ON BECOMING A CHIEF IN THE KAOKOVELD, COLONIAL NAMIBIA, 1916–25

In 1916 a warlord named Oorlog - 'war', in Afrikaans - moved into the Kaokoveld in the far north-west of what is now Namibia, and drove off the original inhabitants. Shortly after, Oorlog was formally recognized as a chief by the newly established South African administration and elevated to the highest position of power in the Kaokoveld. This article, through investigating how Oorlog came to be elevated to this position of power, explores issues of colonial governance and personal relationships. By focusing on the micropolitics of the Kaokoveld, it emphasizes how interpersonal relationships - not bureaucratic structures - were of crucial importance in the establishment and maintenance of early colonial rule in Africa

Archive of Darkness:William Kentridge's Black Box/Chambre Noire

Situating itself in histories of cinema and installation art, William Kentridge's Black Box/Chambre Noire (2005) raises questions about screens, exhibition space, site-specificity and spectatorship. Through his timely intervention in a debate on Germany’s colonial past, Kentridge’s postcolonial art has contributed to the recognition and remembrance of a forgotten, colonial genocide. This article argues that, by transposing his signature technique of drawings for projection onto a new set of media, Kentridge explores how and what we can know through cinematic projection in the white cube. In particular, his metaphor of the illuminated shadow enables him to animate archival fragments as shadows and silhouettes. By creating a multi-directional archive, Black Box enables an affective engagement with the spectres of colonialism and provides a forum for the calibration of moral questions around reparation, reconciliation and forgiveness

THE ROAD OF THE MAN CALLED LOVE AND THE SACK OF SERO: THE HERERO–GERMAN WAR AND THE EXPORT OF HERERO LABOUR TO THE SOUTH AFRICAN RAND

This article suggests how oral histories can retain memories of important aspects of the past which have been totally ignored in contemporary accounts or later historical studies. It shows that in Herero oral history in northeastern Namibia, the phrase 'Ondjira ja Korusuvero' (The Road of Love, or rather, The Road of the Man called Love), which refers to the export of labour to the South African mines, is central to an understanding of the origins of the Herero-German war (1904-1908). Similarly, in Herero oral history in northwestern Botswana, 'Ekutu ra Sero' (The Sack of Sero) refers to labour recruitment to the mines in South Africa, as well as to social circumstances in the immediate aftermath of the war. The article discusses the validity of the arguments presented in these oral histories and presents archival material that substantiates Herero oral accounts of the origins of the war. It argues that Herero oral histories offer a sophisticated analysis of the causes and the impact of the war. Notes, ref., sumASC – Publicaties niet-programma gebonde