Lorna Marshall born Lorna Jean McLean, was an anthropologist who in the 1950s, 60s and 70s lived among and wrote about the previously unstudied !Kung people

!Kung people

The ǃKung, also spelled ǃXun, are a Bushman people living in the Kalahari Desert in Namibia, Botswana and in Angola. They speak the ǃKung language, noted for using click consonants, generally classified as part of the Khoisan language family...

 of the Kalahari Desert

Kalahari Desert

The Kalahari Desert is a large semi-arid sandy savannah in Southern Africa extending , covering much of Botswana and parts of Namibia and South Africa, as semi-desert, with huge tracts of excellent grazing after good rains. The Kalahari supports more animals and plants than a true desert...

. Initially an English instructor at Mount Holyoke

Mount Holyoke

Mount Holyoke, a traprock mountain, elevation , is the western-most peak of the Holyoke Range and part of the 100-mile Metacomet Ridge. The mountain is located in the Connecticut River Valley of western Massachusetts, and is the namesake of nearby Mount Holyoke College. The mountain is located in...

, she began a second career in anthropology

Anthropology

Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...

 in her fifties after following courses at Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

.

She was the mother of Elizabeth Marshall Thomas

Elizabeth Marshall Thomas

Elizabeth Marshall Thomas is an American anthropologist and author, the daughter of anthropologist Lorna Marshall.Amongst other works and novels, she wrote The Hidden Life of Deer, The Harmless People, Warrior Herdsmen, The Hidden Life of Dogs , The Social Life of Dogs, The Tribe of Tiger: Cats...

, and towards the end of her life lived with her daughter.

In 1986 a volume of essays was published in her honour: The Past and Future of !Kung Ethnography: Critical Reflections and Symbolic Perspectives, edited by Megan Biesele with Robert Gordon and Richard Lee. Quellen zur Khoisan-Forschung 4. Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag, 1986.

Books

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