Treesleeper camp: impacts on community perception and on image creation of Bushmen: a study on community-based and cultural tourism in Tsintsabis, Namibia

Treesleeper camp: impacts on community perception and on image creation of Bushmen: a study on community-based and cultural tourism in Tsintsabis, Namibia

M.A. Thesis - The study analyses (re)negotiations of power positions and (re)constructions of images in a changing local setting where local people respond to and influence the social, economic, political and cultural context. The question of dynamics of change with an emphasis on contributions of local actors is important for Hai//om (and !Kung) Bushmen who, as well as other Bushmen, have long been seen as influenced by others and as being exposed to change. Smith and Brent claim that tourism as an influencing local and global factor offers chances to look at both the changes brought about by ‘outside contacts’ and ‘ongoing processes of change inherent in societies’ because it triggers “sociopolitical-cultural changes (…) and will further magnify [these changes] in the decades ahead” (Smith, Brent 2001:11). In order to elaborate this issue in a local context, the following main research problem and its subquestions will be addressed: Which role does the community-based and cultural tourism project Treesleeper play for the people of Tsintsabis and for the image creation of Bushmen, in specific Hai//om and to a minor extent !Kung? Does the project foster old patterns, initiate new changes or act as a magnifier of existent processes of change? • How do local people negotiate their positions within the village and what do they perceive as ‘community’? • How does the tourism project Treesleeper shape the understanding of ‘community’ and the negotiations for power positions among the people of Tsintsabis? • What are dynamics of change in external stakeholders’ (governments’, civil society’s, anthropologists’ and others’) perspectives on (Hai//om and to a minor extent on !Kung) Bushmen and how do Hai//om and !Kung Bushmen of Tsintsabis reconstruct their self-image in the context of marginalisation? • Which role does the community-based and cultural tourism project Treesleeper play for the processes of change in the perception and self-perception of (Hai//om and !Kung) Bushmen?

Anna Hüncke

http://www.asclibrary.nl/docs/331/411/331411148.pdf

African Studies Centre, Leiden

2010

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English