Hello listeners, welcome to the Culture and Climate Exchange podcast.
This episode explores the contemporary South African San peoples experience with climate change
and how it influenced their cultural life and social dynamics.
Their story tells the tale of adaptation, resilience, and the intricate dance between
human cultures and their environments. My name is Misumi Awalabi and I am this podcast's host.
Imagine standing on the world's edge in the Kalahari Desert amidst the towering dunes and
feeling of soft grains of sand slipped through your fingers below the crimson and gold horizon.
Here, people dwell whose connection lies deep due to many social and environmental factors.
These people are known as the San people or the San Bushmen. The San are renowned for their
knowledge of the natural world, complex hunter-gatherer societies, and language, unfortunately.
In recent times, the effects of climate change have begun to reshape their existence,
posing challenges to their livelihood and cultural practices. Their experiences include
perseverance, innovative responses to environmental challenges, and preservation of traditional
knowledge. Due to climate change, the problems introduced by colonialism have been exacerbated.
Their culture has been altered, and their gender and occupational dynamics have shifted. Therefore,
they respond with adaptation methods. I am thrilled to introduce our guest, a historian
from the University of New Mexico, to this episode. He has been working with the San since 1975.
He has originally worked with a team to study the San's culture, biology, language, and archaeology.
He has been returning to the Kalahari to work with the Zan for almost 50 years.
Please welcome Professor Hitchcock. Hello Professor Hitchcock, and welcome as a guest on
the Cultural and Climate Exchange. I emailed Professor Hitchcock after reading his papers,
which include climate change, resilient livelihoods, and adaptations strategies among the Ju Hansi
Zan of Nainai, Nambia, and the plight of the Kalahari Zan. He has physically seen how climate
change has impacted settlement patterns and livelihoods, and how people have transitioned
from sedentary lifestyles and diversified their sources of livelihood. So this podcast
will first focus on the Zan's historical context and the change he observed. We will then examine
the effects of Western colonialism and dive into how gender dynamics have been altered or affected,
as well as occupational dynamics. We will then look at how the Kalahari Zan's people's identity
has evolved due to climate change regarding culture, gender, occupation, and class.
Then we will discuss how the Zan people perceive climate change, and lastly, their efforts to
adapt to this changing environment. Professor Hitchcock will periodically give his insights
on the subject as we go along. Professor Hitchcock will first explain what he has seen in the last
50 years as an anthropologist. Well, both climate change as well as change in their cultures. The
biggest change, I think, for many Zan has been settling down. They've become sedentary. That's
what I wrote my dissertation about. And they have diversified their livelihoods. They've gotten
more involved, say, in agriculture and livestock production. And the responses to climate change
have been interesting. Some of them had to do with changing the kinds of plants they utilize,
diversifying their numbers and types of plants. In some cases, they've had to abandon areas because
of long-term drought and other climate changes, and they don't have any access to water. They've
started using more specific kinds of resources for moisture, such as melons.
We're talking about 130,000 people in eight countries in southern Africa. So
there's a lot of variability in the kinds of responses they have to climate change.
Thank you, Professor Hitchcock, for those insights. As you can see, imagine stepping into the world of
the Zan people. They were connected to their lands by embracing livelihoods like agriculture and
livestock production. However, the specter of drought continues to loom, forcing them to change their
way of life. However, this is not solely due to climate change, but heavily to Western colonialism.
This arguably, though, has worsened climate change's impact on these cultures. As we examine the
cultural historical context of the Zan people's experiences, it becomes evident that this
environmental change impact is deeply intertwined with socio-political forces that have shaped their
lives. With this encroachment on their lands and resources, Western colonialism has left a
lasting imprint on the Zan community, exacerbating the challenges posed by climate change.
The biggest impact of Western colonialism has been the reduction in the land available for the
Zan people. In Libya, for example, the Zan used to occupy the entire country, and now they occupy
a much smaller portion of the country. Much of the land was given to German colonial
farmers and later Afrikaners from South Africa. But so much of the land was given to
Soana, and before that, to the British and to Africaners who occupied the western part of
the country in free-bould farms. I think the biggest change with colonialism has been the
dispossession of the Zan. Close your eyes and imagine the vast expanse of the Kalahari desert
once the ancestral homeland for the San people now encroached on by foreign settlers. The loss of
land and territory has disrupted their traditional ways of life and intensified the impacts of
environmental degradation. These land losses restricted the Zan people's access to natural
resources essential for their livelihoods such as water sources grazing land for livestock
and area gathering for wild plants. These limitations made it more challenging to cope
with the impacts of climate change such as droughts and shifts in plant and animal distributions.
These possessions of land also led to forced settlement of the Zan people into fixed locations
disrupting their monat nomadic lifestyle. This made them more vulnerable to extreme weather events
and environmental hazards that can no longer move freely in search of resources or avoid areas
affected by climate related disasters. San people were also affected by climate change in their
daily lives including their nutritional situation. Professor Hitchcock will provide more information.
A number of effects for one is reduced their livelihoods and their I would say their nutrition.
I think that nutrition of Zan people in many cases is worse off now than it was
10 years ago and part of that is because of climate change. The governments have tried to
offset the problems of nutritional difficulties by providing some food and other resources cash
so that they can buy food but the food that they provide similar to the United States with Native
Americans in the 19th century is that it's mostly a maize meal needs not very diversified they might
get a little tin of fish and some milk powder and that's problematic in terms of the diet.
So I would say that the government efforts which are modeled on those of the United States for
indigenous people have not been as effective as they could be at averting the problems of climate
change. It's genuinely concerning to hear about the impacts of climate change on the Zan people's
nutrition and how it worsened in the past decade. Although the government has tried to alleviate
these difficulties it tends to fall short of addressing the root causes. It's imperative
that more effective strategies need to be implemented to address these climate related issues.
What other effects of climate change occur on the Zan people? More specifically their culture.
The things is that they in the past because they had access to wide areas they could move
to places they can't do that anymore because most of the land is taken up by other groups
and that's a huge issue and that has changed their culture. You see some decline in cultural
traditions. Perhaps there are fewer healing dances today than there used to be in the past. Some of
that is due to the deaths of major healers. Some of that came about over the years. The younger
people were not being trained in healing dances in the lab. Dances were for dealing with the sick.
Indirectly I guess you could say that the number of people sick can be related to
climate change. It's a difficult connection there. Certainly climate change has made things worse for
people in terms of their nutrition. That means that there are more efforts to try and heal people.
Overall I would say that climate change has affected some of the traditions
in particular the healing traditions. It's disheartening to hear about the
decline in cultural traditions such as healing dances. This is indicative of the broader erosion
of cultural identity and knowledge systems. It shows not only the immediate impact of land loss
but also the intergenerational transmission of cultural practices. This decline reminds us of
the social, cultural, environmental factors in transforming some people's culture. This topic
in fact reminds me of an article written in 2nd-Ground 4. The article is called
Culture Under Threat special report on the Saan Bushmen. Saan people feel they are losing their
culture. In the article Soba Sagarah represents his Saan community. Despite some efforts to
meditate these problems they faced like poor health, lack of education, and difficulties with
this language in schools. Climate change could exacerbate these existing struggles by affecting
land availability and agricultural productivity. Could you, Professor Hitchcock, share insights
on this? To what extent are the Saan people's culture changing due to climate change?
Climate change has had an effect certainly. Some Saan have gone to the climate change meetings.
For example the one that they had in the Middle East in November. They've attended those meetings
and this has given some recognition to Saan. I would say the major things that are affecting
Saan cultural identity have got so much climate change as their activism to try and get the
governments to treat them fairly and to give them compensation for the land that they lost or give
them land itself. Climate change has made things more complicated but is sometimes
provided opportunities for Saan-sposed persons to take part in meetings and that may have an effect
on Saan cultural identity. It's honestly commendable that the Saan people have been participating in
these climate change meetings. Climate change clearly poses challenges to Saan people's cultural
identity such as loss of land and resources. But it's essential to realize that the core issues
for many indigenous communities do center around the government treating and the compensation for
this history. This is an example of how indigenous communities have advocated for their rights to
their land resources and self-determination throughout history. This might likely be due to how
they have been faced displacement, exploitation, and marginalization as their lands have been
colonized, exploited for resources, or altered by environmental degradation. Despite these
challenges, indigenous people like the Saan strive to protect these rights in ancestral
territories. The advocacy often involves legal battles, grassroots movements, and international
attention efforts. From what I've read, women in particular often bear the impacts of environmental
degradation and climate change. I specifically read a book titled Gender and Climate Change
South Africa Case Study which gives crucial perspective on the gendered impacts of climate
change. Its central argument is that climate change is not gender-neutral. This source
spotlights impacts with examples such as women's limited access to natural, financial, and social
and human resources. The book also discusses the differences in societal roles men and women have,
demonstrating that women make up over 70% of the workforce population in the area. This finding
shows that the consequences will in turn affect women's ability to provide for their family due
to shifts in agricultural practices caused by environmental change. Could you please share
your personal thoughts on this topic, Professor Hitchcock? How have these gender dynamics have
been affected by climate change? How has climate change influenced the way people perceive their
gender identity? It's a good question. I would say one of the things that Patricia Draper, who's a
major Saan scholar, says about Saan is that they're the most gender equitable society on the
planet. At least they were in the 1960s and 70s. Now that's changed. Men are more dominant
politically and in day-to-day activities. Although interestingly enough, it's important
to say that Saan women really are providing, have provided the bulk of the subsistence,
particularly plant foods. And they're the ones who are doing most of the experiments on looking for
new kinds of plant foods to utilize. And also they're the ones who are more involved in
agriculture, particularly in providing new kinds of crops that have been introduced. For example,
sweet potato, which had a big effect, at least among the strength-wise, the sweet potato coming
from that point in your guinea. But I would say that the gender dynamics are such that women
play a very important role, but politically they're not as significant or socially as they were in
the past. The result of climate change would be indirectly related, but I'd say that it's more
a result of things like government policies and some of the activism within the Saan communities.
You don't see very many women, Saan women leaders, for example. They play a huge role in behind the
scenes decision-making, but you don't see very many Saan chiefs or female. Would it make a difference
if there were more women leaders? Yeah, I think it would make a big difference. And I think there
are efforts to promote that, both five Saan women themselves, even as well as by organizations,
Red Cross and Red Crescent, UNICEF, the European Union, and others that are trying to promote
women's empowerment. Do you know any ways that climate change is affecting women's lives?
Do you think these issues are due to them being women? Yeah, I mean, I would say that the biggest
impact of climate change is more on women than men, if you think that women are the ones who do
most of the gathering and much of the agributory. And the men, while they did do some odding,
they've been doing very little odding these days. So the women are providing the bulk of the
livelihoods, and that automatically means that climate change affects them, it affects everybody,
but particularly it affects women and children. And women are the ones who do most of the
experimentation, for example, they try new foods, new plant foods, and that kind of thing. So,
yeah, climate change is having an effect on gender and on the roles of both women.
Gender is only one significant social dynamic affected by climate change's impact,
but occupational dynamics have also been altered due to climate change. I read an article titled
Climate Change in South Africa, 21 Stunning Facts about South Africa's Climate Breakdown.
This was by the nonprofit Greenpeace, which discussed the hardships of climate change,
one particular fact that struck me in the article. It mentions the vulnerability of specific
occupational groups in South Africa that have these effects on economic well-being.
For instance, it used examples of how reduced productivity, earnings, and health issues
caused by climate change, especially intense heat, all factor into problems within the workforce.
Can you add to this? How have occupational dynamics been affected by climate change in
South Africa? How has climate change influenced the way people perceive their occupational identity?
Another good question. Well, let me say first that climate change has had an effect on
a disease rate, and that's having an effect on people. It's hard to say whether the COVID,
for example, which hasn't had a very big impact on some people, was due in part to climate change.
There's certainly a relationship between the same climate change and disease.
To me, the ways in which this has worked out, it's hard to identify specifically that
the cultural identity issues, I think if anything, the cultural identity issues are becoming more
pronounced in Southern Africa. Whether that's due to climate change, I don't think it is just
climate change. That's a factor. But also, for example, the ways in which the governments dealt
with COVID is that they didn't go out and provide masks and other kinds of vaccinations and
food commodities to help replace the losses that COVID brought about.
And tourism is another factor that figures in here. Certainly,
climate change has affected tourism so did COVID substantially. And tourism has had the impact of
promoting cultural identity and cultural heritage. People are proud of their identity,
and they want to show it to tourists. But the numbers of tourists dropped off substantially
beginning in 2020 and is only now rebounding. Would you say the tourist industry due to climate change
is getting lower or increasing? I think that tourism numbers dropped off certainly
in the last several years that climate change may have been a part of that. I mean, you don't,
one thing climate change has done is it made it easier to travel around in the Cali are partly
because there's less, less, many less mud making it difficult for tourists to travel.
But overall, I would say that the big changes that climate change has brought have more to do,
I think, with the livelihoods and nutrition of sign people.
Another thing I think of, like, considering the sign people and how climate change shifts
their occupational dynamics is the South African Medical Journals article, Climate Change and
Occupational Health, a South Africa perspective. If you can't tell by the title, this discusses
more specific examples of people in the workplace with chemicals present, agricultural workplaces,
and miners. Most of the constant trait of the effects of heat and global warming is clear how
their traditional occupations and way of life are deeply intertwined with their environment.
As climate change alters their ecosystems and weather patterns, I found this article very insightful.
It is a contribution to considering how these perspectives and examples when addressing climate
change is multifaceted issues. This article briefly touches upon the mining industry,
and I find that very intriguing because mining often involves hazardous conditions,
and the risks become even more apparent when climate change worsens.
For instance, extreme weather. Can you speak more on these challenges that affect the sign miners?
One thing that has happened is the mining industry, if anything, in both Namibia and
Botswana, ends in Bobway for that matter, has expanded. Similar to that is the role of
companies, Chinese companies, Canadian companies, Australian companies, which are expanding their
operations. That's had a very tough effect. For example, recon Africa, which is a Canadian
company, is operating in Namibia, Botswana. They're using fracking to be able to access
the water that's used in making their oil and gas wells. That has had a very substantial effect
on the dropping of the water to fable. People have less access to water and they're very angry
about it. That has generated a lot of environmental activism and environmental justice movements.
So the mining industry, if anything, is expanding and that has caused a lot of repercussions for
people, people being resettled, people giving some employment admittedly to some people.
But most of the mining companies prefer not to employ sawd, which is another story.
Interesting to note how the mining industry has expanded into countries like Namibia,
Zimbabwe, and Botswana, and how these countries have significantly impacted local communities
and the environment. These instances of fracking techniques for oil and gas spark controversy,
environmental justice, and activism. Given what you've informed me and your experience and research,
how do you think the sawd people perceive climate change?
Well, I think they see climate change. They certainly remark about it. They discuss it a lot.
They talk about how in the old days there used to be a lot of rain. The plant growth was substantial.
There were a lot of wild animals and that has changed completely. They're very similar in many
ways to what people say in the United States during the 19th century about what was happening
with climate change and as well, of course, as commercial activities like the exploitation of
buffalo. So you do get so many people remark about how life is tougher now than it used to be.
It sounds like you're pointing out a parallel between the observations of the sawd people
regarding climate change and the historical accounts of the 19th century United States.
The shed light on how environmental changes have affected traditional ways of life across
the different cultures and periods. What you said about a large amount of rain, plant growth,
and wildlife demonstrates the significant shifts experienced by the sawd people.
Mirrored how environmental changes impacted the indigenous communities and settlers in America,
you also brought attention to the economic and social ramifications of environmental
transformations, mentioning the exploitation of the buffalo. So how do you sawd people
fight back and organize against climate change? Trying to participate in, for example, each country
as its own climate change agency, organization and sawd are trying to get representatives on to
that. It hasn't been very easy. The governments are not all that willing to include sawd for,
I would say, the racist reasons. But the sawd certainly are organizing themselves to try and
fight climate change. They're even writing grants to the European Union and to the U.S. Agency for
International Development at the World Bank to get funding for climate change resilience
activities. And that's had a very positive effect, I think. Your perspective really addresses how
evident it is that despite their stake in environmental sustainability and resistance,
the sawd often face barriers to inclusion in decision-making processes. Your observation
about how the sawd people in their communities actively organize themselves to address
climate change is inspiring and underscores their determination. The sawd assertor agency
to make valuable contributions to global resilience efforts to adapt to this changing climate
is hemmed and vegetated. Thank you so much for sharing your insights with me, Professor Hitchcock.
Before we end today's episode, please share any recommendations on books or resources to read
to learn more about this topic. And question again, there's a new book that's just come out with
author, the main author is one named Preeti Pr Edity Gadoke and it's on climate change. It's
being introduced at the Society for Plydentapology readings in Santa Fe on the 29th of this month,
next month. And that's probably the most recent discussion of climate change. And it's a worldwide
survey. It's mostly of indigenous people. I have a chapter in there on the general
class but there are other chapters that deal with in new editing and others. So I would say that's a
good example of a recent publication that is now broadly available that people would find of interest
because it does show that different strategies and indigenous people including sawd are using
to try and deal with climate change. Thank you so much again for agreeing to have me interview you,
Professor Nishga. You have excellent insight on this topic and share so many exciting ideas.
Pretty much I appreciate your interest. Next episode, we'll explore the impacts of climate
change on the Egyptian Newbeans. Their story promised to offer another unique perspective on
climate change from the other side of the continent. These communities like the sun
also face challenges due to environmental changes. It is needless to say we should amplify diverse
forces in the climate crisis conversation. And I am excited to discuss their experiences and insights.
Thank you all for listening.