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Although the field of Bushman studies has seen a number of different disciplines being drawn upon to address key questions, the textual material of the Bleek and Lloyd archive is still relatively understudied. Studies which do approach this material, however, tend to do so through an anthropological and/or archaeological lens, with literary analysis often marginalized. This article, through taking account of considerations of the reception theories developed in literary studies, criticises the various interpretations of a 19th century ǀxam language kum, or narrative. Originally published in Specimens of Bushman Folklore (1911), the kum “Bushman presentiments”, concerning an enigmatic experience narrated by ||kabbo, has led to six distinct interpretations—some of which are in conversation with one another in various ways, but they nevertheless offer differing views. Through a critical review grounded in literary folkloristics and reception theory, the article argues for renewed interest in and study of the kum “Bushman presentiments”. It is argued that future studies need to be based on three factors: disciplinary foregrounding, linguistic analysis, and comparative reading. These three factors, the article concludes, are the most glaring limitations of the existing interpretations, and if taken into consideration they could lead to a proliferation of insight into the kum.

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