The environment that the Ju/’hoansi live in can vary greatly depending on the particular area as well as time of year. There are four main categories of habitats distinguished by the Ju (Lee, pg.24). The first are dunes which are home to the Ju’s primary food, the mongongo tree. The second habitat are known as flats which are made up of a very dense light colored sand which are also home to many fruit species. Melapo is the third habitat which consists of compacted grey and light soils. Hardpan is the last habitat recognized by the Ju. This is sand and mud spread amongst stretches of rock. They also recognize five seasons ranging from the very dry to the very wet, as well as times of warmer and colder weather, and times of death and re-growth of many plant species (Lee, p

The Ju/’hoansi practice two modes of living arrangements, groups of hunting and gathering, and living among the Black cattle posts as laborers (called client groups) who are reimbursed through food provided by the Blacks (Lee, pg. 62). The client groups consisted of about 30% of the Ju population with 1-44 individuals. The hunting and gathering camps made up the remaining 70% of the Ju population with a range of 4 to 34 individuals at the time of 1968 (Lee, pg. 63). An example of demography from the main camp at the Dobe area waterhole in 1964 had 9 elders (5 males and 4 females), 15 average adults (8 male and 7 females) and 4 children (2 males and 2 females). This shows that the Ju have a very evenly stratified society not giving preference to a child of either sex, reaffirming the egalitarian status of their society.

Domestic socialization is learned by the young in the camp at a very early age. Young boys are taught how to hunt with such things as hunting dogs (Lee, pg.51) and can also be seen learning through their play with make-shift bow and arrows. Young girls will often learn from their mothers which flora is acceptable to be eaten and which are viewed as undesirable. Another aspect of domestic socialization is in the area of sexual behavior. Young children sleep under the same blanket as their parents and it is when the parents believe that the child is sleeping that they will engage in sexual intercourse (Lee, pg. 90). This behavior that the children observe from their parents is carried over to their play and interactions among other children and is considered very normal with most boys and girls having experienced sexual intercourse by about the age of 15 (Lee, pg. 91). Formalized education is not a traditional way of the Ju life but is something that is grudgingly being accepted as mandatory if the Ju are to have any hope of retaining the land they live and depend on. This is because many J are realizing that they will need to be able to read and understand many laws and politics that surround them so they don’t get left behind when economic progress marches through (Lee, pg.159).

As far as domestic division of labor, stratification can be seen between the work done between people of different age groups and of each sex. The older people in a village do what they can to help with such tasks as gathering easily accessible plants and watching children. The able-bodied adults do the majority of labor required to keep the camp operating. The women do some “domestic” work such as looking after the children, cleaning up around the camp, and gathering firewood but are not limited to this type of work: their mobility is not too constrained because women are also vital in gathering many plants for the rest of the camp. This is a very important task since the occurrence of meat is so rare. The hunting is done for the most part by men, however this does not yield as much of the overall food consumed by the camp as does that gathered by women.

Some topics in this essay:
Economy Ju/’hoansi’s, Nanda Warms, Dobe Ju/’hoansi, Superstructure Ju/’hoansi, Dance Lee, Richard Lee, Mating Ju/’hoansi, Political Economy, Blacks Lee, Mode Reproduction, lee pg, hunting gathering, lee pg 50, pg 50, extended family, pg 115, ju believe, desirable foods, name call, economic progress, lee pg 115, lee pg 73, hunting gathering camps, government botswana, myths ju believe,