A Kalahari Family

Épisode 1 - A Far Country

27 mars 2002

Thus ≠Oma Tsamkxao, a Ju/'hoan hunter of the Kalahari Desert, recalls his first encounter with the ethnographic filmmaker, John Marshall, in 1951. John, his sister, and their parents had come to the Kalahari to study the last independent hunter-gatherers in southern Africa. A FAR COUNTRY documents the lives of the Ju/'hoansi engaged in their ancient economy based on hunting game with poisoned arrows and gathering wild bush foods. The film also chronicles the early years of a relationship between the Marshall family and the Ju/'hoansi that would last for more than a half century. In their own words, ≠Oma, his wife !U, and members of their extended family relate their personal histories and describe Ju/'hoan society. ≠Oma recounts the tale of a days-long giraffe hunt. We learn that the maker of the arrow that kills the giraffe owns the meat and determines how it is divided. But, !U counters, "Women do important things, just like men. It's we women who fed the people." And indeed, the Marshalls learn that bush-foods gathered by women and girls provided 80% of the Ju/'hoan diet. Ju/'hoansi were self-sufficient in the 1950s, but the old life was hard. "We were owners of thirst and owners of hunger," says ≠Oma. And as the film ends, many Ju/'hoansi are imagining a different life.

Épisode 2 - End of the Road

In 1978, after a twenty-year separation, John Marshall is reunited with ≠Oma and !U's family. Like a majority of Ju/'hoansi, they have settled at Tjum!kui, an administrative post established by the South Africans who govern the territory of South West Africa. They came in search of water, employment, and what they hoped would be an easier life. But in Tjum!kui, Ju/'hoansi survive on corn meal rations, while the few with jobs and money buy liquor. Drunkenness, violence, and the diseases of poverty are rampant and all painfully depicted in END OF THE ROAD. The new life also creates inequalities that the Ju/'hoansi have never experienced. When the South African Defense Force begins recruiting Ju/'hoansi and paying them large salaries to fight the liberation forces of the South West African Peoples Organization, called SWAPO, these disparities become chasms. Marshall and his colleague Claire Ritchie record the decline of Ju/'hoan society during 1980 and 1981 when Tjum!kui becomes known as "the place of death." Hoping to re-establish a more stable way of life, the Ju/'hoansi start working with a development foundation funded by Marshall's father. The foundation supplies Ju/'hoansi with assistance to begin farming and, in 1981, ≠Oma's extended family leaves Tjum!kui, heading back to their traditional waterhole at /Aotcha with axes, shovels, and cattle.

Épisode 3 - Real Water

Throughout 1983 Ju/'hoan movement out of Tjum!kui gains momentum. Three farming communities are established and the people are busy milking and managing their cattle. However, the fledgling communities face a new threat. The Department of Nature Conservation is planning to establish a game reserve on Ju/'hoan land where people will be forbidden to have livestock or plant crops. They will be encouraged to act like "Bushmen" - dress in skins, gather bush-foods, and hunt for the amusement of tourists. REAL WATER documents a decade of grassroots efforts by the Ju/'hoansi to stake a claim to their traditional lands. As conflict intensifies, John Marshall and the people decide to drill their own boreholes. With more water, they reason, people can establish more farms and strengthen their claim to the land. Meanwhile, international pressure for South Africa to leave South West Africa escalates. Better relations between Ju/'hoansi and the government become possible. Tsamkxao, ≠Oma's son, leads a delegation to the capital with a petition protesting the game reserve. Finally, the Department of Nature Conservation announces that instead of a game reserve, it will promote trophy hunting, definitely the lesser of two evils. Looking forward to a more democratic future, delegates from the farming communities meet for the first all-Ju/'hoansi convention to write down the laws by which they hope to govern their land.

Épisode 4 - Standing Tall

In 1989, after twelve decades of colonial rule, South West Africa is about to become the independent nation of Namibia. Twenty-eight Ju/'hoan farming communities have been established, but the people's legal claim to their traditional lands in Nyae Nyae remains in question. STANDING TALL documents the efforts of members of the Nyae Nyae Farmers Cooperative (NNFC) to find their relatives in the white ranching districts and black ethnic homelands and help them return to Nyae Nyae and farm. The film depicts the desperate lives of the dispossessed Bushman – poor, hungry, and exploited-among whom the NNFC members meet /Ui Chapman. /Ui, a highly skilled Ju/'hoan farmer, works for a white rancher and earns 120 Rand ($80 US) a month. Forced to buy all his family's needs from the rancher's store, essentially /Ui works for corn meal. Political activity heats up as independence approaches. The Ju/'hoansi celebrate the victory of the South West African Peoples Organization, or SWAPO in the 1989 UN-sponsored, national election – believing that SWAPO will support Ju/'hoan farming efforts. Meanwhile UN troops help relocate /Ui's family to a borehole in Nyae Nyae. With little more than a pump and a few tools /Ui dances for joy as his family looks forward to finally farming their own land.

Épisode 5 - Death by Myth

By 1992, Namibian independence is attracting unprecedented levels of international aid for the Ju/'hoansi, but people complain that the development foundation no longer supports their farms. DEATH BY MYTH documents the shift in policy from farming to wildlife management and cultural tourism. As John Marshall and the Ju/'hoansi attempt to rally support for farming, we witness the power of the "Bushman myth." This myth – a belief that Ju/'hoansi are born to hunt and uniquely capable of living in harmony with nature – denies Ju/'hoansi the humanity to change their economy and survive on their own. Ju/'hoansi endure their cattle being killed by lions and their water pumps being destroyed by elephants. In 1994, Ju/'hoansi vote unanimously to dismiss the directors of the foundation, but their action does little to stop natural resource development or the money pouring in to implement it. In 1996, with promises of great wealth, Ju/'hoansi vote to establish a nature conservancy. What did they really understand about the policy they were endorsing? The film ends in the year 2000 when conservancy members receive a meager 75 Namibian dollars (approximately $10.50 US) each – their profit from two years of trophy hunting. As more farms fail, many people are forced to return to the squalor and disease of Tjum!kui.