Lyrical Nationalism in Post-Apartheid Namibia: Kings, Christians, and Cosmopolitans in Catholic Yout

When Namibia gained its independence from South Africa in 1990, the new government began dismantling the divisive apartheid state and building a unified nation-state. What does this new nation look like from the perspective of ordinary citizens? In Lyrical Nationalism in Post-Apartheid Namibia, Wendi Haugh provides an ethnographic portrayal of the nation as imagined by people living in the former ethnic homeland of Ovamboland, with a particular focus on the lyrics of songs composed and performed by Catholic youth. The author argues that these youth draw on conflicting ideologies--hierarchical and egalitarian, nationalist and cosmopolitan--from multiple sources to construct a multi-faceted sense of national identity. She reveals how their vision of the nation--framed as neutrally national--is deeply rooted in specific local histories and cultures.