Cover not available
Part of
The Dynamics of English in Namibia: Perspectives on an emerging variety
Edited by Anne Schröder
[Varieties of English Around the World G65] 2021
► pp. 219–240

Chapter 10
Namibian literature in English

An overview

| Heidelberg University
This essay provides a survey of Namibian literature written in English both before and after independence in 1990, but with a focus on post-independence writing. The survey is structured by genre categories, starting with autobiographies, novels and short stories and continuing with drama and poetry. In each section, important authors and anthologies are briefly named and selected works are given more detailed attention. While aiming at a general overview of Namibian literature, this essay puts particular focus on the way the texts negotiate the topic of personal and national identity, either with reference to the country’s colonial past and the liberation struggle or regarding contemporary society and its social inequalities, contrasts and cultural diversity.
Keywords: Namibian literature, post-colonial literature, cultural identity, national identity
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction: Namibian literature and the challenges of cultural identity
  • 2.Prose literature
  • 3.Drama
  • 4.Poetry
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 10 September 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/veaw.g65.10fra
References (64)
References
Primary sources
Achebe, Chinua. 1994. Things Fall Apart [1959]. New York NY: Anchor Books.Google Scholar
Amathila, Libertina I. 2012. Making a Difference. Windhoek: University of Namibia Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Amukoshi, Julia S. S. N. 2014. Tales of the Rainbow: A Collection of Poetry in English. Windhoek: Township Productions.Google Scholar
Amulungu, Tshiwa T. 2016. Taming My Elephant. Windhoek: University of Namibia Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Andreas, Neshani. 2001. The Purple Violet of Oshaantu. London: Heinemann.Google Scholar
. 2011. Who Told You That You Were Naked. Ms.Google Scholar
Diescho, Joseph. 1988. Born of the Sun. New York NY: Friendship Press.Google Scholar
. 1992. Troubled Waters. Windhoek: Gamsberg Macmillan.Google Scholar
Galgut, Damon. 1991. The Beautiful Screaming of Pigs. London: Atlantic Books.Google Scholar
Haarhoff, Dorian. 2000. Goats, Oranges and Skeletons, Terence Zeeman (ed.). Windhoek: New Namibia Books.Google Scholar
Hangula, Vickson T. 2000. The Show Isn’t Over Until… In New Namibian Plays Vol. 1., Terence Zeeman (ed.), 1–36. Windhoek: New Namibia Books.Google Scholar
Harlech-Jones, Brian. 1999. A Small Space. London: Online Originals.Google Scholar
. 2002. To Dream Again. Cape Town: Kwela Books.Google Scholar
Hishongwa, Ndeutala. 1986. Marrying Apartheid. Abbotsford, Australia: Imprenta.Google Scholar
Hiyalwa, Kaleni. 2000. Meekulu’s Children. Windhoek: New Namibia Books.Google Scholar
Kaakunga, Clarence C. K. 2001. Samuel Maharero. Windhoek: Out of Africa Publishers.Google Scholar
Kahengua, Kavevangua. 2002. Dreams. Windhoek: Gamsberg Macmillan.Google Scholar
Kaujeua, Jackson. 1994. Tears Over the Deserts. Windhoek: New Namibia Books.Google Scholar
Lilemba, John M. 2003. Power is Sweet. Windhoek: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Matjila, Andrew. 2002. Navachab Gold. Windhoek: Gamsberg Macmillan.Google Scholar
Melber, Henning (ed.). 2004. It Is No More a Cry: Namibian Poetry in Exile and Essays on Literature in Resistance and Nation Building. Basel: Basler Afrika Bibliographien.Google Scholar
Mercer, Dennis. 1974. Breaking Contract: The Struggle of Vinna Ndadi. Oakland CA: LSM Information Centre.Google Scholar
Molapong, Keamogetsi J., Warner, Christi & Winterfeldt, Volker (eds). 2005. In Search of Questions: A Collection of New Namibian Poems. Basel: Basler Afrika Bibliographien.Google Scholar
Molapong, Keamogetsi J. 2005. Come Talk Your Heart. Windhoek: New Namibia Books.Google Scholar
2014. The Scars on My Skin. Windhoek: Township Productions.Google Scholar
Morris, Isabella & Schlettwein, Sylvia. 2012. Bullies, Beasts and Beauties. Windhoek: Wordweaver.Google Scholar
Namhila, Ellen N. 1997. The Price of Freedom. Windhoek: New Namibia Books.Google Scholar
Nghikembua, Anneli. 2013. A True Me in Words: An Anthology of Poems. Windhoek: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Nujoma, Sam. 2001. Where Others Wavered: The Autobiography of Sam Nujoma. London: Panaf Books.Google Scholar
Nyathi, Francis S. 2011. The Other Presence. Windhoek: The African Publishers.Google Scholar
Orford, Margie & Nicanor, Nepeti (eds). 1996. Coming on Strong: Writing by Namibian Women. Windhoek: New Namibia Books.Google Scholar
Orner, Peter. 2006. The Second Coming of Mavala Shikongo. Boston MA: Little, Brown and Company.Google Scholar
Serebrov, Mari. 2013. Mama Namibia: A Novel. Windhoek: Wordweaver.Google Scholar
Shaketange, Lydia. 2008. Walking the Boeing 707. Windhoek: AACRLS.Google Scholar
Shilongo, Salom. 2013. The Hopeless Hopes.Google Scholar
Thaniseb, Axaro W. 2011. Searching for the Rain: An Anthology of Verse. Windhoek: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Utley, Jaspar D. 1991. Allsorts and Other Stories. Windhoek: Gamsberg Macmillan.Google Scholar
Van Tonder, Marialena (ed). 2002. Namibia in Balance: A Portrayal in Short Stories. Windhoek: Namibia Institute for Democracy.Google Scholar
Victor, Kapache. 1994. On the Run. Windhoek: New Namibia Books.Google Scholar
Ya Nangolo, Mvula. 1991. Thoughts from Exile. Windhoek: Longman Namibia.Google Scholar
. 2008. Watering the Beloved Desert. Makanda: Brown Turtle Press.Google Scholar
Ya Otto, John. 1982. Battlefront Namibia. London: Heinemann.Google Scholar
Zeeman, Terence (ed.). 2000. New Namibian Plays Vol. 1. Windhoek: New Namibia Books.Google Scholar
(ed.). 2002. New Namibian Plays Vol. 2. Windhoek: New Namibia Books.Google Scholar
(ed.). 2005. One Hundred Short Plays. Compiled by Keamogetsi J. Molapong. Windhoek: New Namibia Books.Google Scholar
Secondary literature
Arich-Gerz, Bruno. 2010. Postcolonial English language prose from and about Namibia: A survey of novels from 1993 to the present. Journal of Namibian Studies 7: 7–28.Google Scholar
Frank, Kerstin. 2018. Individual and communal values, voices, and perspectives in Namibian novels. Research in African Literatures 49(2): 20–38. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fulkerson-Dikuua, Kelly J. 2018. Conceptualising national transition: Namibian women’s autobiographies about the liberation struggle. In Writing Namibia: Literature in Transition, Sarala Krishnamurthy & Helen Vale (eds), 57–69. Windhoek: UNAM Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Haarhoff, Dorian. 1991. The Wild South-West: Frontier Myths and Metaphors in Literature Set in Namibia, 1760–1988. Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press.Google Scholar
Hogan, Patrick C. 2018. Emplotting nationalism: Comparing Sam Nujoma’s Where Others Wavered and Joseph Diescho’s Born of the Sun . In Writing Namibia: Literature in Transition, Sarala Krishnamurthy & Helen Vale (eds), 70–89. Windhoek: UNAM Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Katjavivi, Jane. 2018. Books, words and truth in Namibia: The contribution of New Namibia Books (1990–2005). In Writing Namibia: Literature in Transition, Sarala Krishnamurthy & Helen Vale (eds), 347–368. Windhoek: UNAM Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kornberg, Netta. 2018. Power at the margins: Black female agency in two Namibian novels. In Writing Namibia: Literature in Transition, Sarala Krishnamurthy & Helen Vale (eds), 241–261. Windhoek: UNAM Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Krishnamurthy, Sarala & Vale, Helen (eds). 2018. Writing Namibia: Literature in Transition. Windhoek: UNAM Press.Google Scholar
Krishnamurthy, Sarala. 2018. ’Call of the Witpenssuikerbekkie’: Landscape as symbol in contemporary Namibian poetry. In Writing Namibia: Literature in Transition, Sarala Krishnamurthy & Helen Vale (eds), 144–163. Windhoek: UNAM Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Malaba, Mbongeni. 2010. A survey of the themes and techniques in Keamogetsi Joseph Molapong’s poetry. Research in African Literatures 41(3): 62–74. Special Issue: Southern African Literature. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Melber, Henning. 2014. Understanding Namibia: The Trials of Independence. Auckland Park: Jacana.Google Scholar
Mlambo, Nelson & Kandemiri, Coletta. 2015. Articulating the unsayable: An exploration of ‘visible voices’ in Sifiso Nyathi’s The Other Presence . Journal of Arts and Humanities 10(4): 53–64.Google Scholar
Mukaiwa, Martha. 2016. Poetry month underway in Windhoek. The Namibian, 6 April 2016. <[URL]> (24 November 2018).
. 2018. Spoken Word Namibia closed for 2018. The Namibian, 17 May 2018. <[URL]> (24 November 2018)
Olivier-Sampson, Laurinda. 2018. Representing Namibian drama (1985–2000): Frederick Philander. In Writing Namibia: Literature in Transition, Sarala Krishnamurthy & Helen Vale (eds), 172–182. Windhoek: UNAM Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rudd, Sandy interviewed by Vale, Helen. 2018. The development in theatre since independence: A director’s perspective. In Writing Namibia: Literature in Transition, Sarala Krishnamurthy & Helen Vale (eds), 204–210. Windhoek: UNAM Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schneider, Edgar W. 2007. Postcolonial English: Varieties around the World. Cambridge: CUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Vale, Helen. 2008. Namibian poetry in English 1976–2006: Between yesterday and tomorrow – unearthing the past, critiquing the present and envisioning the future. Nawa Journal of Language and Communication 2(2): 27–57.Google Scholar
Winterfeldt, Volker. 2010. Postcolonial dynamics and social structure in Namibia. In The Long Aftermath of War: Reconciliation and Transition in Namibia, André du Pisani, Reinhart Kössler & William A. Lindeke (eds), 139–170. Freiburg: Arnold-Bergsträßer-Institut.Google Scholar