This book explores the struggles of the Basarwa (San) peoples in Botswana, laying bare the ways government policies and development agendas have uprooted families, dispossessed communities, and criminalized the pursuit of age-old livelihoods. But more than a story of loss, this is a powerful exploration of indigenous resistance for cultural survival, economic justice, and political representation. Drawing on ethnographic work in the resettlement communities and court case analyses, the narrative challenges common assumptions about “progress” and asks: who decides what development and modernization mean, and at what cost? This book reveals what is at stake when Indigenous cultures are forced to choose between their heritage and survival in a rapidly modernizing world. It is essential reading for students, academics and practitioners interested in research on ethnicity and indigeneity, territoriality, marginality, politics of development, modernization, dispossession, human rights, restitution and those interested in environmental conservation laws and policies.

Dr Lesedi Mashumba is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Botswana. Her research focus areas include topical issues such as criminalization of livelihoods of ethnic minorities, and justice issues with gender minorities, sexual minorities, people living with disabilities, as well as a focus on cybercrime, corruption, policing and digital forensics.