“When War came the Cattle slept”

Himba Oral Traditions

Author: Michael Bollig. Series edited by: Michael Bollig, Wilhelm J.G. Möhlig †.

Series: HSA History, Cultural Traditions and Innovations in Southern Africa Volume 1

1997
8 pp. Roman, 337 pp.
14 b/w photos, 2 maps
Text language(s): English
E-book
€ 49.80

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Namibian historiography is a very young discipline. It was only after independence that the search for the new nation’s history started. The idea of collecting and editing oral traditions from amongst the Herero speaking peoples of north-western Namibia and south-western Angola was conceived while carrying out anthropological fieldwork in the vast Kunene province. There were the people themselves who thought that their history ought to be written down. Six years after independence and four years after a successful restructuring of regional boundaries, people sought an identity in history.

The 12 texts which resulted from interviews with older people from Kaokoland are edited without comments in order to retain their character as personal statements.

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