No hunting : finding a new f. stop for the Bushmen

This mini-dissertation is a personal, methodological , and scholarly study of a seven month visual art program at !Khwa ttu: San Culture Education Centre. It centres on the fraught issue of the representation of the Bushmen, with a particular focus on the violence of representation through the photographic genre. Through this mini-dissertation I attempt to re-imagine the photograph in relation to the Bushmen; through an interrogation of the medium as one that has the potential for healing, dialogue and empowerment. The act of looking is discussed, and I raise questions of ethics and photographs as well as questions of ownership of photographs in relation to the Bushmen of southern Africa. Since this project was an opportunity to engage in rhetoric, particularly on the definition of the Bushmen, a core element of this project is the participation and the voice of the !Khwa ttu Reference Group.This participation was underscored by the group both engaging in the past through historical imagery, and attempting to use the past as a springboard to re-imagine their future.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

African Studies

Year dc:date.issued

2008

Author dc:creator

• O'Connell, Siona

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Shepherd, Nick

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/11762

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/11762