Review and Overview

330

(4)

Genetic Implications of !Kung Demography

The Demographic Facts of !Kung Women's Lives

334

(4)

Demographic Facts of Genetic Transmission: Men's Rates

338

(2)

The Opportunity for Natural Selection

340

(6)

Microevolution on the Allelic Level

346

(2)

The Distribution of Number of Allelic Copies Transmitted per Parent

348

(2)

Changes in the Allelic Proportions per Generation: Microevolution

350

(5)

Population Size, Isolation, and Random Drift

355

(3)

Implications of !Kung Demography for Genetic Transmission: Review and Overview

358

(4)

History and Future of the Dobe !Kung Population

Return to Dobe

362

(9)

Population Trends: 1968---2000

371

(1)

Dobe in the 1970s

372

(3)

Dobe in the 1980s

375

(1)

Dobe in the 1990s

376

(1)

Summary of Trends in Population Parameters over Time

377

(6)

References

383

(14)

Index

397

What is included with this book?

The New copy of this book will include any supplemental materials advertised. Please check the title of the book to determine if it should include any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

FREE SHIPPING

Amazon no longer offers textbook rentals. We do!

Demography of the Dobe! Kung

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials