ABSTRACT
Anthropological theory is like pop music. Trends in the sub-discipline have moved to greater concerns indigenous voices and towards political action, but only very rarely to any sort of post-modernist rejection of scientific understanding. Relational definitions of indigeneity beg the question of whether Bushmen, Pygmies, or whoever, themselves see something in common amongst all such peoples in their relations with outside forces. The ‘Bushman’ has been used by anthropology throughout the history of the discipline as a figure to be displayed. Whatever the Bushman does, he or indeed she is brought out as an exemplar of something. As M. Guenther has suggested, the image and portrayal of Bushmen change along with anthropological theory in every generation. The main problem with the image of the Bushman is that it can so easily be manipulated to serve the ends of some primitivism or other.
