Classification of the Khoisan peoples

To a handful of experts the classification of Khoisan peoples is a fascinating topic. To almost anyone else the topic in its own right is unlikely to evoke any immediate reactions but confusion and bewilderment. In this chapter I hope to reduce the confusion, but first a look at some of the problems that bewilder even the experts may be of interest, even to the non-specialist.

Some problems

There are literally hundreds of ethnic group names in the Khoisan literature, and authors use the names in different ways. For example, ‘!Kung’ (from the plural of a !Kung word for ‘person’, !xũ) is often used today in a generic sense to refer to all the speakers of !Kung languages, while nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century writers consistently distinguished the Southern !Kung or ≠ Au//eisi as a separate people. They called them the ‘Auen’, which is ≠ au//eisi without the clicks and with a Nama or Nharo suffix in place of the !Kung one. Also, some modern writers who speak of ‘!Kung’ culture or society really mean that of the Central !Kung, who call themselves not !xũ at all, but žu/'hoãsi (‘real people’).