Paper short abstract:

Taking the former relationship of Haiǁom with the Etosha National Park in Namibia as a case study, this paper explores the neglect of indigenous and local ‘worldings’ within Namibian nature conservation policies and practices and makes suggestions for future pathways.

Paper long abstract:

The south-eastern area of today’s Etosha National Park in Namibia has been inhabited since time immemorial by Haiǁom, a group of (former) hunter-gatherers. Etosha was proclaimed as a game reserve in 1907. Haiǁom were still allowed to live in the area until they were expelled in the 1950s due to then-dominant ideas of fortress conservation and the need for labour outside the protected area. In recent years, Haiǁom have been provided with several resettlement farms by the Namibian government, which might be understood as a compensation for the land dispossession they experienced due to colonial nature conservation efforts.

In this paper, I will briefly outline – to follow Blaser’s (e.g. 2013) terminology, the ‘worlding’ of Haiǁom living in Etosha, based on long-term field research and the involvement in a cultural mapping project with Haiǁom in Etosha. Haiǁom (both collectively and individually) maintained manifold relationships with the land, specific areas and places, with human and beyond-the-human beings - e.g. animals and spiritual beings - in Etosha. They were, I would argue, an integral part of the Etosha ecology. From this perspective, I will reassess the resettlement approach taken by the Namibian Government.

This will then serve as an entry point to discuss the neglect of indigenous and local ‘worldings’ within nature conservation policies and practices in Namibia in the past and present. Furthermore, I will suggest possible paths in future for the integration of indigenous and local ‘worldings’ and outline, what could be achieved by this integration.