“That Name Has Lost Our Culture”: National Arts Competitions and Cultural Dispossession – The <i>Tsutsube</i> in Botswana

In 2008, the government of Botswana launched the President’s Day Cultural Competitions with the dual objective of strengthening unity in the diversity of the country and promoting economic diversification. Since its inception, this competition has become the country’s premier cultural event, annually bringing together thousands of artists from across the nation. This article traces the emergence and institutionalisation of the tsutsube, a San (Basarwa) traditional dance performed during the competition, examining how the word and the reality it has come to designate function as performative sites, actively shaping the reality in which they circulate. Based on observations and interviews conducted among performing Naro (San) artists in Ghanzi District, Botswana, it further explores how this neologism enables a transfer of expertise and a deterritorialisation, enabling its circulation beyond the original communities. These processes are shown to fuel a sense of cultural dispossession among Naro communities, while also giving rise to new claims of ownership and authority over the practice.