The Himba of Southwestern Africa and the Implications of the Nation State :: Essays Papers

The Himba of Southwestern Africa and the Implications of the Nation State For over five centuries, the Himba people get under ones skin breathed the hot and filmy air of the Earths oldest desert, raising fat, prosperous herds of livestock in a shrewd network of grazing lands, and honour their ancestors through ancient sacred fires and venerated grave sites (Crandall). Anthropologists suppose the Himbas inherited firelight has been flickering . . . since the 1600s, when they arrived as part of the great Bantu migrations from the north (Salopek). Unbeknownst to them, the arid and volatile peach tree of Southwestern Africa has provided the Himba the worlds best cultural haven from violent confrontation and influence of foreign power (Salopek). However, this desert haven is no all-night a refuge from racial discrimination and environmental destruction in an ironic twist of history, the Himba are now threatened, not by European colonists, besides by their own Independent nation st ate judicatures. In the past, foreign wars and encroaching Western colonists left the Himba relatively untouched. However, globalization has wrought a late government mind in Namibia and Angola progress is profit at all cost, which translates to extensive tourism and unquestioned governmental river and land exploitation through precipitant damming projects. As both independent governments now urgently move towards Western ideals of ruthless progress, the international community must respond to Southwest Afrcias government proposals for Angolas Iona National Park and Namibias Epupa Falls Dam. 25,000 semi-nomadic Himba peasants, divided between Southern Angola and Northern Namibia boarders, now fight for their rights to choose the way of their future. In the seek for Himba sovereignty, these two cases stand out as blaring war cries of Himba cultural and political rights under attack.Smeared with otjize, a blend of butterfat and powered iron ochre for protective covering against th e arid climate and blistering sun, the Himba are physically distinguishable as the Red People on the gold and brown landscape of Southwestern Africa ( Crandall). In scattered encampments or homesteads of 20 to 30 people the Himba drift with the seasons to new settlements in search of water and grazing lands (Bensman). Tending to semi-permanent gardens of maize, pumpkins, and melons, the Himba primarily live off the yogurt and butter fat of their livestock (Ezzell). As animals are sacred to the Himba, the passing of an elder is the only momentous occasion for cattle to be slaughtered. By transferring ancestral fire to the exact place of burial, community life is physically and internally centered on the fire.