Full colour, 112 pages
Size: A5
Finish: Gloss cover
Perfect bound
Includes photos
Glossary
Questions....

A Hearing Other Voices’ series selection

THE BUSHMEN (SAN) OF AFRICA: More than 40,000 Years of Learning

From the preface:

What is a ‘Bushman’? Is the very word demeaning, or is it a word one can take pride in? I think it is the latter, and in this book I will explain why. The theme of the book is education, and that really is a complex topic. When I lived in the Kalahari, I learned a great deal. Some of what I learned is similar to book knowledge: about botany and zoology, the seasons, time, the environment, and so on. Some was really esoteric: about kinship, religion, politics, economics – all the things that make up any human society. What struck me the most is how we are all human, and that the essence of our humanity is to be found in everything we, as humans, do. The idea of a 40,000 year span of time is not new; it is the estimate made by an eminent Italian archaeologist. The material culture of Bushmen is very similar to what has been found archaeologically in several parts of southern Africa.

ALAN BARNARD
Emeritus Professor of the Anthropology of Southern Africa, University of Edinburgh

Available NOW! April 2022