How conservation may make cultural heritage invisible: Intersecting on-site oral histories with land claims for settler colonialism, conservation and tourism in north-west Namibia

Oral histories concerning people’s past experiences in land areas claimed for settler colonialism, conservation and tourism are rather muted in Namibia. Their invisibility is perhaps because they illuminate complexities that the state, conservation NGOs and the private sector might wish to avoid. At the same time, oral histories speaking of past dwelling places and species use practices constitute rich cultural heritage dimensions that have become disembedded from lands historically reimagined for settler farming, conservation and tourism investment. In this article we draw on several years’ research with Nami-Daman elders in north-west Namibia that builds on an on-site oral history research praxis. In this methodology, we have been led by specific individuals to places of their past, enabling iterative documentation of livelihood and mobility practices, ancestral graves, and genealogies. These journeys have focused on the Northern Namib/Skeleton Coast National Park, Palmwag Tourism Concession and connections between Sesfontein and Puros, in conjunction with archival and historical research about these land areas. In carrying out this research, we have been able to reconstruct something of the mesh of relations with places, animals, plants and ancestors that once constituted these areas as thriving, flourishing and multi-dimensional spaces infused with Indigenous cultural histories and meanings. We argue that careful oral history methodologies are essential for understanding these areas as cultural landscapes made invisible through their constructed contemporary visibility as wilderness areas oriented towards tourism profit-making. In keeping with Article 19 of Namibia’s constitution, we thus emphasise the justice dimensions of recognising these histories and their displacements.