After 20,000 years, the world's oldest people face a crisis of culture 隔了兩萬年之後，世界最古老的人民面臨文化危機

The San are an indigenous people who live in Southern African nations. DNA testing has shown that they are direct descendants of the first Homo sapiens, and have lived in the region for around 20,000 years.

(CNN)-Caught between modernity and 20,000 years as hunter-gatherers, the San people sit at a crossroads.

(CNN)- 桑人處在十字路口，身為狩獵原住民，夾在現代化和兩萬年歷史之間。




An indigenous people in Southern Africa, they are our oldest human ancestors, DNA testing proving the San are direct descendants of the first Homo sapiens. But today their culture, traditions and heritage are at risk of being lost forever.


在南非的原住民，是我們最古老的人類祖先，DNA實驗證明桑人是首位現代人的直系後代。但是如今，他們的文化、傳統和遺產陷入永久失傳的危機。
The San live across South Africa, Botswana, Angola and Namibia. In Botswana they're known as the Basarwa, where they live a largely nomadic lifestyle that has remained undisturbed for millennia.

桑人生活在南非、波札那、安哥拉和奈米比亞。在波札那，他們被稱為巴薩爾瓦人，大多過著千年來不被打擾的游牧生活。




"Culture is something that can die and we should understand that culture is dynamic," says Bihela Sekere, part of the indigenous population who previously worked at the Botswana High Commission in London.


「文化是一種會消逝的東西，而我們應該要知道文化是多變的。」同為原住民一份子的Bihela Sekere說道，他先前在倫敦的波札那高級委員會工作。
Sekere grew up in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, the second largest of its kind in the world, hunting as his father had done before him. But in 1997 the government began removing the Basarwa from the reserve, ostensibly to protect the area and integrate the community into mainstream society.

Sekere從小在他所屬種族於世界分布第二大的地方–喀拉哈里中央動保區長大、打獵，就像他父親一樣。但是1997年，政府開始將巴薩爾瓦人搬離保護區，宣稱是為了要保護這個區域，讓這個族群融入主流社會。
In Botswana the San are known as the Basarwa, and their culture is under threat from encroaching modernity and the advent of technology.

Now based in a resettlement village, passing on age-old traditions has become harder and harder for the Basarwa.

現今安置於移民村，對巴薩爾瓦人來說，古老文化的傳承變得更加困難了。
Today many Basarwa can be found in resettlement villages, where some struggle to pass on their traditions to the following generation. Sekele says that as children sent to school learn other languages, like English, there's a threat to their native tongue.




"Some of the kids, Basarwa kids, are taken to schools (and) they can lose their culture because they are taught other ways of living," explains Sekere. "To start with the language -- if they are taught Setswana and English, it means the language will suffer."


Sekere解釋：「部分被帶到學校的巴薩爾瓦小孩們，因為被教導其他生活方式，他們會因此失去他們的文化。首先是語言，如果他們被教導茨瓦纳語和英語，這意味著其母語受到威脅。」
Sekere also cites the famous trance dance, a stalwart of Basarwa culture, as something that could one day suffer at the hands of modern music, played on radios and mobile phones by youths.

Sekere還以有名的迷咒舞為例，那是巴薩爾瓦的核心文化，是能夠在一天之內毀在年輕人在收音機和手機所播的流行音樂手上。
The caves have become a tourist destination. Aside from the pictures, it is a place of legend too. Guide Xontae retells the story of 'The Origin of Man,' a place within the formations where God first taught humans how to reproduce.

Hope is not lost, however, while there are those willing to preserve indigenous culture. Local man Xontae guides the curious around some of his people's greatest heritage sites, including the Tsodilo Hills, where 4,500 rock paintings dating back to the Stone Age can be explored. Meanwhile the Kuru Art Project seeks to revive art making among the Basarwa once more.
然而，還有希望，還有那些願意守護當地文化的人們。當地人Xontae帶著好奇的人們到某些其人民偉大的遺址，其中包括措迪洛山，在那裏可以探索到，追溯至石器時代的4千5百幅石繪畫。同時，庫魯藝術計畫設法再次復興波札那的藝術。
British-Caribbean artist Ann Gollifer, who is part of the initiative, says that the work the Basarwa create mainly depicts a hunter-gatherer lifestyle of yesteryear. Using modern mediums to paint ancient traditions, these artworks have sold all over the world.
英籍加勒比海藝術家Ann Gollifer是計畫中的一員，她表示波札那人的作品主要是描繪過去狩獵採集的生活型態。用現代的表現手法繪出古老的傳統，這些藝術品將會銷售至全球。




It's proof that culture is dynamic, malleable and susceptible to change -- for better or for worse. But with will and determination, the likes of Sekere believes the Basarwa have what it takes.


這證明了文化是不斷變化的，具有改變的可塑性及善變性，可能更好，也可能更糟。但是憑著意志和決心，有很多像Sekere一樣的人都相信波札那能變得更好。

Bihela Sekere, who used to work at the Botswana High Commission in London, is aiding efforts to boost the indigenous culture of his people. He grew up in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, the second largest of its kind in the world, hunting as his father had done before him. But in 1997 the government began relocating Basawra populations.

"Culture on its own, it is what makes you who you are... It's upon us, the youth, to learn from these old people to promote our culture and to preserve it while they are still alive."

「文化憑著自己本身，讓你認清自己是誰，它接近著我們年輕的一輩，向老一輩的人學習提倡我們的文化及在他們有生之年維護它。」
Many of the works depict scenes from the Basarwa's hunter-gatherer lifestyle of years past, and the fruits of the project have sold around the world.

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