The Postcoloniality and Decoloniality of Namibian Literature in Kubuitsile’s The Scattering and Utley’s The Lie of the Land

Abstract

The chapter assumes that the corpus of fictional imaginaries culminating from postcolonial nations represent instances of representation and resistance. Namibian literature on the Herero and Nama (hereinafter, Herero/Nama) genocide, typified here by Lauri Kubuitsile’s The Scattering and Jaspar D. Utley’s The Lie of the Land, is no exception, as it is often characterised by contested narratives in the interpretation of colonial discourse and experiences. Literary imaginaries culminating from Namibia are imagined to be encapsulated in these discursive discourses of representation and resistance, often achieved through the ‘correction’ of history and historical facts. This form of “the empire writing back” (Ashcroft et al., 1998) is best imagined through the explication that, “representation and resistance are very broad arenas within which much of the drama of colonial relations and postcolonial examination and subversion of those relations has taken place” (Ashcroft et al., 2003, p. 85). Colonialism, couched within the experiences of dispossession of materialities (Kandemiri, 2021), suffering, genocide, war and segregation are at the core of concerns among the Namibian people. There exist collective memories and attendant traumas of the genocide imagined to be connected to colonialism. As such, more than 100 years after the end of German colonial rule in Namibia, the relationship between the erstwhile colonial power (Germany) and the Namibian communities who were affected by its brutal colonial policies remains problematic, and interpretations of the past are still contested (Kössler, 2015). The ongoing debates on the Herero/Nama genocide evince conflicting re/presentation of the consequences of German colonial rule, its impact on the Namibian cultural identity(ies) (specifically those of the Herero/Nama peoples), Germany’s historical responsibility and ways in which postcolonial reconciliation might be achieved and confrontations over the past need to be examined.