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Paper short abstract:

This paper examines how Herero sought to transcend racial discrimination in apartheid-era Namibia by prophesying alternative futures and convening new religious communities. It argues that visionary practice became crucial to envision spiritual and political redemption.

Paper long abstract:

This paper analyzes visionary practices of Herero men and women between the Second World War and the late 1960s. Made between South Africa’s attempt to incorporate Namibia as a fifth province and the beginning of an armed conflict for independence, this prophetic work has received little attention by historians. I argue that their projections of a nearing end of colonialism and an impending divine judgment represented attempts to reconcile the legacy of colonization with indigenous cosmologies and to transcend the impact of the first genocide of the twentieth century. The paper thus highlights how African spiritualities influenced the gestation of anticolonial activism. Beyond decolonization, examining this influence contributes to our understanding of African ontologies after the colonial encounter, the emergence of African churches, and the related practices of reading and writing.