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Transnational Resistance Strategies and Subnational Concessions in Namibia's Police Zone, 1919-1962

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Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports 2021 “Remov[e] Us From the Bondage of South Africa:” Transnational Resistance Strategies and Subnational Concessions in Namibia's Police Zone, 1919-1962 Michael R. Hogan West Virginia University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd Part of the African History Commons Recommended Citation Hogan, Michael R., "“Remov[e] Us From the Bondage of South Africa:” Transnational Resistance Strategies and Subnational Concessions in Namibia's Police Zone, 1919-1962" (2021). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 8264. https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/8264 This Dissertation is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by the The Research Repository @ WVU with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Dissertation in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you must obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/ or on the work itself. This Dissertation has been accepted for inclusion in WVU Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports collection by an authorized administrator of The Research Repository @ WVU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. “Remov[e] Us From the Bondage of South Africa:” Transnational Resistance Strategies and Subnational Concessions in Namibia's Police Zone, 1919-1962 Michael Robert Hogan Dissertation submitted to the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences at West Virginia University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy In History Robert M. Maxon, Ph.D., Co-Chair Tamba M’bayo, Ph.D., Co-Chair Joseph M. Hodge, Ph.D. James F. Siekmeier, Ph.D. Jamie Shinn, Ph.D. Department of History Morgantown, West Virginia 2021 Keywords: Namibia, Transnational, Subnational, Resistance, Apartheid Copyright 2021 Michael R. Hogan ABSTRACT “Remov[e] Us From the Bondage of South Africa:” Transnational Resistance Strategies and Subnational Concessions in Namibia's Police Zone, 1919-1962 Michael R. Hogan Between 1919 and 1962, the South African government implemented ever more restrictive segregationist and apartheid policies in South West Africa that attempted to control and monitor the social, political, and economic development of Namibians living in South West Africa’s Police Zone. This dissertation examines the transnational resistance campaigns and strategies developed by Namibians living in the Police Zone and their attempts to dissolve and frustrate the colonial state’s implementation of these policies. Particular focus is paid to such transnational institutions/actors as the League of Nations, the Universal Negro Improvement Association, the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the United Nations, and international student organizations across Scandinavia, the United States, and South Africa. This work argues that transnational resistance strategies were the primary tool used by Namibians in the Police Zone during the first half of the twentieth century and that these strategies were embraced because of the numerous opportunities created by centuries-old historical linkages connecting Namibians to the international community. Ideas, actors, resources, and institutions circulated across national boundaries and proved invaluable in Namibians’ resistance campaigns. These transnational strategies ultimately helped Namibians secure subnational concessions and reforms from the colonial regime that improved their standard-of-living and counteracted the South African government’s flagrant attempts to exploit and underdevelop Namibians living in the Police Zone. Dedication To my fiancé Jaddah, who put her life on hold to support me in the pursuit of my dream. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank everyone that played a role in the completion of this dissertation. First, I would like to thank my co-chairs, Dr. Robert Maxon and Dr. Tamba M’bayo, for the countless hours they have put into directing and editing this dissertation. Their critical eye, quick responses, and suggestions have made this a truly enjoyable process. Without their help and insight this project could not have come to fruition. A special thank you to the other members of my dissertation committee, Dr. Jamie Shinn, Dr. Joseph Hodge, and Dr. James Siekmeier. Dr. Shinn’s work with me through the geography department profoundly impacted my understanding of both physical and human geography and changed the way that I looked at issues of environmental security as they pertained to political and economic resistance strategies discussed in this dissertation. Similarly, Dr. Hodge’s classes on the ideologies of empire and Dr. Siekmeier’s suggestions surrounding my conceptualization of international diplomacy helped shape this study. There are a few other professors on my academic journey that deserve some recognition for the completion of this work. I would like to thank Dr. Lamont King and Dr. David Owusu-Ansah of James Madison University for introducing me to African Studies and African History during my undergraduate years. It was your classes and teaching that placed me on this career path. Likewise, a heartfelt thank you is needed for Dr. Benedict Carton at George Mason University. He introduced me to Namibian history and was foundational in the beginning of this project. His class on a comparative history of the United States and South Africa was important in introducing me to Dr. Robert Vinson and Dr. Robert Edgar. The introduction to Dr. Vinson during the Fall 2015 semester was my first experience with transnational history as a concept and his guest lecture provided me with the conceptual framework that shaped this dissertation. Thank you to all of you for leading me to this moment. The funding provided by the History Department at West Virginia University played an important role in facilitating this research project. The West Virginia University Dissertation Research Fellowship, the Doctoral Mini-Grant, and the African Studies Scholarship allowed me to travel to Windhoek, Geneva, Basel, Stockholm, Oxford, Chapel Hill, and New York to conduct this transnational study. Without this funding, this dissertation could not have come to fruition. A countless number of librarians archivists made this dissertation possible. A special thank you to Beauty Matongo for her patience and granting me access to the archival collections at the National Archives of Namibia. I would also like to thank Martha Nakanyala for teaching me how to use the National Archives finding aids, Albertian Nekongo for helping reproduce images of archival documents, and Ralph Ntelamo for going into the archival stacks every day to retrieve my numerous document requests. I greatly appreciate Dr. Dag Henrichsen’s communication with me throughout the summer of 2019 and the effort he put in to help me go through the documents at Basler Afrika Bibliographien. Your willingness to sit with me and go over foreign language documents saved me valuable time and your suggestions for further reading filled out some of the historiographical gaps in the dissertation. Lastly, I would like to thank the Wilson Library’s Special Collections staff at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill for reproducing the iv audiotapes in the Allard Lowenstein Collection and Jacques Oberson for providing me with access to the League of Nations Archives on less than a week’s notice. Finally, I would like to thank my family for the emotional and financial support they have provided during this 11-year journey. I would like to thank my fiancé Jaddah for putting her life on hold and moving to Morgantown with me for the past 5 years. Thank you to my parents, Vickie and Michael, for their financial help throughout the pandemic and for the continued emotional support they have provided during the toughest days of this dissertation writing process. Lastly, I would like to thank my brother, Matthew, for encouraging me to continue on this academic path and for the interest that he has shown in my studies. His encouragement has been invaluable. v Table of Contents Chapter 1: South West Africa and Its Changing Colonial Context—Historical Background and Methodological Considerations ...........................................................................................1 South African Rule in South West Africa, 1921-1966 ........................................................4 The African Resistance Historiography and the Changing Conception of Resistance ......................................................................................................................10 The Development of the Namibian Resistance Historiography and this Dissertation’s Contributions ..............................................................................................15 Transnational History as a Conceptual Framework for Namibian Resistance Studies ..............................................................................................................22 Sources and Methodology..................................................................................................27 Temporal and Spatial Limitations of the Study .................................................................36 Ethnicity and Geopolitics in Namibia’s Police Zone .........................................................40 Subnationalism
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