The two figures, who in Bushman belief are symbolically equivalent and mystically linked, embody these antistructural traits.

A study of belief, myth and ritual in Bushman culture

PrefaceiChapter 1: Introduction: The Challenge of Bushman Religion 1The Challenge of Bushman Religion 4Bushman Religion: A Brief Summary9Notes on Methodology and Orthography10Chapter 2: Bushman Society15Nharo Society, 1790's to 1890's17Nharo Society, 1890's to 1990's25Bushman Social Organization29Chapter 3: Values and Individuals50Values53The Individual63Bushman Society's " Struggle of Society against the State"71Chapter 4: Belief and Cosmology74The Diversity and Ambiguity of Bushman Belief75Divinity78Mantis and Moon Worship?81Cosmogony: Primal Time84Cosmology: The Human-Animal Nexus89Ambiguity of Bushman Religion: Social and Cultural Factors101Social-Structural Factors:102Cognitive-Cultural Factors:107"Foraging for Ideas": The Factor of Acculturation110Socio-Cultural Change and Bushman Religion118Chapter 5: The Trickster121The Trickster's Many Faces124The Embodiment of Ambiguity128The Trickster as God139Gauwa Meets Jesus Christ147The Abomination of the Trickster God153Chapter 6: Stories, Story Telling and Story Gathering:160The Case of the Moon and the HareTextual Variation of the Myth162Story Transmission and the Foraging Ethos169Foraging Ideology or Ideology of Foraging?178The Text and Its Meaning181Chapter 7: Myth and Gender185Gender Relations in Bushman Society187Gender Relations in Bushman Myth and Lore190The Equality of Bushmen and Women198The Limitations of Structural Analysis202Chapter 8: Initiation Rites207Female Initiation209Male Initiation211Variations214Male Initiation or Hunting Magic?218Transition and Transformation219Transformation, Anti-Structure and Egalitarianism225Chapter 9: The Trance Dance228Liminality, Transformation and Transcendence231The Trance Dance and Cultural Revitalization242Flexibility, Adaptability and Variability of Bushman Ritual248Chapter 10: Missionaries and the Bushmen251The Bushman Mission in the Cape at Colonial Times254The Failure of the Cape Mission261Contemporary Missions to Bushmen273Two Incongruous Belief Systems282Chapter 11: Conclusion: Bushman Religion and the Tolerance of Ambiguity284Coping with Ambiguity288Bushman Society and Religion as Communitas and Anti-Structure298Do the Bushmen (and Hunter-Gatherers) Have Societies?303The Analytical and Methodological Challenge of Ambiguity306References Cited312Endnotes341Index352