Page 24 - UNAM Virtual Graduation e-Book (April2021)

FACULTY OF HUMANITIES & SOCIAL SCIENCES

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN ENGLISH STUDIES

CANDIDATE: KANDEMIRI Coletta M

CURRICULUM VITAE

Coletta Kandemiri obtained her BA Honours Degree in English in September
2014 at the University of Zimbabwe. In 2015, she joined the University of Namibia
(UNAM) and completed a one year None Degree Purpose and enrolled for
the Master’s degree the following year. She received her Master of Arts in
English Studies Degree at UNAM with cum laude in April 2018 and that same year she enrolled at the same
institute for her PhD in English Studies, which she completed in 3 years. Coletta has a number of publications
including journal articles and book chapters. She attended and presented at a number of conferences and she
also has a handful of newspaper publications. She is a member of the Windhoek Writers’ Club.

CANDIDATE’S DISSERTATION

LITERARY ARCHIVES OF CONFLICT, THE DECOLONIALITY OF MATERIALITIES AND RESILIENCE IN SELECTED NARRATIVES
OF GENOCIDE IN NAMIBIA

The doctoral study was undertaken and completed under the supervision of Dr Nelson Mlambo (University of
Namibia) as Main Supervisor and Dr Juliet Sylvia Pasi (Namibia University of Science Technology) as Co-Supervisor.

The 1904-1908 Conflict has not received much attention as other genocides as the Holocaust or the Armenian
Genocide and with some scholars even arguing that it was not a genocide, but 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 reflected 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 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 and as such they could be used as perfect
substitutes of each other, though an argument not readily accepted by some historians. 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 well-being 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’.

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. Lastly,
there may be need to introduce genocide studies at the University of Namibia.

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