The Ju/'hoan San of Nyae Nyae and Namibian Independence: Development, Democracy, and Indigenous Voices in Southern Africa
The Ju/’hoan San, or Ju/’hoansi, of Namibia and Botswana are perhaps the most fully described indigenous people in all of anthropology. This is the story of how this group of former hunter-gatherers, speaking an exotic click language, formed a grassroots movement that led them to become a dynamic part of the new nation that grew from the ashes of apartheid South West Africa. While coverage of this group in the writings of Richard Lee, Lorna Marshall, Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, and films by John Marshall includes extensive information on their traditional ways of life, this book continues the story as it has unfolded since 1990. Peopled with accounts of and from contemporary Ju/'hoan people, the book gives newly-literate Ju/’hoansi the chance to address the world with their own voices. In doing so, the images and myths of the Ju/’hoan and other San (previously called “Bushmen”) as either noble savages or helpless victims are discredited. This important book demonstrates the responsiveness of current anthropological advocacy to the aspirations of one of the best-known indigenous societies.

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The Ju/'hoan San of Nyae Nyae and Namibian Independence: Development, Democracy, and Indigenous Voices in Southern Africa
The Ju/’hoan San, or Ju/’hoansi, of Namibia and Botswana are perhaps the most fully described indigenous people in all of anthropology. This is the story of how this group of former hunter-gatherers, speaking an exotic click language, formed a grassroots movement that led them to become a dynamic part of the new nation that grew from the ashes of apartheid South West Africa. While coverage of this group in the writings of Richard Lee, Lorna Marshall, Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, and films by John Marshall includes extensive information on their traditional ways of life, this book continues the story as it has unfolded since 1990. Peopled with accounts of and from contemporary Ju/'hoan people, the book gives newly-literate Ju/’hoansi the chance to address the world with their own voices. In doing so, the images and myths of the Ju/’hoan and other San (previously called “Bushmen”) as either noble savages or helpless victims are discredited. This important book demonstrates the responsiveness of current anthropological advocacy to the aspirations of one of the best-known indigenous societies.

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The Ju/'hoan San of Nyae Nyae and Namibian Independence: Development, Democracy, and Indigenous Voices in Southern Africa

The Ju/'hoan San of Nyae Nyae and Namibian Independence: Development, Democracy, and Indigenous Voices in Southern Africa

The Ju/'hoan San of Nyae Nyae and Namibian Independence: Development, Democracy, and Indigenous Voices in Southern Africa

The Ju/'hoan San of Nyae Nyae and Namibian Independence: Development, Democracy, and Indigenous Voices in Southern Africa

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Overview

The Ju/’hoan San, or Ju/’hoansi, of Namibia and Botswana are perhaps the most fully described indigenous people in all of anthropology. This is the story of how this group of former hunter-gatherers, speaking an exotic click language, formed a grassroots movement that led them to become a dynamic part of the new nation that grew from the ashes of apartheid South West Africa. While coverage of this group in the writings of Richard Lee, Lorna Marshall, Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, and films by John Marshall includes extensive information on their traditional ways of life, this book continues the story as it has unfolded since 1990. Peopled with accounts of and from contemporary Ju/'hoan people, the book gives newly-literate Ju/’hoansi the chance to address the world with their own voices. In doing so, the images and myths of the Ju/’hoan and other San (previously called “Bushmen”) as either noble savages or helpless victims are discredited. This important book demonstrates the responsiveness of current anthropological advocacy to the aspirations of one of the best-known indigenous societies.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781845457549
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Publication date: 11/01/2010
Edition description: New Edition
Pages: 308
Product dimensions: 5.90(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Megan Biesele directs the Kalahari Peoples Fund, a US-based advocacy organization. Since the 1970s she has worked with Ju/’hoan San communities in Botswana and Namibia developing curriculum and language archives. She directed the Nyae Nyae Development Foundation at the time of Namibian Independence, and helped establish both the Nyae Nyae Village Schools Project and the Nyae Nyae Conservancy. Her publications include “Women Like Meat”: The Folklore and Foraging Ideology of the Kalahari Ju/’hoan (Witwatersrand and Indiana, 1993) and Hunters and Gatherers in the Modern World (co-editor, Berghahn Books, 2000).

Table of Contents

List of Tables
List of Figures
Preface
Acknowledgments
List of Acronyms and Abbreviations
Note on Orthography

Introduction: A Community History
Chapter 1. Namibia and the Nyae Nyae Region
Chapter 2. Traditional Ju/’hoan Leadership and Governance
Chapter 3. The Ju/’hoan People’s Organization and Their Foundation
Chapter 4.Ju/’hoan Empowerment from Dialogue on Wildlife Issues
Chapter 5. The Lead-up to Namibian Independence in Nyae Nyae
Chapter 6. Independence: The Years of Hope
Chapter 7. The Nyae Nyae Development Foundation of Namibia
Chapter 8. The Nyae Nyae Farmers Co-operative after Independence
Chapter 9. Community-Based Natural Resource Management and Other Development Models in Nyae Nyae
Chapter 10. Nyae Nyae Conservancy Programs and the Future References Cited

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