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Title: | Internal Colonisation and an Oppressed Minority? The Dynamics of Relations between Germans and Afrikaners against the Background of Constructing a Colonial State in Namibia, 1884-1990 |
Author: | Botha, Chris |
Year: | 2007 |
Periodical: | Journal of Namibian Studies |
Issue: | 2 |
Pages: | 7-50 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | Namibia |
Subjects: | Afrikaners Germans colonial history colonialism History and Exploration Ethnic and Race Relations Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) |
Abstract: | This paper examines how the colonial State in Namibia, ostensibly engaged in a project designed to promote 'civilization' and 'development', often struggled to contain serious disagreements about the nature of the colonial project among members of the white settler community. The central argument of the paper is that political power was always contested in the white community, if not always openly, then in subversive ways. The paper first describes relations between Africans and Europeans, notably Germans, in the period of merchant capitalism and emergent Christianity in the pre-1884 era. Then it examines the German colonial period (1884-1915), outlining certain advances and innovations that the South African administration either ignored or terminated. It shows that fault-lines in the white community emerged in the first phase of South African rule (1920-1950). Finally, it demonstrates that in the post-1950 period South Africa constructed a form of colonial domination that amounted to establishing Afrikaner hegemony, in particular over the public sector. From a German point of view, this amounted to a case of de facto internal colonization. A brief reflection on the manner in which Afrikaners and Germans respond to the discredited aspects of the colonial past suggests an unresolved engagement with history. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [ASC Leiden abstract] |