Infrastructures of Migrant Labour in Colonial Ovamboland, 1915 to 1954

Most research on the migrant labour system in Namibia under South African colonial rule emphasizes its dehumanizing aspects. In a complete contrast, this study highlights the social and ritual resources that contract workers and their families in colonial Ovamboland mobilized to provide forms of support and connection across great distances and absences. Based on extensive oral research, this study peels back the layers of intangible infrastructure that sustained migrant workers through all the stages of their contract, including observations around workplace deaths. This thesis vividly demonstrates the persistence of older practices that sustained the bonds of life, fellowship and family under stress, as well as adaptation to new colonial system such as the postal system.