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Landscape and Identity of Herero Communities in Namibia

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Landscape and Identity of Herero Communities in Namibia UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository) Since the Germans came it rains less : landscape and identity of Herero communities in Namibia Hoffmann, A.G. Publication date 2005 Document Version Final published version Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Hoffmann, A. G. (2005). Since the Germans came it rains less : landscape and identity of Herero communities in Namibia. General rights It is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Disclaimer/Complaints regulations If you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Ask the Library: https://uba.uva.nl/en/contact, or a letter to: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible. UvA-DARE is a service provided by the library of the University of Amsterdam (https://dare.uva.nl) Download date:24 Sep 2021 “Since the Germans came it rains less.” Landscape and Identity of Herero Communities in Namibia “Since the Germans came it rains less”: Landscape and Identity of Herero Communities in Namibia ACADEMISCH PROEFSCHRIFT ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam op gezag van de Rector Magnificus prof. mr. P.F. van der Heijden ten overstaan van een door het college voor promoties ingestelde commissie, in het openbaar te verdedigen in de Aula der Universiteit op donderdag 15 december 2005, te 10.00 uur door Anette Gertrud Hoffmann geboren te Limburg/Lahn, Duitsland 2 Table of contents Acknowledgements......................................................................................................................................4 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................6 Ehi rOvaherero...........................................................................................................................................16 Ehi rOvaherero as social space....................................................................................................................................... 19 Naming the land............................................................................................................................................................... 22 Omitandu .......................................................................................................................................................................... 24 Speaking social space ....................................................................................................................................................... 29 Performative belongings.................................................................................................................................................. 34 Otjongombe and Okandjira............................................................................................................................................ 37 Okahandja ......................................................................................................................................................................... 42 Ozombosiro ................................................................................................................................................52 Wa zembwa vi?................................................................................................................................................................. 56 The predicaments of opacity .......................................................................................................................................... 61 Stories to be passed on.................................................................................................................................................... 64 Albertine’s grief ................................................................................................................................................................ 70 Resurrection of a cow...................................................................................................................................................... 77 The Old Location.......................................................................................................................................82 The elusive monument .................................................................................................................................................... 84 Fantasms-to-be-made-real............................................................................................................................................... 89 The locations..................................................................................................................................................................... 92 “To carry passes at all times....”...................................................................................................................................... 95 From naming-as-claiming to naming-as-referring ..................................................................................................... 104 Our very big etundu....................................................................................................................................................... 109 Okurya Ehi................................................................................................................................................124 “You must come and see Okahandja Day - it is our tradition!”.............................................................................. 125 Sand as a social substance ............................................................................................................................................. 133 Reading what is not said................................................................................................................................................ 138 Re-appropriation and re-creation: attempts to reverse a moral dislocation ........................................................... 147 Otjize..........................................................................................................................................................154 Ombotozu....................................................................................................................................................................... 155 Pride and prejudice......................................................................................................................................................... 161 Reminders of a snake..................................................................................................................................................... 169 Contested belongings..................................................................................................................................................... 182 Diasporic articulations.............................................................................................................................186 Diaspora within .............................................................................................................................................................. 191 Routes versus roots........................................................................................................................................................ 194 Life as travel.................................................................................................................................................................... 204 Omuserekarere on different levels............................................................................................................................... 210 “We are equal to the Jews who were destroyed” ....................................................................................................... 216 Concluding remarks.................................................................................................................................220 Summary....................................................................................................................................................225 Nederlandse Samenvatting......................................................................................................................230 Bibliography ..............................................................................................................................................236 3 Acknowledgements Very much like the landscape in this book, the supportive network that was the backbone of this project stays invisible. My acknowledgments substitute for this lack. I thank Renathe for sharing cultural knowledge with me, for being my advisor during the work on this book, for translating, answering all my questions although she was rather skeptic in the beginning, for sharing time with me, and evaluating my written work, for sometimes
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