It would be difficult (if not to say impossible) to find two other authors as competent and qualified to present such an ambitious, detailed, intimate, and dense assessment of the dynamics within a group of San (more popularly known as ‘Bushmen’) in Namibia over the time span chosen. Especially in the case of a community (rather: communities) they qualify as ‘perhaps the most fully described indigenous people in all of anthropology’ (p. vii). A status of relative prominence to which both scholars (being at the same time not only anthropologists but also activists and practitioners) contributed for most of their life, since the early and mid-1970s respectively. The almost encyclopedic list of those persons they acknowledge with gratitude for their various forms and degrees of support and involvement in this effort speaks for itself: it documents the history of more than twenty years of advocacy and interaction on many different levels and shows how many have not lived long enough to see this result of the combined efforts, which they at least indirectly kind of co-own through their commitments, contributions, and engagement.

Despite the diagnosed international popularity of the Ju/'hoan San of Nyae Nyae (which might exceed their local status by far), their communities had been for a long time without their own voice in the outside world, but remained objects of curiosity or at best of well-meaning solidarity, often bordering on paternalism. The more recent changes in access to education and as a result literacy inside the group and their most active protagonists allowed the authors to provide them a forum for articulation. It is hence also considered as an effort ‘toward rectifying the facelessness that people such as the Ju/'hoansi have suffered in world dialogues’ (p. ix). The summary chapters in the first part of the volume present the overall picture from a somewhat more distanced analytical perspective, putting the story into the wider context of Namibia's postcolonial (re)construction and its effects on the Ju/'hoansi communities. The government's approach to the land issue features for obvious reasons most prominently and is competently summarized. These analyses provide the necessary background for a closer look at the consequences taking form and playing out on the local ground.

The developments, which were after different initiatives and lengthy negotiations finally resulting in the establishment of the Nyae Nyae conservancy, are recorded in the following chapters. The chronology of events unfolding since Independence might be too detailed and nuanced for those who as outsiders are more interested in the overall story instead of the individual pieces of the jigsaw puzzle resulting in the totality of the picture. Since the authors (and in particular Megan Biesele) have been directly involved as actors in these processes, they also shared their own narrative and perspectives by recording the successive steps, as small as they were. This allows insights into the group dynamics unfolding, the many interests at play and the differences between institutions, both operating as state administration and NGOs, and individuals all claiming to advocate the interests of the Ju/'hoan San communities. The internal differences within the lobbyists as well as in the group of internationally renowned scholars, but also among NGOs, who all differed over what is in the best interests of the communities and which forms of development should be promoted, unfold a fascinating micro-cosmos of agency.

At the end, the successful establishment of the conservancy displays a variety of interests embedded in the struggles for recognition and a certain degree of autonomy. Expectations of the Ju/'Hoansi related in this process to a variety of ways in securing a living: ‘When asked about desired economic options, many Ju/'hoansi say that they would like to be able to farm, but they would also like to have jobs that pay cash wages, to receive rations from the government, to take part in tourism and craft production, and to have the option to hunt and gather’ (p. 226). This supports the final conclusion of the authors, who end with the insight: ‘Although there is much that is challenging, difficult, and even tragic about life in Nyae Nyae today, there is also cultural revitalization, and it is far more than solely the conservation of past heritage. It is creative, engaging with enthusiasm and critique the new realities that the Ju/'hoansi face as they go forward’ (p. 244).

By documenting the initiatives and results of Ju/'hoansi agency in establishing the Nyae Nyae conservancy during the years following the independence of Namibia as an achievement towards defending their own identity and rights (themselves contested notions) and as social reproduction within an adjusted and transformed local environment, the authors highlight how creativity and resilience have been survival strategies that have produced results. In emphasizing the protection of their own resources and rights, the authors intend ‘to demythologize previous images of them as noble savages or helpless victims’. By doing so, they seek to demonstrate ‘the responsiveness of current anthropological advocacy to the aspirations of a well-known indigenous society of former foragers’ (p. x). The inclusion of local voices is hereby an important element. Reading the chapters that follow the introduction justify this final conclusion: mission accomplished.