Modern-day Namibian history has largely been shaped by three major eras: German colonial rule, South African apartheid occupation, and the Liberation Struggle. It was, however, not only military conquest that laid the cornerstone for the colony, but also how the colony was imagined, the “dream” of this colony. As a tool of discursive worldmaking, literature has played a major role in providing a framework in which to “dream” Namibia, first from outside its borders, and then from within. In Fictioning Namibia as a Space of Desire, Renzo Baas employs Henri Lefebvre‘s city-countryside dialectic and reworks it in order to uncover how fictional texts played an integral part in the violent acquisition of a foreign territory. Through the production of myths around whiteness, German and South African authors designed a literary space in which control, destruction, and the dehumanisation of African peoples are understood as a natural order, one that is dictated by history and its linear continuation. These European texts are offset by Namibia’s first novel by an African, offering a counter-narrative to the colonial invention that was (German) South West Africa.
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Extrait
Fictioning Namibia as a Space of Desire
Renzo Baas
Fictioning Namibia as a Space of Desire An Excursion into the Literary Space of Namibia During Colonialism, Apartheid and the Liberation Struggle
Basler Afrika Bibliograpien Namibia Resource Centre & Soutern Africa Library Klosterberg 23 PO Box 2037 CH-4051 Basel Switzerland www.baslerafrika.c
All rigts reserved.
Cover poto: he Unknown Soldier at Heroes’ Acre; source: Namibian Tourism Board
ISBN 978-3-906927-08-4 ISSN 2296-6986
Contents
1 Introduction Producing Certain Spaces Literature on and about Namibia Literature List Terms and Conditions Looking Forward
2 Social and Literary Space From Relative to Social Space he Social Space of Henri Lefebvre Social Space and Literary Space
3 he Colonial Era: War, Toil, and Diamonds Introduction to te Texts Emptied Landscapes he Garden heWiteFemale Colonialist
4 he Aparteid Era: he Trust in Maps and Guns Introduction to te Texts Emptied Landscapes (?) Tecnologies of Conquest and Domination (De)Constructing teWiteMale Explorer
5 he Namibian Moment: Learning to Sing Introduction to te Text Main Spaces of te Narrative Resistance and Disobedience he Resistance of One, te Resistance of Many Merging te Past, Present, and Future
6 Conclusion Producing te ‘Oter’ (and oneself ) A Colonial Network of Spaces and Strategies
1 2 4 16 22 31
35 41 56 73
85 93 98 122 136
152 161 170 179 188
196 197 201 218 235 239
247 249 256
he Metropole in Crisis A Root of te Metropolitan Crisis Monologic and Dialogic Narratives
Bibliograpy
Index
258 263 266
271
283
Acknowledgements
As any doctoral student can confirm, it is no easy task to start and finis a PD. It takes time and preparation, additions and subtractions, new influences and ideas. It takes de-dication, a will to finis. All of tese tings don’t come by temselves, or overnigt, or in te last sip of te midnigt espresso. hey come from te people you spend time wit, te people you love, te people wo decided – sometimes against teir better judgement – to join you on your journey of late nigts, late mornings, stressed meetings, and missed deadlines. Borrowed-and-never-returned books. Opened-and-sared wines. he great ideas tat did not make it into te final version. he regrets tereof. he sweat on te day of submission. It‘s all wort it wen te tesis becomes a book you can old. Wen it becomes a way of saying tank you to everyone tat elped along te way wo made te book wat it is. To Henri and Karim Gunkel, wo are my motivation, my inspiration, and my ap-piness. You make me want to cange myself and te world for te better, to imagine, to dream. You make me realise ow lucky and fortunate I am. I cannot imagine my life witout you. To Prof. Susan Arndt, wo as been tere to elp me tink, elp me improve as a person, elp me grow witin tis crazy world. You are an amazing scolar wit so muc to give and sare. Know tat tere are countless people wo appreciate ow beautiful you are. To Prof. Lindy Stiebel, for te guidance, te kindness, and for always backing me. Your encouraging words kept me going and got me out of numerous slumps. To Dr. Dag Henricsen, wo as given me a new appreciation for my ome country, wo as continually sown me Namibia’s complexities, and its beauty. To BIGSAS wo decided to take a cance on me by providing me wit a full scolar-sip. Witout your extraordinary financial, administrative, and intellectual support, tis book would not ave been possible. hank you also to te BIGSAS community – PD candidates, alumni, te administrative staff, te Senior Researcers – wic is always warm and welcoming. To my parents, Werner and Ingrid Baas, wo ave continually backed me in all my adventures and endeavours. You are te ome I can always come back to. To Hans and Rut Brenner, as well as Micael Brenner and Melissa Scäfer, for being my family away from ome. You made difficult winters manageable and you were a con-stant inspiration for my work and a positive influence on my world view.
VII
To Pilipp, Laura, Vincent, Carmen, René, Stefan, Lukas, horsten, and Mattias. Witout you, Bayreut would not ave been wat is was. You made it enjoyable and livable, a place I could also call ‘ome’. To Petra Kerckoff at te Basler Afrika Bibliograpien, wo as been te embodiment of patience and cooperation. I am grateful to you and te BAB for giving me te oppor-tunity to publis my tesis wit you. To te Sam Coen Library for te valuable resources and researc material I could access and integrate into my book. To te Namibian National Arcives for your unlimited patience in locating all te maps, texts, and documents tat I needed for my work. To te University of KwaZulu Natal for offering me te Postdoctoral Fellowsip, wic gave me te time and space to finalise tis book.
VIII
1 Introduction
hen-president of Namibia, Sam Nujoma, declared in is speec at te inauguration of Heroes’ Acre in Windoek in 2005: “we are writing te istory of our country from our own perspective and troug our own suffering and sacrifices. he time wen colonisers 1 distorted our istory is now gone forever” . his powerful assertion of writing one’s own istory is a strong reflection of postcolonial moments in wic time and space are recon-figured to reflect local temporal and spatial regimes. hese regimes, violently resaped in order to serve European expansionist and imperialist ambitions, are being reactivated in a number of contexts. In Namibia, for example, tis as taken te form of a national and symbolic cemetery. Included in te cemetery are a number of anti-colonial as well as anti-aparteid leaders and personalities taken from te larger Namibian societies of te Nama, te Herero, and te Owambo. Symbolic graves of elites suc as te Nama 2 3 kapteinHendrik Witbooi, HereroomuonaSamuel Maarero, and te Kwanyama king, Mandume Ndemufayo, amongst oters, are to be found witin te bounds of te Acre. A 4 larger-tan-life statue of te “Unnamed Soldier” involved in te liberation struggle and armed wit gun and grenade stands watc over tese istoric Namibian personalities. he incorporation of non-elites also speaks to te involvement of ‘ordinary’ Namibians in te efforts for independence and self-rule, as te inclusion of Kakurukaze Mungunda exem-plifies. Heroes’ Acre tus amalgamates various communities, istorical eras, and persons of different socio-cultural standing. Heroes’ Acre signifies a unified effort for self-governance, evident troug te collec-tion of a number of relevant personalities wo eac fougt for tis rigt. he sizable tract of land set aside for tis monument outside of Windoek is testament to te Namibian government’s efforts to onour and maintain te memory of tose wo gave teir lives in te pursuit of a life free from te terrors wic foreign rule inflicted. he ecoes of tese sacrifices are palpable today still, wen one considers te genocide committed against te Herero and Nama by te German colonial forces, one of te most defining moments in Namibian istory and a moment tat stretces from 1904 into te present. he Old
1
2
3 4
his and all subsequent quotes are taken from “Statement By His Excellency President Sam Nujoma On he Occasion Of he Official Inauguration Of Heroes’ Acre 26 August 2002” Kapteinis te term given to te leaders of Namakommandos(te mounted military division of a ‘na-tion’). hekapteinresponsible for administrative, judicial, and social issues for eac ‘nation’ (sub- is groupings of te larger Nama society). he word is an Afrikaans expression meaning “captain”. Omuonais te Herero term for a traditional autority, meaning ‘Big Man’. Altoug named as suc, te statue bears a very strong resemblance to ex-President Dr Sam Nujoma.