Ju|'hoan Folktales: Transcriptions and English Translations

About the Book

This Ju|'hoan-language literacy primer has been produced by the Ju|'hoan Transcription Group, active since 2002 in Nyae Nyae, Namibia. The members of the Transcription Group, all Ju|'hoan men and women, transcribed and translated versions of Ju|'hoan folktales recorded in Botswana and Namibia between 1971 and 2006, to prepare the selections for the primer. Meant as literacy study materials for youth and adults of the Ju|'hoan communities of both countries, the fourteen selected tales are arranged in order of increasing length and complexity. The tales are not compilations from various versions, but faithful renderings of specific recordings. They are accompanied by both literal, line-by-line English translations and short English synopses.

About the Author

Megan Biesele, Director of the Kalahari Peoples Fund, helped to found the Fund in 1973 along with other members of the Harvard Kalahari Research Group (HKRG). For periods in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, she worked with Ju/'hoan San communities in Botswana and Namibia as an advocate and documentarian, and served as director of a non-governmental organization (NGO), the Nyae Nyae Development Foundation of Namibia, during the years spanning Namibia's transition to Independence (1987-1992). She is a past member of the Committee for Human Rights (CfHR) of the American Anthropological Association. She currently holds adjunct professorships in anthropology at Michigan State University and the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, as well as a Research Associateship at the Department of Anthropology of the University of Texas at Austin.