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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue |
Title: | Bakgalagadi opposition to subservience and exploitation in Tsetseng, c. 1918-1953 |
Author: | Makgala, Christian John |
Year: | 2008 |
Periodical: | Botswana Notes and Records (ISSN 0525-5090) |
Volume: | 40 |
Pages: | 60-73 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | Botswana |
Subjects: | ethnic relations Kgalagadi Kwena colonial policy 1900-1949 |
Abstract: | The designation Bakgalagadi is a generic term for a number of groups of inhabitants of the Kgalagadi desert. They are found in Kweneng, Central, Southern, Kgalagadi and Ghanzi Districts of Botswana. Focusing on a small community of one of the groups of Bakgalagadi people in the remote village of Tsetseng on the western boundary of the Bakwena tribal territory, the author examines the relations between British imperialists, the local Bakwena subimperialists and their downtrodden Bakgalagadi subjects in the period between c. 1918 and 1953. The British and Bakwena perceived the Bakgalagadi as a lawless lot, but the present author looks at the perceived lawlessness of Tsetseng people - amongst others consisting of poaching, tax evasion, lack of cooperation with their rulers - as a form of opposition and attempt to break away from the Bakwena hegemony. The author particularly looks at the (weak) attempts of the British colonial authorities to improve the situation of subordinate tribes such as the Bakgalagadi in relation to their masters. Bibliogr., sum. [ASC Leiden abstract] |