Tricksters and trancers: Bushman religion and society

Abstract

Table of contents: Preface Chapter 1: Introduction: The Challenge of Bushman Religion The Challenge of Bushman Religion Bushman Religion: A Brief Summary Notes on Methodology and Orthography Chapter 2: Bushman Society Nharo Society, 1790's to 1890's Nharo Society, 1890's to 1990's Bushman Social Organization Chapter 3: Values and Individuals Values The Individual Bushman Societies Struggle of Society against the State Chapter 4: Belief and Cosmology The Diversity and Ambiguity of Bushman Belief Divinity Mantis and Moon Worship? Cosmogony: Primal Time Cosmology: The Human-Animal Nexus Ambiguity of Bushman Religion: Social and Cultural Factors Social-Structural Factors: Cognitive-Cultural Factors: for Ideas: The Factor of Acculturation Socio-Cultural Change and Bushman Religion Chapter 5: The Trickster The Trickster's Many Faces The Embodiment of Ambiguity The Trickster as God //Gauwa Meets Jesus Christ The Abomination of the Trickster God Chapter 6: Stories, Story Telling and Story Gathering: The Case of the Moon and the Hare Textual Variation of the Myth Story Transmission and the Foraging Ethos Foraging Ideology or Ideology of Foraging? The Text and Its Meaning Chapter 7: Myth and Gender Gender Relations in Bushman Society Gender Relations in Bushman Myth and Lore The Equality of Bushmen and Women The Limitations of Structural Analysis Chapter 8: Initiation Rites Female Initiation Male Initiation Variations Male Initiation or Hunting Magic? Transition and Transformation Transformation, Anti-Structure and Egalitarianism Chapter 9: The Trance Dance Liminality, Transformation and Transcendence The Trance Dance and Cultural Revitalization Flexibility, Adaptability and Variability of Bushman Ritual Chapter 10: Missionaries and the Bushmen The Bushman Mission in the Cape at Colonial Times The Failure of the Cape Mission Contemporary Missions to Bushmen Two Incongruous Belief Systems Chapter 11: Conclusion: Bushman Religion and the Tolerance of Ambiguity Coping with Ambiguity Bushman Society and Religion as Communitas and Anti-Structure Do the Bushmen (and Hunter-Gatherers) Have Societies? The Analytical and Methodological Challenge of Ambiguity References Cited Endnotes Index