San peoples of southern Africa followed two very different trajectories through the 20th century. For some groups, colonial rule and apartheid meant segregation on geographically remote homelands (or in game parks); for the majority of San, however, they meant incorporation as a landless underclass of farm laborers, domestic servants, and squatters. This bifurcated history now presents obstacles to the recognition of a nascent pan–San identity as the contemporary San join other indigenous peoples in struggles over land rights, control over natural resources, and political voice in national and international arenas. This article discusses some of the ways in which international models of indigenism have colluded with essentialist conceptions of culture and ethnicity to (1) prevent the recognition of the San peoples' cultural identity, as it is shaped by their various historical experiences and socioeconomic conditions, and (2) distort the understanding of San claims for land and natural resources by transforming San struggles for social and economic justice into demands for "cultural preservation." [Keywords: indigenous peoples, San, southern Africa, social movements, cultural politics]

No abstract

The San (Bushmen) of southern Africa are currently engaged in global activism and local struggles for rights as indigenous people. As their identity becomes globalized, the San are encouraged to promote a stereotypical image of themselves as isolated, pristine primitives. In this article, I argue that primordial expressions of San identity reflect the globalization of an essentialist idea of culture. I examine how this idea of culture is instrumentalized in local contexts of disorder and corruption. Finally, I outline how disorder and primordialism combine to sustain systems of inequality for an underclass of farm San in the Omaheke Region of Namibia.

In this essay, I explore familiar tensions between anthropological theories of identity and activism on behalf of indigenous causes, with special attention to strategic uses of theoretically dubious forms of essentialism. I examine the contradictions between essentialism and constructionism, and between recognition and redistribution, in light of San struggles for rights to traditional territories in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) in Botswana. I begin by outlining how the politics of theorizing in an apartheid context imposed a false choice between essentialist and deconstructionist views of identity. I then discuss the controversial relocation of San from the CKGR and how

This paper examines the implications of promoting indigenous peoples' rights in Africa by examining the tension between collective group rights and women's individual rights. I outline how San women in the Omaheke Region of Namibia confront simultaneous and mutually-reinforcing racial, ethnic, class and gender inequalities, and illustrate how intersectional discrimination often puts their human rights priorities at odds with the international indigenous movement's goal of securing group rights. I suggest that addressing indigenous women's rights issues requires a better balance of individual and collective rights, which includes indigenous women's experiences and interests as central features of their communities' collective concerns.