Negotiating meaning and change in space and material culture : an ethno-archaeological study among semi-nomadic Himba and Herero herders in north-western Namibia

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dc.contributor.advisorSmith, Andrew Ben_ZA
dc.contributor.advisorHall, Martinen_ZA
dc.contributor.advisorParkington, Johnen_ZA
dc.contributor.advisorYates Roydenen_ZA
dc.contributor.advisorWebley, Litaen_ZA
dc.contributor.advisorBrink, Yvonneen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorJacobsohn, Margareten_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2016-08-24T12:52:50Z
dc.date.available2016-08-24T12:52:50Z
dc.date.issued1995en_ZA
dc.descriptionBibliography: pages 194-207.en_ZA
dc.description.abstractThis contextual archaeological narrative explores the relationship between material culture and social relations, with reference to social, economic, environmental and political changes taking place in Himba and Herero settlements in far north-western Namibia. A starting point is that changes in the organization of space and use of material culture cannot be understood as merely expressing changed social and economic conditions and/or changed value systems. It is necessary to examine how socio-economic conditions and cultural values and ideas work together to transform, produce and maintain cultural representations. By focusing intimately on one semi-nomadic herding community over a five-year period,(where domestic space has to be reconstituted, both physically and conceptually, each time a group relocates,} the study probes how meaning is differentially invested in the spatial order that people build and live in, how the material goods they make, borrow, lend, buy and use recursively come to have and hold meaning, and how and why this meaning changes. In mapping space and material goods at more than 100 wet season and dry season camps and homesteads, a number of discourses are tracked: changing gender relations, changing relations between different generations, people's relationships with natural resources, the spatial relations of former hunter-gatherers now living as herders, as well as material culture conformities and nonconformities between Himba and Herero households. A key concern is to re-empower social actors, past and present, in the creation of (archaeological) meaning. A number of case studies show that meaning is not inherent in space or material goods; people activate meaning by their strategic interpretations. This has implications for both method and theory in archaeology, as well as for the contemporary research and rural development process in Africa. While challenging assumptions about what is knowable from the past's material remains when such remains are, inevitably, recontextualized in a particular present, the thesis contributes to knowledge about material culture and social change and thus offers a number of research directions which could contribute to a more reflexive, dialogic and socially relevant archaeology.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationJacobsohn, M. (1995). <i>Negotiating meaning and change in space and material culture : an ethno-archaeological study among semi-nomadic Himba and Herero herders in north-western Namibia</i>. (Thesis). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Science ,Department of Archaeology. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/21492en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationJacobsohn, Margaret. <i>"Negotiating meaning and change in space and material culture : an ethno-archaeological study among semi-nomadic Himba and Herero herders in north-western Namibia."</i> Thesis., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Science ,Department of Archaeology, 1995. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/21492en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationJacobsohn, M. 1995. Negotiating meaning and change in space and material culture : an ethno-archaeological study among semi-nomadic Himba and Herero herders in north-western Namibia. University of Cape Town.en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Jacobsohn, Margaret AB - This contextual archaeological narrative explores the relationship between material culture and social relations, with reference to social, economic, environmental and political changes taking place in Himba and Herero settlements in far north-western Namibia. A starting point is that changes in the organization of space and use of material culture cannot be understood as merely expressing changed social and economic conditions and/or changed value systems. It is necessary to examine how socio-economic conditions and cultural values and ideas work together to transform, produce and maintain cultural representations. By focusing intimately on one semi-nomadic herding community over a five-year period,(where domestic space has to be reconstituted, both physically and conceptually, each time a group relocates,} the study probes how meaning is differentially invested in the spatial order that people build and live in, how the material goods they make, borrow, lend, buy and use recursively come to have and hold meaning, and how and why this meaning changes. In mapping space and material goods at more than 100 wet season and dry season camps and homesteads, a number of discourses are tracked: changing gender relations, changing relations between different generations, people's relationships with natural resources, the spatial relations of former hunter-gatherers now living as herders, as well as material culture conformities and nonconformities between Himba and Herero households. A key concern is to re-empower social actors, past and present, in the creation of (archaeological) meaning. A number of case studies show that meaning is not inherent in space or material goods; people activate meaning by their strategic interpretations. This has implications for both method and theory in archaeology, as well as for the contemporary research and rural development process in Africa. While challenging assumptions about what is knowable from the past's material remains when such remains are, inevitably, recontextualized in a particular present, the thesis contributes to knowledge about material culture and social change and thus offers a number of research directions which could contribute to a more reflexive, dialogic and socially relevant archaeology. DA - 1995 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 1995 T1 - Negotiating meaning and change in space and material culture : an ethno-archaeological study among semi-nomadic Himba and Herero herders in north-western Namibia TI - Negotiating meaning and change in space and material culture : an ethno-archaeological study among semi-nomadic Himba and Herero herders in north-western Namibia UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/21492 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/21492
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationJacobsohn M. Negotiating meaning and change in space and material culture : an ethno-archaeological study among semi-nomadic Himba and Herero herders in north-western Namibia. [Thesis]. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Science ,Department of Archaeology, 1995 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/21492en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Archaeologyen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Scienceen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subject.otherHimba (African people) - Namibiaen_ZA
dc.subject.otherHerero (African people) - Namibiaen_ZA
dc.subject.otherSocial archaeology - Namibiaen_ZA
dc.subject.otherEthnology - Namibia.en_ZA
dc.subject.otherMaterial culture - Namibiaen_ZA
dc.subject.otherEthnoarchaeology - Namibiaen_ZA
dc.subject.otherArchaeology - Namibiaen_ZA
dc.subject.otherNomadsen_ZA
dc.titleNegotiating meaning and change in space and material culture : an ethno-archaeological study among semi-nomadic Himba and Herero herders in north-western Namibiaen_ZA
dc.typeDoctoral Thesis
dc.type.qualificationlevelDoctoral
dc.type.qualificationnamePhDen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceThesisen_ZA
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