Victims or actors of development : the case of the San people at D’Kar, Botswana

Abstract

There are a lot of issues concerning the San people of Botswana with regards to self determination and the relationship with the state. There is overlapping issues concerning the San people of Botswana, for the purposes of discussion the thesis highlights some of the issues without delving too much into them as they are not the point of discussion but nonetheless noteworthy. The paper is grounded on various discussions about the identity of the San people of Botswana and their contemporary way of life. The discussion is rooted in the development policies which have been initiated by the Botswana government on the San people and how these have created a potential gap in achieving realistic developmental initiatives on the San people. By outlining some of the projects carried out by the KFO the discussion has shown how this group has attempted to fill in the gaps created by government initiatives which failed to address the state of the San people as proven by the perpetual poverty which seems to characterise them. Although the point of focus is mainly on the arts and craft and the D’Qare Qare Game Farm it was necessary to show other projects as they also have a significant contribution to the livelihood of the San people of Botswana. The discussion interprets data gathered during field work in relation to the actor oriented theory. The discussion started with socio-demographic characteristics which discusses aspects of gender and age in relations to the respondents and the impact and or influence of both respectively, in the outcome of data collection. The discussion goes further into interpreting data by citing some activities which are embarked upon by the San people involved with the KFO projects. The participation in the KFO projects is used to highlight the symbiotic relationship between the San and the KFO projects and how this is played out.