| The Cape Herders: A History of the Khoikhoi of Southern Africa Contributor(s): Boonzaier, Emile (Author) |
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ISBN: 0821411748 ISBN-13: 9780821411742 Publisher: Ohio University Press OUR PRICE: $21.95 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: January 1997 * Not available - Not in print at this time *Annotation: This remarkable study combines the insights of archeology, history, and anthropology to trace the Khoikhoi from their origins in central Africa to the contemporary politics of the Namaqualand "reserves". It is not a pretty story. Land appropriation, race classification, removals onto reserves, and the practice of vorentoetrouery (marriage upward to breed out Khoikhoi features) are all elements of their recent past. This study's scholarship, telling biographies, and many illustrations will play an essential role in replacing the stereotype of the herders with some understanding of their past, and perhaps influence their future in the new South Africa. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - History | Africa - South - Republic Of South Africa |
| Dewey: 968.004 |
| LCCN: 96032136 |
| Physical Information: 0.36" H x 7.04" W x 9.36" (0.62 lbs) 155 pages |
| Themes: - Cultural Region - Southern Africa |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: The Cape Herders provides the first comprehensive picture of the Khoikhoi people. In doing so, it fills a long-standing gap in the resources of Southern African studies, and at a time when interest in the indigenous populations of South Africa is growing daily. Combining the insights of archaeology, history, and anthropology, this account ranges from the origins of the Khoikhoi in Southern Africa to the contemporary politics of the Namaqualand "reserves." Its authors have produced a scholarly, yet accessible, book, lavishly illustrated and supplemented with short biographies and fascinating detail. The Cape Herders explodes a variety of South African myths - not least those surrounding the negative stereotype of the "Hottentot" and those which contribute to the idea that the Khoikhoi are by now "a vanished people." The story it tells instead is one of enduring interest - the history of a herding people in Southern Africa, its society, economy, and culture, its relationship to the indigenous hunters of the Cape, its encounters with European expeditions, and its subsequent exposure to the first effects of colonization. It is a story of change and adaptation, and it confirms the Khoikhoi's central role in the making of today's South Africa. |
