Disputas - M.Phil. Velina Ninkova Ninova

M.Phil. Velina Ninkova Ninova vil torsdag 26. oktober klokken 12.15 offentlig forsvare sin avhandling for graden ph.d. i humaniora og samfunnsvitenskap, studieretning sosialantropologi.

 

Tittel på avhandlingen:

"Now that we have development”: Change, Resilience and Education for the Omaheke Juǀ’hoansi

 

Bedømmelseskomité:

  • Professor PhD Thomas Widlok, Universität zu Köln, Philosphische Fakultät Afrikanistik (1. opponent)
  • Adjunct Professor / professor mag.scient. II Jens Dahl, Københavns Universitet, Department of Cross Cultural and Regional Studies, Centre for Comparative Cultural Research (2. opponent)
  • førsteamanuensis dr.philos. Jorun Bræck Ramstad, UiT Norges arktiske universitet, Institutt for
    samfunnsvitenskap (intern medlem og leder av komiteen)

 

Hovedveileder: Professor emerita Sidsel Saugestad, Institutt for samfunnsvitenskap, UiT

Biveileder: Førsteamanuuensis Jennifer Hays, Institutt for samfunnsvitenskap, UiT

 

Leder av disputas: Førsteamanuuensis Jennifer Hays, Institutt for samfunnsvitenskap, UiT

 

Prøveforelesning over oppgitt emne blir holdt samme sted torsdag 26. oktober klokken 10:15 - klikk her.

”An assessment of ‘indigeneity’ as a concept in the analysis of social and cultural change among San”

 

Sammendrag av avhandling:

This thesis addresses areas of encounter between former San hunter-gatherers who have lived as dispossessed farm workers or squatters for four generations, and a government that uses resettlement and formal education in an attempt to redress some of the injustices of the colonial and apartheid regimes. The case study focuses on a group of Juǀ’hoansi and the impact of the Namibian government’s development initiatives to turn them into small-scale subsistence farmers on a resettlement farm. Further, and more broadly, the thesis explores the relationship between the Juǀ’hoansi as an indigenous minority and the State through the prism of formal education. Both questions examine top-down development initiatives in the context of unequal power relations and seek to explain the rationale behind the Juǀ’hoansi’s responses to them.

The thesis offers an in-depth ethnographic description of the Omaheke Juǀ’hoansi living in the resettlement farm of Skoonheid and the changes they have experienced over the past several decades. It also describes the continued existence of ‘traditional’ institutions, most notably in the sphere of kinship, gender relations, childrearing and economic subsistence. The Juǀ’hoansi, like other San, are being categorized as an underclass, following land dispossession and incorporation as low-income or bondage workers on white and black farms, and this has affected all spheres of their lives. Nevertheless the research finds that kinship continues to be the single most important organizational principle in their society, which provides not only a sense of belonging and well-being but which bridges out to the outer world and offers a safety net and access to information and job opportunities. Hunting and gathering, while limited and non-sustainable, continue to play a role both in terms of diet supplementation and identity formation for many, whereas various attempts at farming are undermined by an inadequate land base and a number of social conflicts and animosity both between Juǀ’hoan families and between Juǀ’hoansi and others.

In the wider context of Juǀ’hoansi (San) relations with state institutions, the thesis shows that education is problematic for the majority of Juǀ’hoan children, especially beyond the level of primary education. Observation of classrooms and interviews with school teachers and personnel show that the values of the formal education system are at odds with much of the values to which the Juǀ’hoansi continue to subscribe and which I have described in the first part of the thesis. I also argue that discriminating attitudes and practices rooted in old-time colonial constructions of the San as “people from the bush” further undermine the process.

In a broader sense, the thesis follows a well-established tradition of examining how well-intended development is sabotaged by lack of communication and understanding of the core values of the parties involved.

When: 26.10.17 at 10.15–15.15
Where: Auditorium Nedre Lysthus
Location / Campus: Tromsø
Target group: All
Responsible: Catrine Stenvold Øien
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