This thesis explores Naro San song as a relational way of being, offering a subtle shift from ontological framings toward what I call a becoming of feeling. It asks how song brings the Naro San into felt relationship with a more-than-human world. Guided by decolonial and relational Indigenous paradigms, the inquiry took shape through six semi-structured conversational interviews with elders from the Naro San community of D’Kar in the Ghanzi District of Botswana. What emerged were stories of song drawing people into zones of close-felt encounter with a more-than human world. This thesis suggests that it is through close-felt encounters facilitated by song that healing occurs. Rather than framing song as expressive or symbolic, this study foregrounds song as relation itself — a thread of attunement that deepens proximity with more-than-human diversities and imbues healing. This research contributes to conversations at the intersections of ethnobiology, Indigenous knowledge, and decolonial scholarship. It does not seek to redefine ethnobiology but to offer a connection to centre ways of relating that are felt, embodied, and rooted in lived experience. In doing so, it gestures toward relational ways of being.
Benjamin Dey Tainton (Sun,) studied this question.
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