Country: Botswana

Group: Herero

Date: 4/19/2020

Team: Alicia Hernandez (lead), Kimberly Prete, and Arisha Khan

Content Warning: genocide, ethnocide

Approximate Time Period: 1966-present

The Herero people live in southern Africa and there are an estimated 250,000 Herero people in both Botswana and Namibia (Ochab,2018). Substantial numbers of Herero moved into western Botswana in the early 20th century at the same time that German colonizers were persecuting Herero in German South West Africa (present-day Namibia).  Herero in Botswana have faced similar issues of assimilation and non-recognition as other non-Tswana minority tribes (Nyati-Ramahoho, 2008). This includes political control of their land by local Tswana tribes, the necessity of adopting patriarchal inheritance and marriage norms to fit with Tswana traditional courts, and lack of recognition of Herero language and culture in the education system. 

Data quality: 2 of 3, since little specific information is available on Herero in Botswana.

Source

  1. Dyck, K. (2014). Situating the Herero Genocide and the Holocaust among European Colonial Genocides. Przegląd Zachodni, 350(01), 153-172.
  2. Nyati-Ramahobo, Lydia (December 2008) Minority Tribes in Botswana: the Politics of Recognition.  Minority Rights Group International
  3. Ochab, E. (2018, May 24). The Herero-Nama Genocide: The Story of a Recognized Crime, Apologies Issued and Silence Ever Since. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/ewelinaochab/2018/05/24/the-herero-nama-genocide-the-story-of-a-recognized-crime-apologies-issued-and-silence-ever-since/#62bec0a06d8c
  4. Vivelo, F. R. (1976). The entry of the Herero into Botswana. Botswana Notes and Records, 39-46.