| Abstrakt: |
Abstract: Based on several field research trips between 2007 and 2011, this study presents data in the neglected field of research on urban Bushmen dwellers. It describes the limited economic opportunities and coping strategies of the !Xun Bushmen living in the township Omulunga of the town Grootfontein in the north of the commercial farming area in Namibia. The urban !Xun breadwinners can be categorized, with certain overlaps, in four groups - !Xun with long-term employment, seekers of occasional work, !Xun living on zula, and pensioners. This study shows the complexity of factors underlying the options of the !Xun to perform particular economic activities. Given the financial demands of life in a cash economy-dominated urban environment, the differences in economic situations of the !Xun are so small that they constitute de facto an urban ethnic class. While most outsiders would not notice the small economic differences on first sight, the urban !Xun dwellers acutely perceive the differences in economic situations mining themselves. The economic and coping strategies of the urban !Xun dwellers as a whole do seem to overlap with the strategies of other Bushman groups in the urban environment and with the lowest social strata of urban dwellers irrespective of ethnic background. |
