Perpetual poisoning of the mind: a consideration of the treatment of the san hunter-gatherers and the origins of South Africa's black population in South African school history textbooks since 1972 for standards eight, nine and ten and 1974 for standards five, six and seven.

Abstract

Examination of a sample of 25 South African school history textbooks published since 1972 shows that there has been an inadequate response te allegations of bias and inaccuracies in the treatment of San hunter-gatherers and the origins of South Africa's Black population. Although some attempt has been made to avoid overly racist statements, almost no effort has been made to include recent research conclusions and there remains a noticiable lack of sensitivity in the treatment of the subject matter.