Lost Lands? Indigenous (Land)Rights of the San in Botswana

The German edition has received very positive reviews in the first two years after publication and found exceptionally wide distribution as a thorough online research demonstrates. The book is available in libraries and research institutions around the world. However, basic command of German is a prerequisite, which excludes a majority of scholars interested in the subject. Personal communication with colleagues in the course of conferences and scientific networks such as the (FWF funded) European Science Foundation network ABORNE (African Borderlands Research Network) strongly confirmed the single negative remark of one of the international assessments for the German publication, i.e. "that the academic significance of the publication appears compromised by the language barrier which affects most non-English publications". Indigenous rights discourses in the realm of human rights developments have come into the limelight some two decades ago with the UN resolution of the first decade of the world`s indigenous peoples (1994). The theme and global action programme remained in the political and academic focus with the adoption of the second UN Decade of the world`s indigenous peoples and, particularly, through the 2007 UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It does not seem overstated that indigenous rights form one of the key themes of various overlapping disciplines from social anthropology to international rights, political development, governance, and environmental studies (to name but a few). In terms of international visibility and accessibility an English publication would have a tremendous impact on the distribution of my research results. There appears to be a great interest in the implementation of indigenous rights on the African continent, where the resistance of some states against this notion of indigeneity exemplified the intricacies involved in collective rights developments. The book proposed for an English translation should be able to make some contributions on various levels, namely the development of the notion, the international space of multi-sphere governance, the relationship of political steering and legal frameworks and the national arena of adjudication (e.g. the Botswana High Court). In order to secure the widespread impact of an English publication I have decided to seek cooperation with the key European institution concerned with indigenous rights academically as well as "politically", the IWGIA (International Work Group of Indigenous Peoples). It was founded in 1968 by anthropologists alerted about the deteriorating conditions of many indigenous peoples on the globe. Since then it has become the central network for researchers, policy makers, NGOs, media, and a general public interested in concrete developments. It publishes academic works from various disciplines, Yearbooks on global developments, international institutions` (such as the African Commission) and NGO`s reports on regional issues and has unquestionably become one, if not "the" forum for critical debate and ongoing research. It has directed strong attention to open access publications which are available on the IWGIA website. Any scholar interested in indigenous affairs will regularly consult the updated information of IWGIA and therefore come across my proposed publication. Open access through IWGIA will give it maximum visibility, a fact that makes this forum of publication preferable to perhaps more prestigious publishers in the US and England. It has been agreed between IWGIA and the German based Lit Verlag that the print version will be published by Lit (Berlin, Münster and Vienna). Various advantages on the level of logistics and distribution may derive from this arrangement: the entire publication process will profit from direct communication with the publisher, printer, and the actual translator. Lit has a good distribution of its publications to libraries around Europe. Legal and anthropological disciplines rank high among its special subjects of interest. And, most importantly, English publications by Lit and IWGIA are distributed through Publishers in North America and elsewhere and find global distribution. The book may therefore be reasonably expected to receive recognition and review in the region it refers to.