{"id":290,"date":"2018-12-09T23:49:26","date_gmt":"2018-12-10T06:49:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/fossils\/?page_id=290"},"modified":"2019-02-11T09:07:01","modified_gmt":"2019-02-11T16:07:01","slug":"special-traits-themes","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/afrikaner\/chapter-1\/special-traits-themes\/","title":{"rendered":"Interesting points &amp; Themes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Interesting points<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The pages that deal with the San people are inspired by a long expedition into the <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-365 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/afrikaner\/files\/2018\/12\/Ari-in-the-Kalahari-Desert-with-Bushmen-of-the-Nyae-Nyae-Conservancy-976x1024.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"202\" height=\"212\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/afrikaner\/files\/2018\/12\/Ari-in-the-Kalahari-Desert-with-Bushmen-of-the-Nyae-Nyae-Conservancy-976x1024.jpeg 976w, https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/afrikaner\/files\/2018\/12\/Ari-in-the-Kalahari-Desert-with-Bushmen-of-the-Nyae-Nyae-Conservancy-286x300.jpeg 286w, https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/afrikaner\/files\/2018\/12\/Ari-in-the-Kalahari-Desert-with-Bushmen-of-the-Nyae-Nyae-Conservancy-768x806.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 202px) 100vw, 202px\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Kalahari_Desert\">Kalahari Desert<\/a> the author undertook in 1997 with former Etosha Park ranger <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cillierssafaris.com\/staff\">Allan Cilliers<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/photographe\">photographer<\/a> (and husband) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/stefanogulmanelli\/\">Stefano Gulmanelli<\/a>. The expedition&#8217;s aim was to accompany the Italian underground rock band <a href=\"https:\/\/www.discogs.com\/artist\/1225306-Acid-Folk-Alleanza\">Afa (Acid Folk Alleanza)<\/a> among the the last, freely roaming tribes of Namibia&#8217;s hunter-gatherers and record their traditional music and sounds. In 1996 AFA produced the album \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.discogs.com\/composition\/69209fdb-1c21-4610-a496-e6543ba02255-Nomade-Psichico\">Nomade Psichico<\/a>,\u201d which contains the track <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=uSLmBj4_AfE\">&#8220;Fossili<\/a>&#8220;; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.fabriziotavernelli.com\/\">Fabrizio Tavernelli<\/a>\u00a0was the\u00a0frontman of\u00a0the group, which dissolved in 1999. \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.fabriziotavernelli.com\/content\/?p=386\">Armonico<\/a>,\u201d the last album AFA\u00a0produced before its dissolution, contains\u00a0sound, music\u00a0field recordings, samples, voices\u00a0and suggestions\u00a0drawn from the band\u2019s time in Namibia\u2019s Kalahari Desert.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>Kurt van der Merwe&#8217;s character draws upon the life, work and ideas of two legendary South African writers whom the author personally met.<\/li>\n<li>The passages on the excavation work in the Kalahari Desert loosely refer to the 1998 <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sterkfontein\">Sterkfontein<\/a> finding by Dr <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ronald_J._Clarke\">Ron J. Clarke<\/a>. The author was amongst the first journalists admitted to view the <em>Australopithecus<\/em>\u2019s skeleton discovered in the underground <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sterkfontein\">Sterkfontein<\/a> set of caves (a &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.theheritageportal.co.za\/article\/man-who-discovered-sterkfontein-caves\">Wander Hole<\/a>&#8221; discovered in 1896 by the Italian prospector Guglielmo Martinaglia).<\/li>\n<li>The accounts about the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/32_Battalion_(South_Africa)\">32nd Battallion<\/a> are drawn upon two long conversations the author had with Col. (Ret.) <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Jan_Breytenbach\">Jan Dirk Breytenbach<\/a> and a former member of the\u00a0<span class=\"\" style=\"color: #222222;\">\u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/South_African_Special_Forces\">Recces<\/a>\u2019 (<span class=\"st\"><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/South_African_Special_Forces\">South African Special Forces<\/a>)<\/span> who took part in the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/South_African_Border_War\">South African Border War<\/a>.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Themes and issues discussed in the book<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The transition from the apartheid regime to the first democratically elected black government in South Africa.<\/li>\n<li>Paleoanthropology and the origins of the human species.<\/li>\n<li>Social issues related to race relations, post-colonialism, neo-colonialism.<\/li>\n<li>Khoi-San (Bushmen) culture.<\/li>\n<li>The impact of the Cold War in Africa and the proxy wars<\/li>\n<li>Southern African history.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Soundtrack (a selection):<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=P01QQL5ZQ8I\">Fossili<\/a> (Fossils) by AFA (Album: &#8220;Nomade Psichico&#8221;)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/tradewindbooks.com\/books\/when-morning-comes\/\">Mandela&#8217;s Tribute<\/a> by Jubulile Maju<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Please, feel free to provide alternative soundtracks for <em><strong>The Afrikaner<\/strong><\/em>&#8216;s reading sessions by sending me an email: aridag at me dot com<\/p>\n<p><strong>Key Words:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Travel, adventure, on the road, South Africa, Afrikaans, apartheid, race, racism, identity, white, black, culture, cultural survival, Border War,\u00a0 Breytenbach,\u00a0 Johannesburg, Soweto, Sandton, Karoo, Cape Region, Cape Town, Franschhoek, Pretoria, Cape Region, Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, Namibia, Kalahari Desert, Cape Wines, vineyard, Drostdy Hotel, Graaf-Reinet, Valley of Desolation, Free Orange State, Saldanha, Afrikaner,\u00a0 Zulu, Xhosa, Bantu, Shangaan, Bushmen, San People, Coloured, Hottentot, Ju\/Hoansi, Khoi-San, !Kung, hunter-gatherer, shaman, sangoma, medicine man, Rasta, dagga, weed, marjuana, thorn tree, bush, elephant, gazelle, Nyae Nyae Conservancy, ranger, 4&#215;4, Land-Rover, Finist\u00e8re, vigneron, estate, farm, stoep, Land&#8217;s End, trance dance, healing dance, war veteran, baobab, tsamma melon, antelope, duiker, sunset, moon, stars, sand, rainy season, on the road, Aha Hills, tribe, Tsumkwe, Windhoek, Baster, Gansbaai, Langebaan, Sterkfontein, paleontology, hominid, fossils, Eve, female scientist, academia, university, gay, Witwatersrand, Philip Tobias, Lucy, Raymond Dart, early humans, science, tradition, superstition, religion, Australopithecus Africanus, Homo Habilis, paleoanthropology, Zanzibar,\u00a0 Europe, America, proxy wars, Cold War, comunism, history of South Africa, gay couple, love, grace, disgrace, shame, guilt, redemption, Zoe du Pleassi, Kurt van Der Merwe, Cape Dutch, fiction, popular fiction.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Interesting points The pages that deal with the San people are inspired by a long expedition into the Kalahari Desert the author undertook in 1997 with former Etosha Park ranger Allan Cilliers and photographer (and husband) Stefano Gulmanelli. The expedition&#8217;s &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/afrikaner\/chapter-1\/special-traits-themes\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27332,"featured_media":0,"parent":14,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-290","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/afrikaner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/afrikaner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/afrikaner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/afrikaner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27332"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/afrikaner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=290"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/afrikaner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/290\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":814,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/afrikaner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/290\/revisions\/814"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/afrikaner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/afrikaner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}