shostak

I believe she is a feminist ethnographer and her past depicts it too. Feminist ethnography is a very broad term and does not necessarily have a label to it. It is purely power dynamics and inequities; their struggle as women and their struggle being a mother. For example, we see the birth process that Nisa had to go through in this book. Shostak spent her time photographing, audiotaping music, and studying women’s artistic productions such as beadwork way before she ever travelled to do fieldwork on the !Kung people. She was also where she was a supporter of the women’s equal rights movement. I believe that Nisa had made her into a real female ethnographer as Nisa changed her life and was particularly special to Shostak. The majority of the book is speaking about females and her interview with women as she probably believes that she can connect and conduct an interview with a female much easier than she can with a man. She stood out in Shostak’s eyes for her highly articulate stories, her emphatic methods of storytelling, and her profound and often tragic life experiences. She takes into account all genders, and even speaks about them in the text, however she pays particular attention to women by honing on women’s statuses, for ex: Nisa. I woud says she presents her ethnography as a range of methods, as she interviews 15+ females and asks about their life history.