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Environmental Anthropology in the Kalahari: Development, Resettlement, and Ecological Change Among the San of Southern Africa

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Environmental Anthropology in the Kalahari: Development, Resettlement, and Ecological Change Among the San of Southern Africa vis-à-vis: Explorations in Anthropology, Vol. 9, No. 2, pp. 170-188. vav.library.utoronto.ca This article © 2009 Robert K. Hitchcock, Megan Biesele, and Wayne Babchuk. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 Canada license. Environmental Anthropology in the Kalahari: Development, Resettlement, and Ecological Change Among the San of Southern Africa ROBERT K. HITCHCOCK, MEGAN BIESELE, AND WAYNE BABCHUK ABSTRACT This paper addresses the ways in which environmental anthropology has affected – and been affected by – the San (Bushmen) of southern Africa, particularly the Ju/’hoansi of northwest- ern Botswana and northeastern Namibia. Anthropological research and development work carried out in the Kalahari Desert over the past 50 years has shed considerable light on issues ranging from the ecology of hunting and gathering to the impacts of sedentism, and from demography of small-scale societies to the effects of globalization and climate change. Eco- logical anthropology and conservation biology have focused a great deal of attention on the Ju/’hoansi and other San, who today are some of the best-known and most intensively stud- ied populations on the planet. A wide range of variation exists among the lifestyles of San peoples, all of whom have undergone substantial socioeconomic changes. Here, particular emphasis is placed on the ways in which development, resettlement, and ecological change have affected the Ju/’hoansi and their neighbors. The lessons learned from these studies have affected both academic writing in ecological anthropology and policies aimed at enhancing the well-being of the San and conserving their environments. nthropologists have worked intensively with the San (Bushmen, Basarwa) for over 50 years, although there had been studies conducted among San peoples since the Aearly to mid-19th century (Schapera 1930; Lee 1976; Barnard 1992, 2007:23-52). San, like other peoples in southern Africa, were affected greatly by colonization and pro- cesses of sociopolitical and environmental change. In spite of efforts to ensure the well- being of San by well-meaning anthropologists and development workers, many San are worse off today that they were in the 1950s by almost every measure – standard of liv- ing, mortality rates, degree of dependency on state support, and land ownership (Suzman 2001a, b; Lee et al 2002; Lee 2003; Hitchcock et al 2006). At the same time, San are more outspoken than they used to be, pointing out their concerns of how they are being treated ROBERT K. HITCHCOCK, Michigan State University MEGAN BIESELE, Kalahari Peoples Fund WAYNE BABCHUK, University of Nebraska-Lincoln 171 Environmental Anthropology in the Kalahari • vis-à-vis: Explorations in Anthropology and the degree to which they have a say over their own futures. While many of the anthropological text books and cultural ecological studies tend to focus on the Ju/’hoan San, assuming that their patterns are characteristic ones for all San or for savannah foragers and food producers, there is, in fact, significant variation among San. This is demonstrated in the ethnographic research among other San groups in southern Africa. Table 1 contains a summary of the numbers of San in the various countries in south- ern Africa. It can be seen that there are some 100,000 San in six different southern African countries: Angola, Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The largest populations of San are found in Botswana and Namibia. Tables 2-5 provide an overview of some of the interdisciplinary research groups and individuals that have worked with San and topics that they have addressed. As Richard Lee (2003:176, personal communica- tion, 2007) has noted, these studies have had substantial impacts, not only on the fields of anthropology and indigenous peoples’ studies, but also on development and especially on the San themselves. Table 1. Numbers of San in Southern Africa Country Size of Country (sq km) Number of San Angola 1,246,700 3,500 Botswana 581,730 47,675 Namibia 824,290 34,000 South Africa 1,221,040 7,500 Zambia 752,610 1,300 Zimbabwe 390,580 2,500 TOTAL 5,016,950 sq km 96,475 Note: Data obtained from James Suzman (2001a:4), the Working Group of Indigenous Minorities in Southern Africa (WIMSA), and from Roger Chennels of Chennels-Albertyn, South Africa. 171 vis-à-vis: Explorations in Anthropology • Volume 9, Number 2 May 2009 Table 2. Members of the Marshall Expeditions (Peabody-Harvard Smithsonian Kalahari Expeditions) Researcher Date(s) of Research Topic(s) Investigated Daniel Blitz 1955 Photography, sound recording Robert H. Dyson 1951 Archaeology Nicholas England 1958, 1959, 1961 Music recording Hans Ernst 1953 Sound recording Robert Gardner 1958 Film making Robert Gestelamd 1957-58 Photography Robert Gordon 1983 Social anthropology Wolf Haacke 1961 Zoology Charles Handley, Jr. 1952 Zoology Frank Hesse 1953 Sound recording Charles Koch 1951, 1958 Entomology Brian Maguire 1953 Botany Laurence K. Marshall 1950, 1951, 1952-53, 1955, 1956, Photography, project 1957-58, 1961 administration Lorna Marshall 1951, 1952-53, 1955, 1961 Social anthropology John Marshall 1950, 1951, 1952-53, 1955, 1957- Social anthropology, 58, 1972, 1978, 1980-82, 1984, film making 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990s, 2003 Elizabeth Marshall Thomas 1951, 1952-53, 1955 Social anthropology Claude McIntyre 1951, 1959-61 Development administration Fritz Metzger 1951 Ethnology O.P.M. Prozesky 1961 Ornithology Claire Ritchie 1980-82 Social anthropology, development Anneliese Scherz 1953 Photography Robert Story 1955, 1958 Botany Eric Williams 1951 Anatomy Note: Adapted from Marshall (1976:ix-xv, 1-3, 10-11) 172 173 Environmental Anthropology in the Kalahari • vis-à-vis: Explorations in Anthropology Table 3. Members of the Harvard Kalahari Research Group (HKRG), Date(s) of Research, and Subjects That Were Investigated Researcher Date(s) of Research Topic(s) Investigated Meghan Biesele 1970-72, 1975-76 Folklore, healing, social change, language Nicholas Blurton Jones 1971 Ethology, social organization Sue Bucklin 1964 Rock art Irven DeVore 1963, 1964, 1968-1968 Ethology, hunting behavior Patricia Draper 1968-1969, 1975, 1987, 1991 Childhood, gender relations John D.L. Hansen 1967, 1968 Medicine, nutrition Henry Harpending 1968-1969, 1975, 1987 Population structure, genetics Nancy Howell 1967-1969, 1990-91 Demography, social networks Richard Katz 1968 Ritual healing, traditional medicine Trefor Jenkins 1967, 1968, 1969 Serogenetics, health Brian Kennelly 1969 Cardiology Melvin Konner 1969-1971, 1975 Infant behavior, ethology Richard Lee 1963-1964, 1967-1969, 1973, Ethnology, ecology, social 1980, 1999, 2006 organization, social change Marjorie Shostak 1969-1971. 1975, 1989 Life histories, gender Jiro Tanaka 1967-1968, 1971-1972, 1975 Subsistence ecology, social organization Stewart Truswell 1967, 1968, 1969 Medicine, nutrition John Yellen 1968-1970, 1975-1976 Settlement patterns, archaeology, ethnoarchaeology 172 173 vis-à-vis: Explorations in Anthropology • Volume 9, Number 2 May 2009 Table 4. Members of the University of New Mexico Kalahari Project, Date(s) of Research, and Subjects That Were Investigated Researcher Date(s) of Research Topic(s) Investigated Elizabeth Cashdan 1975-76 Social anthropology William J. Chasko, Jr. 1975-76 Demography, serogenetics Patricia Draper 1975 Social anthropology James I. Ebert 1975-76, 1985 Archaeology, development Henry Harpending 1975 Demography, population structure, serogenetics Robert K. Hitchcock 1975-76, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1981, Ethnoarchaeology, 1982, 1985, 1988, 1989, 1990, cultural anthropology, 1991, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2005 development, environmental impact assessment Melinda Kelly 1975-76 Social anthropology, development Gakemodimo M. Mosi 1975-76, 1980-82 Education, community development Note: Adapted from Hitchcock (see www.kalaharipeoples.org) 174 175 Environmental Anthropology in the Kalahari • vis-à-vis: Explorations in Anthropology Table 5. Japanese Anthropological, Ecological, and Geographic Research among San in Southern Africa Researcher Address Topic(s) Jiro Tanaka Kyoto University, Center for Social anthropology, African Area Studies human ecology Masakazu Osaki Himeji-Dokkyo University Social Anthropology, hunting behavior Kazuyoshi Sugawara Kyoto University, Faculty for Social Anthropology, Integrated Studies Sociolinguistics Kenichi Nonaka Mie University, Department of Ethnoentomology, Geography Ethnogeography Kaoru Imamura-Hayaki Nagoya Gakuin University Behavior, Plant gathering Kazunobu Ikeya National Museum of Ethnology Social Change, Development Hirosi Nakagawa Tokyo University of Foreign Linguistics, Phonology Studies Hitomi Ono Reitaku University Kinship studies, Ethnosemantics Akira Takada Kyoto University, Center for Social anthropology, African Area Studies human ecology Note: Data obtained from Jiro Tanaka, Kazuyoshi Sugawara, and Kazunobu Ikeya Overview of Anthropological Research among the San Intensive anthropological work among the Ju/’hoansi San has been conducted since 1950, beginning with the Marshall family (1951-1961) in the Nyae Nyae region of Namibia and the Harvard Kalahari Research Group (1963-1971) in the Dobe-/Xai/Xai area of Botswana (Marshall 1976:1-11; Thomas 1980; Lee 2003). Ethnoarchaeology, the study of contempo- rary societies with the purpose of better understanding the past, was a major focus of the work of John Yellen among the Ju/’hoansi of northwestern Botswana (1977). In the 1970s, development work was carried out by Megan Biesele in the
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