Lyrical Nationalism in Post-Apartheid Namibia: Kings, Christians, and Cosmopolitans in Catholic Youth Songs

by Wendi A. Haugh

Overview

When Namibia gained its independence from South Africa in 1990, the new government began dismantling the divisive apartheid state and building a unified nation-state. What does this new nation look like from the perspective of ordinary citizens? In Lyrical Nationalism in Post-Apartheid Namibia, Wendi Haugh provides an ethnographic portrayal of the nation as imagined by people living in the former ethnic homeland of Ovamboland, with a particular focus on the lyrics of songs composed and performed by Catholic youth. The author argues that these youth draw on conflicting ideologies—hierarchical and egalitarian, nationalist and cosmopolitan—from multiple sources to construct a multi-faceted sense of national identity. She reveals how their vision of the nation—framed as neutrally national—is deeply rooted in specific local histories and cultures.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780739188460
Publisher:	Lexington Books
Publication date:	06/25/2014
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	312
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Wendi A. Haugh is assistant professor of anthropology and African studies at St. Lawrence University.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: A History of Nationalism in Namibia
Chapter 3: Catholic Youth Songs in Ethnographic Perspective
Chapter 4: Shared Possessions, Shared Interests: The Nation as Individual(s)
Chapter 5: Kings and Their Countries: The Nation as Hierarchical Whole
Chapter 6: Beyond Pagans: Building and Maintaining a Modern Christian Nation
Chapter 7: Connecting Across Difference: Cosmopolitan Nation
Chapter 8: Conclusion

Editorial Reviews

Lyrical Nationalism in Post-Apartheid Namibia is a work of careful, thoughtful scholarship, an exemplar of what anthropology should be: grounded in data collected ethnographically, but speaking to central questions within the discipline. The examination of Namibian Catholic youth in the late 1990s highlights how a particular vision of the nation, or even a feeling of nationalism, is a product of a particular social and historical period, illustrating (yet again) that nationalism is not one thing, but is constructed locally and temporally. Wendi Haugh makes her arguments clearly and helps us understand what nationalism in Africa looks like on the ground, through the eyes of its young people.

Cati Coe

Lyrical Nationalism in Post-Apartheid Namibiataps into the spaces and moments, rarely explored, where young people constructed for themselves what it means to be part of both a nation and a cosmopolitan, global Christian community. By attending to the ethnic and historical particularity of these spaces, Wendi Haugh highlights the local and temporal roots of nationalist discourses.

Meredith McKittrick

Wendi Haugh’s ethnographic analysis of Catholic youth songs in northern Namibia offers a unique window on the nation-building process in a newly independent country. Her rich accounting reveals the performative nature of nationalism, wherein singing and song both reflect and shape the new nation. This book makes an important contribution to the study of political transformation in post-apartheid southern Africa.

John Friedman

A masterpiece of lucid writing , displaying a fine ear for nuance, Haugh shows how a seemingly mundane activity like how Church choral singing by youth groups provides important insights into understanding the nature of nationalism. An invaluable addition for understanding not only Namibian nationalism, but the role of the Church and youth in near-contemporary Africa.

Robert J. Gordon