A Decolonial Reading of Herero/Nama Genocide Novels of Namibia: Literature as Archive

Sarala Krishnamurthy

doi:10.25159/2663-6565/17380

Authors

Sarala Krishnamurthy Namibia University of Science and Technology https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6653-1504

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25159/2663-6565/17380

Keywords:

Key words, Loci of enunciation, Anthropos, Humanitas, decoloniality

Abstract

The Herero/Nama Genocide marks a painful but forgotten period in the history of Namibia. Six novels, a memoir, and two collections of survivor narratives about this period present the history of genocide. This paper examines the first four novels, Mama Namibia (2016) by Marie Serebrov, The Scattering (2018) by Lauri Kubuitsele, The Lie of the Land by Jasper Utley, and The Weeping Graves of Our Ancestors by Rukee Tjingaete to extend the colonial archive by the inclusion of imaginative and historical narratives for knowledge production around genocide. Using the decolonial approach, I identify the loci of enunciation to throw light on the narratives of genocide. I am not interested in the literary merit of the novels, rather, my main submission is that all four are to be read contrapuntally with other historical documents to gain a greater understanding of the colonial violence and issues around it. There is a need to balance or use historical and literary sources to reveal alternative genocide narratives.

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