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Facing Barbarians: A Narrative of Spatial Segregation in Colonial Namibia

2012; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 38; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/03057070.2012.730842

1465-3893

Giorgio Miescher,

German Colonialism and Identity Studies

Abstract Under South African rule Namibia was divided by a border into two territorial entities, both physically and symbolically. This article explores the establishment of this border, the so-called Red Line, which separated the settler society's heartland in central Namibia from the 'native territories' in the far north. Beginning as a mere cartographic construction, the Red Line eventually materialised in a double fence. I argue that veterinary science and practice played a pivotal role in the discursive and material enforcement of the resulting territorial segregation, and this case study exemplifies how segregation based on medical, i.e. veterinary, grounds transmuted into political segregation. Drawing from a broad scholarly debate on border histories I also argue for an interpretation that qualifies the Red Line as an imperial barbarian border. Accordingly, white settlers conceptualised the inner-Namibian border of the Red Line as the limit of an expanding South African settler society. Beyond that border they faced black Africa. Notes 1 Magistrate Outjo to Secretary of SWA, Outjo, 24 December 1924, National Archives of Namibia (hereafter NAN), LOU 3/3/1 N 1/9/2 (7). *Thanks to Patrick Harries, Dag Henrichsen, Stephan Miescher and Lorena Rizzo for reading and commenting on previous drafts. I presented an earlier version at the Center for African and Afro American Studies, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 7 April 2011, where I stayed as a visiting fellow thanks to a grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation. I would also like to thank Adam Ashforth, David William Cohen and Derek Peterson for their valuable comments. 2 The remoteness, marginality and fears felt in a frontier town such as Outjo has been brilliantly described by J.M. Coetzee in his novel Waiting for the Barbarians (London, Secker and Warburg, 1980). 3 There is a rich literature in southern African historiography on segregation based on medical grounds, starting with the path-breaking work of M.W. Swanson, 'The Sanitation Syndrome: Bubonic Plague and Urban Native Policy in the Cape Colony, 1900–1909', Journal of African History, 18, 3 (1977), pp. 387–410. M. Wallace provides a good historiographical overview in Health, Power and Politics in Windhoek, Namibia, 1915–1945 (Basel, P. Schlettwein Publishing, 2002), pp. 201–4. Whereas this literature concentrates on mainly intra-urban segregation, this article addresses segregation on a larger spatial scale. 4 For the constitution of the Police Zone boundary, see G. Miescher, 'Die Rote Linie: Die Geschichte der Veterinär- und Siedlungsgrenze in Namibia (1890 er bis 1960er Jahre)' (PhD thesis, University of Basel, 2009), Chapter Two. 5 See the resolution by the German Reichstag accepted on 15 December 1905, NAN-ZBU-L II A 5, Volume 1. 6 Miescher ('Die Rote Linie', pp. 84–92) includes a reproduction of the 1907 map. 7 After 1907 the Police Zone boundary was indicated as a thin dotted line on the so-called Besitzstandskarte (land ownership map) of the colony published in 1909 and 1911. 8 A good overview can be found in U. Kaulich, Die Geschichte der ehemaligen Kolonie Deutsch-Südwestafrika (1884–1914) – Eine Gesamtdarstellung (Frankfurt am Main, Peter Lang, 2001). 9 On the veterinary service under German rule after 1905, see W. Rickmann, Tierzucht und Tierkrankheit in Deutsch-Südwestafrika (Berlin, Schoetz, 1908); 'Bericht des Geheimen Regierungsrates Professor Dr. Ostertag über die von ihm nach Deutsch-Südwestafrika aufgeführte Reise', Berlin, 7 March 1911, NAN-ZBU-1287-OI b3, Volume 1; H. Schneider, Analyse der Tiergesundheitssituation in Südwestafrika/Namibia – Vergangenheit und Gegenwart (Giessen, Eigenverlag, 1977); and now Miescher, 'Die Rote Linie', pp. 110–15. 10 W. Werner, 'No one will become rich': Economy and Society in the Herero Reserves in Namibia, 1915–1946 (Basel, P. Schlettwein Publishing, 1998), pp. 47–8; J. Zimmerer, Deutsche Herrschaft über Afrikaner. Staatlicher Machtanspruch und Wirklichkeit im kolonialen Namibia (Münster, LIT Verlag, 2001). 11 M. Eirola, The Ovambogefahr. The Ovamboland Reservation in the Making: Political Responses of the Kingdom of Ondonga to the German Colonial Power 1884–1910 (Rovaniemi, Societas Historicae Finlandiae Septentrionalis, 1992); R. Strassegger, 'Die Wanderarbeit der Ovambo während der deutschen Kolonialbesetzung Namibias. Unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Wanderarbeiter auf den Diamantenfeldern in den Jahren 1908 bis 1914' (PhD thesis, University of Graz, 1988). 12 This control regime included a territorial order developed alongside the concept of the Police Zone, with a series of no-go areas, such as game reserves in northern Namibia. No-go areas for European settlers in northern Namibia included (a) two game reserves established in 1907, namely one in the northeast and the other in the north (including the Etosha Pan and northern Kaoko) and (b) the so-called 'Ovamboland', closed already in 1906. See Miescher, 'Die Rote Linie', pp. 93–105. 13 J. Silvester, M. Wallace and P. Hayes, ' "Trees Never Meet" Mobility and Containment: An Overview, 1915–1946', in P. Hayes, J. Silvester, M. Wallace and W. Hartmann (eds), Namibia under South African Rule: Mobility and Containment 1915–1946 (Oxford, James Currey, 1998), pp. 3–48 (for the quote see p. 22). 14 J. Silvester, M. Wallace and P. Hayes, ' "Trees Never Meet" Mobility and Containment: An Overview, 1915–1946', in P. Hayes, J. Silvester, M. Wallace and W. Hartmann (eds), Namibia under South African Rule: Mobility and Containment 1915–1946 (Oxford, James Currey, 1998), p. 23. 15 Here, re-pastoralisation describes the process by which Africans rebuilt their pastoral economy, which had been destroyed after the war of 1904–1907. As part of this process Africans also moved back to the land they were deprived of on a large scale under German rule. See Werner, 'No one will become rich': Economy and Society, pp. 56–7; J. Silvester, 'Beast, Boundaries and Buildings: The Survival and Creation of Pastoral Economies in Southern Namibia', in Hayes, Silvester, Wallace and Hartmann, Namibia under South African Rule, pp. 95–116; J.-B. Gewald, 'Colonization, Genocide and Resurgence: The Herero of Namibia 1890–1933', in M. Bollig and J.-B. Gewald (eds), People, Cattle and Land. Transformations of a Pastoral Society in Southwestern Africa (Cologne, Rüdiger Köppe Verlag, 2000), pp. 187–226. 16 For a detailed analysis of this period, see T. Emmett, Popular Resistance and the Roots of Nationalism in Namibia, 1915–1966 (Basel, P. Schlettwein Publishing, 1999), pp. 65–88. 17 See P. Hayes, 'A History of the Ovambo of Namibia, c 1880–1935' (PhD thesis, University of Cambridge, 1992), pp. 178–233. 18 Martial Law Regulation No. 57; See A.J. Waters (ed.), Martial Law in the Protectorate of South West Africa During Military Occupation by the Forces of the Union of South Africa (as in force on the 1st July 1918) (Swakopmund, Swakopmund Buchhandlung, 1918). 19 Annual Report of the Administrator for South West Africa for the year 1917, 18, NAN-ADM-106-3370/2. 20 Annual Report of the Administrator of South West Africa for the year 1916, 6–7, NAN-ADM-106-3370. 21 The formulation of the respective law (Martial Law Regulation No. 57) made explicit reference to the German map of 1911 ('In the area beyond the line defining the "Polizei Zone" marked on the map of the Protectorate of South West Africa of the 1st October 1911 […]'). 22 While German rule did not prevent Europeans from crossing the Police Zone boundary, certain areas in the far north remained closed to Europeans, among them the so-called 'Amboland', later referred to as 'Ovamboland' (closed in 1906), and the Caprivi (closed in 1908). See Miescher, 'Die Rote Linie', Chapter Two. 23 Prohibited Areas Proclamation of 2 September 1919 (Martial Law Proclamation 15). 24 See Silvester, Wallace and Hayes, '"Trees Never Meet": Mobility and Containment', pp. 3–48. 25 I. Goldblatt, History of South West Africa from the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century (Cape Town, Juta and Company, 1971), pp. 206–9. 26 The German map was the so-called Besitzstandskarte (land ownership map), a general map of the whole territory. 27 Discussed in Miescher, 'Die Rote Linie', pp. 145–59. 28 For an overview, see J. Rawlinson, The Meat Industry of Namibia. 1835–1995 (Windhoek, Gamsberg Macmillan, 1994); for a treatment of specific periods and regions, see D. Henrichsen, Herrschaft und Alltag im vorkolonialen Zentralnamibia. Das Herero- und Damaraland im 19 Jahrhundert (Basel, Basler Afrika Bibliographien, 2011) and H. Siiskonen, Trade and Socioeconomic Change in Ovamboland, 1850–1906 (Helsinki, Suomen Historiallinen Seura, 1990). 29 According to Werner ('No one will become rich': Economy and Society, p. 63) the livestock numbered at least 1.2 million animals inside the Police Zone (mainly sheep, goats and cattle) in 1914. 30 The police played an important role in disease control and management under both colonial powers. The only difference was that South African officials had to deal with much higher numbers of African stock owners. For a discussion of the relation between veterinary service and the police under German and South African rule, see Miescher, 'Die Rote Linie', pp. 110–15 and 160–72. 31 Senior Veterinary Officer to Magistrate Outjo, 19 April 1921, NAN-AGV-V1/1 v1. 32 The Veterinary Services consisted of only six district surgeons and the senior officer in Windhoek, making the South African service less than half the size of the previous German one, which consisted of 17 veterinarians in addition to the Gammams bacteriological research institute. See Miescher, 'Die Rote Linie', pp. 160–3. 33 Magistrate Grootfontein to Secretary, 23 January 1923, NAN-AGV-90-V1/1 v2. The files of the veterinary services contain an intense correspondence concerning cattle sales to returning labour migrants between 1922 and 1924 (NAN-AGV-90-V1/1 v2). 34 In 1922 Outjo farmers led a trek of over one thousand cattle from Outjo to Angola; see Senior Veterinary Officer to Secretary, 14 March 1922, and SWA Police to Magistrate Outjo, 24 July 1922, NAN-SWAA-2238-A502/8. 35 Schmid to Senior Veterinary Officer, 7 June 1920, NAN-ADM-60-993/36. 36 Senior Veterinary Officer to Secretary, 9 September 1921, NAN-ADM-60-993/6. 37 See Principal Veterinary Officer Pretoria to Senior Veterinary Officer Windhoek, 6 December 1921, NAN-SWAA-2238-A502/8. In his correspondence, the Senior Veterinary Officer in Windhoek used both the terms 'neutral' and 'quarantine'. 38 For the same observation, see U. Dieckmann, Hai¦¦om in the Etosha Region: A History of Colonial Settlement, Ethnicity and Nature Conservation (Basel, Basler Afrika Bibliographien, 2007). 39 Petition of the Outjo Farmer Association to the Administrator signed by 31 farmers, 28 August 1922, NAN-SWAA-2238-A502/8. 40 See Senior Veterinary Officer to Secretary, 'Export of Cattle from Outjo and Grootfontein District to the Union', 16 November 1922, NAN-SWAA-2238-A502/8. This assessment was supported by the Native Commissioner Ovamboland (Native Commissioner to Senior Veterinary Officer, 15 September 1921, NAN-ADM-60-993/6). 41 Divisional Inspector SWA Police to Secretary, 27 May 1924, and Senior Veterinary Officer to Magistrate Outjo, 11 July 1924, both in NAN-AGV-90-V1/1 v2. 42 Magistrate Outjo to Secretary, 28 June 1924, NAN-SWAA-21-A3/61, Volume 1. 43 F. Minder provides a history in the report, 'Police Zone', 9 September 1924, NAN-SWAA-21-A3/61, Volume 1. 44 There was a whole series of maps in the scale of 1:500,000, and South West Africa – Suidwes Afrika 1926 (1:800,000). See J. Moser, 'Untersuchungen zur Kartographiegeschichte von Namibia: Die Entwicklung des Karten- und Vermessungswesens von den Anfängen bis zur Unabhängigkeit 1990' (PhD thesis, University of Dresden, 2007), pp. 225–6. 45 See the case of Friedrich Krenz, Farm Ehobib, and Farm Garubib, as documented in 'SWA Police, Police Zone Boundary', NAN-SWAA-23-A3/61, Volume 1. 46 Prohibited Areas Proclamation, 23 November 1928, therein 'First Schedule: Definition of the Police Zone'. 47 J. Marx,'Grenzfälle: Zur Geschichte und Potential des Frontierbegriffs', Saeculum, 54, 1 (2003), p. 1. 48 J. Marx,'Grenzfälle: Zur Geschichte und Potential des Frontierbegriffs', Saeculum, 54, 1 (2003), p. 127. C. Marx refers to the work of H. Giliomee, 'Processes in Development of the Southern African Frontier', in L.M. Thompson and H. Lamar (eds.), The Frontier in History: North America and South Africa Compared (New Haven, Yale University Press, 1981), pp. 76–119. 49 F.J. Turner, 'The Significance of the Frontier in American History', in E. Edwards (ed.), The Early Writings of Frederick Jackson Turner (Madison, University of Wisconsin Press, 1938), pp. 183–233 (187–88), quoted after M.C. Legassick, 'The Griqua, the Sotho-Tswana and the Missionaries, 1780–1840: The Policies of a Frontier Zone' (PhD thesis, University of California, Los Angeles, 1969), p. 7. See also M.C. Legassick, The Politics of a South African Frontier: The Griqua, the Sotho-Tswana and the Missionaries, 1780–1840 (Basel, Basler Afrika Bibliographien, 2010). 50 See Legassick, 'The Griqua, the Sotho-Tswana and the Missionaries', pp. 1–30; and also M. Legassick, 'The Frontier Tradition in South African Historiography', in S. Marks and A. Atmore (eds), Economy and Society in Pre-Industrial South Africa (London, Longman Group, 1980), pp. 44–79. 51 Scholarly interest in African borders and borderlands has grown over the past few years and a whole issue of the Journal of Borderlands Studies focuses on the topic. For a summary see D. Coplan, 'Introduction: From Empiricism to Theory in African Border Studies', Journal of Borderlands Studies, 25, 2 (2010), pp. 1–5. 52 R. Gordon, The Bushman Myth: The Making of a Namibian Underclass (Boulder, Westview Press, 1992), pp. 105–8; Miescher, 'Die Rote Linie', pp. 148–50. 53 R. Gordon, 'Vagrancy, Law and "Shadow Knowledge": Internal Pacification 1915–1939', in Silvester, Wallace and Hartmann, Namibia under South African Rule, pp. 51–76 (especially pp. 51–2). 54 See the correspondence between Secretary and Game Warden, 10 January 1924 and 30 January 1924, NAN-ADM-128-5503/1, as well as Werner, '"No one will become rich": Economy and Society', pp. 94–5. A good example for such a mutual unofficial agreement is the settlement of Dinaib in the Grootfontein district; see Miescher, 'Die Rote Linie', pp. 243–7. 55 Here I refer only to the part of the Outjo district lying inside the Police Zone. See G. Miescher, The Ovambo Reserve Otjeru (1911–1938): The Story of an African Community in Central Namibia (Basel, Basler Afrika Bibliographien, 2006), pp. 11–12. 56 'Segregation: […] We have studiously avoided the creation of "black islands" in the various districts, and for this reason have selected large areas in the outlying parts of the country with a view also to accommodating therein natives belonging to more than one tribe', Report of Native Reserves Commission, 8 June 1921, p. 20, NAN-SWAA-1121-A158/4. See also Werner, '"No one will become rich": Economy and Society', pp. 100–8. 57 For immigration and its implication for southern Namibia, see Silvester, 'Beasts, Boundaries and Buildings' and C. Botha, 'The Politics of Land Settlement in Namibia, 1890–1960', South African Historical Journal, 42 (May 2000), pp. 232–76. 58 This becomes obvious if one compares the so-called farm area maps of 1920, 1926, 1930 and 1937. 59 See for the general argument Silvester, Wallace and Hayes, '"Trees Never Meet": Mobility and Containment', pp. 21–3. For a case study in the Outjo district see Miescher, The Ovambo Reserve Otjeru. 60 Werner, 'No one will become rich': Economy and Society, pp. 139–68. 61 Statement Lazarus Amporo before Magistrate Outjo, Outjo, 6 August 1937, NAN-SWAA-1194-A158/104. 62 In the German orginal: 'Demarkationslinie zwischen zwei im Prinzip ähnlich organisierten politischen Gebilden'; J. Osterhammel, 'Kulturelle Grenzen in der Expansion Europas', Saeculum, 46, 1 (1995), pp. 101–38 (for the quote see p. 110). 63 Albeit their dichotomous relation to the frontier, such territorial borders generally result from long historical processes not least in an African context. For a European example, see P. Sahlins, Boundaries: The Making of France and Spain in the Pyrenees (Berkley, University of California Press, 1989). Osterhammel refers to the Friedrich Ratzel as the 'father of German geography' (J. Osterhammel, 'Kulturelle Grenzen', pp. 110–11). For an African context see the pioneering work by P. Nugent and A.I. Asiwaju (eds), African Boundaries: Barriers, Conduits and Opportunities (London, Pinter, 1996). Elsewhere Paul Nugent has argued that borders between African states should not simply be seen as constructed in remote European metropoles but rather as the result of local processes which involved African actors (P. Nugent, 'Colonial Power and African Agency in the Making of African Borderlands', keynote address delivered at the workshop 'Blurred Frontiers: New Perspectives on Southern Africa and its Border Sites', University of Basel, 14 December 2004). 64 'The Natives should be subjected to the Stock Disease Law in the same way as the white farmer', South West Africa, Report of the Native Report Commission, 1928, p. 3; printed version in NAN. 65 During the 1896 rinderpest epidemic, German officials considered for the first time erecting a fence in order to protect central Namibia from infected animals entering from the African interior. Instead of building an actual fence, however, the authorities decided to establish of a stock-free buffer zone; see Miescher, 'Die Rote Linie', pp. 44–8. 66 L. Rizzo, 'Gender and Colonialism: A History of Kaoko (north-western Namibia) between the 1870s and 1950s' (PhD thesis, University of Basel, 2009), pp. 103–20. 67 In 1923 the Native Commissioner for Ovamboland, then also in charge for Kaoko, reported that almost all Europeans had left Kaoko, NAN-LOU-3/1/1-3/2/1920. 68 Extract from Monthly Report for May and June 1929, Post Commander, SWA Police, Tshimhaka, NAN-NAO-029-24/1/3. For a detailed discussion of these removals, see Rizzo, 'Gender and Colonialism', pp. 154–60. 69 Senior Veterinary Officer to Secretary, 3 February 1928, NAN-AGV-90-V1/1 v3. 70 A stock-free zone for southern Kaoko was initially proclaimed in Government Notice 178 of 1930. The Government Notice 37 of 1935 considerably enlarged the stock-free zone, which then covered all areas beyond the Police Zone, when these were not explicitly proclaimed as reserves. See Miescher, 'Die Rote Linie', pp. 196–202 and 221–2. 71 I use the phrase 'Red Line' to refer to the combination of the linear boundary and the adjoining stock-free buffer zone. Unlike the linear boundary, the buffer zone was never marked on published maps. 72 See 'First Report of the General Rehabilitation Enquiry Commission Relating into the Desirability or otherwise of the Moving of the Police Zone Boundary and Relating Matter thereto', Windhoek, March 1946, and 'Second and Final Report of the General Rehabilitation Commission', 25 November 1947, both in NAN-KGR-1-UAO9 v1. For a discussion of the Lardner-Burke commission, see Miescher, 'Die Rote Linie', pp. 268–90. It is worth noting that the policy determining the course of 'white' settlement after the Second World War was formulated before the National Party came into power in South Africa in 1948. 73 Racial and ethnic terms are generally used with quotation marks to underline their constructed character. 74 Racial and ethnic terms are generally used with quotation marks to underline their constructed character 75 In 1946, the Lardner-Burke commission counted 3,720 farms. In 1963 the Odendaal-Kommission counted a total of 6,821 farms; see Republic of South Africa, Report of the Commission of Enquiry into South West African Affairs, 1962–1963 [Odendaal Report] (Pretoria, 1964), p. 25. 76 Botha, 'Politics of Land Settlement', pp. 265–9. 77 In the 1940s the remaining pockets of land not occupied by settlers drastically diminished in areas of settler farming. This becomes obvious when one compares the so-called farm areas maps which were periodically issued by the South African authorities. (This process is illustrated in the series of maps depicted in Miescher, 'Die Rote Linie'.) 78 The draft map is in the file 'SWA Police. Police Zone Boundary, 1924–1950', NAN-SWAA-21-A3/61 v1. The map bears no date but was most likely produced in 1947, based on the 1937 farm areas map. 79 For the new definition of the Police Zone boundary, see Government Notice No. 375 of 1947 (First Schedule), 4 November 1947; for the new definition of the stock-free zone, see Government Notice No. 376 of 1947 (Schedule Stock Free Zone), 4 November 1947. 80 Since the most important police post at Namutoni had no car until 1947, policemen had to patrol on horseback, camels or bicycles. Deputy Commissioner SA Police, Windhoek, to Secretary, 2 May 1947 and 10 February 1948, NAN-SWAA-941-A82/50; and Interview with Willhelm Schuster, Onguma, 14 April 2002. 81 See the report of Senior Welfare Officers C.V. McIntyre and D.C. Fourie with regard to the east, no date. A copy of the report is in the file 'Movements of Stock and Produce to and from Area beyond Police Zone 1948–1954', NAN-AGR-189-41/4 v3. 82 Chief Inspector for Deputy Commissioner SA Police commanding South West Africa Division, Windhoek, to District Commandant, SA Police, Windhoek; Keetmanshoop; Omaruru; Gobabis; Otjiwarongo, 3 April 1947, NAN-SWAA-433-A50/67 v1. 83 Game Warden to Secretary, Annual Report, 7 January 1928, NAN-SWAA-2333-A511/1 v2. Scholars have neglected if not excluded the involvement of 'Bushmen' in supervising the Police Zone boundary, game reserves and the stock-free zone. 84 See the correspondence between the Native Commissioner in Ondangua and Chief Kambonde in Ondongua, 7 July 1947, 8 July 1947, and 10 July 1947, NAN-SAAA-2334-A511/1 v4. 85 For an historical overview of these outbreaks, see Schneider, Analyse der Tiergesundheitssituation. 86 See 'Interim verslag oor die 1958 uitbreek Bek en Klouser in die Noordelike Naturellegebiede en 'n oorsig van heersende toetstande op 21 Julie 1958', 2, written by the Director of Agriculture, 23 July 1958. The following year the border was marked on the ground. See Kantoor van Hoofwildbewaarder, Okaukuejo, and Die Hoof, Allgemene Afdeling, Windhoek, 13 March 1959, NAN-SWAA-2171-A470/19 v7. 87 Ordinance No. 14 of 1958 and Ordinance No. 34 of 1959. 88 Since the 1920s, there had not been a single case of lungsickness inside the Police Zone. The most dramatic event was an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in 1933–34. As the disease was supposedly introduced from neighbouring Botswana in the east, nobody questioned the integrity of the northern border of the Police Zone. 89 Proclamation 29 of 1935 and Government Notice 180 of 1935 formed the legal basis for the introduction of a pass system and a register for 'northern and extra-territorial natives' staying inside the Police Zone. 90 On contract labour see R. Gordon, 'Variations in Migration Rates: The Ovambo Case', Journal of Southern African Affairs, 3, 3 (1978), pp. 261–94; R. Moorsom, Underdevelopment and Labour Migration: The Contract Labour System in Namibia (Windhoek, University of Namibia, 1995); A.D. Cooper, 'The Institutionalization of Contract Labour in Namibia', Journal of Southern African Studies, 25, 1 (1999), pp. 121–38. Miescher ('Die Rote Linie', pp. 346–61) provides a detailed discussion of the changing patterns and experiences of crossing the police zone boundary under South African rule. 91 Schneider, Analyse der Tiergesundheitssituation, pp. 115–27. 92 South West Africa, 'Report Commission of Enquiry into Stock Disease Control Measures in Regard to Border Areas in South West Africa' ([Windhoek], c. 1965), unpublished report, NAN. The report also contains information on veterinary fences in neighbouring Botswana which are not considered in this article. 93 For many Namibians living north of the Red Line, the inner-Namibian border only became a reality with the construction of the fence, as I learned in interviews conducted in Namibia between 2001 and 2002; see, for example, interview with August Kasaona, Otjindagwe (Sesfontein), 20 December 2001. 94 The independence of Angola in 1975 led to an intensification of the war as SWAPO's commando groups could operate from bases in southern Angola. For a summary see M. Wallace, A History of Namibia: From the Beginning to 1990 (London, Hurst, 2011), pp. 279–305. 95 In an autobiographical account an anonymous South African solider reveals how the South African army used to Red Line to prevent military infiltration. See J.H. Thompson, An Unpopular War: From afkak to bosbefok: Voices of South African National Servicemen (Cape Town, Zebra Press, 2006), pp. 118–19. 96 'Suidwes-Afrika/South West Africa', 1966, 1:1,000,000. 97 Three international workshops, organised in changing combinations by the University of Basel, by the Basler Afrika Bibliographien, by the University of the Western Cape and by the University of Zurich, have inspired my thinking: 'Blurred Frontiers – New Perspectives on Southern Africa and its Border Sites' (University of Basel, 14 December 2004), 'Borders of Empire – Workshop on Border Issues in Southern Africa' (University of the Western Cape, 21 October 2005) and 'The Namibian-Angolan Border: New Issues and Theoretical Insights' (Basler Afrika Bibliographien, 16–17 December 2005). I am grateful to co-organisers, Gregor Dobler, Patrick Harries, Patricia Hayes, Dag Henrichsen, Lorena Rizzo, Peter Vale and Leslie Witz, and to the participants. 98 Osterhammel, 'Kulturelle Grenzen', pp. 109–10. 99 Osterhammel, 'Kulturelle Grenzen', pp. 109–10 100 Osterhammel, 'Kulturelle Grenzen', pp. 109–10 With regard to a more detailed history of the Germanic Limes, see M. Kemkes, J. Scheuerbrand and N. Willburger, Der Limes: Grenze Roms zu den Barbaren (Ostfildern, Jan Thorbecke Verlag, 2006) and E. Schallmayer, Der Limes: Geschichte einer Grenze (Munich, Beck, 2006). 101 Scholarly research on the Limes, so-called Limesforschung, going back to the nineteenth century, for a long time had a military focus that ignored the border's permeability and the gradualness of its establishment. In fact, an aisle cut into the forest and used as road preceded the Limes as a fortification. It was only later, and gradually, that fortifications were built along this forest aisle; see Schallmayer, Geschichte einer Grenze, pp. 35–42 and pp. 72–3; Kemkes, Scheuerbrand and Willburger, Der Limes: Grenze Roms, pp. 164–5. 102 Concealed therein were vague fears and anxieties exposed by authors such as J.M. Coetzee in Waiting for the Barbarians. 103 Even today a veterinary cordon fence extending over a distance of more than 1,200 kilometres, colloquially known as the Red Line, spatially separates northern and central Namibia.