Book Launch: Dr Lovisa Tegelela Nampala at the National Library, Windhoek, Namibia

The Basler Afrika Bibliographien and Dr Lovisa Tegelela Nampala (Ohangwena) invite you to the

Book Launch and Round Table on

Infrastructures of Migrant Labour in Colonial Ovamboland, 1915 to 1954.

Speakers: Dr Nampala with discussant Dr Napandulwe Shiweda and panellists Dr Martha Akawa, Dr Mike Shirungu and Dr Michael Akuupa

Master of Ceremony: Dr Nashilongweshipwe Mushaandja

ABOUT THE BOOK
Most research on the migrant labour system in Namibia under South African colonial rule emphasises its dehumanising aspects. In complete contrast, this study highlights the social and ritual resources that contract workers and their families in colonial Ovamboland mobilised to provide forms of support and connection across great distances and absences. Based on extensive oral research, this study peels back the layers of intangible infrastructure that sustained migrant workers through all the stages of their contract, including observances around workplace deaths. This thesis vividly demonstrates the persistence of older practices that sustained the bonds of life, fellowship and family under stress, as well as adaptation to new colonial systems such as the postal system.