1.
Through
Nisa’s personal account, one is able to get an idea of how gather-hunters might
have lived in the Paleolithic era. She speaks of egalitarian gender roles, hardships, and her spiritual beliefs. Although modern day society is much more advanced, it seems
as though some things have not changed. Like Nisa’s society, most of our
society too believes in the power of God, couples have affairs that lead to
conflict, gender roles exist, and the emotional aspects of love and loss are
equivalent to how one would feel today.
2.
Nisa describes her attitude towards sex
in a liberal and casual way through speaking about her multiple husbands and
affairs. One can relate these actions to our modern day “hook ups” where sex is
a casual pleasure. In relation, our modern day philosophy about affairs is very
much like Nisa’s where affairs are perceived in a negative way however, many
people, even those who are married, still partake in this action. She had
mentioned that many have killed others because of affairs. In modern day
society, we constantly hear of cases where people kill over affairs. On the
contrary, some couples might both be having affairs while both accepting that
they are like Nisa did and many other couples do today. In addition, the concept
of re-marrying is accepted in Nisa’s society as well as accepted by many in ours.
Though, like Nisa’s first marriage one can be completely in love and decide to
stay loyal to their significant other. In both societies, a marriage can go in
many different directions.
3.
Nisa
seems to believe that God is an all ruling all-powerful God that can control
life situations. Through the many tragedies and heartbreaks Nisa had to
withstand, she begins to question Gods motives and believes she is being targeted.
To Nisa, curing rituals are sacred and honored. She enthusiastically describes her
experiences. Through the way the healing rituals are described, it seems as
though a drug, equivalent to our modern day hallucinogens, is used in order to
awaken the senses and have a new understanding of oneself and their
environment.
4.
From
my perspective, Nisa’s overall assessment of San life is short and somewhat
vague to a modern day busy urban resident. Although Nisa’s account seems to be
mostly critical, it is realistic. Nisa describes tragedy where the death of
soulmate and children took a great toll on her. Here, we see an example of a
life without modern day medicines. In addition, through modern technology, urbanization
and diversity modern day society has become more entertaining with a multitude
of options to choose from. While in Nisa’s Paleolithic- like society it seems
that most entertainment comes from tragedy, sex and spiritual healing rituals,
similar to what we see in our modern day soap operas.
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