TY  - SER
AU  - Lawy,Jenny
TI  - Female nitiation or School? Practicing Culture in the Kalahari
T2  - Senri Ethnological Studies ; 
PY  - 2018///
CY  - Osaka-JP : 
PB  - National Museum Ethnology, 
KW  - ANTROPOLOGIA
KW  - COMUNIDADES INDIGENAS
KW  - NIÑEZ
KW  - SUDAFRICA
N2  - Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork from 2011 to 2012, this chapter addresses advocacy tacit within local cultural practices of Ncoakhoe (San) in Gantsi District, Botswana. It focuses on a female initiation dance, Du Xgo Tena, which is carried out at a girl's first menstruation and signifies a transition from girlhood into womanhood. It is both a rite of passage and a way of conferring womanhood on to older women who were not able to undergo their own initiations when they were younger. Typically, girls who complete this initiation drop out of school because the school does not give permission for them to have time off. This absence often causing them to miss key exams makes it more difficult for them to return to school. The assumption is that choosing initiation automatically means not choosing schooling and the cultural values and assumptions that are associated with it. However, this is an oversimplification. The notion of advocacy (illustrated in this chapter by the actions of a prominent Neoakhoe family) promotes the cultural practice of initiation within the community, while at the same time supporting children throughout their schooling
ER  -