Observations on the acculturation of the Nama in South West Africa (Namibia)

bibliographic database
Line

Periodical article

Title:	Observations on the acculturation of the Nama in South West Africa (Namibia)
Author:	Schmidt, Sigrid
Year:	1984
Periodical:	African Studies
Volume:	43
Issue:	1
Pages:	31-42
Language:	English
Geographic terms:	Namibia South Africa
Subjects:	acculturation Nama Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
External link:	https://doi.org/10.1080/00020188408707609
Abstract:	The Khoekhoen, formerly called 'Hottentots' by Europeans, were one of the first peoples of southern Africa that came into contact with European culture. Most of the Khoe of the Cape Province lost their own language and much of their own culture during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and have been merged in the multiracial Afrikaans-speaking 'Coloured' population. Only some groups, the so-called Oorlam tribes, migrated north across the Orange River at the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the ninetenth centuries and settled among the Nama, the branch of the Khoekhoen that has kept its own language up to the present day. At first glance the acculturation of the Nama, under influence of missionaries, traders and White settlers, seems to have taken place mainly at the turn of the last century, but closer examination of their folk-tales and folkbelief shows a far more complex picture. This paper traces this acculturation process, focusing on the period prior to European settlement, taking into consideration the ancient as well as the present-day Khoe culture. - Ref.