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Etosha Dreams: an historical account of the Hai//om predicament

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 May 2004

James Suzman
James Suzman
Affiliation:
Centre of African Studies, University of Cambridge.
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Abstract

In 1954 several hundred Hai//om San were evicted from their homes in Etosha National Park in the former South West Africa. As a result they joined the legions of landless generational farm-labourers who sustained an uneconomic and heavily subsidised white-owned commercial agricultural sector. This paper explores the predicament of this community vis-à-vis land rights in post-apartheid Namibia. It draws on recent historical research to contextualise Hai//om demands for land, and discusses the emergence of history as a dominant paradigm for the articulation of contemporary Hai//om identity. Likewise it explores the Hai//om's invocation of history to justify their demands for greater parity in land access. In doing so, it queries the usefulness of invoking an indigenous rights model as a justification for Hai//om land claims.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 42 , Issue 2 , June 2004 , pp. 221 - 238
Copyright
© 2004 Cambridge University Press

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