Publications

Customs and Beliefs of the /Xam Bushmen

More than 125 years ago, at the height of the colonial era in South Africa, a group of people came together in Cape Town under remarkable circumstances. The project upon which they embarked involved nothing less than the writing down of the language and beliefs of the |Xam people, a Bushman group that once lived their traditional way of life over much of what is now South Africa. The significance and value of the labors of Wilhelm Bleek, Lucy Lloyd and their |Xam teachers are now well-known, but not all of the fascinating material, particularly |Xam testimony about their beliefs, is readily available.

Customs and Beliefs of the /Xam Bushmen reproduces the material published in the 1930s by Dorothea Bleek in the journal Bantu Studies, and includes a grammar of the |Xam language. Maps, original drawings by the informants, and photographs taken in the early 20th Century by Dorothea Bleek of the descendants of the |Xam informants make the book attractive and accessible to both specialist and non-specialist audiences.

Edited by Jeremy C. Hollmann
Price: $35
Ringing Rocks Press 2006
45 b/w photographs
Pages: 439
Book Type: Paperback
ISBN: 1868143996 (paperback)

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