A Kalahari Family

After watching all five volumes of John Marshall's "A Kalahari Family", I can honestly say I don't know where to begin with my reactions. Watching a community and culture change, grow, and basically diminish over fifty years was heartbreaking. With that change came the development of Marshall as an anthropologist and a filmmaker.

I suppose my first reactions should be towards the primitive hunting and gathering culture the Ju/'hoansi carried out through the 1950's. The fact that they were the last hunter/gatherer culture left in Southern Africa was fascinating, implying that they were able to function that way without outside assistance for thousands of years. I thought about America in the 1950's and how suburbanization was booming. People strived for their white picket fence, their car, central heating, and their kitchens with every shiny new appliance for all their cooking needs. Meanwhile, there were still people living peacefully in Africa by gathering for nuts and berries, and occasionally hunting for wild meat. After doing some research, I found that the Ju/'hoansi were one of the most peaceful societies. They lived in harmony with each other and their natural environment. My personal favorite footage was of the giraffe hunt. It felt incredibly raw and exhilarating to see an animal that we as children are taught to find cute and innocent to be killed for people's mere survival.

I found it incredibly unfortunate that while the intervening of white government power in South Africa brought them rations and cattle, their meddling set off a domino effect of dependency and depreciation of their lands and people. Their territory was diminished, and their need for water was pressed as they began competing with local wildlife. If this way of life was functioning and sustaining for thousands of years, would it still have existed if the white man had no involvement? It seemed that once the government started taking control of the Nyae Nyae, things went from good to worse and stayed that way for the duration of Marshall's involvement.

John Marshall's development as a filmmaker and anthropologist, as well as activist, was apparent in the films. His style went from somewhat observational to nearly entirely participant observationist over the course of 50 years as his relationships with the locals developed and he became more engaged with the political climate of the Kalahari Desert. It's interesting to note that the government of South Africa was able to locate the Ju/'hoansi tribes because of the Marshall family's automobile path. Before that, they were nearly impossible to locate. Also, the foundation that John started to ensure positive growth in the Ju/'hoansi tribe was being taken advantage of and corrupted by other white outsiders. It calls into question the role John played in the lives of these people. What were his goals? Did he do more harm than good? What were the differences between his intentions and the outcomes? And does he represent the same colonialist attitude that the other whites imposed on this culture that was doing just fine without it? In the fourth volume, it was just insane to see the DTA standing up against Marshall's involvement, creating a very self-reflexive moment that puts into question the entire film and how opinions from another region of the conflict come into play.

However, over the course of the 50 years, it was incredible to see the transition of so many elements: The age of every integral character in the story, including Marshall. The advancements in film technology and image. The changes in culture and behavior. The impact of the white South Africans on the Nyae Nyae region. The leadership skills built among those in the new generation. And lastly, Marshall's involvement in the tribe's struggle as an activist filmmaker.

I think this film helped me understand the level of commitment a person can foster for a group of people once they spend enough time and energy with them. Understanding and humanizing a group of people that most people in middle-class White culture would label as archaic and uncivilized, his mission became to ensure their survival. His position behind the camera slowly drifted to in front of the camera as he aged. Nearly everything regarding Marshall as both an activist and a visual anthropologist. In his early films, it was clear he was limited by a tripod and lack of effective sound equipment. He is relatively disconnected and a bit far from his subjects, demonstrating a lack of knowledge and comfort. Later on, he starts involving himself in the interviews, the film stock became sharper, and the camera work is becoming more fluid and participant. He is understanding and growing, and what he captures and how he captures is proof of this. By the end, Marshall has laerned how to grab emotion in the final moments. He is a total participant and arguble manipulator. His interaction with the Ju/'hoansi from the 50's is what allowed the government and imminent take over of the region to occur. His establishment of a co-operative to ensure the growth of gardens was failing at the hands of incompetent leaders.

By the end, I started questioning the entire field of anthropology. What good are we really doing to society? Are ego's so inflated that we bestow our presence among communities that otherwise go unnoticed or marginalized, with a sense of duty? Or perhaps to make ourselves feel good? When do we draw the line between study and activism? If Marshall's family never reached these people to begin with, would this entire situation have occurred?

That is very probable, as it was only a matter of time. However, this helped me understand that during field work, it should be important to understand how my presence in both the physical world, as well on the images I capture, will affect the outcome of the people with whom I interact.

I also started questioning the involvement of tourism throughout the ordeal. I felt the vanity was creating the scam to destroy the bushman people. The myth was what sold for those greedy enough to make a profit off of exaggerating the culture they forced the bushman to leave behind.

These movies really make me dislike a lot of what happens in the world. Documentaries do that to me in general. But they impassion me. I don't think that's a word, but it is today. I feel motivated after I see a documentary to change something, or do something to continue that kind of message sending. Create something out of reality to change the perspective of another, just for a moment.

Now, this new avenue of my education is teaching me to understand my position within the space of my environment I will build through a lens.