Gobabis: A Brief History of the Town and Region
P.H. Van Rooyen & Peter Reiner
Municipality of Gobabis
1995
© P.H. Van Rooyen & P. Reiner
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English
Namibia in Jonker Afrikaner's Time
The study Namibia in Jonker Afrikaner's Time is founded on the thesis of Brigitte Lau which was originally submitted to the University of Cape Town in 1982.
Brigitte Lau
National Archives of Namibia
1987
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English
Katutura: A Place Where We Stay: Life in a Post-Apartheid Township in Namibia
Katutura, located in Namibia’s major urban center and capital, Windhoek, was a township created by apartheid, and administered in the past by the most rigid machinery of the apartheid era. Namibia became a sovereign state in 1990, and Katutura reflects many of the changes that have taken place. No longer part of a rigidly bounded social system, people in Katutura today have the opportunity to enter and leave as their personal circumstances dictate. Influenced in recent years by significant urban migration and the changing political and economic situation in the new South Africa, as well as a myriad of other factors, this diverse community has held special interest for the author who did fieldwork there for several years prior to 1975. Pendleton’s recent visits provide a rich comparison of life in Katutura township during the peak of the apartheid years and in the post-independence period. In his systematic look at urbanization, poverty, stratification, ethnicity, social structure, and social history, he provides a compassionate view of the survivors of the unstable years of apartheid.
Wade C. Pendleton
Ohio University Press
1996
© Wade Pendleton
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English
Shark Island, 1904-1907: A Historical Overview
This short publication of the National Archives of Namibia provides an introduction to the German genocide of the Nama and Herero peoples at Shark Island, Luderitz.
Casper W. Erichsen
Archives of Anti-Colonial Resistance and Liberation Struggle (AACRLS)
2007
© Casper W. Erichsen & AACRLS, 2007
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English
Three Views into the Past of Namibia
Originally Compiled by Annemarie Heywood and Brigitte Lau as a contribution to the History Conference 1-3 June 1993 sponsored by the Namibisch-Deutsche Stiftung fur kulturelle Zusammenarbeit, published privately.
Annemarie Heywood & Brigitte Lau
1993 (first edition)
© Annemarie Heywood & Brigitte Lau, 1996
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English
Andimba Herman Toivo ya Toivo: Portrait of a Revolutionary Legend
"The portrait of a revolutionary legend is a story of Andimba Herman Toivo ya Toivo. Ya Toivo started to organize fellow migrant workers from the then South West Africa who were working in Cape Town, in order to form a political organization to campaign for the independence of the Territory ... This booklet is a celebration of the life and times of this liberation hero as he marks 90 years of his life on August 22, 2014."
Nahas A. Angula
Newsprint Namibia
2014
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English
Karakul: Gift from the Arid Land (Namibia 1907-2007)
"This is the story of the Karakul in Namibia - their origin, how they came to be in the country and their status today. It documents the development of the Karakul industry and the commitment of the Karakul Board, the Karakul Breeders' Society, the stud breeders and the commercial pelt producers as well as the dedicated pioneers. The development of large parts of arid areas in Namibia would not have been possible had it not been for the Karakul. It gave agriculture a stimulus that not only benefited the economy but also leads to the establishment and maintenance of a healthy balance between the ecosystem and its agricultural utilization for the welfare of man. The Karakul sheep was a perfect solution for turning arid sandy and rocky wastes into productive land, because it could be raised profitably in an inhospitable environment. Since the 1960s, Karakul pelts from Namibia are known as swakara (trade mark) (South West African Karakul) and are marketed as such internationally. The spectacular and beautiful Shallow Curl and Watered Silk pelts soon earned world recognition and from the outset renowned fur designers and craftsmen were eager to work with this magnificent, new and easy to handle, unique type of Karakul fur. The role of the Government in the 100 years of Karakul industry has been of great significance. Patient breeding techniques began to pay off. The development of the Shallow and Watered Silk Curl at Neudamm was decisive for the Karakul industry, expanding from its modest beginnings in 1907 into a multimillion dollar enterprise. Karakul research and breeding experiments carried out on three research stations, stimulated a fast-growing branch of farming. Government research and applicable results were disseminated to all parties concerned over the years and contributed considerably to attaining the current standard of excellence. The Karakul (also referred to as the Black Diamond) made it possible to farm and make a living in the vast arid south of Namibia. The Karakul is the gift to the arid land and the pelts they produce are the gift from the arid land."
Brenda Bravenboer (with B. von Kunow)
Karakul Board of Namibia
2007
© Brenda Bravenboer
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English
Pastoral Nomads of the Central Namib Desert: The People History Forgot
"Precolonial Namibian history is largely unrecorded, but crucial evidence still exists in the form of archaeological remains, and it is to these neglected sources that I have turned to reconstruct the course of the last few millennia in the Central Namib Desert. The research described here covered several hundred archaeological sites, including the remains of large settlements in areas that are now completely deserted. Evidence from these sites forms the basis of this book which is my attempt to regain for the history of Namibia those lost episodes of the last two thousand years, from the first appearance of the pastoral economy, until the advent of the colonial era. Prior to this investigation the Namib archaeological sequence was poorly known, being incomplete for want of essential field evidence and, I believe, severely hampered by inappropriate premises of research. Although the research I describe in this book builds upon previous knowledge, my arguments and general approach are new to the archaeology of this region. In contrast to earlier research which tended to embrace the conventional history and project the descriptions of the nineteenth century deep into the past, I have developed a largely independent account, presenting the archaeological evidence for each step towards a history of the economy and society of the Namib pastoralists. This introductory chapter first presents the background to the research, describing the Central Namib Desert and the archaeological sequence as it is presently known."
John Kinahan
Namibia Archeological Trust & New Namibia Books
2001
© John Kinahan
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English
Swakopmund: A Chronicle of the Town's People, Places and Progress
English version of "Swakopmund: Eine Kronik" of 1982. Translated by Swakopmund Rotary Club
Ursula Massmann
Society for Scientific Development and Museum, Swakopmund
1983
© Swakopmund Scientific Society
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English
Empowering People : Collaboration between Finnish and Namibian University Libraries
"The success and strength of the university libraries are due to motivated, keen and skillful people. Today collaboration and knowledge sharing play a crucial role both within and between organizations. Empowering people: Collaboration between Finnish and Namibian University Libraries is about people and collaboration in the context of human resource development at the University of Namibia Library. Empowering people provides both practice-oriented and research-based approaches to important themes in the field of university libraries. It covers the information seeking behaviour of academic staff and students, collection and research support services, information literacy education, scholarly communication and scientific publishing. Staff competence management and evidence-based librarianship are introduced as methods for coping in the changing environment. Empowering people is the outcome of collaboration between three university libraries, those of the University of Namibia, the University of Tampere and the University of Helsinki." 978-951-44-8978-5
Mirja Iivonen, Päivi Helminen, Joseph Ndinoshiho, Outi Sisättö (eds.)
http://tampub.uta.fi/handle/10024/68105
University of Tampere
2012
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English
Why O Lord? Psalms and Sermons from Namibia
<ul class="defaultUL"><li>Introduction / Roger Kahle</li>
<li>Why, O why, Lord</li>
<li>Mission theology and mission strategy in Africa</li>
<li>A black theology of liberation</li>
<li>Mary's song of praise : Luke 1:46-55</li>
<li>A Christmas meditation : Isaiah 9:2-6</li>
<li>Zachariah's prophecy : Luke 1:68-79</li>
<li>An Easter sermon</li>
<li>Psalm 1</li>
<li>Psalm 4</li>
<li>Psalm 5</li>
<li>Psalm 6</li>
<li>Psalm 7</li>
<li>Psalm 23</li>
<li>Psalm 27</li>
<li>Psalm 33</li>
<li>Psalm 54</li>
<li>Psalm 62</li>
<li>Psalm 68</li>
<li>Psalm 69</li>
<li>Psalm 114</li>
<li>Psalm 115</li>
<li>Psalm 121</li>
<li>Psalm 126</li>
<li>Psalm 127</li>
<li>Psalm 133</li>
<li>Psalm 137</li>
<li>Psalm 139</li>
<li>Towards a confessing church in Southern Africa</li>
</ul>
Zephania Kameeta
World Council of Churches, Geneva
1986
© 1986 World Council of Churches
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English
Three Essays on Namibian History
Essays: Jakob Morengo and Namibian History - Responses to German Rule in Namibia: The Enigma of the Khowesin - The Namibian War of Anti-Colonial Resistance, 1904-1907
Neville Alexander
Namibian Review Publications no. 1 June 1983
The Estate of Neville Edward Alexander
1983 [2013 edition]
© The Estate of Neville Edward Alexander, 2013
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English
A History of Resistance in Namibia
Documents resistance to the German conquest by the Herero and Nama peoples; the South African take-over under the League of Nations mandate; land, labour and community resistance from 1920-1960; the emergence of Nationalist organisations; appeals to the UN and the ICJ; the launching of SWAPO's armed struggle, and nationalist responses to South Africa's Bantustan policy.
Peter H. Katjavivi
UNESCO Press
1988
© UNESCO Press 1988
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English
Colonial Space. Spatiality in the Discourse of German Southwest-Africa 1884-1915
"This book is about the space of a colony and how it was produced.It began as a study of the literature of the German colony of South West Africabetween the years 1884 and 1915. It was my aim to demonstrate the active role whichliterature had played in structuring the experience of the colony. It seemed to me thatif it could be shown that literature not only describes, but also helps to structure theforms of experience, then it would follow that it also plays an important role instructuring the experience of colonization, and hence the form of the colony itself.From the outset, therefore, I was concerned with a number of issues centering aroundcolonization, representation, experience, and social form. Virtually from thebeginning of this project, I have been convinced that spatiality is the concept whichallows us to understand how these various aspects of colonialism interrelate."
John K. Noyes
Chur: Harwood Publishers
1992
© John K. Noyes
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English
German Colonialism and the South West Africa Company, 1884-1914
Richard A. Voeltz
Ohio University Center for International Studies
1988
© Center for International Studies, Ohio University, 1988
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English
The Lost May Day: Namibian Workers Struggle for Independence
"Why did Namibian trade unions lose a large part of their newly gained popularity after independence in 1990? The first May Day celebrations barely six weeks after independence was a flop. In Namibia, the colonial period did not create a large working class living solely on wages. The civil society is still in its infancy. After independence, ethnic considerations have gained new importance, because political leaders need constituencies. This has created conflict between ethnic groups and the government, which is pursuing a nationalistic policy. Trying to understand these developments, this study discusses class, race, ethnicity, and nationalism in their Namibian and African context. Political aspects of ethnicity and a situationality of identities have shown their relevancy to the problems of this study. Based on interviews and the author's actual participation in the process, this study throws a fascinating light in the birth of a nation."
Pekka Peltola
Finnish Anthropological Society
1995
© Pekka Peltola, 1995
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English
The Nama of Namibia: A Guide to an Exhibition
"The long over-due representation of the Nama in Namibian museums formed the primary motivation to develop this exhibition as part of a larger exhibition titled "Hunter-gatherers & Nomads in Sand and Ice Deserts", which was made available on loan to the National Museum of Namibia for two years in 2005. In the past, the Nama have been sadly neglected in Namibian museum displays as very few traditional Nama objects made their way into local museums. Instead they were assembled in overseas museums during the 19th and early 20th centuries, where few Namibians are able to view them . . . "
National Museum of Namibia (with W.H.G. [Wilfrid] Haacke)
National Museum of Namibia
2007
© National Museum of Namibia
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English
The Witbooi
"Shortly after the ecstatic victory celebration in Windhoek came the first bad news. Hendrik Witbooi had by no means fled precipitately with his warriors, but had gathered them together, and secretly followed the withdrawing Germans. He succeeded in taking 40 horses from the Germans' baggage train. The Germans now had only 70 horses available; in a country where the horse was the fastest means of travel, this was a difficult situation. Curt von Francois therefore immediately opened negotiations with a German dealer and bought from him 120 good horses, which had however the great disadvantage that they were far away on pasture in the savannah. The very next day one of the herdsmen appeared in Windhoek and reported that the Witbooi had stolen these horses too. Thus only a few days after the attack on Hoornkrans, Hendrik Witbooi regained the initiative. He now had 300 horses compared with the 70 of the German troops. Then 200 Witbooi fighters actually appeared before the gates of Windhoek and involved the German troops in a typical engagement: they made a lightning strike from several sides, and as soon as the German troops started shooting at them they turned away waving their hats - mocking the German soldiers - and rode off. Von Francois undertook some incursions into the country, but his soldiers did not know the terrain. They did not know where the watering-places were. So they moved laboriously with their ox-wagons through the region - and they failed to discover the Witbooi, who were fast and mobile, who knew their land thoroughly, and who did not mind hunger and thirst. So von Francois sat most of the time in Windhoek and waited longingly for the cannon that he had ordered from Germany. In this way control over the country passed to Hendrik Witbooi. A German trader who wanted to drive 500 oxen to the south applied not to von Francois for protection but to Hendrik Witbooi. He said later: 'Witbooi knew very well that we were Germans, with whom he was at war, and that he could capture the oxen without firing a shot, but we also knew that Hendrik would keep his word, and we were not disappointed. In August 1893 the Witbooi made a great coup. A large transport was on its way from Walvis Bay to Windhoek, where it was awaited with longing. More than 20 teams of oxen fell into the hands of the guerrilla fighters. Windhoek ran into serious supply difficulties. The Germans seethed with powerless rage. Hendrik Witbooi's success had a mobilizing effect upon the Nama in the country. People moved from all sides to join him. When he had to leave Hoornkrans, he had some 200 men capable of carrying weapons. Six months later they had increased to 600, with 400 guns and 300 horses. Now Hendrik Witbooi was the real master in Great Namaqualand. The German farmer Hermann had to learn this too. On the instruction of the German Colonial Society for South West Africa, Hermann had built up a model farm at Kubub in the south of the country. Hendrik Witbooi sent a messenger to tell him that he did not have the Witbooi permission to farm there. Hermann considered this an insult, and turned to von François for protection. He was not in a position to protect this farm, which lay many hundreds of kilometres from Windhoek. Shortly afterwards Hendrik Witbooi attacked the farm. Breeding animals to a value of 80,000 marks - an enormous amount then - fell into his hands. He immediately bartered them with traders for guns and ammunition. [...]"
Ludwig Helbig, Werner Hillebrecht
Longman Namibia
1992
© CASS Namibia Project & Longman Namibia
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English
Trade and Socioeconomic Change in Ovamboland, 1850-1906
"Ovamboland, located in northern Namibia, was the most important battlefield in the Namibians, long struggle for independence. Althought nearly half of the country\'s population lives in Ovamboland, the history of the Ovambo communities has been a neglected area in research on Namibian history. Research has been hindered particularly by the scarcity and dispersion of source materials. By emploing the hitherto unutilized sources of the Finnish Missionary Society Archive, Harri Siiskonen's dissertation opens up an entirely new perspective on the colorful history of Ovamboland."
Harri Siiskonen
Suomen Historiallanen Seura
1990
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English
The Cultural and Social Change in Ovamboland, 1870-1915
"The starting point of this study were the discussions among the Finnish research-workers interested in Africa. On the basis of the above description, they felt it necessary to start an interdisciplinary program into the former South West Africa. Preparations continued in March 1981, when the Scandinavian Institute of African Studies organized a Seminar in Espoo on the topic "Namibia and the Nordic Countries". The next step was taken in May 1982, when the Institute of Developing Studies and the Scandinavian Institute of African Studies arranged in Hyytiälä a meeting of Africa research in Finland."
Martti Eirola, Seppo Rytkönen, Harri Siiskonen, Seppo Sivonen
University of Joensuu
1983
PDF
English and Finnish