The rights of the dead: a case of the Ovahimba people of Namibia

bibliographic database
Line

Periodical article

Title:	The rights of the dead: a case of the Ovahimba people of Namibia
Author:	Nyathi, Francis S.
Year:	2014
Periodical:	Journal for Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences (ISSN 2026-7215)
Volume:	3
Issue:	1
Pages:	136-146
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Namibia
Subjects:	Himba death spirits
Abstract:	This paper explores the conceptions of Namibia's Ovahimba tribe about the rights of the dead. The study was carried out in the Kunene region and employed a qualitative approach to data collection and analysis. An eclectic sampling technique was used to select participants and a purposive sampling technique for selecting elderly men in the rural homesteads to respond to questions typically known and practiced by them. The study established that Ovahimba people believe that the spirits of the dead (ancestors) live and communicate with them all the time. They believe that the dead have the right to be heard, appeased, given a dignified burial, remembered, commemorated, revered and worshipped through the sacred fire. The author recommends that the Namibian nation be wary of importation of Western values that impose themselves on indigenous African cultures in the name of law and justice. The paper also recommends that the school curriculum for the Ovahimba people be vetted to ascertain cultural fairness and neutrality to avoid elements of ideological hegemonic impositions and/or brainwash. Bibliogr., sum. [ASC Leiden abstract]