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More than 125 years ago, a remarkable group of people came together in Cape Town to write down the language and beliefs of the |xam people, a Bushman group that once lived over much of South Africa. The immensely valuable work of Wilhelm Bleek, Lucy Lloyd and their |xam teachers not only preserved a language now no longer spoken, but also provided fascinating insights into |xam cosmology. First published in 2004, Customs and Beliefs of the |xam reproduces Dorothea Bleek’s selection of |xam narratives from the well-known Bleek and Lloyd Collection that was originally published in the journal Bantu Studies during the 1930s. Collated and edited by Jeremy Hollman, the extracts include detailed notes on each of the narratives, as well as Bleek’s ‘sketch’ of |xam grammar. This substantially revised second edition integrates new scholarship on the Bleek and Lloyd archive, and restores previously omitted material. The introduction to each narrative has been expanded to contextualise it within the archive as a whole and, where relevant, reference it to the Notebook of which it is a part. This includes meticulous cross-referencing with the Bleek and Lloyd Collection catalogue code and the Notebook number and line reference. Each of the texts has also been critically reassessed, with additional editorial notes and commentaries, in particular with respect to the |xam words themselves and the ways in which they have been translated. A synopsis of each narrative is provided in an appendix, with cross references to the Bleek and Lloyd notebooks. Customs and Beliefs of the |xam, second edition, is an in-depth, detailed and authoritative resource that will be invaluable to scholars, heritage workers and activists alike.

Customs and Beliefs of the |xam