The photograph on the cover of this book is of a woman who lived along the Kunene and called herself Maria. At the time, she had a young daughter and was heavily pregnant with her second child. Maria’s children are the future. Sitting in my inner-city apartment, surrounding by the sounds and smells of morning rush hour, I wonder what the bumpy road of development will mean for them.
– Vancouver 2002
LIST OF PHOTOGRAPHS
title page: funeral at headman’s village, Etanga
12 & 13: near Etanga
ARRIVAL
18 & 19: en route to Epupa Falls
23, 27, 29: Epupa Falls
31: Maria and daughter, Epupa Falls
34 & 35, 36, 37: drinking with Maria, Karamata Mutambo, and friends
39, 42 & 43, 47, 50, 51, 52 & 52, 55, 60 & 61: Karamata Mutambo’s village, near Epupa Falls
48 & 49: dry riverbed, near Etanga
58 & 59: near Etanga
64 & 65, 67: Epupa Falls
69: Maria, Epupa Falls
VISITING
72 & 73: Epupa Falls
74 & 75: on the road near Opuwo
78 & 79: Etanga
82 & 83, 84, 85: funeral at headman’s village, Etanga
88 & 89, 91, 93, 95: Etanga
106 & 107: Hikuminue Kapika (seated) at his village, near Epupa Falls
113, 114 & 115, 116, 117: Okangwati
GOING TO TOWN
120 & 121: Opuwo Hospital
125, 126 & 127: market, Opuwo
128: inside a bar in the market, Opuwo
129: exterior of bar in the market, Opuwo
130 & 131: outskirts of Opuwo
134 & 135, 136: market, Opuwo
137, 138 & 139: Opuwo town centre
140 & 141: camped in yard, Opuwo
144 & 145: Okangwati
147, 148, 149: market, Opuwo
153, 154 & 155: Opuwo High School
157: Windhoek
APPENDIX
The young French woman we met in Opuwo published her book the following year:
Bardot, Solenn. Pieds Nus sur la Terre Rouge: Voyage Chez les Himbas, Pasteurs de Namibie. Paris: Robert Laffont. 1997.
Some relevant titles from the growing body of anthropological writing:
Bollig, Michael and Jan Bart Gewald (eds.). People, Cattle and Land: Transformations of a Pastoral Society in Southwestern Africa. Cologne: Rudiger Koppe Verlag. 2000.
Bollig, Michael (ed.). When War Came the Cattle Slept: Oral Traditions of the Himba of Northwestern Namibia. Cologne: Rudiger Koppe Verlag. 1997.
Crandall, David. The Place of Stunted Ironwood Trees: A Year in the Lives of the Cattle-Herding Himba of Namibia. New York: Continuum. 2000.
Van Wolputte, Steven. Of Bones and Flesh and Milk: Bodily praxis, identiy and mobility among the OvaHimba of Northwest Namibia. PhD thesis. Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. 1998.
Warnlof, Christofer. “Images and Dreams for Sale: Turning ‘the Himba’ into TV Drama.” Journal of the International African Institute Vol 70 (2). 2000.
There are several photo books about the Himba. These two have introductions by Namibian anthropologist Margaret Jacobsohn:
Jacobsohn, Margaret with Peter and Beverly Pickford. Himba: Nomads of Namibia. Cape Town: Struik Publishers. 1990.
Watson, John. Himba. Cambridge: Cultural Survival Inc. 1998.
The Himba are featured in a growing number of films. Of note:
Ochre and Water. Directed by Joelle Chesselet and Craig Matthews. Cape Town: Doxa Productions. 2000. (see doxa.co.za) This film follows the Epupa dam dispute over a period of seven years; it has been receiving awards at festivals around the world.
Shake Your Brains. Directed by Rina Sherman. Windhoek: Low Tech Film Art. 2000. This film is about alcohol abuse among the Himba. Dr Rina Sherman is a visual anthropologist currently based in Etanga who is working an extended film project called The Himba Years.
Kin. Directed by Elaine Proctor. UK: Art Council of England/Bard Entertainment. 1999. This feature film, starring Miranda Otto and Isaiah Washington, received mediocre reviews but is of interest because it used Himba actors, among them Cornelius Tjiuma, the young man who translated for us when we visited Chief Kapika.
Further information about the proposed dam is available in these reports:
Corbett, Andrew. 1999. A Case Study on the Proposed Epupa Hydro Power Dam in Namibia. Contributing Paper to the World Commission on Dams. (see dams.org)
Burmeister & Partners. Feasibility Study and Environmental Impact Assessment of Epupa Hydropower Scheme. 1997. (see burmeister.com.na/feasibility.html)
On the Internet:
Internation River Networks has followed the Epupa dam situation and maintains a webpage with updates and links. (see irn.org)
The Namibian, Namibia’s daily paper, has an excellent website with archives back to 1998 (see namibian.com.na)
The Red Cross launched the Africa Women’s Initiative in July 2001 to develop programs at the community level that address the urgent health needs of women and children, especially HIV/AIDS. One of the pilot projects has been implemented in Namibia and includes the Himba. (see redcross.org/services/intl/initiatives/
africa/namibia.asp)
Survival International, an organziation that supports tribal people and helps protect land rights, offers information sheets on tribal people around the world. They have one on the Himba. (see survival-international.org)
We are grateful to the Himba people we met for inviting us to join them by the fire and tolerating our questions, photographs, and persistent interest; especially Maria and Rampatoka, Karamata Mutambo and family, the children at the Etanga school, Kanguti, and Cornelius Tjiuma.
Our parents, Clair and Rochelle Shields, and Colin and Mo Campion, provided much appreciated love and financial support, and we offer a special thanks to Mo; we so wish you were here to see the end result. For flights of fancy, we remain indebted to Karen Connelly. Precious moral support that often included supper and a place to sleep was provided by Max Bastard, Katya Lyall-Watson, Alex Dodd, and Matt in Cape Town, by Tinkie Malan (pharmacist extraordinaire), Monique Steyn, Derek Knowles, and Brother Nick in Mafikeng, and by Heather Malek, Bill Damer and Noreen Branagh and kids, and Finbarr Wilson in Canada.
The enthusiasm and expertise that Hugh Brody and Stephen Osborne brought to this project were greatly appreciated. A grant from the International Center for Human Rights and Democratic Development made the journey possible, and the Banff Center for the Arts provided a quiet cabin where an early version of the text took shape.
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