12 research outputs found
Die unerträgliche Leichtigkeit des Lokalen. Der Streit um das Firmenlogo des Mainzer Dachdeckerbetriebs Neger. Revision einer Debatte
From 'One Namibia, One Nation' towards 'Unity in Diversity? Shifting representations of culture and nationhood in Namibian Independence Day celebrations, 1990-2010
In 2010 Namibia celebrated its twentieth anniversary of independence from South African rule. The main celebrations in the
country’s capital Windhoek became the stage for an impressively orchestrated demonstration of maturing nationhood,
symbolically embracing postcolonial policy concepts such as ‘national reconciliation’, ‘unity’ and ‘diversity’. At the same time,
nation building in post-apartheid Namibia is characterised by a high degree of social and political fragmentation that manifests
itself in cultural and/or ethnic discourses of belonging. Taking the highly significant independence jubilee as our vantage point,
we map out a shift of cultural representations of the nation in Independence Day celebrations since 1990, embodied by the two
prominent slogans of ‘One Namibia, one Nation’ and ‘Unity in Diversity’. As we will argue, the difficult and at times highly
fragile postcolonial disposition made it necessary for the SWAPO government, as primary nation builder, to accommodate the
demands of regions and local communities in its policy frameworks. This negotiation of local identifications and national
belonging in turn shaped, and continues to shape, the performative dimension of Independence Day celebrations in Namibia.Web of Scienc
The politics and aesthetics of commemoration: national days in southern Africa
The contributions to the special section in this issue study recent independence celebrations and other national days in South
Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Madagascar and the Democratic Republic of Congo. They explore the role of national days in
state-making and nation-building, and examine the performativity of nationalism and the role of performances in national
festivities. Placing the case studies in a broader, comparative perspective, the introduction first discusses the role of the state in
national celebrations, highlighting three themes: firstly, the political power-play and contested politics of memory involved in
the creation of a country’s festive calendar; secondly, the relationship between state control of national days and civic or
popular participation or contestation; and thirdly, the complex relationship between regional and ethnic loyalties and national
identifications. It then turns to the role of performance and aesthetics in the making of nations in general, and in national
celebrations in particular. Finally, we look at the different formats and meanings of national days in the region and address the
question whether there is anything specific about national days in southern Africa as compared to other parts of the continent
or national celebrations world-wide.Web of Scienc
Staatsinszenierung, Erinnerungsmarathon und Volksfest : Afrika feiert 50 Jahre Unabhängigkeit
The Gender of Ethnographic Collecting
What is the gender of ethnographic collecting? This question, if asked at all, is often given little attention in the study of ethnographic collecting. In the museums that house most ethnographic collections amassed during the colonial period, the question remains equally unasked. Objects are thought to reveal something about the gender relations of their original owners, but the gendered circumstances of their acquisition and of imperial expansion at large are almost never addressed. This issue of Boasblogs Papers brings together seven unique contributions that challenge this supposed gender neutrality and provide a range of perspectives on the gendered dimensions of ethnographic collecting. The issue centres the role of gender for histories of imperial ethnographic collecting, collections, and the related knowledge-making projects. It is about interrogating the ways histories of collecting are, conventionally, accounts told from masculine perspectives, producing gendered understandings not only of these histories and collections but of the practices and societies from which these collections are made