Watercolor of !Kung girls.
 
!Kung Girls
30 X 22" original size
pencil and watercolor
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     Some links to information about the !Kung.  The !Kung is a name given to several tribes among the wider San people, who almost all live or lived until recently by hunting and gathering, as well as foraging. Colonial Europeans called the San "bushmen." In Botswana (language: Setswana) they were know as "Lesarwa" and "Masarwa" (Bushman), and in modern usage "Mosarwa" and "Basarwa". They are a group of tribal people who live in Southern Africa.  The movie "The Gods Must be Crazy" features the !Kung.

     The Kung! live in the Kalahari Desert which ranges over several countries in southern Africa.  Another place where some may have learned about the !Kung are from The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series written by Alexander McCall Smith.  There are other links below:
 
Working Group for Indigenous Minorities of Southern Africa - THE website for the San.  "WIMSA is required to advocate and lobby for San rights, to establish a network for information exchange among San communities and other concerned parties, and to provide training and advice to San communities on tourism, integrated development projects and land tenure."
With links to other websites for indigenous groups (mostly San) in Africa - very good place to start if you are looking for info.
The !Kung of the Kalahari Desert - basic information on the culture
Yahoo! links to sites about the !Kung San
Native People - Very interesting page about indigenous groups from around the world, may be out of date
African Bushmen Creation Myth
National Geographic article on the present day Bushmen - nice pictures
Museum for African Art- On-line reference to the artistic styles of Africa. I know Africa is a large continent with a lot of countries, groups, peoples, etc., and has the oldest civilizations in the world, so just use this as a starting point.
Cultural Survival - a group trying to preserve the rights of indigenous groups all over the world

 
THIS IS AN ARTICLE FROM SURVIVAL INTERNATIONAL

READ THEN WRITE A LETTER                                                        ACTION NEEDED NOW

Bushman supporters target Botswana investors conference
27 Jun 2006

Supporters of the Central Kalahari Bushmen protested outside a conference for investors in Botswana held in London today.

The protestors wore the message, ‘Botswana: Let the Bushmen go home' in large letters across their T-shirts. They held banners and placards and handed leaflets to investors attending the conference.

The Gana and Gwi Bushmen have been evicted from their land, tortured, beaten and arrested for hunting to feed their families.

Survival's director Stephen Corry said today, ‘The Botswana government's wilful destruction of the Bushmen has tarnished the country's image around the world. This shameful affair is increasingly putting off companies which might otherwise be keen to invest. It is the people of Botswana who are paying for the government's stubborn refusal to re-think its destruction of the central Kalahari Bushmen.'

The conference, sponsored by the Financial Times newspaper, was billed as focusing on Botswana's tourism, mining, financial services and ICT sectors, among other areas. Speakers included Botswana government ministers and executives from De Beers, the company which holds a diamond deposit under licence on Bushman land.

To see pictures of the protest click here

For further information contact Miriam Ross on (+44) (0)20 7687 8734 or email mr@survival-international.org