Sullivan, S and Ganuses, W.S (2022) '!Nara harvesters of the northern Namib: a cultural history through three photographed encounters.' Journal of the Namibia Scientific Society, 69. pp. 115-139.
Abstract
We report on Indigenous cultural heritage and histories associated with the northern Namib desert, designated since 1971 as the Skeleton Coast National Park. Review of historical documents and oral histories from elderly people with direct and familial memories of accessing and living in the northern Namib show how places and resources were used here by Khoekhoegowab-speaking peoples in the past. A focus of this use was the availability of valued foods, especially melons of the !nara (Acanthosicyos horridus). Three photographed encounters provide focus for a narrative connecting memories about the northern Namib that stretch back to the first European colonial journeys into this remote area of north-west Namibia. In ‘repeopling’ the northern Namib, we aim to also ‘rehumanise’ documented colonial encounters that objectified and diminished the peoples who knew, accessed and dwelled in this now protected area.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Note: | The article is available to read at the link above. It is part of a special issue of the journal published to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Gobabeb Namib Research Institute. |
| Keywords: | northern Namib, on-site oral history, cultural landscapes, Indigenous histories, Khoekhoegowab, !nara (Acanthosicyos horridus), Skeleton Coast National Park, Namibia |
| Subjects: | G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GF Human ecology. Anthropogeography G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GN Anthropology |
| Divisions: | School of Writing, Publishing and the Humanities |
| Research Centres and Groups: | Centre for Environmental Humanities History and Heritage Research Centre |
| Related URLs: | |
| Date Deposited: | 07 Dec 2022 09:54 |
| Last Modified: | 15 Jan 2024 16:16 |
| ISSN: | 1018-7677 |
| URI / Page ID: | https://researchspace.bathspa.ac.uk/id/eprint/15102 |
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