An Argument About a Marriage

In 1958, with assistance from the Marshalls, a group of Ju/'hoansi returned home to Nyae Nyae after several years as unpaid, captive laborers on a farm. One woman, whose husband had escaped the farm and left her behind, had a child with another man. Upon the group's return to Nyae Nyae, an angry argument broke out over the matter. 

An Argument About a Marriage raises questions about the impact of European farms on the economic and the social life of the Ju/'hoansi; about the complexities of marriage rules and bride-service in their traditional kinship system; and about the nature of conflict and its mediation among the Ju/'hoansi. Despite the interpersonal anger, we see how ≠oma's skillful intervention prevents this particular conflict from escalating to violence.

An Argument About a Marriage was filmed on a 1957/58 expedition to the Kalahari Desert, led by Laurence K. Marshall and sponsored by the Peabody Museum of Harvard and the Smithsonian Institution. 

This film is part of the John Marshall !Kung Films Collection which includes a total of thirty titles documenting a Ju/hoansi (!Kung) community in Namibia between 1951 and 2002.

This title is available on the !Kung Shorts DVD. This compilation DVD includes a selection of the short sequence films documenting the Ju/hoansi community as Marshall experienced it in the 1950s.This collection combines fourteen of Marshall's short !Kung films onto two DVDs, complete with a full-color booklet containing photos, writings, and additional information about the series.

Disc One: 

A Curing Ceremony (bw) (9:00)

A Group of Women (6:00)

A Joking Relationship (3:00)

N!owa T'ama: The Melon Tossing Game (15:00)

N/um Tchai: the Ceremonial Dance of the !Kung Bushmen (bw) (20:00)

Lion Game (5:00)

An Argument about Marriage (18:00)

Men Bathing (14:00)

Disc Two: 

Playing with Scorpions (5:00)

A Rite of Passage (15:00)

Debe's Tantrum (9:00)

The Wasp Nest (13:00)

The Meat Fight (14:00)

Baobab Play (8:00)

Orthography Note

The group of people depicted in these films are the Ju/'hoansi, speakers of the Ju/'hoan language. Ju/'hoan is part of the !Kung language group; the term !Kung was previously used by the Marshall family and others to refer to Ju/'hoansi. Although the term is outdated, it has been retained here for the sake of consistency with John Marshall's previously published work. The films and their related printed materials also employ antiquated spellings of names and places. For current Ju/'hoan orthography, please see the Ju/'hoan - English Dictionary, compiled by Patrick Dickens and the Ju/'hoan Peoples Literacy Committee.