Die Kalaharimense in Willem D. Kotzé se Kalahari-kind en Kalaharijoernaal: 'n outo-etnografiese verkenning met aandag aan identiteitsbeinvloeding deur die natuur

Abstract

In Willem D. Kotzé's autobiographic works the natural environment is strongly emphasised. This holds true when he depicts the Kalahari people of his childhood. This article explores both Kalahari-kind (Child of the Kalahari - 2003) and Kalaharijoernaal (Journal of the Kalahari - 2006) from an auto-ethnographic perspective, especially in order to learn more about the Kalahari people's cultural identity during the early 20th century (approximately 1930-1950), and to investigate signs of the influence of the natural surroundings on identity aspects. Photographs of the Kalahari and its people, as included in the texts, are taken into consideration in support of the argument that an interrelatedness between these people's lifestyle and their immediate vicinity does indeed exist. The research results in the identification of an ecologic community identity that is reflected in Kotzé's autobiographies through descriptions of Kalahari-related attitudes and interactions of those who live there