An officer and an activist: Futuring, precarity and life after exile in Namibia

Abstract

This article explores the life histories of two Namibians who grew up in SWAPO's exile camps in Angola and their ‘futuring’ trajectories once they returned home to Namibia after independence. Presenting these actors’ life histories of navigating Namibian society helps challenge a one‐sided economic interpretation of precariousness. More critical than asserting dichotomies between ‘elite’ and ‘precariat’ are the stratagems and choices shaping lived experiences.

Beyond Toxic Masculinity: Reading and Writing Men in Post-Apartheid Namibia

“…We can see, also, an intersection with apparently “toxic” behaviour – the bluff of the gun, which in this context becomes another obvious mask. Note also the orientation to the future: Annika's telephone, relationship-affirming gifts, Timo's house, Chenzira's own thoughts and meanderings, all of which mobilise different forms of social resources (including me) in order to “aspire” to something different to present social and economic circumstances, “creat[ing] and act[ing] upon… Imagined tomorrows and shap[ing] the trajectories of their lives and surroundings” (Larsen and Van Wolputte, 2022: 24; see also Appadurai, 2013). The future is built through comparatively small interpersonal exchanges of words and goods which form the building blocks of tomorrow, the day after, and the day after that, with “the future” existing not only as an idealised abstract but as a concrete vision which is guided by the actions of today (see also Vigh, 2006).…”