Bushmen, San, Basarwa and Khoisan

Bushmen, San or Basarwa are the indigenous huntergatherers of southern Africa. They are related to the original modern human inhabitants of the continent and consist of a multitude of different linguistic and culturally distinct groups (Barnard 2007, 4). The names ‘Bushmen’, ‘San’ and ‘Basarwa’ are generic terms for many groups of people of different self-appellations. None of the generic terms derive from any Bushman language and they all carry somewhat negative connotations. The use of one or the other has changed many times within anthropological and archaeological discourse, as well as in society in general. The Working Group of Indigenous Minorities in Southern Africa uses ‘San’, which currently seems to be the politically correct term in South Africa and Namibia (‘Basarwa’ is commonly used in Botswana). The terms ‘Bushman’ and ‘San’ are, however, used interchangeably in the recent academic literature, and the one does not seem to be more contested than the other. In 2007, Alan Barnard decided not to choose between the two but rather to use both terms, depending on the context, ‘since in [his]view there cannot be a true correct term in any absolute sense’ (Barnard 2007, 6).

In this book I use ‘Bushman’ in the broader sense, as it was used in all my primary sources and because that term also refers to the historical discourse of Bushman studies. I do, however, distance myself from any negative and derogatory implications this term might still carry within certain contexts. I use the group names of each group referred to, but comply with the historical use of these selfappellations as they were recorded in my primary sources. I do this because I am not a linguist, and hope in this way not to contribute to further confusion when referring to historical records and museum collections. I use ‘San’ in contexts where I discuss literature that complies with this terminology.

Finally, I introduce the larger constellation of ethnic groups usually referred to as the ‘Khoisan’ or ‘Khoesan’ peoples. Leonard Schultze coined the term in the 1920s in his biometric study of ‘Hottentot’ and ‘Bushman’ populations (Barnard 1992, 7), but the term still refers to people of the same linguistic family group, including the Khoe languages as well as the non-Khoe Bushman languages.