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Kalahari Passage

This novel is the second in a trilogy. As in its prequel, Salt & Honey (revised edition 2011), this novel uses the adventure story form to convey political facts and ethnological information about the San peoples of Southern Africa. It follows the trials of a heroine unique in western literature, namely, Koba, a San ‘Bushman’ girl. Again, the author uses fiction to bring to public attention the real plight of indigenous people in Africa’s recent colonial history, specifically in this novel, the consequences of forced relocation and subsequent deculturation.

The novel is based upon Miller’s on-going research, including field trips to South Africa in 2010 and 2011 to gauge reaction to Salt & Honey from San scholars and a group of literate San. The novel is also informed by her study of San ethnography and ethnobotany, San folklore and the advice of expert reader, Dr Megan Biesele. Miller consulted works mentioning the South African apartheid-era regime’s policies in pre-independence Namibia as well as studies of Namibian bird- and wildlife. Sources for the protagonist’s experiences of the South African prison system, circa 1965, include the diaries of Ruth First, a South African anti-apartheid activist held in solitary confinement, and interviews with George Bizos, legal counsel to Rivonia treason triallists Mandela, Sisulu, and others. Kalahari Passage contains a glossary, background notes, and an orthographic guide to Ju|’hoansi.