The Sans Bushmen (including the !Kung) have historically subsisted as hunters and gatherers in the Kalahari desert region of Africa. They remained largely out of contact with modern societies when I first learned of them. About 10 years ago I learned that they were being re-located by the government on to 'reservations' of sorts, resulting in increased diseases, dissension among each other, and resultant loss of many cultural practices and modes of subsistance. This year, I discovered that the majority of the !Kung are now attempting to acculturate in the cities. A few "fortunate ones" reportedly are 'caretakers' of wildlife preserves, with a few others participating in 'eco-tourism'. More specifics will be covered in the near future, but for now we leave it to others presented here to say it best.

~ !Kung Past ~ A bit of the past and a brief overview Some History and other info. Click on image for larger version Credit and thanks to Time Magazine Passing on oral traditions "...accounts of the past have been preserved primarily in oral form..". The explanation and the photo of a !Kung family in the Kalahari is excerpted from a College and A.P. World History textbook called The Global Past, by Fields, Barber, and Riggs (Bedford Books: 1998). The photo was first used in a 1947 issue of Life Magazine. Passing on Traditions ~More coming~

~!Kung Present ~ Travelers now visit and stay at an !Kung Campsite or lodge while "learning about !Kung traditions." "For thousands of years, Bushmen were an integral part of the ecosystem of the Kalahari. As the area was colonized, the Bushmen were driven out and forced to live outside their traditional hunting areas. No longer able to hunt, the Bushmen were reduced to living on government handouts." "In January, 1996, INTU AFRIKA, under the direction of two South African anthropologists, Michael and Bets Daibar, invited 40 !Kung Bushmen to reestablish a self-sustainable community on the company's Kalahari Game Reserve. These families now are working successfully in a variety of income generating projects such as game guiding, camp site supervision and the making and selling of traditional handicrafts. Although the Bushmen have built a typical !Kung village where visitors come to learn about their traditions, they actually live in the privacy of their own village." Eco-tourism helping the !Kung? Here is a brief article on Shostak, a woman who lived among/with the !Kung of the Kalahari desert region, for a while. !Kung...a feminist lives among the bush people (article) ~More coming~ ~More coming~

"Deep in the Kalahari sandveld a group of San artists relive their ancient past when the veld was endless and game and food abundant. They revive it in strong forms and vibrant colours and express it in a yearning for better days that are forever gone....."

Artwork (and Music) of the Sans Bushmen



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Working Group of Indigenous Minorities in Southern Africa (WIMSA):

Netherlands Centre for Indigenous Peoples (NCIV)

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