Bushman’s secret

The Bushman’s secret is a story about how western pharmaceutical industry is benefiting from age-old knowledge and traditions still found in the Kalahari desert in Africa. Unilever has for example shown interest in developing the local Hoodia herb into a natural slimming drug. This however happens at the expense of the Khomani people who have been the herb’s caretaker for many centuries.

Background

For centuries the Khomani people of South Africa have lived in harmony with their surroundings, taking from nature only what they needed. After the disturbance of this natural equilibrium by colonial superpowers, the only thing the Khomani were left with was knowledge about their surroundings and the medicinal benefit of local herbs. The commercial exploitation of one of those herbs may help the Khomani reclaim their traditional way of life. However, it could also risk them to aggravate existing problems in the impoverished community.

Social interest

Although many of the Khomani have lost the ability to speak their traditional Qabe language, one of them expresses comfort in the fact that he has at least preserved his knowledge about nature. Adversely, after centuries of suppression by colonial superpowers a once proud people, the Khomani now have to make ends meet by selling handicrafts to passing tourists. The emptiness of their existence leads them to seek solace in alcohol, filling the remainder of their day with excessive drinking, eroding their mind and with that the traditional knowledge hidden inside.

Conflict interest

The commercial exploitation of the Hoodia herb causes conflicts among the Bushmen. As different tribes lay claim to the intellectual property rights and debate over what and who is a Bushman, the extradition of traditional knowledge out of its tribal context may risk disrupting the existing peace among the different tribes. Refined and powdered the Hoodia herb now risks to be redefined from an expression of traditional knowledge into a vehicle for the commercial exploitation of nature and culture.

Political interest

Decades after the violent suppression of traditional Khomani language and culture by Dutch and British colonial superpowers, today’s commercial superpower, the Dutch-Anglo multinational Unilever, seems its modern incarnation. Similarly to the former colonial superpowers, Unilever also prefers the commercial use, discursively exploitation, of nature and traditional culture over its preservation.

Style

Filmmaker Rehad Desai is often visibly present and has a clear voice in his documentary film. The sustaining effect of apartheid in present South African society seems a recurring theme in his work. Desai is openly involved and his sometimes irritated intonation seems to suggest aggravation about testimonies given by some of the interviewees. He does not seem have a desire to hide the fact that he as an individual filmmaker will, regardless of any attempt to remain objective, undoubtedly influence the documentation of his subject.