3 Review(s)

Ovambo Politics in the Twentieth Century offers a paradigm shift from how studies typically treat the colonization of Africa. Using archival documentation from government and industry sources, Cooper offers a detailed historical analysis of the seven major communities comprising the Ovambo- Namibia's largest ethnic group. His examination reveals that these Ovambo communities engaged in competitive political relations with each other throughout the German colonial era as well as the subsequent occupation of territory by the white minority government of South Africa. Each community alternated between strategies of resistance and collaboration with colonial authorities in order to maximize their geopolitical advantage with their ethnic neighbors. Cooper provides documentation showing that even the assassination of King Mandume in 1917 by South African forces involved the participation of leaders from other Ovambo communities. Ovambo Politics in the Twentieth Century is intended for Africanists, ethnographers, Namibians seeking an understanding of their own history, labor historians, students of colonial history, and students of revolutionary movements.