Fading Footprints

‘That summer afternoon, I had no way of knowing the book would radically alter my existence. Yet that proved to be the case. A wind that had begun to blow from a faraway place a long time ago had finally caught up with me.’

So writes José Manuel de Prada-Samper about a chance discovery more than thirty years ago of an obscure book called Specimens of Bushman Folklore in a second-hand bookshop in England.

Part historical detective story, part memoir, Fading Footprints traces the author’s journey into the magical folklore of the /xam hunter-gatherers of the Upper Karoo. Through archival research and on field trips in South Africa, De Prada-Samper reveals the tragic scope of the genocide of the /xam San by European colonisers. However, he is also able to humanise the /xam as he delves into the work of two Victorian researchers, who recorded the stories of San prisoners in Cape Town over more than a decade in the late 1800s.

In seeking out the ancient folklore tales, the author learns that many are still told to this day by farm workers in forgotten corners of the Northern Cape and that, contrary to common belief, the culture and traditions of South Africa’s first people are still alive. Their footprints have not been erased.

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