On April 11, two San representatives urged researchers and tourist companies to recognize that the vast majority of rock art in Namibia is of San origin. The San want to ensure their rights to research, preservation, and development of the rock art.
Made on behalf of the Working Group of Indigenous Minorities in Southern Africa (WIMSA), the presentation by Selma Geingos and Costa Oreseb was part of a three-day "Homecoming of Rock Art" conference commemorating the return of San rock art documentation from Germany to the National Museum of Namibia.
Even though the San have lost much of their direct connection to the rock art, they still consider it part of their cultural heritage. They were pushed out of the territories where the rock art is found by migrating Bantu groups and then European colonists.
Geingos and Oreseb said the loss of their land led to a shift from a hunting-and-gathering way of life, and resulted in dependence on the outside economy and the degeneration of San culture, health, and self-esteem.
The San are not looking to reclaim the land as theirs, but have specific requests surrounding rock art. According to a 2003 WIMSA publication on San heritage and intellectual property, the San want to be fully consulted in all respects with regard to the exploitation of San rock art; to be allowed access to the sites; to benefit, where possible, from tourism development of rock art sites; and to be involved in controlling research around rock art.
A regional organization, WIMSA advocates for San rights to intellectual property, land, language, rock art and sacred places, and the San name and image.
Joram |Useb, a coordinator at WIMSA, explained in a phone interview that since the conference presentation, the National Museum of Namibia has agreed to grant San representatives internships so that they can have closer access to the rock art documentation and promote learning about rock art in San communities.
He also said that, "A few anthropologists and researchers are starting to believe that this is the ancient rock art of the San."
Speaking to New Era, Geingos and Oreseb, criticized the media, academics, and others who have profited from their use of San images in movies, commercial products, books, and postcards, but given nothing back to the San community.
The late Harald Pager created the research documents now being returned to Namibia. From 1977 to 1985, he diligently copied and traced over 43,000 rock art paintings and engravings at Brandburg Mountain, which later formed the basis of a series of six books published by the Heinrich-Barth-Institute project at the University of Cologne.
Oreseb said in the presentation, "The stories surrounding rock art— the interpretations of signs and symbols—they still exist in our minds and hearts." He related a story about how San were able to help rock art researchers interpret specific images using their cultural knowledge.
In South Africa, the San were successful in negotiating their rights to participate in all future policy decisions at Didima, a rock art center in Drakensberg, designated as a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Site in 2000.
Before Didima's opening in 2002, WIMSA successfully demanded the KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife Department consult with the South African San Council regarding interpretations of rock art at the center. Negotiations also led to a permanent exhibit about contemporary San.
According to the Namibian government’s website, the National Museum and National Archives of Namibia are currently preparing documentation to nominate Twyfelfontein, another major San rock art site, to the UNESCO World Heritage list. WIMSA hopes that they can use the lessons learned in South Africa to better advocate for their involvement in preservation and interpretation of Twyfelfontein.
In their role as custodies of their culture, WIMSA envisions indigenous and people involved in the tourism industry "working together in order to ensure that development projects are established which will assist San communities."
In the presentation, Geingos and Oreseb said that the San "will no longer be passive onlookers to the loss, deterioration or blatant commercialization of our heritage and culture."
