Dickens Patrick J. A Concise Grammar of Juǀ’hoan with a Juǀ’hoan-English glossary and a subject index

Köln: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag, 2005. — 122 p. — (Research in Khoisan Studies, Vol. 17).This work, done under conditions of extreme remoteness and hardship, and in the knowledge that it would take the last years of his life, has had
profound effects on Juǀ’hoan cultural development. As an educational program for and with the Juǀ’hoan in their own language, based on DICKENS’ linguistic and pedagogical fieldwork, the VSP was launched in 1991. It has continued much as he envisioned it up to the present. in September of last year, 2004, the VSP was incorporated into the national educational system of Namibia: this development, too, was foreseen by DICKENS and was part of the original plan. Though it has experienced expectable political ups and downs through the first years of Namibian independence, the VSP has been seen as a model for a number of other educational efforts by indigenous peoples of southern Africa. It is particularly its combination of local-language promotion with an alternative, holistic approach to community education that has made it attractive to otherwise marginalized peoples who still value their own traditions.