Tracking science : an alternative for those excluded by citizen science

Abstract: In response to recent discussion about terminology, we propose “tracking science” as a term that is more inclusive than citizen science. Our suggestion is set against a postcolonial political background and large-scale migrations, in which “citizen” is becoming an increasingly contentious term. As a diverse group of authors from several continents, our priority is to deliberate a term that is all-inclusive, so that it could be adopted by everyone who participates in science or contributes to scientific knowledge, regardless of socio-cultural background. For example, current citizen science terms used for Indigenous knowledge imply that such practitioners belong to a sub-group that is other, and therefore marginalized. Our definition for “tracking science” does not exclude Indigenous peoples and their knowledge contributions and may provide a space for those who currently participate in citizen science, but want to contribute, explore, and/or operate beyond..

Notes towards a history of Khoi literature

This article puts forward a revisionist history of Khoi literature, and also presents a number of translated Khoi narratives that have not been available in English before. Compared to the large volume of Bushman literature and scholarship, there has been very little Khoi literature and engagement with it, and an argument is presented to account for this gap in South African cultural history. Until now, the major source of Khoi literature was Wilhelm Bleek’s Reynard the Fox in South Africa (1864), and this text is critically interrogated as a limiting version of Khoi orature. An alternative corpus of Khoi narratives is presented that was originally published in Leonard Schultze’s Aus Namaland und Kalahari (1907).Web of Scienc

Beetle and plant arrow poisons of the Ju|’hoan and Hai||om San peoples of Namibia (Insecta, Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae; Plantae, Anacardiaceae, Apocynaceae, Burseraceae)

The use of archery to hunt appears relatively late in human history. It is poorly understood but the application of poisons to arrows to increase lethality must have occurred shortly after developing bow hunting methods; these early multi-stage transitions represent cognitive shifts in human evolution. This paper is a synthesis of widely-scattered literature in anthropology, entomology, and chemistry, dealing with San (“Bushmen”) arrow poisons. The term San (or Khoisan) covers many indigenous groups using so-called ‘click languages’ in southern Africa. Beetles are used for arrow poison by at least eight San groups and one non-San group. Fieldwork and interviews with Ju|’hoan and Hai||om hunters in Namibia revealed major differences in the nature and preparation of arrow poisons, bow and arrow construction, and poison antidote. Ju|’hoan hunters use leaf-beetle larvae of Diamphidia Gerstaecker and Polyclada Chevrolat (Chrysomelidae: Galerucinae: Alticini) collected from soil around the host plants Commiphora africana (A. Rich.) Engl. and Commiphora angolensis Engl. (Burseracaeae). In the Nyae Nyae area of Namibia, Ju|’hoan hunters use larvae of Diamphidia nigroornata Ståhl. Larvae and adults live above-ground on the plants and eat leaves, but the San collect the underground cocoons to extract the mature larvae. Larval hemolymph is mixed with saliva and applied to arrows. Hai||om hunters boil the milky plant sap of Adenium bohemianum Schinz (Apocynaceae) to reduce it to a thick paste that is applied to their arrows. The socio-cultural, historical, and ecological contexts of the various San groups may determine differences in the sources and preparation of poisons, bow and arrow technology, hunting behaviors, poison potency, and perhaps antidotes

Oral literature in South Africa: 20 years on

I offer a retrospective on the field of orality and performance studies in South Africa from the perspective of 2016, assessing what has been achieved, what may have happened inadvertently or worryingly, what some of the significant implications have been, what remain challenges, and how we may think of, or rethink, orality and performance studies in a present and future that are changing at almost inconceivable pace.DHE

Ju/'hoan Women's Tracking Knowledge and Its Contribution to Their Husbands' Hunting Success

1995 fieldwork in the Nyae Nyae area of northeastern Namibia indentified substantial contribution to their husbands' hunting success by Ju/'hoan women. This contribution came from a more acitve use of tracking knowledge than previously reported in anthropological literature on San and other hunter-gatherers. A mixed-gender team composed of an experienced hunter/tracker (Barclay) and an anthropologist/Ju/'hoan translator (Biesele) recorded in detail 1) the events of several collaborative hunting trips with Ju/'hoan husband-wife teams and 2) interview information about the kind and frequency of such collaboration. This team also recorded linguistic and technical details of hunting paraphernalia and techniques hitherto unelaborated in the literature, focusing on snares used by both men and women (to be presented elsewhere). The current paper presents the 1995 findings in the context of relevant information on gender and hunting from other societies. It invites colleagues to share ideas and information on this topic. In particular, it poses the question: does the current observed frequency of spousal cooperation in hunting Nyae Nyae 1)reflect very recent circumstances, or 2)does it, as some Ju/'hoan statements suggest, have substantial time-depth? The conclusion reached is that 1) and 2) are not necessarily opposing propositions, and that further investigation is needed