Introduction: Indigenous Identity in Africa

Chapter
First Online:

Abstract

In a judgment rendered on 13 December 2006 by the High Court of Botswana, Roy Sesana was described as a ‘member of the Kgei band of the San or Basarwa people’, whose ancestors ‘are indigenous to the Central Kgalagadi region’. A San rights activist and early member of the First People of the Kalahari (FPK), Roy Sesana acquired international fame since the mid-1990s due to the events surrounding the removal of his people from the Central Kgalagadi (Kalahari) Game Reserve (CKGR). He was the first among the 242 initial Applicants before the High Court in the highly publicized, ‘longest and most expensive court case in Botswana’s history’.

Keywords

Indigenous People Attorney General African Government African Society Game Reserve 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

References

  1. ACHPR and IWGIA (2005) African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and International Working Group for Indigenous Affairs. Report of the African Commission’s Working Group of Experts on Indigenous Populations/Communities. www.iwgia.org/graphics/Synkron-Library/Documents/publications/Downloadpublications/Books/AfricanCommissionbookEnglish.pdf. Accessed 29 Apr 2006
  2. Anaya SJ (2004) Indigenous peoples in international law, 2nd edn. Oxford University Press, New YorkGoogle Scholar
  3. Biesele M et al (1989) Hunters, clients and squatters: the contemporary socioeconomic status of Botswana Basarwa. Afr Study Monogr 9(3):109–151Google Scholar
  4. Cassidy L et al (2001) Regional assessment of the status of the San in Southern Africa: an assessment of the status of the San/Basarwa in Botswana. Legal Assistance Centre, Report No. 3Google Scholar
  5. Corry S (2003) Bushmen: the final solution and blaming the messenger. Before Farming 14(2):1–4Google Scholar
  6. DITSHWANELO (Botswana Centre for Human Rights) (1996) When will this moving stop? (Report on a Fact-Finding Mission of the Central Kgalagadi Game Reserve), 10–14 April 1996. Copy with the authorGoogle Scholar
  7. DITSHWANELO (Botswana Centre for Human Rights) (2006) Shadow Report to the United Nations’ Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, 68 session, Geneva, 3–6 March 2006. http://www.ditshwanelo.org.bw/images/CERD%20Shadow%20Report%202006.pdf. Accessed 9 June 2009
  8. Donders YM (2002) Towards a right to cultural identity. Intersentia, AntwerpGoogle Scholar
  9. ECOSOC (2000) Establishment of a Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII). 45th Plenary Meeting, UN Doc. E/RES/2000/22, 28 July 2000Google Scholar
  10. IWGIA (2006) International Working Group for Indigenous Affairs. The High Court ruling in Botswana is a milestone for the recognition of Indigenous peoples rights in Africa. Public Statement, 15 December 2006. http://iwgia.synkron.com/graphics/Synkron-Library/Documents/Noticeboard/News/Africa/IWGIApublicstatementCKGRruling.htm. Accessed 8 June 2009
  11. Lawson D (2006) Diamond warrior: Roy Sesana, spokesman for the Kalahari Bushmen. The Independent, 24 September 2006Google Scholar
  12. Mamdani M (2001) When victims become killers: colonialism, nativism and genocide in Rwanda. Princeton University Press, PrincetonGoogle Scholar
  13. Mogwe A (1992) Who was (T) here first? An assessment of the human rights situation of Basarwa in selected communities in the Gantsi District, Botswana. Commissioned by the Botswana Christian Council (BCC), March 1992. Copy with the authorGoogle Scholar
  14. Mphinyane ST (2005) NEPAD and the digital divide: the case of Botswana and the silent marginalized minorities. XXX Afr Dev 1&2:152–162Google Scholar
  15. Ng’ong’ola C (2007) Sneaking aboriginal title into Botswana’s legal system through a side door: review of Sesana and other v. the attorney-general. Univ Botswana Law J 6:103–124Google Scholar
  16. Ngugi J (2002) The decolonization–modernization interface and the plight of indigenous peoples in post-colonial development discourse in Africa. Wis Int Law J 20:297–351Google Scholar
  17. Nthomang K (2004) Relentless colonialism: The case of the Remote Area Development Programme (RADP) and the Basarwa in Botswana. J Mod Afr Stud 42(3):415–435CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  18. Nthomang K (2006) Basarwa development at crossroads: contradictions and resistance-critical insights from the CKGR relocations. 20 PULA: Botswana J Afr Stud 2(35). http://kgotla.ub.bw:8080/dspace/bitstream/123456789/114/1/Nthomang_Pula_%20Article_%202007.pdf. Accessed 12 Aug 2009
  19. Olmsted N (2004) Indigenous rights in Botswana: development, democracy and dispossession. Wash Univ Glob Stud Law Rev 3:799–866Google Scholar
  20. Saugestad S (2001) The inconvenient indigenous: remote area development in Botswana, donor assistance, and the first people of the Kalahari. Nordic Africa Institute, BoråsGoogle Scholar
  21. Segobye AK (2006) Divided commons: the political economy of Southern Africa’s cultural heritage landscapes—observations of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, Botswana. Archaeologies 1(2):52–72CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  22. Survival International (2005) Survival responds to radio 4 crossing continents programme, 14 November 2005. http://www.survival-international.org/news/1155. Accessed 8 June 2009
  23. Survival International (2006) Bushmen aren’t forever: Botswana, diamonds in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve and the eviction of Bushmen, 18 September 2006. http://www.survivalinternational.org/files/related_material/11_513_969_diamonds_facts.pdf. Accessed 3 June 2009
  24. Suzman J (2002) Kalahari conundrums: relocation, resistance and international support in the Central Kalahari Botswana. Before Farming 12(3–4):1–10Google Scholar
  25. Taylor M (2004) The past and future of San land rights in Botswana. In: Hitchcock R, Vinding D (eds) Indigenous peoples rights in Southern Africa. IWGIA, Doc. No. 110Google Scholar
  26. Taylor JJ (2007) Celebrating San victory too soon? Reflections on the outcome of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve case. Anthropol Today 23(5):3–5CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  27. Taylor I, Mokhawa G (2003) Not forever: Botswana, conflict diamonds and the Bushmen. Afr Aff 102:261–283CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  28. Tlou T, Campbell A (1997) History of Botswana. Macmillan, GaboroneGoogle Scholar
  29. van Genugten WJM, Perez-Bustillo C (2004) The emerging international architecture of indigenous rights: the interaction between the global, regional and national dimensions. Int J Minority Group Rights 11:379–409CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  30. WIMSA (Working Group of Indigenous Minorities in Southern Africa). Annual Report 2004–2005. http://www.wimsanet.org/infpub%5Clibrary%5C06_Human%20Rights.pdf. Accessed 8 June 2009
  31. Xanthaki A (2007) Indigenous rights and the United Nations standards: self-determination, culture, and land. Cambridge University Press, CambridgeGoogle Scholar

Copyright information

© T.M.C.ASSER PRESS and the author 2011

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.International Victimology Institute TilburgTilburg UniversityTilburgThe Netherlands

Personalised recommendations