Post-Apartheid 'Tribalism'? Land, Ethnicity and Discourses on San Subversion in West Caprivi, Namibia
Abstract
Since Namibia's Independence, West Caprivi's politics have centred on struggles over land, authority and natural resources among the state, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and two ethnic groups, namely Khwe (a San group) and Mbukushu. This article describes and analyses the forms taken by some of these struggles between 1995 and 2006, situating them in a broader socio-political national and regional context. The article takes its starting point from recent work on 'tribes', 'tradition' and 'ethnicity' in Africa which calls for historical analyses that recognise the multi-layered, multi-authored, processual and political nature of identities (Ranger 1993 ; also see Glassman 2000 ; Lentz 2000 ; Friedman 2005 ). It emphasises the ways in which Khwe and Mbukushu people constructed, articulated, and contested authority in relation to the state, and to each other. Constructions of Khwe identity by all parties were critical to these processes, and were informed by an intersection of discourses around ethnicity, race and nation-building. The historical literature on ethnicity and rural politics has also noted the wide range of institutions, operating at several different scales, which interact at any one time to foster local identity-building (see Oomen 2005 ; Alexander 2006 ; Beall 2006 ). Significant institutions