Séance exceptionnelle du 21 février 2017, 15h à 17h
IMAF / site Raspail, salle de réunion, 2e étage, 96 bd Raspail 75006 Paris
Séance commune avec le séminaire de la Fondation du Japon, CRAA-ETRE (Comprendre les Relations Afrique-Asie : Espace transversal de Recherche et d’Enseignement),
– Professeur invité : Akira Takada, anthropologue et professeur associé à la Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies (ASAFAS) de l’Université de Kyoto
The cultural and ecological foundations of ethnicity among the !Xun of North-central Namibia
Abstract :
The people generally referred to as the San are thought to be indigenous to southern Africa and actually consist of various groups distinguished by language, locale, and practice. Among them, the Ju|’hoan lived in the hearth of the Kalahari have been studied most. In the meanwhile, the !Xun of North-central Namibia, a neighboring San group of Ju|’hoan, failed to attract attention as an independent research subject. Although people who seem to be !Xun appear in previous studies, the distinction between these people and the Ju|’hoan is vague. Nonetheless, in the context of contemporary studies, which require us to consider the San ethnicity from the perspective of its historical relationship with its neighboring ethnic groups and with the state, the !Xun provide valuable research findings. In this presentation, I will analyze (1) the kinship and naming terminologies of the !Xun, (2) the historical transition of their ethnicity, (3) the interplay between their ethnicity and familial/kin relationships, and (4) the reorganization of environmental features that affect on child socialization. This attempt provides an unparalleled case study for promoting the regional structural comparison (Barnard 1992) of San. Combining all these elements, moreover, this study delineates the cultural and ecological foundations of ethnicity of the !Xun and thereby provide a valuable research perspective in the emerging anthropology of lifeworld.