Namibia and Germany : negotiating the past / Reinhart Kössler.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kössler, Reinhart, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Genocide.

Namibia--History.

Namibia.

Namibia--History--Herero Revolt, 1904-1907.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (402 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Windhoek, Namibia : University of Namibia Press, 2015.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

100 years since the end of German colonial rule in Namibia, the relationship between the former colonial power and the Namibian communities who were affected by its brutal colonial policies remains problematic, and interpretations of the past are still contested.This book examines the ongoing debates, conflicts and confrontations over the past.

Contents:

Cover

Title page

Copyright page

Contents

Abbreviations

Preface and Acknowledgements

Introduction: A Special Postcolonial and Transnational Relationship

Part I - The Burden of History

1. Namibia's Century of Colonialism - a Fragmented Past in an Unequal Society

Colonialism, resistance, resilience

Windhoek memory landscape

The triumphant image of the victors

Civil society and public memory under conditions of extreme inequality

A national nexus in a fragmented framework

2. Germany: From Late Coloniser to First Postcolonial Nation to Postcolonial Amnesia

The times and scope of German colonialism

Colonial practices: valorisation and the mobilisation of assets

Colonial practices: violent confrontations

A public genocide and its consequences in the metropole

The 'first postcolonial nation'

Postcolonial amnesia

Namibia and German memory politics

Memorials re-dedicated, streets re-named - initiatives for a postcolonial memory culture

A 'special responsibility'

3. The First Genocide of the 20th Century and the Holocaust: Structural Parallels - Discursive Continuities?

Challenges in memory politics

Pitfalls of direct continuity claims

Settler colonialism, genocide and the Holocaust

In search of causes for civilisation breaks

A public genocide and its consequences

4. Namibia's Germany:Transnational Implications of Settler Colonialism

Constructions of Germany and Germans

Identity issues of German settlers in Namibia

Junior partners in the 'white phalanx'

Nazi influence and Nazi leanings

Limits to reorientation after 1945

'German' and 'African'

The persistence of 'German nationalist' sentiment

5. The Namibian Connection in Denialism

Facts, context and denial

Certainties, uncertainties, and falsifications.

The denialist argument steering clear of unwelcome sources

Anti-Communism as a safeguard against recognising genocide

Local knowledge and the 'European Northern gaze'

The meaning of concentration camps

Historic landgrabbing and reconciliation

Denial and the extreme right in Germany and beyond

What's in a source? Resonance of denialism in the German academy

Denialism in action

6. The Windhoek Rider: Contested Terrain, Multiple Meanings

The Rider as the centre of Windhoek's colonial city crown

Origins and the statement of the memorial

Ambivalence in the Rider's meanings

Postcolonial entanglement

Whose history? Which history?

Part II - Community, Commemoration and Performance

7. Communal Reconstruction and Subaltern Traditions

8. Constructing and Claiming Identities and Spaces: Commemorations in Southern and Central Namibia

Ritual and communal resilience

Four commemorations

Custom, history and politics

9. Beyond a Fragmented Image of History

Prelude

Changing a skewed vision of national history

Part III - Apology, Restitution &amp

Reparation: The Challenge of Postcolonial Reconciliation

10. A Mute Conversation: The Rise of the Reparations Issue

Postcolonial articulation of grievances

The lawsuit

Responses to legal action

11. Half an Apology - Political Re-Alignments

Skirting the G-word: the German official response

Namibian centennial activities and German responses

Asking 'forgiveness for our trespasses': The Ohamakari event and Wieczorek-Zeul's speech

A courageous act and its grave ambiguities

German unilateralism

An active minority: German postcolonial response

Initiatives in the German parliament

Realignment in Namibia

12. The Saga of the Skulls: Restitution Without Recognition

Deportation and restitution of skulls.

Collecting human remains

Problems of restitution

The difficult road to restitution

Assembling a delegation

Diplomatic debacle - postcolonial enactment

Unfinished business - persistent dilemmas

Steadfast in denial

'Not about us without us'

Divergent versions of history

Conclusion: Perspectives in the Long Aftermath of Genocide

Glossary

Bibliography

Index

About the author

About the cover photograph

Back cover.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliograpical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9789991642109

9991642102

OCLC:

922662201