Bureaucratic Domination of Hunter-Gatherer Societies

A Study of the San in Botswana

Datos Bibliográficos

ID3884072
AutoresR K Hitchcock (0000-0001-8110-0289, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), John D Holm (University of Botswana)
Año1993
Volumen24
Número2
Páginas305-338
Fecha de publicación1993-04-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaDevelopment and Change (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0012-155X • E-ISSN: 1467-7660
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1467-7660.1993.tb00487.x
OpenAlexW1974417189
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas17
Referencias citadas24

Social science analysis of hunter-gatherer societies has highlighted their economic and cultural subordination to neighbouring peoples. This article shows that, at least in the case of the San in Botswana, state bureaucratic domination is becoming the determining factor in social change. The authors provide evidence of bureaucratic domination with respect to settlement of the San, the establishment of headmanship, extension of social services and environmental legislation. In this new environment, hunter-gatherer self-determination requires the creation of effective political organizations to counter the bureaucratic state. Some San groups in Botswana are already reacting to the expanding presence of the state by dramatically increasing their involvement in various aspects of Botswana's electoral politics. While the outcome of the San political challenge to the state is still in doubt, the authors conclude that San settlement is a precondition for political change in spite of the serious cultural sacrifice involved

Bureaucracy · Development economics · Economics · Ethnology · Legislation · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Precondition · Settlement (finance) · Sociology · State (computer science) · Subordination (linguistics) · Archaeology and Rock Art Studies · Law · Rangeland Management and Livestock Ecology · South African History and Culture