Who Are the Nama?
The Nama are a Khoikhoi people of approximately 250,000 in Namibia, South Africa, and Botswana. They speak Khoekhoegowab (Nama/Damara), a language famous for its click consonants—one of the few non-Bantu languages still widely spoken in southern Africa. The Nama were pastoralists who herded cattle and sheep across the arid regions of Namaqualand. Like the Herero, they suffered genocide under German colonial rule (1904-1908), losing half their population. Today, the Nama maintain distinctive cultural identity while pursuing recognition and reparations for colonial atrocities.
Click Languages
Nama belongs to the Khoe language family, characterized by click consonants—sounds made by creating suction in the mouth and releasing it sharply. Nama has four basic clicks (dental, lateral, alveolar, palatal) that combine with other sounds. These clicks are among the world's rarest phonemes, found almost exclusively in southern African languages. Linguists consider click languages ancient, possibly reflecting humanity's earliest speech patterns. The complexity of click articulation makes these languages challenging for non-native speakers but demonstrates the sophistication of indigenous African linguistics.
The Nama Genocide
Following the Herero uprising, the Nama under leaders like Hendrik Witbooi and Jakob Morenga also resisted German colonialism. German forces pursued similar exterminatory policies against the Nama from 1904-1908. Survivors were imprisoned in concentration camps; forced labor, starvation, and disease killed approximately half the Nama population. Captain Hendrik Witbooi, who had initially allied with Germans, died fighting them in 1905. The Nama genocide, alongside the Herero genocide, represents the 20th century's first genocide and a precursor to later Nazi atrocities. Reparations demands continue alongside Herero claims.
Hendrik Witbooi
Hendrik Witbooi (c. 1830-1905) is Namibia's most celebrated historical figure—his image appears on Namibian currency. A Nama chief who initially fought other indigenous groups, then allied with Germans, he eventually led resistance against colonial rule when German brutality became intolerable. His letters and diary, preserved in colonial archives, provide rare African perspectives on colonialism. Witbooi's complexity—collaborator then resistor—reflects the impossible choices colonialism forced on African leaders. His death in battle made him a martyr; his legacy embodies Nama resistance and broader Namibian nationalism.
Contemporary Nama
Modern Nama communities face challenges common to indigenous minorities: language shift toward Afrikaans and English, poverty, limited political representation. The Nama language is taught in some schools but faces pressure from dominant languages. Traditional knowledge—medicinal plants, land use, oral literature—requires active preservation efforts. The Nama have participated alongside Herero in genocide reparations demands, though their claims receive less international attention. Cultural festivals and traditional leadership structures maintain community cohesion. How Nama navigate modernity while preserving their distinctive click language and heritage remains an ongoing challenge.
References
- Lau, B. (1987). Namibia in Jonker Afrikaner's Time
- Dedering, T. (1997). Hate the Old and Follow the New: Khoekhoe and Missionaries in Early Nineteenth-Century Namibia
- Olusoga, D. & Erichsen, C. W. (2010). The Kaiser's Holocaust