The root and tip of the ||kwanna: introducing chiasmus in |xam narratives

What is it about?

SKY, PATHS AND WALKING In the southern hemisphere winter of 1873 ||Kabbo sat waiting, as he said; “for the moon to turn back for me.” The words were uttered as the first line of a narrative that he told to Lucy Lloyd, and which she transcribed as “What ||Kabbo said to me about his intended return home to Bushmanland.” This she subsequently published as “||Kabbo’s Intended Return Home” in Specimens Of Bushmen Folklore (1911). This paper in Critical Arts explores the cosmological implications of the story with reference to the |Xam San notions of sky, paths and walking.

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Why is it important?

Neil Rusch returns to an iconic colonial texts that in some way provides access to the 19th century indigenous voice, despite complex processes of collection and translation. Rusch provides a fresh reading of one of the most famous pieces of /Xam literature from the Bleek-Lloyd collection, //Kabbo’s celebrated ‘intended return home’. His attention to //Kabbo’s cosmology enables him to show how precise the seasonal and place references are, and how these are interwoven with //Kabbo’s plans for his return home. - Michael Wessels, Editor Critical Arts