War and Mobility in the Borderlands of South Western Africa in the Early Twentieth Century

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Periodical article

Title:	War and Mobility in the Borderlands of South Western Africa in the Early Twentieth Century
Author:	Dedering, Tilman
Year:	2006
Periodical:	International Journal of African Historical Studies
Volume:	39
Issue:	2
Pages:	275-294
Language:	English
Geographic terms:	Namibia South Africa The Cape
Subjects:	boundaries colonial wars colonialism History and Exploration Military, Defense and Arms Inter-African Relations
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/40033861
Abstract:	Throughout history borderlands between recognized powers have provided arenas for interaction and conflict, spaces in which indigenous inhabitants can challenge, subvert, and negotiate hegemony. This essay explores the situation in southern Namibia (German South-West Africa) and the Cape Colony during the colonial war (1904-1907). In the Lower Orange River region physical and cultural confrontations were common despite the designation of the river as an official boundary. This article demonstrates the fluidity of colonial state borders and their inability to contain the interrelated histories of the people on both sides of the Orange River (for example the Bondelswart Nama (!Kami=/nun) and the Herero) to distinct Namibian and South African zones. Notes, ref. [ASC Leiden abstract]