Khoisan in the new South Africa: anthropology, museums and 'Bushmen'

Robins, Steven

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Periodical article

Leiden University catalogue

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Title:	Khoisan in the new South Africa: anthropology, museums and 'Bushmen'
Author:	Robins, Steven
Year:	1998
Periodical:	African Anthropology (ISSN 1024-0969)
Volume:	5
Issue:	1
Period:	March
Pages:	81-112
Language:	English
Notes:	biblio. refs.
Geographic terms:	South Africa Southern Africa
Subjects:	images Khoikhoi San Anthropology and Archaeology Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) Bibliography/Research Ethnic and Race Relations Anthropology, Folklore, Culture Khoisan (African people) anthropology ethnicity Racism in museum exhibits
Abstract:	The exhibition 'Miscast: negotiating the presence of KhoiSan history and material culture', held from 12 April to September 1996 at the South African National Gallery in Cape Town, evoked strong reactions. It drew attention to the Khoisan genocide, and to the role of physical anthropologists and anatomists who measured, photographed and classified Khoisan bodies, but also questioned European representations of colonial subjects, as well as scientist-ethnologists' suppositions that physical characteristics of the body denoted social dispositions and cultural and personality traits. Studies of the recent rediscovery of Khoisan identities have forced anthropologists in South Africa to reflect upon the politics of debunking the cultural discourses of subaltern people. They find themselves enmeshed in complex identity politics and legal disputes. The author examines the implications of the engagement of South African anthropologists in the public sphere by focusing on the Miscast exhibition, 'Bushman myths' and the rediscovery of Khoisan identities in the 1990s. The author finds that with the abolishment of apartheid, stable and clearly defined racial borders have vanished, thus creating the space to challenge the homogenizing definitions of colouredness imposed on people of mixed ancestry by apartheid. This was illustrated in the debate surrounding the Miscast exhibition. Bibliogr., notes.