Literary reconstructions of the 1904-1908 Herero Nama conflict in Namibia

Abstract

At the beginning of the 20th century (1904-1908), a genocide took place where Herero and Nama people of the then German South West Africa (present day Namibia) were nearly completely decimated by German soldiers. Through the selected factional novels, Parts Unknown (2018) by Zirk Van Den Burg, The Lie of the Land (2017) David Jasper Utley, The Weeping Graves of Our Ancestors (2017) by Rukee Tjingaete, The Scattering (2016) by Lauri Kubuitsile, and Mama Namibia (2013) by Mari Serebrov, this article explores the literary reconstruction of this Herero Nama conflict of 1904 to 1908 with German as the aggressor. The paper considers the pragmatic disposition of the Herero Nama conflict with the Germans as presented from a fictional perspective (faction) and how it is relevant to the reconstruction of the Herero Nama history. Additionally, there are various art forms that specify new modes of expression for the reconstruction of the same historical event and this paper pays attention to some of these forms as presented in the selected texts. Through the analysis, it was found that the selected historical novels recreate the same event but from different angles yet several incidents emerging in the novels relate to the historical reality that is now reenacted through art. Through the analysis of the historical novels, the researchers also found that there seems to be a thin line between the imaginative literary works and the historical events that took place. Lastly, the selected novels demonstrate literature’s immediacy to recreate some critical arguments that are still unsolved even in present day Namibia about the general welfare of the people with the problems that are still linked to the nation’s history.