Khoe and San: An Annotated Bibliography, The

African Studies Review, Dec 2004 by Gordon, Robert J

BIBLIOGRAPHIES & DICTIONARIES Shelagh Willet, Stella Monageng, Sidsel Saugestad, and Janet Hermans. The Khoe and San: An Annotated Bibliography. 2 vols. Gaberone: Lightbooks, 2002, 2003. Distributed by Michigan State University Press and African Books Collective, (http://www.africanbookscollective.com). Vol. 1: 256 pp. $41.95. Paper. Vol. 2: 124 pp. $35.00. Paper.

Khoi (Khoe) and San studies are both a multilingual and a national undertaking, and keeping abreast with the extensive literature poses several logistic and linguistic challenges. This bibliography successfully meets these challenges. Inaugurated in 1993 with Norwegian funding, this documentation project aimed not only to be an aid to researchers, but also to serve the interests of San organizations and individuals. A year after the first volume appeared with 1021 entries, a second volume with 449 entries followed, and the arrival of a third volume is imminent.

It is always a pleasure to peruse a well-constructed annotated bibliography, and this one provides much satisfaction. For anyone with interests in the so-called Khoe and San, this bibliography is a researcher's dream. The authors are thorough and have long experience in this field. Shelagh Willet produced her first Bushman bibliography in 1965; Hermans has published on the history of Botswana government policy toward Masarwa; Saugestad, a professor of anthropology in Tromso, has a long and enviable record of research and engagement with indigenous issues especially in Botwsana; Monageng is a professional Motswana librarian. Entries are arranged alphabetically by author but then are backed up by a thorough topical index. Not only are the annotations succinct, but in cross checking those that I know, I found them to be remarkably accurate. All the items annotated are accessible at the University of Botswana. This is at once both a strength and a weakness, since the Botswana government has reportedly made it difficult for fieldworkers to work with or on Basarwa or San.

The introduction provides a useful ethnographic description of how and what criteria were used in the construction of this bibliography. It is a social history of the project as well, which is presented as a collaborative program seeking to promote San access to higher education and develop local research capacity and a San research network. In this it overlaps and works with WIMSA (the Working Group of Indigenous Minorities) and SASI (South African San Institute). We are not told if this network extends to the rapidly burgeoning Khoe activist NGO movements like the National Khoisan Consultative Council and the coloured-based First Nations Movement in South Africa. Indeed if there is one problem area, it concerns those labeled "Khoe." Not only is the old "Khoisan" category reinvented, but while there is reasonable agreement as to who are categorized as San, the same exercise for Khoi or Khoe is much more problematic. Does it include the Rehoboth Basters, the Mier people, the Griquas and others who were classified by the South African apartheid regime as "coloured"? Of course, this might not simply be a sin of omission but could also signal a potential political issue.

Given that we have the pleasure of anticipating future volumes, it might be appropriate to suggest areas that might be addressed. Clearly the project would benefit from expanding beyond its Botswana base. The intriguingly important "Grey literature" could be expanded by combing the Namibian and South African archives to incorporate several important government reports. Influential popular works might also be listed, not only the legendary Laurens van der Post but also several others such as Lawrence Green and those who wrote in Afrikaans and German. Several important, if obscurely located, scholars have somehow managed to escape the bibliographers' dragnet: for example, Gusinde, Carstens, Schoeman, and Suzman.

The San are one of the perennially popular topics for student papers in African studies in the United States. This bibliography will enormously enhance the quality of such research essays and for this reason alone should be part of the reference resources of every college library.

Robert J. Gordon

University of Vermont

Burlington, Vermont