Botswana Notes & Records, Volume 7

The Trance Dancer as an Agent of Social

Change among the Farm Bushmen of the
G hanzi District
MATHIAS G. GUENTHER·
Introduction
About two-thirds of the approximately 10 000 farm Bushmen (or San2) of the
Ghanzi District have undergone quite extensive socio-cultural change as a result of
contact with white (immigrants from South Africa) and black (Kgalagari, Herero
and Tswana) ranchers who settled in the district around the turn of the century.
This contact has been disruptive in a number of respects and has created what the
local farmers and administrators refer to as the 'Bushman Problem': stock theft,
squatting, unemployment, poverty and petty crime. Most of the European farms are
free-hold leaving the Bushmen in the farming block without any land where they
are free to live and graze their goats and donkeys.3
Most of these problems appeared in the 1950's when ranching techniques were
improved; for example. cattle camps and paddocks were fenced in and the
G hanzi-Lobatse road was improved allowing for the transport of cattle by lorry
rather than trekking them by foot. These changes rendered superfluous the unskilled
labour which Bushmen could offer and favoured African labour, resulting in tension
and competition for employment between the two ethnic groups. The Bantu. being
more skilled with cattle and adjusted to a wage labour situation. were and still are
employed more readily.
Apart from the economic problems of unemployment. poverty. and hunger there
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are two other basic issues to the plight of the farm Bushmen. The one is an
attitudinal or ideological issue: their self-image. as an ethnic group. is extremely
low and self-degrading. They refer to themselves as the 'kamka kwe (Nharo for
weak or inconsequential people). This attitude of cultural and social inferiority
vis-a-vis another group is found fairly commonly among 'marginal men'4, i.e. people
who identify with two cultures, and it is largely the result of the great difference in
technological knowledge, power, wealth and prestige between the indigenous and
the contacting people.
The other issue is an existential one: a great increase of new. imported diseases.
These are of two types: organic diseases such as tuben:ulosis. small pox, veneral
disease; and 'social' diseases such as witchcraft and sorcery. The latter were
introduced by the Bantu peoples; the. Bushmen's own religious system is devoid of
withcraft and sorcery.
While they all share one basic acculturative experience, the farm Bushmen are
not homogeneous culturally. The sub-cultural differences are primarily linguistic
and there are some half dozen distinct linguistic groupings in the district. The
largest of these are the Nharo (Naron) and the 'Faull ei5 : they are also the most
acculturated and incorporated of the farm Bushman groupings. Their languages are
distinct and mutually unintelligible . .:f;:.'aullei belongs in the Northern linguistic
family (Bleek 1926), Nharo in the Central family. Other Central groups in Ghanzi
are the IGwi. Tssau and IIGanna while the sixth linguistic grouping of the District,
the !Xi), are members of the southern linguistic family. The cultural differences
amongst these groupings have become slight, a result primarily of much intermar-

*For biographical notes please see the other article by the same author in this Volume.

161
 riage and social interaction (Tobis 1955, 1956). The trance dance, the major
Bushman ritual and the subject of this paper, appears to be essentially the same
among all of the groupings.
In this paper I will analyse the role of the Bushman trance dancer within the
context of the life situation of the acculturated farm Bushmen in which conflict,
disease and deprivation figure prominently. This ritual expert is seen to be a major
focus for the pervasive processes of social change which are beginning to transform
the social structure and institutions of the farm Bushmen.
The Trance Dance and Healing
Lee and Katz (1968) and Marshall (1969)1 have presented detailed descriptions of
the Bushman trance dance and thus only a few of the salient attributes are described
here. s Trance dances are healing rituals during which both patients with specific ills
are treated and all of the spectators, who receive palliative treatment to ensure their
general well-being. The dance is performed at night and may last eight to twelve
hours. It is attended by many spectators (up to 300) who sit around fires and watch
the performance of the ritual. Amongst them there are usually a number of Bantu as
well. The main actor at the ritual is the shaman-dancer who dances intently until he
reaches trance and collapses. He dances to the chant of a group of women who sit in
a circle around a large fire which is kept lit throughout the ritual. His dance follows
a circular path around the chanting women. There may be several shaman-dancers
and even non-shamans; men, women and children may join in the dance. Usually,
however, there are only one or two dancers of renown at a dance and their trance
(often repeated several times during a night) constitutes the main event and main
attraction of the rite. The dancers of renown are also the healers. These ritual
experts lead an itinerant life, moving from farm to farm to perform their dance and
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to heal.
The explanat0IJ: system of healing during the trance dance is complex and
depends on the CIrcumstances and the specific kind of disease that is healed.
Essentially, it is held that in the condition of trance - or 'half-death' as it is called in
Nharo - the spirit of the dancer seeks out II Gauwa, the main supernatural agency
and bringer of disease, and begs, cajoles or forces (after combat) I I Gauwa to restore
health to the patient. A more 'physiological' explanation is that the dancer produces
a potent therapeutic substance (tsso) inside his stomach which exudes through his
body's sweat which, if rubbed on the patient's body, will restore health to him.
Another, again physiological, explanation is that the dancer, when in trance, absorbs
the patient's disease into his own body and lets it run its full course inside his body
which is ritually strengthened because he is a human. Thus it will not kill him;
however, it will induce in him the condition of 'half death' (i.e. trance.)
The mental task of conceptualising disease has become comrlex for the Ghanzi
farm Bushmen for there are now a great number and variety 0 diseases which the
new settlers have introduced into their existence. It is to be noted that the
recollection of the old people, that disease was less prominent in the old days, is
born out to some extent by research. A recent cross-cultural study of disease among
desert-dwelling hunter-gatherers (Dunn 1968) reports a low incidence of infectious
disease amongst such societies, primarily due to ecological and demographic
conditions.
The basic categorisations of disease conceptualised by the farm Bushmen reflect
the condition of cultural pluralism of Ghanzi society. Three types of disease are
categorised; Bushman-associated, Bantu-associated, and European-associated. Bush-
man diseases are caused primarily by the two deities I I Gauwa and N!eri. Bantu
diseases are those caused by witchcraft (khaba) and sorcery (moloi). (See Schapera

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 Botswana Notes & Records, Volume 7

1934). Such organic ailments as tuberculosis, smallpox and chickenpox are

categorised as European. The aetiology, prognosis and treatment of disease are
different in each type. The trance dancer'(nt:"a k'au), the diviner-healer (tso k'au).
and the nurse (nagasa) or doctor (nagaba) are the Bushman, Bantu and European
specialists respectively. The difference in treatment is symbolised by the Bantu's
divining bones (doles), the Bushman's dance (n:/:a). and the European's hypodermic
needle (!khal).
The allocation of certain diseases to the conceptual system of the Africans and
Europeans makes the farm Bushmen dependent on those two other groups for
treatment. On the whole, European medical services are readily available and
relatively cheap (40 cents per treatment). especially for employed Bushmen whose
medical expenses are paid by his employer. To obtain the services of a Bantu
doctor is more difficult. The fees for a good doctor are exorbitant, ranging from a few
goats or ten to twelve rand to a few head of cattle or 50 to 80 rand. As it is the
custom to pay the fee only after the patient has successfully recovered, Bushman
patients will sometimes obtain treatment and later find themselves unable to pay
the fee. This evokes the doctor's anger and can result in his transmission of
witchcraft or sorcery which, emanating from a powerful doctor, is considered to be
fatal in most cases. Thus the employment of Bantu doctors for Bantu-diseases - to
which the Bushmen are susceptible because of the endemic tension in their relation
with Bantu people will often result not in cure but in additional and more serious
disease.
The control over disease devised by the farm Bushmen can be considered
effective conceptually. It accounts for all diseases which a Bushman can contract
and has means available for treating these. However, most of the diseases are
'linked' to the other two groups, relations with whom are charged with conflict. The
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control of these diseases is in other hands and whether or not it can be obtained by a
sick farm Bushman depends upon how acute the conflicts are. Thus, while
conceptually disease is under control, this control becomes indefinite and precarious
at the level of social interaction.
Social Importance of the Trance Dancer
The prominence of disease and suffering within the existence of the farm Bushmen
has contributed to the mounting prominence of the institutions of religion and
ritual. 9 Consequently, the trance dancer, the ritual expert in Bushman culture, has
assumed a degree of social importance unprecedented within Bushman culture, This
importance rises concomitantly with the rise of conflict and deprivation.
The following qualities of a dancer of renown account for his social importan-
ce: he possesses a great amount of ritual, esoteric knowledge; he is wealthy; he is
independent of Europeans or Bantu people; he is accorded high prestige and enjoys
charismatic appeal.
The increase of ritual, esoteric knowledge is largely due to the complex
conceptualisation of disease which necessitates the expansion of the culture's
medical lore. Prior to the arrival of immigrant seller groups and their respective
cultural traits, this lore was necessarily simpler, so much so that among
free-roaming hunter-gatherer Bushmen almost all of the adults are also shamans
(Marshall 1962). In addition to medical lore, cognitive culture in general has
become greatly expanded and such matters as disease, death, the supernatural and
matters of eschatology and world view have become overwhelmingly confusing.
Understanding and manipulating these matters has become the task assigned to the
ritual experts, the dancers of renown. Some of them are expanding their repertoire
of healing skills by learning such Bantu procedures as divination and sucking out

163
 the disease-causing object (a thorn, bead or sliver of wood). Moreover, conceptualIy
the efficacy of the Bushman deities and medicine is being expanded by some
Bushman dancers. I found that farm Bushmen would often deliberate on whether or
not N feri's or GllUwa's powers were not sufficient after all to cope with sorcery or
tuberculosis. The view is expressed that N Jeri could probably easily revert the spells
of even the most pO\yerful Bantu sorcerer and have them kill him rather than the
intended Bushman victim. Similarly. the intrinsic powers of the Bushman dancer are
being expanded; for example. the substance tsso that lies in the stomach of the
doctor which enables him to heal during trance. is considered capable now of
transmitting disease in the same manner as the khaba substance of the Tswana witch
(See Schapera 1934).
A renowned dancer can command staggering fees (up to fifteen rand or four goats
per treatment) which are usually paid by the family members of the patient and
only collected by the dancer if the treatment has proved effective. Another 'service
charge' collected by a renowned dancer is for teaching novice dancers who may join
the master for a few weeks or months. These apprentices. sometimes in retinue. will
accompany a dancer on his itinerant sojourns through the farms and villages of
Ghanzi these sources for income can bring great wealth to dancers of renown.
Their wealth is the reason for their economic independence of European and
Bantu employers. The fact that they do not need to work on farms is often pointed
out with emphasis and pride by a dancer or other farm Bushmen talking about their
ritual experts. In their attitudes toward the 'baas' some dancers are quite
independent. aloof and cynical. Related to independence is ethnic exclusiveness
which the dancers' performances strongly em.phasise. The dance is a cultural pattern
that is exclusively Bushman. Not only are the language and concepts Bushman, but
during the trance-phase of the ritual some non-Bushman things such as tobacco.
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shiny metal (objects such as knives, flashlights. tin cans) must be concealed. These
are held to irritate I I GlJuwa (who lurks in the vicinity attracted by the dance) and
cause him to feel ill and vomit. Such measures have the effect of safeguarding the
cultural identity of the Bushmen.
Knowledge. wealth and independenc,e are the dancer's qualities which account for
the high prestige he is accorded. His prestige is mingled with charismatic appeal.
The great dancers are widely idolised -especially by boys and young adults - and
their song, their idiosyncracies of dancing and their exploits are talked about widely.
To a large extent the wealth, prestige and glamour of the dancer stem directly
from the dance and its inherent affective, integrative and moral power. During a
dance a large number of people. from a wide range, are brought together and
interact intensely for hours on end. The dance is not only a healing ritual. it is also
the major recreational pastime of the farm Bushmen. It is a time of drinking,
eating. joking, play and courtship, Moments of hilarity - while dancers go through
their clowning, pre-trance 'warm-up' alternate with moments of numinous
apprehension - when the dancer has collapsed in trance. The dance is a
Durkheimian 'corrobborrt an integrating rite of intensification instilling in those
present a pervasive sense of fellowship and well-being. Moreover, as Lee and Katz
(1968) observe. the dancer in trance is also afforded the opportunity of release of
tensions and aggressions which have accumulated during everyday life, and which
he cathartically and vicariously releases during trance by shrieking and displaying
violent motor activity.
The Trance Dancer as an Agent of Social Change
Research among hunting-gathering Bushman bands indicates that there the dancer
is not a specialist and does not usually assume professional status (Bleek 1928 p, 28;

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 B otswana Notes & Records. Volume 7

Marshall 1965 p. 271; Lee and Katz 1968 p. 51). This is strikingly different among the
acculturated farm Bushmen of Ghanzi. The dancer's ritual role and status are those
of a professional, and power and prestige accrue to this status. This development is
well illustrated by the example of Tsau, the dancer of greatest renown in the eastern
Ghanzi District in the late 1960's. Tsau is a::f:au//ei man who spent half his time in
G hanzi and half in his home area in Dobe in N gamiland. This is an area relatively
isolated from ranchers and the Bushmen at Dobe are considerably less acculturated
and without the problems of contact. According to Richard Lee and Henry
Harpending who have both done field work in this area and who know or knew of
Tsau, this dancer is quite undistinguished in his own area. 10
In Ghanzi the trance dancer is a powerful rallying symbol that represents the
Bushman people and their culture. He is a hero whose knowledge, mystic power,
wealth and prestige equals that of any man. The identification of the trance dancer
with 'Bushmaness' has the effect of revitalising the self-image held by the farm
Bushmen. It becomes positive and assertive, offsetting the worthless and inferior
self-image hitherto held by the majority of the farm Bushmen.
This change of self-image is one of a number of social. economical and political
changes that are beginning to transform the institutions and customs of the farm
Bushmen. These transforming changes are a result of acculturation and incorpora-
tion processes which have affected the farm Bushmen for six or seven generations. I
have analysed these elsewhere (Guenther 1971, 1973. 1974, in press) and will only
indicate the main ones here. They are the development of sedentism and marginal
food production; wage labour, the establishment of large co-residential units
consisting of several band-type multi-family groups; the development of political
awareness. The last phenomenon is manifested, among other things, in the desire for
their own piece of land, with their own paddocks and stock and their own wells. And
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with their own Bushman headman (/ / exa) to deal with Government on behalf of
all of the Bushmen of the District.
When the Bushmen on the farms discuss this last issue and debate who could be a
suitable headman for the Ghanzi Bushmen, it is often the consensus that this should
be one of the great dancers. The dancer is assigned the potential role of the
charismatic political leader with far-ranging authority. This mandate is based on his
prestige, wealth and power and the fact that the cultural institution which he
represents. religion, has gained foremost prominence amongst a people whose
existence is pervaded by suffering and deprivation.

1. Research among (he Ghanzi Bushmen was carried out on two occasions: between 1968-1970 when I
conducted field work as a doctoral candidate and in 1974 when I returned for six weeks to do a
follow-up study. On the first occasion research was funded by The Canada Council; on the second by
Wilfrid Laurier University (a Summer Research Fellowship).
2. The designation 'San' is preferable to 'Bushman' for a number of reasons, chief of which is the
pejorative connotation inheren£ in the latter term. The early Dutch settlers at the Cape applied the
term 'Bosjesmens' to a wide range of undesirable people, including recalcitrant fellow settlers, such as
woods- and mountain-dwelling brigands who had been expelled beyond the pale of the early Dutch
settlement and most of whom were not Bushmen at all ethnically. See Guenther 1974 p. l. The term
'San' is now beginning to be widely used by American anthropologists.
3. See Silberbauer 1965, chapter 10, and my own analysis of the social situation of the farm Bushmen
and G hanzi society as a whole (Guenther 1973, 1974, in press).
4. See Park 1928, Stonequist 1937 and Dickie-Clark 1966.
5. The :t::ail ei are known as 'Ma KauKau' in Ghanzi. They belong to the well-known !K ung people of
Ngamiland and Namaibia (South West Africa).

165
 6. Westphal (1962) has altered Bleek's scheme of linguistic classification of the Bushmen. He classifies
the Central family (which he calls Tshu-kwe) together with the Nama and Korana dialects of
KhoiKhoi (Hottentot) and divides the southern and the northern families into three categories: Bush
A (northern) and Bush Band C (both southern family).
7 My data interpretation of the trance dance differ in a number of respects from both Lee and Katz
and Marshall. I defer discussion of this problem to a future paper in which a detailed account of the
religion and religious change of the G hanzi Bushmen will be presented in monograph form.
8. The ritual here described is the most common form which the trance dance takes among the farm
Bushmen of the eastern Ghanzi District. It appears to be essentially f::' 'aul lei in form, with certain
Nharo traits. The IGwi dance is somewhat different. The reason why the tf: aul lei pattern is so
widely established is that one of the most renowned dancers of Ghanzi is a member of this group
whose home is in Ngamiland. His name is Tsau and his dance (called n!abe. Nharo for giraffe) is
widely imitated, both by other dancers woh learned it from Tsau and by ordinary people dancing
recreationally.
9 The classic anthropological analysis of religion and its relationship to the 'problem of pain' is
by Malinowski (1948). See also Firth 1964 andG eertz 1965.
10. Both personal communication.
REFERENCES
Bleek, D. F .• The Naron (Cambridge University Press. 1928).
Ibid Comparative Vocabularies of the Bushman Languages (Cambridge University Press, 1929).
Dickie-Clark, H. F., The Marginal Situation (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. 1966).
Dunn, F. L., Epidemiological Factors: Health and Disease in Hunter-Gatherers. Man the Hunter,
Edited by Lee and De Vore (Chicago: Aldine, 1968), pp. 221-229.
Durkheim, E .• The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life (New York: Collier, 1961).
Firth, R .• Religious Belief and Personal Adjustment. essays in Social Organisation. Edited by Firth, T.
(University of London: Athlone Press, 1964), p.p. 257-93.
Geertz, C., Religion as a Cultural System. A nthropological Approaches to the Study of Religion. Edited by
Banton, M. (London: Tavistock Publications. 1965).
Guenther, M. G., Kalahari Bushmen in Transition. Rotunda, IV, 3 (197 J), p.p.1H6.
Ibid Farm Bushmen and Mission Bushmen: Social Change in a Serring of Conflicts and Pluralism of the
Reproduced by Sabinet Gateway under licence granted by the Publisher (dated 2009).

San of the Ghanzi District, Republic of Botswana. (U npublished Ph.D. Thesis. University of Toronto
1973).
Ibid, Farm Bushmen. Report on anthropological research carried out between 1968-1970 among the
San of the G hami District. Republic of Botswana. Presented to the Botswana Government, 1974.
Guenther, M G .• From Hunters to Squatters: Social and Cultural Change among the G hanzi Farm
Bushmen. Kalahari Hunter Gatherers. Edited by Lee and De Vore. (Harvard University. (in press».
Lee. R. B. and Katz. R .. The Sociology of !Kung Bushman Dance Performances. Trance and Possession
States. Edited by R. Prince (R. M. Bucke Memorial Society. 4-6 March 1966. 1968).
Lee. R. B. and De Vore, I .. (eds.), Man the Hunter. (Chicago:Aldine, 1968).
Ibid Kalahari Hunter Gatherers, (Cambridge. Mass.: Harvard University Press (in press)).
Malinowski, B., Magic, Science and Religion. and other Essays. (Bostom: Beacon Press, 1948)
Marshall, L., !K ung Bushman Religious Beliefs. A fnca, XXXII, (1962). p.p. 221-51.
Ibid. The Medicine Dance of the !K ung Bushmen.
AfriCa, XXXIX (4).1969. pp. 381-437.
Park, R.E .• Human Migration and the Marginal Man. American Journal of Sociology. XXXHl (1928).
p.p. 881-93.
Schapera. I., Oral Sorcery among the Natives of Bechuanaland. Essays Presented to C. G. Seligman,
Edited by Evans-Pritchard, E. et al. (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. 1934). pp 293-305.
Silberbauer, G., Bushman Survey Report (Gaberones: Bechuanaland Government. 1965).
Stonequist. E. V., The Marginal Man (New York: Scribner. 1937).
Tobias. P. V., Les Bochimans Auen et Naron de G hanzi. Contribution a L'etude des anciens jaunes
Sud-Africaines. A nthropologie. LIX (1955), pp 235-52. 429-61: LX (1956). pp 22-52.268-89.
Ibid. On the Survival of Bushmen. Africa. XXVI (1956) pp 174-86.
Westphal. E. O. J., A reclassification or Southern African non-Bantu Languages. Journal of African
Languages. I, (I) (1962) 1-8.

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