What Dawid Knew – A Journey with the Kruipers by Patricia Glyn (Signed)

What Dawid Knew: A Journey with the Kruipers by Patricia Glyn is a compelling work of South African biography, social history and eco-adventure that records the remarkable story of Dawid Kruiper and his family, members of the ‡Khomani San community of the Kalahari.

In 2011, Dawid Kruiper asked Patricia Glyn to help him undertake an important final journey. Together with three generations of the Kruiper family and an expedition crew, Glyn travelled through the Kalahari for two months, revisiting places connected with the family’s history and documenting knowledge and memories that stretched back generations. Central to the journey was a deeply significant family story that Dawid wished to pass on to his descendants before his death.

Glyn’s account develops into much more than a record of an expedition. What Dawid Knew examines the Kruiper family’s experiences of dispossession, prejudice and profound historical trauma while recording their intimate knowledge of the Kalahari landscape and natural environment. The book provides an important personal perspective on San heritage, traditional knowledge and the changing relationship between indigenous communities and their ancestral lands.

Published by Picador Africa in 2013, this is a particularly desirable copy as it has been signed by Patricia Glyn on the title page. Combining biography, oral history, travel writing, conservation and South African social history, What Dawid Knew is an important addition to collections devoted to Africana, the Kalahari, indigenous history and the peoples of Southern Africa.

Condition – Near Fine

2013 paperback. Signed by Patricia Glyn on the title page. Light foxing present; otherwise a very well-preserved copy.