José Manuel de Prada-Samper

Fading Footprints (eBook, ePUB)

In search of South Africa's first people

• Format: ePub

Produktbeschreibung

That summer afternoon, I had no way of knowing the book would radically alter my existence. Yet that proved to be the case. A wind that had begun to blow from a faraway place a long time ago had finally caught up with me. So writes folklorist José Manuel de Prada-Samper about a chance discovery more than thirty years ago of an obscure book called Specimens of Bushman Folklore in a second-hand bookshop in England. Part historical detective story, part memoir, Fading Footprints traces the author's journey into the magical folklore of the /xam hunter-gatherers of the Upper Karoo. Through archival research and on field trips in South Africa, de Prada-Samper reveals the tragic scope of the genocide of the /xam San by European colonisers. However, he is also able to humanise the /xam as he delves into the work and lives of researchers Wilhelm Bleek and Lucy Lloyd, who recorded the stories of San prisoners in Cape Town over more than a decade in the late 1800s. Determined to seek out the ancient folklore tales, the author travels to forgotten corners of the Northern Cape. There he learns that many stories are still told to this day by farm workers and that, contrary to common belief, the culture and traditions of South Africa's first people are still very much alive. Their footprints may have faded but they have not been erased.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Jonathan Ball
• Seitenzahl: 304
• Erscheinungstermin: 12. März 2025
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9781776194247
• Artikelnr.: 73587107

Autorenporträt

JOSÉ MANUEL DE PRADA-SAMPER was born in Salamanca, Spain, in 1963 but his family soon moved to Barcelona. He studied English Language and Literature at the University of Barcelona and in 1989 he enrolled in the Comparative Literature Program at Columbia University in New York. After his chance discovery of the oral literature of the/xam hunter-gatherers, he has pursued the field of folklore studies. His first encounter with the Upper Karoo landscape, where the /xam have lived for millennia, was in 2005 and he has returned many times to South Africa to study the culture and history of the region both in the field and in archives. Among his books in English are The man who cursed the wind and, in collaboration with other scholars, On the Trail of Qing and Orpen, both published in 2016. Adam and the Water Maiden, a collection of traditional stories from the Cederberg and surrounding areas, was published in 2021. A research associate at the Department of Archaeology of the University of Cape Town, de Prada-Samper lives in Barcelona with his wife, the storyteller and educator Helena Cuesta.