Deconstructing the Bushman Image: Representations of the San in Southern Africa

Abstract

The San are one of the most marginalized people in the world. Their peripheral status has been cemented in the media, through television documentaries and major films that show them as living in an idyllic wilderness, as if they are untouched by civilization. This idea is far from the truth. In reality, most San people have been forced out of their former lands, and now live in refugee camps. Why do so few people really know what conditions the San currently face? In my project, I examined myths and misconceptions about the San people in Southern African culture, in an effort to understand what relationship visual media and popular culture have to ethnic identity.