Talk:Abatwa

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This is an incorrect reading of the myth of the Abatwa. Abatwa is the Zulu word for Bushman or San. People today still identify as Abatwa in the Drakensberg Mountains and are struggling for recognition. They have been described elsewhere by some anthropologists namely Frans Prins and Michael Francis. The myths above have been known to relate to the Abatwa and historic notes and documents from early academcis also record such myths. See Werner for an english gloss on the "where did you see me myth?". In Zulu the phrase is Ongibonabonephi?. Such myths as the one above do exist alongside the extant peoples aiding in their dispossession and marginalisation. Most Abatwa historically moved in a settled with the dominant Nguni (Zulu, Xhosa, Swazi and Ndebele people) as a way to avoid the genocide facing them from colonial encroachment. The Bushmen or Abatwa of the Drakensberg were listed as vermin until the 1920s and settlers could murder them with impunity. It is a sad history that is only now getting the attention it deserves. -163.1.233.135

actualy name Abatwa is meaning Twa in Bantu languages,simiral in East and center Africa the call them Twa or Batwa. or mbilikimo, if is aperson Mtwa, many Batwa,(Abatwa)the Bush man. this is the same people who run away from Mt Kilimanjaro to Lake victoria Tanganyika enter Rwanda/Congo/Burundi.other went to Southen African countries such as Zimbabwe,Namibia.Botswana,and RSA, the reamined is still in tanzania as Sandawe with there Click langueges, the languege change in Others countries after some years go, you can read this two altacle bellow

https://sw.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wasandawe https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Bushmen

Second definition, a mythical creature?
The term also refers to a mythical people who were so small they supposedly lived in ant hills. Armed with powerful poison they would kill anyone who pointed out their small stature or happened to step on them.

OK...
...I think I'm beginning to understand. This word consists of two parts, the "Ab", and the "-twa". I don't know what the first one means, but the article links us to Twa, which referrs to a tribe more indiginous to central Congo than the Bantus, who less anciently arrived in the area. But when I first arrived here, it was defined totally differently. It was in the category of fabled creatures, the kind of cultural folk belief creature that all cultures seem to have, something along the lines of a leprechaun, fairy, or some such thing, but this one from a Bantu culture. So this article reads like it does because this word has some kind of double-meaning. Is this correct? Chrisrus (talk) 04:46, 16 September 2010 (UTC)


 * I am sure that the word has a double meaning, just like the word 'jew' had a different meaning in the nazi ideology than amongst the jews themselves. That is not unusual if you consider other people vermin to be exterminated, isn't it? And yes the nazi's had a complete mythology about it. I'm sure we can quote quite a few references, too, particularly from 1933-'45. However, does that justify a page like Jew (mythological being)? If not: how are the /Xewgi different? Less human than jews or so? Jcwf (talk) 18:17, 4 July 2011 (UTC)
 * And yes the massacres also came from the Zulu and the Swazi.
 * On a linguistic note: in Nguni the prefix aba- belongs to class 2 nouns and typically indicates a plural of people. E.g. umntu (=person) - abantu (=people)

Jcwf (talk) 18:30, 4 July 2011 (UTC)
 * You say you are sure that the word has a double meaning. I think so too, but would ask if you have some way of knowing this for sure and if so could you help the article by explaining.  Look at the history of this article.  I infer that it does from that fact that the referent of this article and the referent of the one that used to sit here seemed to be different so maybe there's a double meaning or some such.   I really don't understand it.  Someone who understands these things should address this issue.  All I know is that it used to be about a mythical creature and now it seems to be about a tribe.  Was it vandalism that it used to refer to a mythical creature?  I'm just a reader of the article and don't understand what happened or what is up with this.  I'm just guessing based on what happened with the article.  I'd never heard of "Abatwa" before.  If you know about this, please don't hold information back.  Tell us all about it.  Chrisrus (talk) 19:36, 4 July 2011 (UTC)

Old source for mythological creature definition, previous referent of this article, a legendary creature, seem to be a real legend in that culture
http://books.google.com/books?id=1IDS3UUrqAIC&pg=PA63&dq=Abatwa&lr=&num=100&as_brr=3&ei=OitPSO3xK4_aigG_ufRF&sig=tt4PZ2K-aUuB_PQhq9jTdfCaxIY#v=onepage&q=Abatwa&f=false

Expanding and citations required
This article has less number of citations kindly provide proper citations and try to improve article according to Wikipedia policies and kind expand it and if you allow my self I can certainly help you in expanding it. Thanks.--Faizanalivarya (talk) 13:39, 21 June 2012 (UTC)