Ethnoscripts
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Reply to Sjaak van der Geest
Full text linkIn this short reply, I respond to some of Sjaak van der Geest’s comments on my article
Inner Dialogues: Negotiations Unfolding between the Field and one’s Desk
Full text linkThis article is concerned with the inner dialogues around ethical dilemmas and concerns which unfold somewhere between the field and one’s desk. It engages self-reflexively with how the subject of research is intimately connected with particular forms of representation and posits that it is especially ethnographic research on violence that renders the inherent premises and (com)promises of representation acutely tangible. Only seldom does the ethnographic story begin and end with the arrival and departure from the field. It is rather the case that the decision ‘about how to write’ does not develop linearly, is subject to shifts, and is often radically decentred at different points in time. In this article, I draw on my PhD research, conducted on the outskirts of Durban, South Africa, in which I became caught up in a series of hitman killings. When two of my main interlocutors were arrested for murder, I was confronted with the demand to make my ethnographic material available for the forthcoming trial. Taking this case as point of departure, I argue that, whilst significant efforts have been made to unravel the ethical tensions that define the everyday practice of doing field research, comparatively little conceptual work is available that engages with the nature of what we are doing when we write, the significance of ethical decision making therein, and how these unfold, leaving it to be something of a black box within research practice
Factual Conflicts and the Hegemony of Interpretation: Four Narratives and the Anthropologist’s Version
Full text linkDuring ethnographic research on HIV-positive pregnant women in Lesotho, I found myself confronted with conflicting narratives, but what we do know is that MaMeli’s baby passed away the day after she gave birth in the hospital. Trying to reconstruct what had happened, I interviewed the young mother, her mother-in-law, a midwife, and a paediatrician. Their stories differed significantly from each other. Yet, despite the inconsistencies between them, they proved valuable for my study. Ethnographic storytelling can reveal an informant’s present view on past occurrences and give insights into the social roles of narrator and audience. A narration always implies two time periods: the past situation as experienced (erzählte Zeit) and the situation now when the occurrence is being interpreted (Erzählzeit). Hence, whilst analysing the stories did not bring me any closer to understanding what had happened to the baby, an examination of the four versions taught me much about each narrator’s present situation and how they related to each other. In other words, the different renderings of the event allowed an understanding of the hegemony of interpretation. I argue in this paper that contradictions in narratives are more a chance than a challenge for ethnographic writing. I call on anthropologists not to erase out inconclusive stories in their ethnographic data but to delve into them and to find plausible explanations for why it is not possible to achieve conclusive solutions
Beautify yourself – struggles and strategies of LGBT*-communities in contemporary post-colonial Namibia
Full text linkThe current social, political and legal situation of the LGBT*-communities in Namibia allows many conclusions to be drawn about the broader historical and current areas of social tension in post-colonial Namibia. With the help of post-colonial, intersectional approaches, the article examines the following sub-aspects: What are the struggles and challenges in the work of LGBT*-activism in contemporary Namibia? To what extent do relationships of colonial power and exploitation still affect these struggles and what answers and strategies can be found in these struggles? Due to the historical derivation of key moments for the constitution of identities and institutional rights of LGBT*-people, this article asks about the effects and relics of colonial and post-colonial gender discourses and politics on the communities and refers to existing patterns of heteronormative power relations
On the relation of coloniality and masculinities in Namibia
Full text linkThe following is an essay that offers a critical view on the dominant gender studies’ concepts and utilizes theory from black and black masculinities studies in conjunction with the implications from the coloniality of power. The text will later touch on different aspects of black male experiences and organizational traits of Namibian masculine organization. Taking into consideration the immense transformations that were provoked by colonial occupation in the area of sexuality and identity, I intend a holistic approach that combines a critical view on capitalism and modernity under the light of the different dimensions of coloniality. As a contrast, ancestral Afrikan cornerstones are thematized as political points of articulation on which Afrikan masculinities and body-type in general can be renewed upon
Walking, Memory, Storytelling, Decolonisation Werkstattbericht: Zwei kollaborative Workshops zur Erprobung von Methoden der Dekolonisierung, Windhoek 2019
Full text linkMit dem Ziel, im Dialog zwischen Kolleg*innen aus Windhoek und Bremen an didaktischen Strategien zur Dekolonisierung von Wissensbeständen zu arbeiten, wurden im September 2019 zwei Workshops an der University of Namibia durchgeführt. Im folgenden Artikel wird zunächst über die Methodik einer Walking-Tour zu Orten der vorkolonialen, kolonialen und postkolonialen Geschichte in Windhoek reflektiert, bei der durch kollaborative und kreative Deutungsarbeit bislang verdrängte Zusammenhänge bewusster und durch visuelles Storytelling sichtbar gemacht wurden. Zudem wird über einen partizipativen Film-Workshop für Studierende am Department of Visual Arts berichtet, durch den Themen der jungen Generation, der sog. „free borns“ nach der Unabhängigkeit Namibias 1990, erarbeitet und filmisch umgesetzt wurden
Visual artistic interventions into contemporary post-colonial realities and potential futures in Namibia. A multivocal art-anthropology encounter
Full text linkSeveral artists have been occupied with the subject of decolonization in Namibia lately. By means of dialogue between five contemporary Namibian visual artists and one anthropologist, in this article we thematize exemplary perspectives on and interventions into postcolonial realities. Dialogues about selected artpieces and additional subjects like healing of past wounds, the Afrofuture and arts potential to reveal social complexities expose visibly how artists intervene very differently into undoing colonialism. It illustrates artistic suggestions for a future that opens up a cultural space on earth for Black peoples belonging, a post-racial world which is not subverted, devalued and discriminated aginst, and a space for the celebration of the uniqueness and innovation of Black or/and African culture. We thus highlight arts capacity to expose complex nuances, associate ruptures, challenge the viewer, and offer some sort of reorientation. The exposed and discussed artpieces are able to open up new views which are truthful about a postcolonial moment in time
Gesamtausgabe: Encountering postcolonial realities in Namibia
Full text linkGesamtausgabe / collective edito
SWAPO and the appropriation of history. Memory politics and resulting conflicts of remembrance in the post-colony
Full text linkThis paper illustrates the significance of memory culture in the post-colony. The analyses of the “Independence Memorial Museum” in Windhoek will show different aspects of Namibian memory culture and how the SWAPO dominated government uses history to define a national Namibian identity – an approach that leads to tensions between the government and several communities, like the Nama and the German-speaking Namibians. Their conflicts with the state will be discussed in the cases of the Witbooi Bible and the Bismarck Street, and shown how they are connected with questions about property, heritage, and identity in the post-colonial setting
Replik auf Hartmut Lang und Astrid Wonneberger
Full text linkGrobunrichtig bespricht der Nachtrag (2019) meine Mythenanalyse als Bibelexegese. Die Rezension (2017) referiert etliche Passagen falsch und konzipiert ‚Verwandtschaft‘ nach europäischem Verständnis. Sie vermisst Verhaltensweisen und Vorstellungen konkreter Individuen, denn das besprochene Buch behandelt fremde Konstrukte und Werte gesellschaftlicher Beziehungen. Es verwendet, wie im Fach weitverbreitet, ‚Verwandtschaft‘ als odd job word