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Key research themes
1. What are the historical continuities and transformations in the San people's cultural practices and rituals?
This research theme explores the persistence and changes in cultural and ritual practices of the San people, especially focusing on the Transkei San descendants and how their traditions, such as eland hunting rituals and rock art symbolism, have been maintained or altered over time. Understanding these practices offers insights into indigenous knowledge systems, spiritual beliefs, and social organization relevant to southern African hunter-gatherer societies.
Key finding: The paper documents detailed rituals associated with the hunting of the eland by Transkei San descendants, highlighting the continued belief in the animal's spiritual potency. The eland was ritually 'hypnotized', killed with... Read more
Key finding: Identifies a strong link between geometric finger paintings in the Williston district and Khoekhoen initiation rituals, especially girls' rites of passage. The study situates rock art within specific landscape contexts,... Read more
Key finding: Although the paper is brief here, it adds to the corpus connecting Khoekhoen rock art with pastoralist cultures in southern Africa. The discovery of new herder paintings helps to differentiate cultural expressions of... Read more
2. How have the San and Khoikhoi peoples been represented and mapped in colonial and post-colonial historical cartography and ethnography?
This theme investigates the historical representation, mapping, and documentation of San and Khoikhoi peoples within the context of European colonial knowledge production. It addresses how early mapmakers and ethnographers portrayed these indigenous groups in relation to geographical space, and examines the subsequent impact on historiography, identity, and territorial claims. Understanding these representations illuminates the construction of colonial narratives and the spatial politics affecting indigenous land and cultural recognition.
Key finding: Analyzes the cartographic sources and accuracy of Thomas Salmon's 1755 map depicting Khoikhoi ('Hottentot') tribes and geographic features in the Western Cape. The paper traces how Salmon derived much of his information from... Read more
Key finding: Compares Dutch colonial ventures in North America and South Africa, highlighting distinct colonial strategies and indigenous relations. It notes that the Cape Colony settlers competed and conflicted with the Khoikhoi over... Read more
Key finding: Challenges earlier assumptions that San-speaking foragers were isolated and that pastoralism was a recent introduction. It presents archaeological, linguistic, and historical evidence showing deep time engagement and... Read more
3. What are the roles of language, identity, and social distinction in Sanandaj regarding Kurdish and other local ethnic groups?
Focusing on the city of Sanandaj in Iranian Kurdistan, this theme explores how language acts as a central marker of social identity and alterity between dominant and subordinate groups within the city. It analyzes mechanisms through which cultural superiority is asserted, how social classes are demarcated, and how subordinate populations adapt linguistic and behavioral practices to negotiate marginalization. This investigation sheds light on ethnolinguistic dynamics in multi-ethnic urban contexts and the reproduction of social hierarchies through language.
Key finding: Demonstrates that the dominant Sanandaj group uses linguistic symbols and communicative practices to enact and maintain social distinctions over migrants and subordinate groups, associating linguistic features such as... Read more
Key finding: Provides historical and socio-political narrative about Sanandaj’s urban development showing its Kurdish identity construction through settlement patterns, migration, and governance from Safavid to Pahlavi times. Highlights... Read more