Once Upon a Time is Now

Megan Biesele has taught anthropology at several universities in Texas and in South Africa. In 2023, on its fiftieth anniversary, she steps down as Director of the Kalahari Peoples Fund. KPF, a US 501(c)(3) nonprofit she co-founded in 1973 with colleagues in the Harvard Kalahari Research Group, benefits and advocates for peoples of the Kalahari. Megan lives in Austin, Texas.

• List of IllustrationsPrefaceAcknowledgmentsChapter 1. The Rabies RunChapter 2. The Harvard Camp at DobeChapter 3. At "Toothbrush Tree"Chapter 4. You Had to Have Been ThereChapter 5. A Road TripChapter 6. A Creative CommunityChapter 7. Ju/'hoansi, Their Neighbors, and IChapter 8. The Threads of the SkyChapter 9. Bright Night of the SoulChapter 10. Life in Death and Death in LifeEpilogueReferencesIndex

“This is the finest of ethnographic memoirs. I know the Kalahari and its people, but Megan Biesele knows them much better. An African explorer’s life, a cross-cultural whirlwind, and an intellectual adventure all between two covers. A marvelous read." • Melvin Konner, Emory University.“This book is exceptional on two counts. Firstly, it is an engaging, highly readable and disarmingly honest guide to the realities behind a style of anthropological fieldwork that is increasingly impossible … Secondly, this book represents a sophisticated and deeply informed insight into Ju/’hoan life.” • Chris Low, University of Oxford“A superbly written, masterfully crafted and well organized monograph on a central issue in anthropology: the trials and tribulations of ethnographic field work.” • Mathias Guenther, Wilfrid Laurier University“Her book illustrates how language transforms experience, but also provides a very personal history of how immersion in another culture and its language transformed her.” • Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, University of California, Davis