Lauren Dyll-Myklebust

This chapter foregrounds the methodological approach of the Biesje Poort project, outlining the ways in which the project can be framed within Rethinking Indigeneity research. As we snaked our way up the rocky terrain of Biesje Poort it dawned on me that the multi-disciplinary and multicultural Biesje Poort KhoiSan Rock Art Recording project ‘rethinks’ conventional ethnographic and archaeological research that is typified by ‘expert researchers’ who conceptualise their projects with neatly articulated goals and questions that are to be answered.

A case is made for research participants (normally known as ‘informants’, ‘subjects’, ‘objects’, ‘sources’, etc.) to be included in certain kinds of studies as co-authors and co-researchers. Self-narrative is examined from the perspectives of both the researchers and the researched. Engraved landscape, a post-positivist visual archaeology anthology, is our case study that draws on long-term lived field research amongst the ǂKhomani Bushmen.

This article is based on findings from a PhD study that explored the development communication processes between partners in the establishment of !Xaus Lodge in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, South Africa. Framed within the critical indigenous qualitative research approach, it reveals the importance of local narratives in the coproduction of knowledge that may guide development initiatives. The ǂKhomani and Mier, as community partners, are San and Khoe descendants with a rich storytelling tradition, and so many interviews turned into what I term ‘development narratives’.

Storytelling, art and craft can be considered aesthetic expressions of identities. Kalahari identities are not fixed, but fluid. Research with present-day Kalahari People regarding their artistic expression and places where it has been, and is still, practised highlights that these expressions are informed by spirituality. This article explores this idea via two Kalahari case studies: Water Stories recorded in the Upington, Kakamas area, as well as research on a specific rock engraving site at Biesje Poort near Kakamas.