A detailed and compelling volume that contributes significantly to current trends in post-apartheid scholarship.

A comprehensive and fascinating account of all the major groups of southern African hunter-gatherers.

The Bushman soldiers were the most outstanding all-round fighters of the Border War. As the first of the indigenous population to take up arms on South Africa's behalf, they were among the last to lay them down. The border's oldest and most bush-wise people, they became feared as relentless trackers and dedicated soldiers. Coming from a primitive hunter/gatherer culture, they responded well to a crash course in modern warfare. Their use of automatic weapons and mortars, coupled with their phenomenal tracking abilities, made them a formidable fighting force. During Operation Savannah they were deployed in a conventional role as Battle-Group Alpha, part of Task Force Zulu, and advanced approximately 2,000 kilometers in a month. Afterwards, some of the Bushmen were trained as parachutists and served as Recces behind enemy lines. Others were attached to various units as trackers and guides. Their loyalty and bravery was recognized in the award of Honoris Crux decorations to members and former members of this elite corps. Controversy followed the battalion to South Africa after the war. Persecuted for centuries, the Bushmen have displayed an uncanny ability to survive and have adapted remarkably well to the modern world. Their transition from the Stone Age in less than 20 years is a story, which will never be forgotten. Hailed as the 'Gurkhas of Africa' the Bushmen have proved themselves second to none. This is an exceptional record of 31 and 201 Battalions and their remarkable personnel, fully illustrated with many photographs.

A mix of history and current affairs, travel, reportage and anecdote, this passionate book speaks up for the Bushmen, the first people of Africa. *Featuring a preface by Prince Charles* Bushmen were hunting and gathering, painting and mining copper, thousands of years ago. They were the first people of Africa. Deadly shots with their bows and arrows, they were, in their heyday, Lords of the Desert. They fought extremely bravely for their land, and lost. Today, they have been reduced to an underclass - dispossessed, despised and degraded. Just in time - one is tempted to say, miraculously - the Mandela government saved them from extermination in South Africa. Now, in Botswana's Central Kalahari Game Reserve, set aside specially for them by the British in 1961, they are making their last stand, refusing to be evicted in order to benefit mining and tourism. Sandy Gall, who is best known for his reporting of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, has taken up the cause of the Bushmen. His interest in their plight dates back to the 1950s and 1960s when he was working as a foreign correspondent for Reuters; in 1999 he visited the Central Kalahari with his daughter Michaela. His book celebrates the culture of these unique people, many of whom have an almost mystical bond with animals. He has portrayed many fascinating individuals who have been involved, for good or ill, in their tragic history and their present predicament. Here, for the first time, is the full story of the slaughter of an innocent people. The Bushmen of Southern Africa speaks not only for the Bushmen but for the native indigenous people of the world. It faces up to a shameful and bloodstained past and looks at burning current issues such as human rights and the ownership and exploitation of land.

Botswana's democracy is often considered to be a comparatively advanced and positive example of an African state in terms of political culture and the notion of 'good governance'. This paper challenges the assumption that the country's current political and socio-economic system is, in fact, exemplary. It highlights some of the limitations by focusing on the particular situation of the Bushmen/San as a marginalized minority denied citizens' rights and losing out against the material interests accompanying the exploration and exploitation of diamonds, the most lucrative natural resource contributing to Botswana's 'success story'.The author has on previous occasions presented and published related analyses within the research network on 'Liberation and Democracy in Southern Africa' (LiDeSA), which is currently coordinated through the Nordic Africa Institute. This publication is another result of the collaboration within this project.

This new edition of the long-out-of print classic collection of Bushman tales provides a fascinating look into the life of these little-known people. As Megan Biesele writes in her Foreword: The fact that a family of trained linguists and their associates sat down between 1870 and 1884 with a group of /Xam people who had been temporarily sprung free of imprisonment in Cape Town's Breakwater Prison has immense potential consequences. San people today, like indigenous peoples all over the world, are quietly organizing educational futures for themselves which will make fine use of this record of the intellectual history of their culture. This edition reproduces the English text of the 1911 edition and is richly illustrated with photographs.

Specimens of Bushman Folk-lore was published by Dr. W.H.I. Bleek only after he'd overcome many great difficulties (and great they were in late 1800s South Africa). So complete is this volume that Dr. Bleek even provides explanations on how to make the many click sounds that are endemic to the Bushman language. Good luck wrapping your tongue around them! This 260 page volume contains 84 stories about Bushman myths and legends, including interpretations of the natural world, animal fables, the story of the first man, and customs, superstitions, and more. There are stories about girls and frogs, hyenas that seek revenge, the wind, and the making of arrows. There are also stories about the origin of the stars Sirius and Canopus, the treatment of bones, prayers to the moon, and a man who mistakenly ordered his wife to cut off his ears. Of special interest is the story of one Bushman's first ride on the train from Mowbray to Cape Town, which describes his treatment at the hands of the local police and the imposition of the white man's laws upon him and his people. The old adage "Everything changes, everything stays the same," comes to mind. So curl up with this treasure of ancient Africa, this documentation of a changing world, and engross yourself in a culture that has no place for MP3 players, video games, or television. A percentage of every book sold will help fund the education of an underprivileged person in South Africa. SPECIAL NOTE: Rock art and archaeological evidence indicates that the San Bushmen once occupied countries as far north as Libya, Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia, with some evidence of occupation in Kenya. Over time, environmental conditions and the negroid races pushed the Bushmen further and further south-today, they can now only be found in the countries of Southern Africa. Even now, the Bushmen's traditional way of life is further threatened by government regulations and policies that seek to restrict their nomadic tradition and "encourage" them to assume a more pastoral lifestyle.

Wilhelm Bleek was fascinated by African languages and set out to make sense of a complex and alien Bushman tongue. At first Lucy Lloyd worked as his assistant, but soon proved to be so gifted a linguist and empathetic a listener that she created a monumental record of Bushman culture. Their informants were a colorful cast. The teenager, /A!kunta, taught Bleek and Lloyd their first Bushman words and sentences. The wise old man and masterful storyteller, //Kabbo, opened their eyes to a richly imaginative world of myth and legend. The young man, Dia!kwain, explained traditional beliefs about sorcery, while his friend #Kasin spoke of Bushman medicines and poisons. The treasures of Bushman culture were most fully revealed in conversations with a middle-aged man known as /Han=kass'o, who told of dances, songs and the meaning of images on rocks. The human histories and relationships involved in this unique collaboration across cultures are explored in full for the first time in this remarkable narrative.