But Mandela himself looked as if he had Khoi-san (Bushman) ancestry:
Here are some pictures of Bushmen, who are a distinct ethnic group:
Mandela has the same almost exaggerated cheekbones, round face, barely visible eyebrows, and hooded eyes of a Bushman. The Thembu were a southern African tribe, so it's certainly not inconceivable that some admixture occurred.
The original Boer settlers in South Africa were reportedly awed by the Bushmen's endurance, patience, courage, and tracking ability.
If Mandela did in fact have some Bushmen ancestry, that might partially explain his patience and fortitude.
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17 comments:
I always thought he looked Khoisan. I just took it for granted that he was since he was from that part of Africa. There's not much doubting it really.
I always thought he had an intelligent face too. Maybe that's just a subconscious bias- he reminds me a bit of Chinese people with the almost slanty eyes and he has thinner features than typical black Africans.
Looking again, I think he actually had epicanthic folds. I wonder if NE Asians came from Africans with epicanthic folds or if they evolved them in NE Asia.
Steven --
Not sure i'd say he has an intelligent face, but he does seem to have a kindly face. You're right, he -- and the Bushmen -- do seem to have a slightly Asian look. What's interesting about Mandela is that when he was younger, he actually looked more typically Bantu; I didn't include any of those pictures because they wouldn't have helped make my case, but I was surprised when I saw them. I suspect his "epicanthic" folds may be at least partly a function of his age, since eyelids tend to hang heavier in older people.
In any case, you are surely right and he was part Khoisan. You can see the Bantu look quite clearly when he was young and had a fuller face but the Khoisan look is quite evident too, more or less depending on the photo.
Steven --
Agreed.
The sick obsession with racializing indigenous Africans... He is part khoisan on his maternal side. No shock there. Goodness gracious. Do you people get so excited trying to figure out if a Brit is part Irish? Or a Swede part Italian? -_-
Skummelskog --
I like your name.
Trust me, I'm not obsessed with Mandela's ancestry. His possible Bushman ancestry is just something that occurred to me when I looked at a picture of him, and I haven't given it much thought since.
If you look at most of his official biographies, he is listed as being part Thembu and part Ixhiba, both of which are Bantu tribes. The Bushmen are actually a distinct race.
And yes, to answer your question, I do find ancestry in general interesting. Go to this post about my own ancestry (I had my own DNA tested through Ancestry.com) if you want proof:
http://justnotsaid.blogspot.com/2013/10/my-revised-ancestrycom-results.html
Skummelskog,
I am also interested in race and ancestry in general. I've always been a keen observer of facial features and how they correlate with geography. I was just thinking yesterday how the only women I ever see who look like my mum are Irish and that's because of her Irish ancestry (her grandfather was from Dublin). So there.
The world is pretty interesting, don't be so touchy.
btw, I recently learned they're called Khoisan because they are Khoi and San: San bushmen foragers (hunter gatherers I guess) and Khoi pastoralists (farmers who have livestock.)
fyi.
Steven --
Coincidentally, I just read that yesterday. Your comment got me to thinking about something and I looked it up and read the same thing.
BTW, thanks for defending the post to Skummelskog, but I'm sure he's long gone. The politically correct types rarely stick around long on this blog.
It's because they want to believe all Africans look like Michael Blackson. Not realizing Africa birthed every facial feature you see today. Just ignorance and western brainwashing.
Nelson Mandela's Mother is from San tribe, that explains his look. His father is from Xhosa tribe. In most African traditions, you belong to your father tribe.
Nelson Mandela described his father as being tall and dark, which characteristics are commom among bantus.
So yes Nelson Mandela is part Bushman
African Americans are not of Bantu descent, who wrote this? Majority of African Americans are of West African origin. There are no Bantus in West Africa
Unknown --
Take a look at the map of the Bantu diaspora in this Wiki article:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bantu_peoples
That person is correct. Almost all AA's have Bantu lineage. It may be large or small but it's there.
Bantu is a language category and many
Black African tribes speak so-called Bantoid languages, but not all do. For
example, many Africans enslaved in the
Americas came from Akan tribes . Akan languages like Twi are not Bantu languages. Which means that I am not
Bantu because my father is descended from Asante captives enslaved in the Americas.Many West Africans do not speak Bantu languages.
Be safe
ONH
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