Rumi Umino

In this project, I conduct fieldwork in South Africa to explore into three themes put up above. For the themes (1) and (2), I continue my previous research having conducted since 1996 on the historical practices of Griqua people in Western Cape. The historical practices that the Griqua people perform in their everyday living are considered as the way of interpretation on current problems. In the research, I examine and reveal that orally performed historical practices construct relationship among people within the community and with outsiders, work as the Griqua people’s tactics for survival, and, consequently, contribute to avoid conflicts and live coherently with others. Also, I examine the concept of “indigenous” in the country’s cultural policy to reveal its ambiguity. Then, I analyse the impact of the concept’s ambiguity to the Khoisan peoples, including the Griqua people, as the “indigenous” population of the country. Moreover, I describe how the Griqua people, and other Khoisan peoples, interpret and appropriate the policy and the concept. For the theme (3), I attempt to do the anthropology of anthropology and anthropologists in South Africa. The anthropologists working in South Africa relate themselves to the “field” so-called within the places conducting everyday lives. The uniqueness lies that the place of the “field” and for everyday life in the country holds the so-called “cultural diversity” historically structured, which influences people and the society as a whole still today. I conduct an ethnographical study with the anthropologists and discuss how they relate with the Other within their own society.