Die Welt der Kxoé-Buschleute: Scholarly assessment and preparation of manuscripts for the remaining two volumes of Oswin Köhler's Khwe encyclopaedia

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Rainer Voßen
• Subject Area: African, American and Oceania Studies ; Applied Linguistics, Computational Linguistics ; Social and Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology
• Term: from 2014 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 259322312

The Khwe in Namibiaʼs Bwabwata National Park belong to the groups of former hunter-gatherers who are usually called “San” or “Bushmen” in southern Africa. Their language belongs to the Khoe language family within South African Khoisan. Former anthropological research interests as well as reasons related to the political history of Namibia were responsible for the Khwe escaping the attention of many anthropologists in the period between 1960 and 1990. This made the Africanist Oswin Köhler (1911-1996) the sole researcher who dedicated a large portion of his academic research to the language and culture of the Khwe (in his orthography: Kxoé) before Namibian independence in 1990. He pursued the ambitious aim of publishing an encyclopaedia in vernacular texts, covering all aspects of Khwe culture. The first two out of a total of five planned volumes were published in 1989 and 1991. The manuscript for the third volume was prepared by Köhler and jointly edited by the applicant and Klaus Keuthmann in 1997 posthumously.The scholarly assessment and publication of the unpublished material for volume V are the subject of the present application (volume IV was prepared for publication during the first project phase). Köhlerʼs Khwe material includes vernacular texts in different versions and stages of processing, related photographs, video- and audio-files as well as correspondence, research reports etc. Different from the third volume, we lack text versions, translations, comments, analytical texts and pictures, which have been authorized by Oswin Köhler himself. In order to comply with the spirit of the deceased, it is therefore necessary to separate Köhlerʼs own tasks from those of the editors. While the edition aims to ensure, as far as feasible, continuity regarding the outward appearance of the published volumes, it at the same time aims to guarantee transparency regarding the authorship of individual work steps. For this purpose it will be necessary to examine and select the relevant materials for volumes IV (as accomplished in the current project phase) and V (as planned for the project phase applied for here), to identify the most advanced text versions prepared by Köhler and, if possible, to contextualize his decisions regarding the contents of texts. Moreover, detailed annotations, a text historical analysis, the consultation of publications on Khwe culture after Köhler, and the preparation of interlinear and English translations are imperative.Köhler compiled the Khwe material during more than 20 research trips to Namibia be-tween 1959 and 1992 which in both kind and scope represents a unique document of the Khwe cultural and historical heritage. Apart from this, its scholarly assessment will yield important insights into comparative Khoisan research and the population history of the Kalahari Basin Area. The proposed research team will be made up of the same experts in Khoisan studies as in the first project phase.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants