Collective Loneliness

Damara pastoralists experience January as !Ūke-ai (collective loneliness). This is also how they experience the time after a drought. To explore this feeling, I draw on the phenomenology of Hermann Schmitz, who suggests that we take emotions out of the “box” of the psyche and theorize them as atmospheres. In this view, every situation is a constellation of human and nonhuman bodies, and atmospheres are the felt space in between that connects and transcends these entities. To feel is to resonate with atmospheres. My theoretical intervention is to develop how the absence of entities that are still present in narratives and memories changes the atmosphere. In both situations—January and after a drought—the temporal absence of things (such as people, animals, and practices) leaves a “hole” that touches people affectively, haunts them, and leads to !Ūke-ai. But what causes these absences? In Namibia, colonial and postcolonial processes have created an economy characterized by land scarcity and circular migration patterns. Recognizing how events of the past create rhythmic absences in the present allows for the intertwining of feelings with historical processes, including marginalization and coloniality. Ultimately, it also allows for the politicization of feelings while acknowledging that people sometimes strive to not be touched and sometimes succeed.