Abstract:
This study examined four Namibian Nama-Herero literary texts about the genocide in Namibia through the application of the cognitive stylistics theory as a framework for analysis. These are namely, Lauri Kubuitsile’s The Scattering (2016), Jaspar D. Utley’s Lie of the Land (2017), Rukee Tjingaete’s The Weeping Graves of our Ancestors (2017) and Zirk van den Berg’s Parts Unknown (2018). The four novels were chosen because they present the Nama-Herero genocide, which took place from 1904 -1908 where over 65,000 Ovaherero and 10,000 Nama people died in what is known as the first genocide of the twentieth century. The study aimed at probing how the usage of the tools of cognitive stylistics can aid the reader to better understand the construction of narratives of the genocide in the selected Namibian fictional imaginaries. The study promotes new discourses on cognitive stylistics studies of Namibian literary works. The study is significant to researchers and readers as it is a useful reference tool for students, politicians and researchers conducting studies in the field of cognitive stylistics. Cognitive stylistics combines explicit, rigorous and detailed linguistic analysis of literary texts. Cognitive linguistics argues that a particular situation in a literary text can be interpreted in different ways. The study followed a qualitative approach whereby a content analysis instrument was used to collect the data. It was a desktop analysis study as no fieldwork was carried out. Observations from nuanced readings of the texts indicated that themes in the selected texts largely centre on the natives’ experiences of the genocide during this period of colonial occupation and encounter. Conceptualising and implementing cognitive tools, the study also analysed how the Herero and Nama people suffered at the hands of German colonial rule, whereby natives were incarcerated, tortured, raped, and killed and their livestock confiscation. This was achieved through the examination of literary creativity through the use of cognitive ii metaphor, genocidal trauma, and mental and physical oppression. Several creative writing resources were used to project genocidal narratives in telling genocidal fictionalised stories. In addition to that, conceptual metaphors were used to establish a connection between the reader and the connection extends beyond the reader and text to include specific contextual aspects. Considering the extent of the Nama-Herero genocide where an estimated 80% of the Ovaherero and about 20% of the Nama populations were wiped out, the study concluded that ordinary human beings do not take pleasure in killing fellow humans unless it is evil-spirited and coupled with the extreme hate for people from other races or owing to differences in opinion. The study also concluded that the Germans used crime and punishment to colonise the then-German South West Africa. One of their plans was to exterminate the local Ovaherero and Nama populations as a form of punishment. The extermination of the local Ovaherero and Nama populations was the punishment for the local indigenous people for their resistance to German’s occupation. It was concluded that reading, analysing and schematising genocidal fictional works can reflect a negative past for current world citizens to understand and adopt ways that can be used to prevent genocide.
