This anthropological research assignment will provide an examination of the Himba, an indigenous entity of 12,000 to 18,000 people geographically located in Namibia. The Himba tribe are semi-nomadic pastoralist who sustain themselves from the product of their cattle. As previously established in the analytical paper, the Himba people have been relatively successful in maintaining their traditional lifestyle for the last 300 years. However, since the rise of South West Africa People’s Organization (SWAPO) to power in the Namibian government, the Himba began facing social, cultural, and political change. SWAPO perceives the Himba to be “primitive” people that needs to adapt to the capitalist, globalize economy (Champion & Shields, 2002). The
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During Namibia’s civil war, the Himba tribe supported the opposition group against SWAPO. After SWAPO became victorious, it implemented reconciliation program that would reconcile and “unite” the divided country. In reality, this reconciliation program was a tool utilized by SWAPO to conceal its human rights violations during the war. The program was superficial and only further marginalized opposition groups such as the Himba (Van Baarle, 2013). In line with Western practices, SWAPO plans to modernized this indigenous tribal group, who they presented to be in a backward state, through development projects such as the Epupa dam …show more content…
Chief Kapika, a Himba head man, said that “we will all gather and they will have to build the dam on top of us (Friedman, 2006).” He organized a European campaign to convinced European leaders to support their fight against the proposal. The campaign was a massive success in revealing the marginalization of the Himba. Due to the refusal of Himba to cooperate, World Standards declared categorized this project to be incomplete and no loans would be given to Namibia for its construction (UNESCO, 2005). The Epupa dam proposal conveys the message that the Himba are willing to fight for their rights against outsiders. However, history often repeat itself and SWAPO is determine to modernize this indigenous group. Moreover, western norms brought by globalization is threatening to permanently change the life of the Himba
During Namibia’s civil war, the Himba tribe supported the opposition group against SWAPO. After SWAPO became victorious, it implemented reconciliation program that would reconcile and “unite” the divided country. In reality, this reconciliation program was a tool utilized by SWAPO to conceal its human rights violations during the war. The program was superficial and only further marginalized opposition groups such as the Himba (Van Baarle, 2013). In line with Western practices, SWAPO plans to modernized this indigenous tribal group, who they presented to be in a backward state, through development projects such as the Epupa dam …show more content…
Chief Kapika, a Himba head man, said that “we will all gather and they will have to build the dam on top of us (Friedman, 2006).” He organized a European campaign to convinced European leaders to support their fight against the proposal. The campaign was a massive success in revealing the marginalization of the Himba. Due to the refusal of Himba to cooperate, World Standards declared categorized this project to be incomplete and no loans would be given to Namibia for its construction (UNESCO, 2005). The Epupa dam proposal conveys the message that the Himba are willing to fight for their rights against outsiders. However, history often repeat itself and SWAPO is determine to modernize this indigenous group. Moreover, western norms brought by globalization is threatening to permanently change the life of the Himba