Batesonian epistemology, Bushman n/om‐kxaosi, and rock art

Abstract

Purpose

Aims to define the conceptual tools of Gregory Bateson's epistemology – the nature of difference, logical typing, and recursion – and to apply this to understanding how we can approach the analysis of ethnographic reports of the Bushman n/om‐kxaosi (shamans) and the Bushman rock art of Southern Africa.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper argues that kinesthetic interaction with n/om‐kxaosi provides a vehicle for learning their way of construing the world.

Findings

The n/om‐kxaosi have a kinesthetic lexicon and a set of dominant metaphors rooted to their ecstatic body expression that provide coherence to their ways of healing and spiritual understanding. The previously assumed incoherent nature of Bushman religious views noted by anthropologists is argued to have been the consequence of underestimating the importance Bushman thinking gives to circularity and transformation of all aspects of their experience.

Originality/value

Illuminates the analysis of the Bushman culture.

Citation

Keeney, B. (2007), "Batesonian epistemology, Bushman n/om‐kxaosi, and rock art", Kybernetes, Vol. 36 No. 7/8, pp. 884-904. https://doi.org/10.1108/03684920710777405