The rich cultural heritage and language of Namibia’s Indigenous Khwe people will take centre stage next week during a public talk hosted by the Namibia Scientific Society.
Scheduled for Wednesday, 18 November at 19:00 at the Society’s premises in Windhoek, the presentation will feature Dr Gertrud Boden from the University of Cologne’s Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology alongside members of the Bwabwata Khwe Custodian Committee.
Together, they will explore the traditions and linguistic identity of the Khwe community living within Namibia’s Bwabwata National Park.
According to the Namibia Scientific Society, the discussion ties into global preservation efforts surrounding the Oswin Köhler Archive at Goethe University Frankfurt, which houses the world’s largest collection of historical and linguistic documents dedicated to the Khwe people..
“The documents were compiled between 1959 and 1992 by Khwe sources and their scholar, the German Africanist Oswin Köhler. Over the past ten years, these materials have been further developed and adapted in collaboration with members of the Khwe community, resulting in a diverse range of resources designed to help younger generations of the Khwe learn their language and culture, and a database that accommodates Khwe voices and norms.”
They said that, during Dr Boden PhD research on social change among the Khwe in today’s Bwabwata National Park at the turn of the millennium, 1998-2003, the Khwe community asked her for opportunities to access the photos and documents that Oswin Köhler had brought to Germany.
“After an absence period during which she worked on diverse subjects among other San communities with only occasional visits to the Khwe, she started to work on the academic legacy of Oswin Köhler in 2015.”
They added that since then, she edited the up-to-then missing volumes of a vernacular encyclopedia on Khw culture together with Anne-Maria Fehn and with assistance from native speaker Thaddeus Chedau.
“She also organised visits of Khwe representatives to Frankfurt, and facilitated collaborative work in Namibia and the development of several products for Khwe use.”
Join the presentation via Zoom at https://zoom.us/j/8023841980.
