Myth and Meaning: San-Bushman Folklore in Global Context

258 Pages·2015·6.2 MB·English

by  JD Lewis-Williams

Myth
and
Meaning
This book is gratefully dedicated to
Susan Ward,
a highly valued personal friend and
patron of the Rock Art Research Institute.
Myth
and
Meaning
San-Bushman Folklore
in Global Context
J. D. Lewis-Williams
Walnut Creek
California
left coast press, inc.
1630 North Main Street, #400
Walnut Creek, ca. 94596
http://www.LCoastPress.com
Copyright © 2015 by Left Coast Press, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording,
or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.
isbn 978-1-62958-154-5 hardcover
isbn 978-1-62958-156-9 institutional eBook
isbn 978-1-62958-157-6 consumer eBook

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lewis-Williams, J. David, author.
Myth and meaning : San-Bushman folklore in global context / J.D. Lewis-Williams.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-1-62958-154-5 (hardback : alk. paper) — isbn 978-1-62958-156-9 (institutional
ebook) — isbn 978-1-62958-157-6 (consumer ebook)
1. San (African people)—Folklore. 2. Mythology, San. 3. Cosmology, San. 4. Shamanism—
Africa, Southern. I. Title.
gr358.2.b83l49 2015
398.208996’1—dc23
2014048986
Printed in the United States of America
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ansi/niso z39.48–1992.
Contents
List of Illustrations 6
About This Book 7
Acknowledgements 9
Note on Pronunciation and Spelling 11
Prologue: A Broken String? 13
Chapter 1 Myth in its San Incarnation 33
Chapter 2 Bringing Home the Honey 47
Chapter 3 The Mantis Makes an Eland 75
Chapter 4 The Fight with the Meerkats 97
Chapter 5 A Visit to the Lion’s House 117
Chapter 6 The Mantis Dreams 133
Chapter 7 Narrating and Painting 149
Chapter 8 People of the Eland 173
Chapter 9 The Broken String 183
Chapter 10 ‘They Do Not Possess My Stories’ 201
Notes 211
References 217
Index 233
About the Author 249
IllustratIons
Figures
1.1 Map of southern Africa showing San groups 34
1.2 Wilhelm Bleek 35
1.3 Lucy Lloyd 36
1.4 Diä!kwain 38
2.1 Joseph Millerd Orpen 48
2.2 Joseph Orpen’s 1874 article 54
3.1 /Han≠kass’o 79
3.2 Relationships within the Mantis’s family 83
3.3 San rock painting of trance dancers and bees 94
5.1 San rock painting of human figures blending with karosses 123
7.1 San rock painting showing two men’s hunting bags (conical) 156
7.2 Conflict scene 158
7.3 San rock painting of a man playing a musical bow 164
7.4 San rock painting of rain shamans leading a rain-animal 165
Section of colour plates appears after page 131.
1 The /Xam San homeland
2 The Maloti-Drakensberg
3 //Kabbo
4 Antelope skin San bags
5 Bags turning into antelope
6 Rock painting of a running bowman
7 Man playing a musical bow
8 An eland emerges from the rock face
9 Paintings made by Mapote in 1930
10 San thumb-piano
11 Ju/’hoansi people talking to Megan Biesele
12 The postapartheid South African coat of arms
6
about thIs book
W
riters on mythology face a number of dilemmas. Should they dis-
cuss the many theories of myth that have been developed over the
last two centuries and then illustrate each by considering a specific
myth that their readers might be expected to know? Or should they avoid
any discussion of theory and simply set about presenting their own under-
standing of one or more myths from a particular group of people? Either
way, many writers find the myths of ancient Greece looming over them. The
Greek pantheon and tales about the gods’ dealings with one another and with
human beings have become the epitome of mythology. Other people’s myths
tend to be seen in the light of what we think we know about ancient Greece.
Did Greek mythology play a role in moulding Western thought and values,
or is Western thought still guiding our understandings of Greek myths?
In dealing with the vast array of myths worldwide—few if any commu-
nities lack a mythology—some writers try to find common denominators.
Despite much ingenuity on the part of these scholars, I usually find this sort
of broad, synoptic survey unsatisfactory. Primarily, my disappointment is a
result of my familiarity with southern African San-Bushman mythology. For
instance, I initially tried but failed to find in San myths persuasive examples
of Lévi-Strauss’s ‘mythemes’ that were not my own projections of Western
values. Nor did I have much success with the psychological generalisations of
Jung and Freud. Their views on myth seemed to turn the San narratives into
something that appeared to me foreign to San life and thought. Perhaps other
writers will have better luck.
So, not wanting to ignore the worldwide context of mythology and
theory and at the same time hoping to preserve something of the essential
‘Sanness’ of the tales, I have adopted a different approach. I do not claim that
it is a new ‘theory of myth’. But I believe I am advocating a way of getting at
the essentials of the ethnographic contexts of myths as a protection against
seeing other people’s myths in the light of our own contemporary interests
and values. It is in this way that I hope to place San mythology in a global
context without erasing its intrinsic character.
7

aCknowledgements
I
am grateful to many people who assisted not only with the writing of this
book but also in discussions over decades of interest in San myth and rock
art. Megan Biesele was my coauthor of a 1978 article that, together with
a 1976 visit with her to the Kalahari San, laid a foundation for my further
thought. She continues to serve the interests of the Kalahari San in numer-
ous practical ways. Other anthropologists with whom I have had valuable
discussions include the late Lorna Marshall and the late John Marshall,
Lorna’s daughter Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, Richard Lee, Alan Barnard, Ed
Wilmsen, Richard Katz, and the late Tony Traill, whose knowledge of San
languages was second to none. I mention especially Mathias Guenther, whose
book Trancers and Tricksters (1999) is an outstanding work of scholarship
and insight. Janette Deacon, a long-time friend and pioneer researcher of the
Wilhelm Bleek and Lucy Lloyd Archive, has always been most helpful. David
Whitley kindly read and usefully commented on a draft of the book. I have
enjoyed and benefitted from many years of friendship with him.
The director of the Rock Art Research Institute (rari) at the University
of the Witwatersrand, David Pearce, a highly valued previous coauthor, has
given much assistance in the field, in protracted lunch-table discussions, and
in many other ways. His current work on dating San rock is proving seminal.
Other rari members have always provided stimulating discussion and assis-
tance. They include, especially, Mark McGranaghan, whose Oxford DPhil.
thesis on the Bleek and Lloyd Archive is a remarkable piece of work, and
Sam Challis, another former coauthor, whose Oxford DPhil. and subsequent
publications deal with the relationship between the Maloti San and adjacent
peoples. Catherine Namono and Siyakha Mguni, also members of rari,
have participated in many useful discussions. Ghilraen Laue, a rari Ph.D.
candidate, assisted with the compilation of illustrations. Eric Wettengel took
photographs especially for the book. David Witelson, a Master’s degree can-
didate, meticulously read and corrected drafts of all the chapters, thus saving
me considerable embarrassment. Others who have kindly commented on
drafts of individual chapters include Geoffrey Blundell, Jeremy Hollmann,
Thomas Huffman, Elwyn Jenkins, Robert Leslie, Johannes Loubser, Alan
Morris, and Gavin Whitelaw. Electronic scanning of rock art images was
9