The Ju/’Hoansi of the Kalahari

The San people of the Kalahari Desert were ‘discovered’ by the outside world in the 1950s. The San are one of the oldest indigenous populations on earth. They have been around for 20, 000 years or more, with a history of living in small family bands. They were a people that never cared about riches or personal possessions as everything was shared among their people. Their populations survived through hunting and gathering in the desert and semi-desert environment of the Kalahari. Things have changed with the advent of the modern world and “civilization”. Today, most San live scattered over many Southern African countries, far away from their original traditional hunting grounds. Some of them are city “squatters”, some farm laborers, and some have been resettled by their respective Governments to specific ghettos. The struggles that they endure have allowed them to fall into a passive existence unlike their traditional hard working nature, and many of them have been forgotten by greater society. Only one tribe continues to occupy their ancestral land; the Ju/’hoansi. Due to war, displacement and the introduction of drugs and alcohol, their societies have continued a downward spiral into poverty and despair.
Attempts have been made for the San people to become self sufficient in the modern world. These programs have been tried, including the Nyae Nyae Farmers’ Collective, and they have failed. This paper will examine the current issues of the San people, highlighting the Ju/’hoansi tribe, and their current struggle for survival. This paper will also suggest new ways in which the San people can retain their indigenous knowledge in the modern world, develop new ways of conflict resolution and indigenous identity. Other indigenous groups from around the world will also be compared and highlighted to the San people in order to prescribe new ways in which the San can become a fully functioning society within the global community.
The Dobe area where the

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