Shifting identities in Eastern Khoe: ethnic and language endangerment

Historically the Boteti River valley and the Sua (or Makgadikgadi) Pans and its surroundings have been home for the Khoe people for thousands of years. However, in the last century alone there have been involuntary movements which have either scattered them or brought them into foster communities. These movements have resulted in the neutralisation of some of the linguistic diversity observed by early travellers and linguists. Before these social and linguistic transformations, however, the Khoe were characterised by small semi-nomadic communities which lived on hunting and gathering, and kept little livestock This mode of life was mainly based on the availability of game and wild plants in the Makgadikgadi Pans area. This paper examines the current ethnic and linguistic situation of these communities and also attempts to show why they have shifted and why there is a real danger to the survival of these people as ethnic and linguistic entities. It also suggests practical steps in responding to the threat of ethnic extinction of the Eastern Khoe. This position paper attempts to account for the socio-history, socio-linguistics, and language dynamics of the Eastern Khoe languages. These languages are found scattered in and around the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans in north-eastern central Botswana. Preliminar