Joint research on post-war Namibia, Angola

A JOINT research project is to be undertaken on the post-war transformation of Namibia and Angola.

The project will run for three years under the title ‘Reconciliation and Social Conflict in the Aftermath of Large-scale Violence in Southern Africa – the Cases of Angola and Namibia’. “The Volkswagen Foundation in Germany will fund the project with 520 000 euros (N$4,5 million),” said Dr Antje Gunsenheimer of the Foundation.About 20 academics from Angola and Namibia, as well as their erstwhile colonial powers Portugal and Germany, will participate.They will include four postgraduate students for a Master’s and Ph.D.degree from Namibia and four from Angola.The universities of Namibia, Luanda in Angola, Lisbon in Portugal, Freiburg and Muenster in Germany will participate, according to Professor André du Pisani of the University of Namibia.”We are very excited about this research project,” Du Pisani told The Namibian yesterday, “we have reputed historians, anthropologists and political scientists in the group to look at Namibia and Angola after the time of conflict and to compare both countries, which have so much in common but are quite different.”The researchers will study the resistance against colonialism, the wars of liberation, the transformation of society in both countries after the conflict, and their respective policies of national reconciliation.While reconciliation is the official rhetoric in both Angola and Namibia, human rights abuses and a particular remembrance of the liberation struggle appear to prevail in both societies.The central focus of the study will be on the social, socio-economic and cultural dimensions of the two countries’ reconciliation policies.”The Volkswagen Foundation in Germany will fund the project with 520 000 euros (N$4,5 million),” said Dr Antje Gunsenheimer of the Foundation.About 20 academics from Angola and Namibia, as well as their erstwhile colonial powers Portugal and Germany, will participate.They will include four postgraduate students for a Master’s and Ph.D.degree from Namibia and four from Angola.The universities of Namibia, Luanda in Angola, Lisbon in Portugal, Freiburg and Muenster in Germany will participate, according to Professor André du Pisani of the University of Namibia.”We are very excited about this research project,” Du Pisani told The Namibian yesterday, “we have reputed historians, anthropologists and political scientists in the group to look at Namibia and Angola after the time of conflict and to compare both countries, which have so much in common but are quite different.”The researchers will study the resistance against colonialism, the wars of liberation, the transformation of society in both countries after the conflict, and their respective policies of national reconciliation.While reconciliation is the official rhetoric in both Angola and Namibia, human rights abuses and a particular remembrance of the liberation struggle appear to prevail in both societies.The central focus of the study will be on the social, socio-economic and cultural dimensions of the two countries’ reconciliation policies.