No Final Resting Place: Narratives of My People. The Ovaherero Genocide.

Please join us February 11, 2021, for the Zoom presentation about the first genocide of the 20th century — in the former colony of German Southwest Africa, today’s Namibia — and its aftermath.

Director, University of Kansas Achievement & Assessment Institute’s Center for Educational Opportunity Programs; Executive Director, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion of the School of Education & Human Sciences, University of Kansas.

A summary of the event is available from Florian Kastner, PhD student in German Studies:

Dr. Ngondi Kamatuka (Univ of Kansas) was the first guest speaker of the UConn “Virtual Colloquium in German Studies” in Spring semester 2021 with his lecture on No Final Resting Place: Narratives of My People. The Ovaherero Genocide. In addition to holding various academic positions, Dr. Kamatuka is the President of the Association of the Ovaherero Genocide in the United States. The Ovaherero Genocide took place between the years 1904 and 1908 in the former colony of German South West Africa, today’s Namibia, carried out by the German colonial power. A total of approximately 80-100,000 Ovaherero and Nama were killed during this time.

In his lecture, Dr. Kamatuka explained how the population of his ancestors got violently decimated and how he feels responsible to fight for restorative justice for the victims of the violence. He also mentioned the recent legal and diplomatic negotiations in which descendants of the Ovaherero and Nama are demanding full recognition of the genocide and an official apology by the German government and appropriate reparations. In his conclusion, Dr. Kamatuka described his effort for justice and reconciliation: “Our struggle is not a struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year, it is a struggle of a lifetime”.