A Critique of Mohamed Adhikari’s The Anatomy of a South African Genocide

Abstract

This paper critiques Adhikari’s representations of the crimes of genocide committed on the Hottentots peoples of South Africa by the Dutch settlers in South Africa and the British rule of South Africa in his, The Anatomy of a South African Genocide (2010). The San people went through traumatic experiences as they lost their land and culture since the colonial encounter in 1652. Scholars have asked why Mandela’s black government which came into power in 1994 ignored the San people. Secondly, what can be the implications of this type of non-recognition on the San people? This study focuses on Mohamed Adhikari’s historical narrative entitled The Anatomy of a South African Genocide (2010). Historical narrative is best suited in representing the crime of genocide because this narrative uses verifiable facts and imaginative renderings that amplify the tragedy. The Dutch, the British colonialists, and the African National Congress (ANC) government let the San people down. The San have been pleading with the democratic government to recognise their language, their existence, and their culture. It is a shame to learn that so many years after the attainment of democracy, the San language is not one of the official languages. This study is desktop. The preferred method is qualitative in nature and draws a researcher’s attention to putative texts that can be interpreted to reveal the genocidal experiences of the San and the consequences of being rendered perpetual sufferers in the land that can be described as originally theirs.