Monday, January 25, 2010

An Examination of Past Musical Studies

The study of music in Namibia has a heritage just as much as the music itself. Early studies of Namibian culture tended to keep music at the periphery. For instance, the oldest text I was able to find about the country was by a hunter named Charles John Andersson from 1856, titled Lake Ngami. In it, he has a surprising amount of interaction with indigenous cultures, including a meeting with the famous Jonker Afrikaner, head of the Orlam clan and responsible for hundreds of Herero murders in conflicts such as the Bloodbath of Okahandja in 1850. Andersson has no qualms about expressing bias for some groups over others, and even those who he terms “his friends,” the Damara, he views with a certain level of disdain. In the only mention of music in over six hundred pages, he tells about a social event he witnessed while with the Damara in Ondonga (the “guitar” he mentions is a pluriarc):

"On another occasion, we attended a ball at the royal residence. An entertainment of this kind was given every night, soon after dark; but it was the most stupid and uninteresting affair I ever witnessed. The musical instruments were the well-known African tom-tom, and a kind of guitar. We did not join in the dance, but amused ourselves with admiring the ladies." (Andersson, 195-196)

Even scholarly work of the early 20th century often included a general section on the Arts, but without extensive analysis of music and the place it holds within the culture. It is only recently that significant work has been devoted specifically to the study of music in Namibia as it relates to culture. Significant researchers include Minette Mans, Emanuelle Olivier, Herve Riviere, Sabine Zinke, Megan Biesele, and Nicholas England. In my next post, I will focus on the work of the two most widely published researchers: Mans and Olivier.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Into the Present Day

Meanwhile, “requests” were being made in the form of revolts by the South West African People’s Organization (SWAPO), a predominantly Owambo group whose actions at that time were generally recognized as “terrorist activity” (Cubitt, Richter 1976). Over the next two decades, however, this led to a liberation struggle in which Namibia eventually gained its independence from South Africa in 1990.

SWAPO’s methods of independence are certainly debatable, and South Africa’s initial stance—of merely trying to aid a developing country with no central government—complicates things further. Regardless, SWAPO is currently the ruling party. The first president, Sam Nujoma, served for 15 years, during which time the country made great economic and social strides. However, amongst other questionable acts to be mentioned later, during his time as president he changed the constitution in order to be elected for a third term.

Hifikepunye Pohamba was elected president of Namibia in 2005, but Nujoma only passed on the presidency of the SWAPO organization in 2007. Issues have arisen calling SWAPO’s political tactics into question, such as bribes in the form of college scholarships from China only offered to heads of state at the very top of SWAPO hierarchy (The New York Times, Nov. 20, 2009). While Namibia’s government is a democracy, its leaders occasionally use the mechanisms currently in place to enforce a singular perspective. In the 2009 general elections, since SWAPO had control of the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation, they were able, in the weeks leading up to elections, to eliminate all advertisements by their opponents.

Also critical in current events is the impact of globalization and development on the land and its people. In recent years, due to the increasing need for electricity within the country, many dams have been built that changed or displaced populations during their construction. In the 1990’s a dam was proposed that would displace a large Himba population gathered at Epupa falls (Shields, Campion, 2003). Due in great part to the outspoken efforts of Chief Hikuminue Kapika and publicity surrounding the region—which now has a consistent stream of tourists daily—this plan was stopped. However, president Pohamba has brought a nearly identical proposal back to the table, and concern has again arisen that the people in this region will be dispersed and left without a home (IRIN, Jan. 18, 2008).

The relationship between the LGBT population and the country at large has undergone many developments in recent times. Sam Nujoma spoke out quite vehemently against homosexuals, shifting prejudice to the Namibian LGBT community during the 1990’s. Sara Blecher examines Nujoma’s hate speech in the short documentary He Is My President from 2001, which also documents the work of Ian Swartz and the Rainbow Project culminating in a protest that Blecher dubs the country’s first gay pride march. In the film we also learn that, “in parliament, certain ministers have even proposed laws calling for the elimination of gay people.” There is a memorable scene where a minister defends the word “elimination” saying it can mean many things, not only to kill—stating this, of course, without condemning the idea of killing as one interpretation (He Is My President). A more recent article gives a view of the contemporary situation.

"…in the past under the regime of our first black president it was hard. He was definitely a ‘brother’ of Mugabe’s views on homosexuality. According to them it is the same as bestiality. But since 2005 we’ve had our second black president who is more tolerant—there are some rumours that his own son is gay. That changed the scene dramatically (Gay Namibia, 2008)."

The AIDS epidemic is also taking its toll on Namibia. 15.3% of adults between the age of 15 and 49 have been diagnosed with HIV, the sixth-highest prevalency rate in the world (UNICEF). In November, 2009, Dianne Hubbard—co-ordinator of the Legal Assistance Centre’s Gender Research and Advocacy Project—went before the National Council’s Standing Committee on Gender and Youth to call for the decriminalization of prostitution. Sex workers in Namibia face a great deal of abuse, and are critically at risk for infection with HIV/AIDS. Hubbard feels that the decriminalization of their work would help to minimize some of these issues. Willem Apolotus, a member of the Committee on Gender and Youth, agreed, emphasizing the distinction between legalization and decriminalization (The Namibian, Nov. 9, 2009). Economic and social factors have also driven underage populations to prostitution, who feel they have no other option (IRIN, Oct. 24, 2005).


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Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Vryheid in Namibia

Just a short post--I wanted to direct everyone to a good short video by Daniela Fritze that gives a good look at the issues of the past and present within Namibia today:

Friday, December 4, 2009

A Brief History of Namibia

Namibia’s history is marked by the give and take between the various cultures within its borders (most noticeably between indigenous groups and European influences such as colonialism and missionary work). It is also marked by the great diversity of these groups, and thus a history of the country is actually many histories. To give a sense of cultural shifts independent of colonization, I will briefly describe indigenous migrations before describing European influence.

The San people, formerly hunters and gatherers, are said to have been the first and only inhabitants of the region until about 2000 years ago. Later, the Owambo, Kavango, and Caprivians lived in the Northeast. In the 16th and 17th centuries, the San in the South encountered the Nama migrating from South Africa who forced them northward to more desolate areas. The Nama also enslaved the Bergdamara at this time. In the 17th century, the Herero came down from the Northwest to settle in the Kaokoveld. In the 18th century, this group split and the Herero moved south, while the Himba and Tjimba remained in the Northwest. We will return to this southward Herero migration later. (Cubitt, Richter 1976)  

The first European on the soil of what was soon dubbed South West Africa was Diego Cão in 1486 (Portugal, in this case, motivated by a lack of trade in the Middle East, which had been severed due to Turkish rule) became. Many years later, in the middle of the 19th century, the Rhenish Missionary School took over all missionary work, which from that point on had a distinct German influence (Le malentendu colonial).

In 1870, Hermanus van Wyk, the kaptein of the Basters fleeing oppression in South Africa, settled his people in Rehoboth for the rental of one horse per year (land sale by local chiefs in many regions was symbolic, and largely misunderstood by outside cultures).

The Herero, having moved south in the 1700’s, battled fiercely with the Nama all through the 19th century. Meanwhile, several events were underway that would later influence their fate and the fate of all the country’s native groups. In 1884, the Berlin Conference was held and Walvis Bay was dubbed a South African territory. Also in this year, the German flag was raised over Lüderitzland. “Almost overnight Germany was in possession of an overseas territory four times the size of Great Britain” (Cubitt, Richter 1976). In 1889, the first “Schutztruppe” or “protection troops” landed at Walvis Bay, intending to provide general security towards the development of the country. They would later be in place to oversee the slaughtering of the native populations of the country. Around this time, the first tactical retaliation against colonial rule occurred when Hendrik Witbooi—a Nama chief who was instigating most of the attacks on the Herero chief, Kamaherero—decided, rather unexpectedly, to stop attacking the Herero and begin gathering allies among the Rehoboth Basters to attack the Germans. He and his people were defeated in 1894.

The conflict between German troops and indigenous populations soon reached catastrophic levels. In 1903, the Bondelswarts of Warmbad killed their German district officer. This was the first of many incidents that led, in January of 1904, to the war between the Germans and South West Africa’s indigenous populations. Later that year, the order was given to pursue fleeing Herero, and a genocide began that lasted until 1908. In 1904 alone, 75-80% of the Herero population was killed, roughly 50,000 people. And by 1908, almost half of the Nama population had been wiped out.

Economic and political events soon led to the South African government’s power over South West Africa. The year that the German conflict ended, diamonds were discovered near Lüderitz Bay by Zacharia Lewala, and from that point on throughout the 20th century, mining (along with farming and the export of karakul wool) was a major source of the country’s income. On Christmas in 1914, South African troops landed at Walvis Bay to fight the Germans. Soon after, the League of Nations denoted a C-class mandate for South Africa’s control of South West Africa.

South Africa’s governmental power over South West Africa was reexamined several times in the years that followed World War II. When the League of Nations was replaced by the United Nations, South Africa’s control was reassessed. Between 1955 and 1956, multiple court cases went before the International Court of Justice, resulting in the decision that duties of supervision in South West Africa should transfer to the United Nations. Since this was not a binding decision, it was mostly ignored by South Africa. In 1966, Ethiopia and Liberia asked the International Court to reexamine the situation, and were essentially told to mind their own business. After this decision the General Assembly maligned the judges of the International Court. In 1968, a resolution was passed in the U.N. to change South West Africa’s name to Namibia. In 1971, the International court reexamined the cases in Namibia and decided that the South African administration there was illegal. Following this decision, South Africa made a statement that they would not leave the country until “South West Africa had completed the process of self-determination and themselves requested it to withdraw” (Cubitt, Richter 1976).




(If anyone has links to good sources online for relatively unbiased overviews of general Namibian history, please send them my way.  I have not been able to find them.)

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Too Messy for Wikipedia

Hello everyone!  My name is Patrick Metzger.  This first post is really just to greet everyone who might be reading this and to give you an idea of where I come from and what I hope to do in this blog.  I grew up in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and I'm currently a student at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York, concentrating in Music Composition.  You will notice that the title of this blog is relatively vague.  That is because I hope to cover many issues surrounding the music of Namibia.  As of this posting, I am nearly three months into a year-long research project on this topic, stateside.  In addition, I recently applied for the Fulbright to Namibia in Ethnomusicology, where I would hope to continue my studies with genuine field work.

As the title of this entry suggests, I hope, in this blog, to give a depiction of the complexities of Namibian culture at large, and specifically culture surrounding Namibian music.  In researching this topic, what I've been able to discover the most about is not necessarily the music of Namibia itself, but rather the popular representations of that music, and the difficulties involved in learning about it.  This is exemplified well by the current Wikipedia article (of the same title as this blog, Music of Namibia), which makes no mention of the music of the Ju/'hoansi or the Himba or the Rehoboth Basters or church music traditions (among many others).  Most of the information given deals with popular recorded music mediums, which are admittedly important (and I will be discussing as well), but by no means representative of the "whole picture," if such a thing is possible.

In fact, the most informative part of the Wikipedia article is one of the items suggested for "Further Reading" at the end: Music as Instrument of Diversity and Unity, by Minette Mans.  This article is freely available to download as a PDF here.  I would consider Mans the foremost expert currently on Namibian music.  She is an educator who has had a great influence on the education systems in place within the country since it gained its independence in 1990.  I will be referring to her work in more detail in these postings.

Before going too much further, I want to state plainly that I am by no means an expert on this subject as of yet (one of the reasons that I feel I can't accurately edit the Wikipedia article).  I have never lived in the country, and I am relatively new to deeper study of it.  That being said, I welcome opinions and critiques on my work.  In fact, I think it imperative to the creation of a more accurate portrayal.  So please, let me know if you feel any crucial details have been left out or misrepresented.

I hope that the first two contrasting sources can begin to stir up some thoughts.  My next post will be a (very) brief history of the country.  I look forward to hearing from those of you who want to comment, and I will post again soon.

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