The Owambo campaign memorial in context: Who is being commemorated
Loading...
Date
2020
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Journal of Namibian Studies
Abstract
This paper focuses on the Owambo Campaign Memorial in Windhoek which was
erected to commemorate the British South Africa troops who died during the
campaign against King Mandume at Oihole on the 6th of February 1917. It explores
the origin of the Owambo Campaign memorial project and interprets the memorial’s
significance to Owambo people. Upon its erection in 1919, the monument was
appropriated as a memorial to King Mandume because many Owambo people,
particularly the Kwanyama, believed, and still believe, that the king was decapitated
and that his head was later taken to Windhoek where it was buried under the
monument. This paper examines the significance of the monument’s location, the
events surrounding its unveiling, and the subsequent activities amid the political
turbulence in the capital city. Windhoek served as an intersection point between the
north, the south and the coast, with labour coming from the north to mines, harbours
and farms in the south. Thus, during colonial rule many Owambo came to Windhoek
as migrant labourers where they lived in compounds. The end of colonial rule,
however, created a space in the city’s symbolic landscape for a new layer of
postcolonial narratives to overwrite the inscribed colonial identities, memories and
meanings. This paper argues that the Owambo Campaign Memorial is an important
site for understanding the change of meaning process attached to monuments
dedicated to colonial heroes.
Description
Keywords
History, Politics, Culture, Post colonial narratives, South African troops, King Mandume, Owambo campain memorial