San and the State

Der vorliegende Band umfasst neun Beiträge, die aus jüngsten ethnologischen Forschungen bei San-Gemeinschaften im südlichen Afrika hervorgingen. Die Autoren beleuchten die gegenwärtige Situation verschiedener San-Gruppen in Botswana, Namibia und Südafrika. Alle Beiträge befassen sich mit dem Verhältnis zwischen den San und dem Staat sowie deren Auswirkungen auf das Leben lokaler Gemeinschaften. Während die Mehrheit der gegenwärtigen Forschungsarbeiten externe Einflüsse betonen, sollen in diesem Band lokale Faktoren hervorgehoben werden.

Beiträge:
Thekla Hohmann: San and the State – An Introduction
Ute Dieckmann: The Impact of Nature Conservation on San – A Case Study of Etosha National Park
Thomas Widlok: The Needy, the Greedy, and the State – Dividing Haikom Land in the Oshikoto Region
Ina Orth: Identity as Dissociation – The Khwe's Struggle for Land in West Caprivi
Gertrud Boden: 'Caught in the Middle' – Impacts of State Decisions and Armed Conflicts on Khwe Economy and Ethnicity in West Caprivi between 1998 and 2002
Thekla Hohmann: 'We are Looking for Life. We are Looking for the Conservancy'. Namibian Conservancies, Nature Conservation, and Rural Development – The Náa-Jaqna Conservancy
Michael Taylor: 'Wilderness', 'Development', and San Ethnicity in Contemporary Botswana
Michael Bollig: Between Welfare and Bureaucratic Domination – The San of Ghanzi and Kgalagadi Districts
Susanne Berzborn: 'Ek is 'n Nama, want ek praat die taal' – The Richtersveld and the National Language Policy in South Africa
Steven Robins: NGOs, 'Bushmen' and Double Vision – The ákhomani San Land Claim and the Cultural Politics of 'Community' and 'Development' in the Kalahari

Rezension

This is a refreshing book for two reasons. First, there are no contributions by scholars based in North America. Thus it would appear to signify a break from the academic hegemony of North American scholars on those now labeled "San". Second, it does not have a chapter focusing on those most famous of San, the Ju/'hoansi immortalized in John Marshall's films and the ethnographies of Lee and Biesele. By broadening and internationalizing the scholarly enterprise, this volume shows how much more complex both the San and their scholarship are. [...] This is a most worthwhile volume.
(Robert Gordon in "African Studies Review" 47/1, 2004 S. 217-218)