The Bushman Myth: The Making of a Namibian Underclass (Conflict and Social Change Series)

Images of the Bushman—from the innocent hero of the hit movie, The Gods Must Be Crazy, to “vermin” eradicated by the colonists, to the superhuman trackers conscripted by the South African Defense Forces, and the living embodiment of prehistory for the academic—shape our perceptions rather than the actuality. Looking at this interplay between imagery, history, and policy, Robert Gordon focuses not on the Bushman but on the colonizers' image of them and the consequences of that image for the people assumed to be Bushmen.To understand the image of the Bushmen, we must place them into the context from which they were abstracted. The Bushman Myth, then, is a study of not only history but also of the sociology of knowledge as well as of the relationship between perceived role and economic class. Lavishly illustrated with archival and recent photographs, the book attempts to convey the extent to which we as Westerners have participated in the creation of the “Bushman” identity. This book with its poignant example of the Bushmen brings us face to face with the complexities and deceptions of our constructions of the “Other.” The revised, updated version of this book includes an analysis of the sweeping political changes in South Africa since its original publication in 1992. Other new material covers more theoretical issues and contemporary developments in scholarship, including a reconsideration of the film "The Gods Must Be Crazy"; a discussion of expose ethnography and its attendant political/moral positioning; and an examination of the political situation in Namibia, with a close study of the near collapse of the Nyae Nyae Development Foundation. Cover -- Half Title -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- List of Tables and Illustrations -- Preface -- 1 The Bushmen: A Merger of Fantasy and Nightmare -- The Politics of Labeling Bushmen -- Speaking for the Bushmen -- Storyline -- Part 1: What's in a Name? -- 2 Locating the Bushmen -- 3 Bushman Copper and Autonomy -- Copper and the Ovambo -- Relationships with Pastoralists -- 4 The Incorporation of Bushmen into the World System -- Contemporary Views of Bushmen -- The Demise of the Trade Boom -- Upingtonia and the First Namibian War of Liberation -- 5 Classifying Bushmen: Itinerant Scientists -- Part 2: The Colonial Presence -- 6 The Imposition of the Colonial State -- 7 The "Bushman Plague" of 1911 -- Academics and the Notion of a Bushman Reserve -- The Influence of the Missions -- Education Through Labor -- 8 From Policy to Practice -- 9 Bushman Hunts and Bushman Gangs -- Bushman Patrols -- The "Notorious" Hans Gang -- Part 3: The Sacred Trust -- 10 South African Rapprochement -- Land and Murder -- The van Ryneveld Affair -- 11 Laboring Legitimacy -- Legalizing Action Against Bushmen -- Fear as Social Control -- The Elusive Bushmen as a Police Problem -- 12 Beyond the Police Zone: Disrupting the Labor Supply -- 13 Extending Administrative Control: Bushmen "Reserved -- Native Reserves -- The Etosha Game Park -- Native Reserves Beyond the Police Zone -- 14 Reaction and Counterreaction -- Tightening the Legal Noose -- From Object to Subject in Bushman Banditry -- 15 Bushmen "Tamed": Life on the Farm -- Missionary Efforts: The Roman Catholics -- Missionary Efforts: Lutheran Proselytization -- 16 Academics on the Attack: Ethnological Influence on Bushman Policy -- Historical Roots of Bushman Reserves -- The Wider Context of the Proposals -- The Ineffectiveness of Anthropologists -- Part 4: Bushmen Iconified