The Cape Herders

the long version

Combining the insights of archaeology, history and anthropology, this account ranges from the origins of the Khoikhoi in Southern Africa to the contemporary politics of the Namaqualand 'reserves'. Its authors have produced a scholarly, yet accessible, book, lavishly illustrated and supplemented with short biographies and fascinating detail. The Cape Herders explodes a variety of South African myths - not least those surrounding the negative stereotype of the 'Hottentot', and those which contribute to the idea that the Khoikhoi are by now 'a vanished people'. The story it tells instead is one of enduring interest - the history of a herding people in Southern Africa, its society, economy and culture, its relationship to the indigenous hunters of the Cape, its encounters with European expeditions, and its subsequent exposure to the first effects of colonisation. It is a story of change and adaptation, and it confirms the Khoikhoi's central role in the making of today's South Africa.