Lorna Marshall facts for kids

Lorna Marshall was an amazing anthropologist. She was born Lorna Jean McLean on September 14, 1898, and lived until July 8, 2002. In the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, she spent time with and wrote about the !Kung people. These people live in the Kalahari Desert in Africa. Lorna Marshall helped the world learn about their unique way of life.

Early Life and Family

Lorna Marshall was born in Morenci, which was then part of the Arizona territory. She married Laurence Kennedy Marshall in 1926. They had two children: a daughter named Elizabeth Marshall Thomas and a son named John Kennedy Marshall.

Lorna studied English Literature at UC Berkeley, getting her degree in 1921. She later earned another degree from Radcliffe College in 1928. Before 1926, she taught English at Mount Holyoke. Later, she took classes in anthropology at Harvard University. This led her to a new career studying different cultures.

Her husband, Laurence Marshall, was born in Massachusetts in 1889. He helped start the Raytheon Company in 1922. He worked there until 1950.

Studying the !Kung People

In 1951, the Marshall family traveled to South-West Africa (now Namibia). Their goal was to study the !Kung people of Nyae Nyae. These people are also known as the Ju/'hoansi or Ju/'hoan Bushmen. The family became very involved in this work. They went back to Africa several times in the 1950s and 1960s. Each trip lasted from a few months to over a year.

Lorna's daughter, Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, explained in her book The Old Way that Laurence Marshall tried to find an anthropologist to join them. But no one was interested. So, Lorna Marshall took on the job of doing interviews and writing down what she learned. She did this even though she didn't have formal training in anthropology.

Lorna's Contributions

During the 1960s and 1970s, Lorna Marshall wrote many articles about the !Kung culture and their religion. Her first book, The !Kung of Nyae Nyae, came out in 1976. It received good reviews. One reviewer, Alan Barnard, called her "one of the most sensitive, careful, and humble ethnographers of all time."

Lorna Marshall had a very long career. She published her second book, Nyae Nyae !Kung Beliefs and Rites, in 1999. She was 101 years old when it was published!

Besides her writing, Lorna Marshall also worked on several films about the !Kung people. She collaborated with her son, John Kennedy Marshall. He was a filmmaker who made documentaries about different cultures.

Lorna Marshall passed away in 2002 at the age of 103. She was living at her daughter Elizabeth's home in Peterborough, New Hampshire. Before that, she had lived in the same house in Cambridge, Massachusetts, since the late 1920s.

Books by Lorna Marshall

• The !Kung of Nyae Nyae. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1976.
• Nyae Nyae !Kung Beliefs and Rites. Peabody Museum Monographs no. 8, 1999.

Film Work

Lorna Marshall contributed to several films about the !Kung people:

• First Film (1952) - She helped with editing and narration.
• !Kung Bushman Hunting Equipment (1966) - She provided information about the culture and helped with the script.
• Bitter Melons (1971) - She provided information about the culture.
• A Kalahari Family (2002) - She was an executive producer for this film.