1. Willis, Emma. “Metatheatre and Dramaturgies of Reception in Jackie Sibblies Drury's We Are Proud to Present...” Journal of Contemporary Drama in English, vol. 4, no. 1, 2016, pp. 196-211.
Metatheatre is always been a relaxed and light concept and often come into a critical usage. As this article discussed, metatheatre is associated with violence, which reports an eternal feature of an era (Willis 196). In Jackie Sibblies Drury ’s play, the actors performed the problems caused by genocide, also, violence still occurs in various places nowadays (Willis 197). However, although there is a difference between "violence" and "meta", the article still raises the question of how contemporary metatheatre performs violence and what effect it has (Willis 198). Therefore, the play We Are Proud to Present a Presentation About the Herero of Namibia, Formerly Known as Southwest Afrika, From the German Sudwestafrika, Between the Years 1884–1915 is used as a research to analyze the following question (Willis 201). On the stage, violence and fierceness were created by the actors in a metatheatrical form, which answers the main questions raised in the journal. Moreover, the play combines this comedic drama with violence together, which provides audiences a contrast between happiness and gruesome.
2. Nielsen, Mads Bomholt. “Selective Memory: British Perceptions of the Herero–Nama Genocide, 1904–1908 and 1918.” Journal of Southern African Studies, vol. 43, no. 2, 2017, pp. 315–330., doi:10.1080/03057070.2017.1286843.
This paper discusses the particular attitude of British officials about the Herero genocide from 1904 to 1908. The Africans were experiencing an extinction in German territory and compared to other colonies, German colonialism was extremely brutal (Nielsen 315). Moreover, British and German remained opposites, and Britain believes that Germany did not manage their colonies properly and therefore it used this circumstance to confiscate the German colonies (Nielsen 316). Regarding the genocide of Southwest Africans in Germany, the British preferred to see stability and security instead of viewing the suffering of Africans during the genocide (Nielsen 329). Besides, in order to understand the Herero genocide event, the British challenged and reviewed German colonialism under the structure of the Third Reich (Nielsen 317). In this article, the central idea of genocide is the same as the genocide in Jackie Sibblies Drury's play, through the British perspective, readers can better understand the imperial history of that time and different attitudes towards the Herero genocide.
3. Niezen, Ronald. “Speaking for the Dead: the Memorial Politics of Genocide in Namibia and Germany.” International Journal of Heritage Studies, vol. 24, no. 5, May 2018, pp. 547–567., doi:10.1080/13527258.2017.1413681.
The event of the deliberate killing of Ovaherero and Nama analyzes the politics of remembrance of this kind of crime. The memory of things left after a large war or reform will be accepted as a commemoration (Niezen 548). For Ovaherero and Nama, this material commemoration is a particularly significant thing, it is not only the culture of that age, but it can also be used as proof to defend their rights. Germany also acknowledged the incident and apologized for the incident (Niezen 550). This genocide was also defined and memorialized as the first genocide in the twentieth century, which also strengthened the memory of the war from 1904 to 1908 (Niezen 555). Genocide is extremely serious damage to a country, however, in that play, it is presented in a comedic and polite political sense, which can make the audience strongly remember the event.
4. Förster, Larissa. “From 'General Field' Marshal To 'Miss Genocide': The Reworking of Traumatic Experiences among Herero-Speaking Namibians.” Journal of Material Culture, vol. 13, no. 2, 2008, pp. 175–194., doi:10.1177/1359183508090898.
The genocide is considered as an experience of a country's mass murder that will easily be remembered by the descendants of victims and it will occupy an extremely important position in their hearts. As Larissa Förster argues, contemporary Namibians not only commemorate that war every year but also create various cultures and activities for remembering it (Förster 176). During the war at that time, African people experienced defeat, death, and genocide, so that these present political activities are invented to let people remember the tragic situation between 1904 to 1908 and inherit it in the future. These cultural rememberings are considered as part of the cultural heritage, which is expanded throughout Namibia, which is also defined as a positive maintain of justice (Förster 192). This kind of political commemoration will make people unite with each other, and make the whole country and race grow more prosperous through these meaningful memories and actions.
5. Zuern, Elke. “Memorial Politics: Challenging the Dominant Partys Narrative in Namibia.” The Journal of Modern African Studies, vol. 50, no. 3, 2012, pp. 493–518., doi:10.1017/s0022278x12000225.
Human rights are becoming more significant nowadays, especially for the extinction of ethnic minorities has presented more attention to the government. Elke Zuern mentions that the government and international departments have already supported and employed the commemorations of genocide caused by the struggle (Zuern 495). Furthermore, genocide can be quite effective in contracting people's attention, so that although their groups were small, they can still be powerful at the same time. Also, they indirectly challenged the dominant groups, and Elke Zuern also holds a supportive view that Germany should pay the compensation for their actions, and compensate the future generations of the victims in Namibia (Zuern 497). Besides, these commemorations have already obtained some success for their country and Namibia’s memorials have been approved internationally, as mentioned in the article, although this is a small start, it is already challenging the redistribution of rights (Zuern 515). Instead of celebrating status and domination, Germany should give more opportunities to those who defend their rights, which can enable them to be psychologically compensated and divert attention from the genocide in the 1900s.
6. Hamrick, Ellie, and Haley Duschinski. “Enduring Injustice: Memory Politics and Namibia’s Genocide Reparations Movement.” Memory Studies, vol. 11, no. 4, 2017, pp. 437–454., doi:10.1177/1750698017693668.
Namibian experienced genocide between 1904 to 1908, as Ellie Hamrick and Haley Duschinski discuss in the article, contemporary Namibian's politics of memory was investigated by people (Hamrick 437). To strengthen the memory of the event of the Nama and Herero genocide, people worked hard to incorporate this genocide in German territory into the national narrative. Also, this article discusses how SWAPO defines the Namibian state through the national narrative. When the research of the background of a country is processing, people should focus on their country's narrative of history and continue to study how their politics affect their country's decision, which refers to the right to make a decision (Hamrick 440). Furthermore, the commemoration is a meaningful event to memorialize a country's history, and it is also used to deepen people's memory of compensation at that time. The article mainly examines the impact of status changes in people's memory on politics when their races are isolated.
7. Kössler, Reinhart. “Entangled History and Politics: Negotiating the Past between Namibia and Germany.” Journal of Contemporary African Studies, vol. 26, no. 3, 2008, pp. 313–339., doi:10.1080/02589000802332531.
In the early twentieth century, Southwest Africans lived in the German colonies and they were experiencing the colonial war. At that time, the relationship between Namibia and Germany was fierce and tense. This situation makes both the government and civilians involved in this political struggle, including the descendants of the Namibia victims in Germany at the time (Kössler 314). The article discusses that when two countries described the historical situation and the relationship between the two countries, it was an inevitable and undeniable fact that there was a massacre of Namibia in Germany in history (Kössler 320). However, there is still a controversy about Namibia's compensation from Germany. Although the German government acknowledged the massacre and apologized, they refused to compensate the victims' descendants, which led to disunity and separation between these two countries (Kössler 326). Namibians specifically emphasized the method of compensation in their dialogue, nevertheless, because of Germany's rejection, this caused sensitivity in the communications between the two sides.
8. Metsola, Lalli. “The Struggle Continues? The Spectre of Liberation, Memory Politics and ‘War Veterans’ in Namibia.” Development and Change, vol. 41, no. 4, 16 Aug. 2010, pp. 589–613., doi:10.1111/j.1467-7660.2010.01651.x.
The politics of commemoration defines Namibia's political boundaries and patterns, and the history of their country is used to challenge current society and the political relations (Metsola 590). As Metsola argues, these issues occur in the negotiations between combatants and political benefits. The ruling party SWAPO also established these combatants as heroes and put their needs in the first place, which limited the historical memory of combatants and this could lead to negative and critical consciousness (Metsola 598). Despite the unity of the state, the narrative history still distinguishes the state from the ordinary population, which explains that this liberation and unity is a form of exclusion. However, it can make people feel convincing by linking politics to positive identities together, which is considered as an advantage.
9. Cooper, Allan D. “Reparations for the Herero Genocide: Defining the Limits of International Litigation.” African Affairs, vol. 106, no. 422, 3 Aug. 2006, pp. 113–126., doi:10.1093/afraf/adl005.
The Herero was the first race who experienced genocide in the early twentieth century, and the Herero also became the first group to work hard to find and fight for compensation of genocide (Cooper 113). In history, Germany was unwilling to compensate the Herero, and despite Germany's apology, Herero still did not receive any reparations it deserved. However, these southwest Africans did not give up, and they went to court to sue for the compensation (Cooper 115). According to the law, the article analyzes the Herero's debate against Germany and points out the possible challenges, also, it mentions the impact of this behavior toward other affected races (Cooper 125). For the event of the Herero Genocide from 1904 to 1908, members of their nation use various methods to commemorate it. This gives people a positive political sense, like the performance in Jackie Sibblies Drury's play, the actors also maintained a polite sense of politics to make German colonialism have a humanization.
10. Sarkin, Jeremy, and Carly Fowler. “Reparations for Historical Human Rights Violations: The International and Historical Dimensions of the Alien Torts Claims Act Genocide Case of the Herero of Namibia.” Human Rights Review, vol. 9, no. 3, Sept. 2008, pp. 331–360., doi:10.1007/s12142-007-0053-z.
The southwest Africans in German territory in history who are also called Namibians, they were deliberately exterminated by Germany between 1904 and 1908, which is considered as an international crime. In the late 20th century, the Herero began to ask the German government to proceed with reparation for this historical genocide (Sarkin 332). Based on this article, Jeremy Sarkin researched the issues and backgrounds that are related to compensation for this historical event, and he carefully analyzed whether the German southwest Africans should receive the compensation at that time (Sarkin 340). According to international criminal law, the article evaluates and judges the incident of Herero's compensation and the potential impressions, which may cause negative effects like there will be more needs and requirements for reparations at the same time.
11. Khan, Khatija Bibi. “The Kaisers Holocaust: the Coloniality of Germans Forgotten Genocide of the Nama and the Herero of Namibia.” African Identities, vol. 10, no. 3, Aug. 2012, pp. 211–220., doi:10.1080/14725843.2012.715451.
The Herero Genocide event is a tragedy in history, but the number of colonial southwest Africans who were killed in this genocide is much lower against the number of deaths due to colonization (Khan 211). It is clear enough to show that German colonialism was distorted and unequal at the time, and the disaster experienced by the Herero was not considered seriously. Moreover, the article uses Olusoga and Erichsen's book for analysis, which shows the characteristics of colonialism and the rights of the German colonizers who called the Nama and the Herero (Khan 213). Khatija Bibi Khan also described the appellations for Africans that were created by Europeans, which makes people believe that Africans were lower than other populations. Also, they thought that even the brutal genocide from 1904 to 1908 was not caused by Germany's murder (Khan 217). For the Herero genocide, Jackie Sibblies Drury ’s play was presented in a comedic way, which is in an opposite form of what is discussed in this article, which reminds people to associate it with contemporary racial issues.
baolaaa
AnnotatedBibliography.docx
0
