If your browser doesn’t show the Play button, visit it directly on Soundcloud.

Professor Michael de Jongh talks about the footprint of the early Khoi in the Garden Route. It’s a fascinating, educational that explains that the misspelt “Khoi” should in fact be translated as “Khoe Khoen”.

The click in the language was derived from early migrators encountering Bushmen.

He laments that the Attaqua, the “light coloured people”, ironically also the “white people”, have been mostly excluded from history. The Outeniqua were the honey gathers. The Gouriqua, along the coast, were the “people of the cattle”. The Hessequa, those who lived and travelled through Diepwalle (Deep Walls), the forest in which we stood, were the “people of the forest”.

He hinted that those who consider themselves to be Khoisan, as is a current trend, do so for the wrong reasons because the name means “man without cattle”.

Guess that makes me Khoisan too 🙂

PROFESSOR MICHAEL DE JONGH

Unisa Description:

Professor Michael de Jongh (PhD, Rhodes University), a National Research Foundation (NRF)-rated researcher (2006-2011), is a Professor Emeritus within the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology at the University of South Africa (Unisa) and a Unisa Research Fellow. He is listed in the Cambridge University Blue Book of Foremost International Scientists.

Professor Michael de Jongh shows us his book, ‘A Forgotten First People’

Professor de Jongh started his career as a teacher and lecturer at South African and overseas institutions. He established himself as a widely published researcher of note and a sought-after presenter and keynote speaker at conferences locally and internationally. He has published 25 books and research reports, 60 conference papers and research articles and has featured in 46 TV and radio programmes.

During his academic career he held memberships of various associations and still serves on a number of subject-related committees. At Unisa he also served as Chair of the Department of Anthropology, Archaeology, Geography and Environmental Studies (2002-2004), Acting Dean (2003) and Chair of the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology in the College of Human Sciences (2004-2008). He was a visiting lecturer for postgraduates at the University of Pretoria (2009-2010).

Prof de Jongh’s books include:

Roots and Routes: Karretjie People of the Great Karoo.

The Marginalisation of an South African First People received positive reviews and was featured in a number of print and electronic media.

His most recent book is A Forgotten First People – the Southern Cape Hessequa (2014).

He is currently writing a book about the Buys Community of Limpopo, the descendants of the legendary Coenraad de Buys.