Hunters among farmers: The !Xun of Ekoka

Title: Hunters among farmers
Subtitle: The !Xun of Ekoka
Author: Akira Takada
Publisher: University of Namibia Press (UNAM Press)
2nd edition. Windhoek, Namibia 2022
ISBN 9789991642673 / ISBN 978-99916-42-67-3
Softcover, 15 x 23 cm, 261 pages, several b/w photographs

About: Hunters among farmers: The !Xun of Ekoka

Through moving life histories, Akira Takada gives the !Xun of north-central Namibia a voice in their own history. In contrast to other marginalised San minorities, the !Xun foster cooperative relationships with their neighbours, the Ovawambo, and with the state. In the face of radical social changes over the past century, they have maintained traditional hunting and gathering as a backstop but also sold their skills and labour, acquired their own farms and livestock, and enriched their child-rearing practices in changing ecological conditions. Central to their identity and resilience are their kinship and naming practices which preserve their ethnic cohesion while promoting relationships with other groups. Contributing to an established literature on the San, Takada’s book will allow detailed regional comparison on the !Kung-speaking groups of northern Namibia. Charming sketches from his notebooks give an intimate view of the anthropologist in the field. Akira Takada is Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies at Kyoto University. Continuing the long-standing anthropological work on the San by Japanese anthropologists, he began fieldwork among the !Xun of Namibia in 1998. He has published widely in English, with a focus on child
socialisation practices.

Content: Hunters among farmers: The !Xun of Ekoka

List of figures, plates, tables and cases
Abbreviations
Foreword
Preface to the second edition
Notes on Orthography
1. An egalitarian society
Among the San communities in Namibia, the !Xun have a close relationship with the farming peoples around them.
2. Pushed to the margins
Living in a plural society, the !Xun were subject to powerful outside influences such as the Western powers, missionaries and the liberation movement.
3. Telling their stories
Narratives of !Xun life reflect on intimate relations with the Ovawambo and the tAkhoe.
4. Of growing up in Ekoka
Child-rearing practices were affected by changing land policies before and after national independence.
5. And remaining !Xun
The resilience of the !Xun allows them to maintain, adapt and reconstruct their identity.
Appendix
References
Glossary
Index