Imagining the Post-Apartheid State
An Ethnographic Account of Namibia
Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Anthropology, Political Science
| Author: | John T. Friedman | ISBN: | 9780857450913 |
| Publisher: | Berghahn Books | Publication: | July 1, 2011 |
| Imprint: | Berghahn Books | Language: | English |
| Author: | John T. Friedman |
| ISBN: | 9780857450913 |
| Publisher: | Berghahn Books |
| Publication: | July 1, 2011 |
| Imprint: | Berghahn Books |
| Language: | English |
In northwest Namibia, people’s political imagination offers a powerful insight into the post-apartheid state. Based on extensive anthropological fieldwork, this book focuses on the former South African apartheid regime and the present democratic government; it compares the perceptions and practices of state and customary forms of judicial administration, reflects upon the historical trajectory of a chieftaincy dispute in relation to the rooting of state power and examines everyday forms of belonging in the independent Namibian State. By elucidating the State through a focus on the social, historical and cultural processes that help constitute it, this study helps chart new territory for anthropology, and it contributes an ethnographic perspective to a wider set of interdisciplinary debates on the State and state processes.
In northwest Namibia, people’s political imagination offers a powerful insight into the post-apartheid state. Based on extensive anthropological fieldwork, this book focuses on the former South African apartheid regime and the present democratic government; it compares the perceptions and practices of state and customary forms of judicial administration, reflects upon the historical trajectory of a chieftaincy dispute in relation to the rooting of state power and examines everyday forms of belonging in the independent Namibian State. By elucidating the State through a focus on the social, historical and cultural processes that help constitute it, this study helps chart new territory for anthropology, and it contributes an ethnographic perspective to a wider set of interdisciplinary debates on the State and state processes.
