(A title of an upcoming public lecture by Dr. Dag Henrichsen)
Date: 14th February 2013
Time: 18:00
Venue: CES Boardroom (Old Library), UNAM, Namibia
There are indications that European researchers violated our African human remains and also tempered with special/sacred places or shrines (e.g. burial places) in their attempt to collect anything which could be of use in research. They even had to cut off heads and other body parts parts which were shipped to Europe, and currently these artifects and remains are in university labs and homes as private collections in some countries in Europe!
One of these "researchers" was a Swiss botanist by the name Hans Schinz who had contact with Namibian communities in 1884-86. Due to his fixation (together with a certain Finish Missionary Martti Rautansen), tempered with sacred shrines/places while staying in Olukonda. This caused unfriendly reactions from the royal house ot the Ndonga Kingdom.
What were the collecting strategies/methods and research ethics of European academics during colonial times? How was the conflict caused by the work of the above noted men in the Ndonga Kingdom unfold? What else can we learn from this as Africans in general?
I hope these will be some of the questions which will be answered by the public lecture.
