San of Southern Africa

Below are resources related to Robert Hitchcock and Maria Sapignoli's “San of Southern Africa” chapter of Native Nations: The Survival of Indigenous Peoples, 4th Edition, edited by Sharlotte Neely and Douglas W. Hume.

Agencies & Organizations

Discussion Questions

  • Describe the threats to San cultural survival by outsiders in their recent history.
  • Explain the cultural changes that have occurred among the San due to external forces on them.
  • The San have been involved, often successfully, in long and expensive court cases to assert their land and other rights. What other strategies have the San used to promote their rights, and how successful have these strategies been?

Documentary Films

Further Reading


Contemporary San People

San Man
San Man, Namibia (Lord Mountbatten [Public Domain])

San Distribution Map

Kalahari Desert Map
Distribution of San peoples in Southern Africa. (Robert Hitchcock, All Rights Reserved)

San Ethno-historical Photograph

San Starting a Fire
Bushmen in Deception Valley, Botswana demonstrating how to start a fire by rubbing sticks together (Isewell [CC BY-SA])

San Man Portrait
Portrait of a bushman. Alfred Duggan-Cronin. South Africa, early 20th century. The picture is housed in the Wellcome Collection and is on display (Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg) [CC BY-SA])

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