Robert J. Gordon: The Bushman Myth Revisited. Genocide, Dispossession and the Road to Servitude, UNAM Press, Windhoek 2025

Text from back cover:

(source: Namibia Book Market website)

“Few histories are as harrowing to document as exterminatory violence visited upon an entire social group, and the reduction of survivors to utter abjection – especially if the victims are one of humanity’s ancestral cultures.

Gordon accomplishes this task as regards Namibia’s Bushman population with analytical rigour, singular depth of scholarship, and deep-felt compassion.

This extensively updated version of two path-breaking predecessors (1992 and 2000) introduces much new material and brings fresh perspectives to bear on the subject through the lenses of settler colonialism and genocide, both transnational phenomena that place this case in a global frame.

Lucid, incisive, and cogent, The Bushman Myth Revisited is requisite reading for an understanding not only of the Namibian Bushman experience under colonial rule, but also of the distinctive natures of both German and South African occupation of the territory.

While this book will appeal to those with an interest in the history of southern Africa, its hunter-gatherer communities, and beyond, it is to be recommended particularly to Namibians who wish to better understand the making of their society and its Bushman under-class.

Mohamed Adhikari, University of Cape Town, author of The Anatomy of a South African Genocide: The Extermination of the Cape San Peoples and Destroying to Replace: Settler Genocides of Indigenous Peoples.”

Contents of the book:

Table of contents

(source: Project Muse website)

Foreword
pp. vii-viii

Preface & Acknowledgements
pp. ix-xii

Note on Orthography
pp. xiii-xiv

List of Abbreviations
pp. xv-xvii

List of Figures and Tables
pp. xviii

1. Introduction
pp. 1-18

Part One: The Pre-Terrain of Genocide

2. Conquest by Stealth
pp. 20-33

3. Copper and autonomy
pp. 34-44

Part Two: Creating a Genocidal Platzgeist

4. Imposing the Colonial State and Imagining the ‘Bushman Plague’
pp. 46-69

5. Reaction and Counter-Reaction
pp. 70-81

6. ‘Little Kings’ and the genocidal Platzgeist
pp. 82-108

Part Three: Genocide’s turbulent wake

7. Finding their Feet
pp. 110-126

8. The Concord between State and Settlers
pp. 127-142

9. Reserving Bushmen
pp. 143-161

10. ‘Tamed’ Bushmen, Missionaries and Scholars
pp. 162-182

Part Four: The Disputed Territory

11. Preserving/Obscuring Bushmen
pp. 184-205

12. Fabricating Bushmanland
pp. 206-222

13. The Nature of Contemporary Servility
pp. 223-252

Part Five: Conclusion

14. Reflections: The inevitability of violence and the Platzgeist of terror
pp. 254-276

References
pp. 277-304

Index
pp. 305-310

• Check also the bio of Robert J. Gordon on the website of the University of Vermont (last checked in September 2026).

• See also report about the pre-launch of Robert J Gordon’s publication ‘The Bushman Myth Revisited’ from 3 June 2025 in the forum of the University of Namibia (last checked in September 2026).

• Note also report about Robert J Gordon’s publication ‘The Bushman Myth Revisited’ from 6 August 2025 in The Conversation (last checked in September 2026).

• See also “San Genocide Generational Trauma Healing – Panel Discussion” from 22 September 2026 in Windhoek in the ‘Events’ section of this website.