The Politics of Distinction
African elites from colonialism to liberation in a Namibian frontier town
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In this insightful ethnography of the changing politics of the public sphere in urban Namibia, Mattia Fumanti focuses on the border town of Rundu.
The author highlights the fundamental contribution elites make to the public space through their much-praised concept of civility and their promotion of nation-building at the local level.
He focuses on how generational relations between elites in Rundu have shaped, and been shaped by, the transitions from colonial rule and the war of liberation, to Independence and post-Independence. He opens a window on relations between the hinterland and the capital, and illuminates post-apartheid issues in Namibia and elsewhere in Southern Africa, as they have come to be reflected in public debates about education, youth aspirations, the state, citizenship, good governance and the role of ethnic and settler minorities.
