Tricksters and Trancers

Mathias Guenther, Professor of Sociology and anthropology at Wilfrid Laurier University, Ontario, is the author of The Farm Bushmen of the Ghanzi District, Botswana; The Nharo Bushmen of Botswana: Tradition and Change; and Bushman Folktales :Oral Traditions of the Nharo of Botswana and the Xam of the Cape.

"Despite the voluminous material on Botswana's Bushman (the contentious ethnic label knowingly adopted by the author), this is an important contribution for a number of reasons. First, Guenther (Wilfrid Univ., Canada) provides an invaluable summary and commentary on the multilingual literature on these people. Second, and more important, the text takes up the topic of Bushman religion and cosmology, which, like its social organization, is fluid and varied. In discussing this relatively neglected concern, the author pays particular attention to the significance of the trickster, an ambiguous and disorderly creature from the beginning of time in indigenous thought, and the trance state, an important feature of Bushman ritual system. The value of Guenther's long-term fieldwork among a segment of these people is clearly demonstrated in his examination of these topics and in their relationship to gender issues. He concludes with a suggestion for anthropologists to pay greater heed to the relevance of ambiguity in Bushman society and cosmology but does not mention the theoretical work of Simmel in this context. Otherwise, this is a first-rate piece of scholarship. Upper-division undergraduates and above."—W. Arens, SUNY at Stony Brook , 2000jul CHOICE.

• PrefaceiChapter 1: Introduction: The Challenge of Bushman Religion 1The Challenge of Bushman Religion 4Bushman Religion: A Brief Summary9Notes on Methodology and Orthography10Chapter 2: Bushman Society15Nharo Society, 1790's to 1890's17Nharo Society, 1890's to 1990's25Bushman Social Organization29Chapter 3: Values and Individuals50Values53The Individual63Bushman Society's " Struggle of Society against the State"71Chapter 4: Belief and Cosmology74The Diversity and Ambiguity of Bushman Belief75Divinity78Mantis and Moon Worship?81Cosmogony: Primal Time84Cosmology: The Human-Animal Nexus89Ambiguity of Bushman Religion: Social and Cultural Factors101Social-Structural Factors:102Cognitive-Cultural Factors:107"Foraging for Ideas": The Factor of Acculturation110Socio-Cultural Change and Bushman Religion118Chapter 5: The Trickster121The Trickster's Many Faces124The Embodiment of Ambiguity128The Trickster as God139Gauwa Meets Jesus Christ147The Abomination of the Trickster God153Chapter 6: Stories, Story Telling and Story Gathering:160The Case of the Moon and the HareTextual Variation of the Myth162Story Transmission and the Foraging Ethos169Foraging Ideology or Ideology of Foraging?178The Text and Its Meaning181Chapter 7: Myth and Gender185Gender Relations in Bushman Society187Gender Relations in Bushman Myth and Lore190The Equality of Bushmen and Women198The Limitations of Structural Analysis202Chapter 8: Initiation Rites207Female Initiation209Male Initiation211Variations214Male Initiation or Hunting Magic?218Transition and Transformation219Transformation, Anti-Structure and Egalitarianism225Chapter 9: The Trance Dance228Liminality, Transformation and Transcendence231The Trance Dance and Cultural Revitalization242Flexibility, Adaptability and Variability of Bushman Ritual248Chapter 10: Missionaries and the Bushmen251The Bushman Mission in the Cape at Colonial Times254The Failure of the Cape Mission261Contemporary Missions to Bushmen273Two Incongruous Belief Systems282Chapter 11: Conclusion: Bushman Religion and the Tolerance of Ambiguity284Coping with Ambiguity288Bushman Society and Religion as Communitas and Anti-Structure298Do the Bushmen (and Hunter-Gatherers) Have Societies?303The Analytical and Methodological Challenge of Ambiguity306References Cited312Endnotes341Index352