Browsing by Author "Kandemiri, Coletta M."
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Item Literary archives of conflict, the decoloniality of materialities and resilience in selected narratives of genocide in Namibia(University of Namibia, 2021) Kandemiri, Coletta M.The 1904-1908 Conflict has not received much attention as other genocides such as the Holocaust or the Armenian Genocide and with some scholars even arguing that it was not a genocide but just a colonial war. During this period in question, the natives of the then German South West Africa were stripped of both materialities and immaterialities. The extermination order issued by German General Lortha van Trotha meant to annihilate a nation as its instruction was to execute any native found by the Schutztruppe (German troops) as reflecting in the selected fictional texts for this study. The study explored the decoloniality of materialities and resilience in the selected genocidal fiction in Namibia’s 1904-1908 Conflict. Additionally, the study was informed by secondary sources that facilitated more understanding on the topic of genocide and an expansion of knowledge regarding historical events in Namibia. Moreover, it was a qualitative desktop research and employed content analysis where the selected novels: The Lie of the Land by Utley (2017); The Weeping Graves of Our Ancestors by Tjingaete (2017); The Scattering by Kubuitsile (2016); Parts Unknown by Van Den Berg (2018); and Mama Namibia by Serebrov (2013), were the reference material. Three theories namely: Trauma and Resilience supported by Ecocriticism and New Historicism framed the study. The findings of the study reveal literary evidence that the 1904-1908 Conflict is a genocide. Also, the dislodgment of the Hereros found them wanting of home, social set ups meddled, religion, culture and tradition invaded as well as sacred places pried on. The study also found that there exists a thin line between fictional historical novels and history proper and as such they could be used as perfect substitutes of each other, though an argument not readily accepted by some historians. The pragmatic disposition of these selected novels is promising and certain as the imaginary may naturally be transmuted into reality. Moreover, all the texts under study employ the selected art forms but in different ways considering the different backgrounds and motivations of the authors. The selected novels conjure literature’s nearness to recreate some critical arguments that are still unsolved even in present day Namibia about the general wellbeing of the people with the conundrums still concomitant to a nation’s past. With the genocide still making headlines in the contemporary media (newspapers), it is inevitable that there are unsaid issues that are still unsolved such as the reparations that are still to be attended to, meaning ‘the show isn’t over’. Additional to the findings, revenging and fighting back as well as the conscientising and mobilising amongst the Hereros and Namas emerge as forms of resilience in some of the novels. The study recommends for future studies that there may be need to merge fictional and nonfictional works on the 1904-1908 genocide and establish the link between the two. Also, like other genocides, the 1904-1908 genocide should have a representation of the epoch in film form to increase awareness of its existence and also be studied as part of human history. Lastly, there may be need to introduce genocide studies at the University of Namibia.Item Literary perspectives of healing practices and approaches to medicine in Chinodya’s Strife(University of Namibia, 2016) Kandemiri, Coletta M.; Smit, Talita C.This paper focuses on the dilemma in which some African societies are finding themselves, as the western approach to healing is applied as if all cultural groups are homogenous throughout. This western approach is usually applied with the intention of replacing the existing indigenous healing systems that are already in place and are functional. African cultural groups, like any other cultural groups around the world, have their own approaches to diagnosis and curing of diseases. However, it appears that western approaches are overriding the African approaches, and thereby engendering problems among some of the African cultural groups whose indigenous healing systems are rooted in the spiritual world. In Africa, there are spiritual problems that require spiritual remedies hence; a western approach applied to a spiritual problem could culminate in fatality. At times, the mixing of both African and western approaches may not yield positive and visible results. Strife exposes the dilemma resulting from applying western approaches in an African cultural group and the likely out-come of such a predicament. This paper adopted the African World View Theory as the sub-theory, since the primary text, Strife, is from Africa and written from an Afrocentric perspective, by an African author. Furthermore, the article looks at differing belief systems, herbalism and the role of spiritual mediums. It was found that often a duality in the approaches to healing exists, as illustrated by the characteristics of Dunge and Hilda Dolly.Item A post-colonial ecocritical analysis of selected African texts: A case of lessing's the grass is singing and Mungoshi's waiting for the rain(University of Namibia, 2018) Kandemiri, Coletta M.This thesis analyses The Grass is Singing (1950) by Doris Lessing and Waiting for the Rain (1975) by Charles Mungoshi from a post-colonial ecocritical perspective. Ecocriticism unifies humanity and nature, whilst post-colonialism focuses on issues pertaining to power, religion and culture, with regards to humanity. The research aimed at elucidating on the remarkable relationship between human beings and nature as presented in literary texts. Applying post-colonialism to the analysis of a text calls for the inclusion and consideration of a number of themes such as; race, class, sexual orientation, cultural beliefs, religion, identity, double consciousness, hybridity, rootlessness, trauma and relationships (master/servant). The study is a desktop qualitative research and it employed content analysis in the interpretation and analysis of the chosen novels. The study found that by reading The Grass is Singing (1950) and Waiting for the Rain (1975) as contemporaries, they can be testament to some wealthy accounts as the novels provide a coherent shape of the realistic operations of colonialism in totality. The Grass is Singing (1950) and Waiting for the Rain (1975) may be viewed as synchronous novels that expose the exclusive lives of both the coloniser and the colonised under colonialism, in relation to the environment. Both the coloniser and the colonised happen to be victims of colonialism as exhibited from both novels and how each contributed to environmental mortification. The study recommends that for future studies there may be need to consider the use of ecocriticism as a theory in the analysis of novels from different African countries or even other novels from Zimbabwe; using ecocriticism in genocidal literature; application of ecocriticism in other genres such as poetry, drama and media literature; as well as merging ecocriticism with other theories in the analysis of different literary works.