Crossing the Boundary: An Investigation of Transnationalism, Transculturalism and Transracial Marriages in Jane Katjavivi’s Undisciplined Heart and Trudie Amulungu’s Taming My Elephant

ABSTRACT

The focus of this paper is to explore the literary portrayal of transnational identities, transculturalism and transracial marriages as presented by two expatriate female writers who have made their niche in the postcolonial Namibian autobiographical (sub) genre, namely, Taming My Elephant by Amulungu (2016) and Undisciplined Heart by Katjavivi (2010). The paper explores the different challenges faced by two migrant and transracial couples from different backgrounds which include issues of communication breakdown, a lack of understanding of the partner’s background, racial differences and indifference in the communities. The couples’ families hesitated to welcome the spouses into their families, whereas the couples’ relationships and motivations varied and are couched in shifting arenas, yet their interactions created opportunities for the circulation, promotion, and adaptation of a wide range of cultural, political, and social influences. Amulungu and Katjavivi are tracing their interactions within and among liberation movements, being hosted as a transmigrants, whilst facing a wider set of external actors, revealing the lasting legacies that have too often been eclipsed by dominant national histories. The paper postulates that the selected autobiographers allied with more than a single culture, and are pioneers as transracial couples in a newly independent Namibia as well as persistent beings who are portrayed as compassionate, assertive, and enduring people.

KEYWORDS:

• transnationality
• transracial marriages
• transmigrants
• transculturalism
• Amulungu
• Katjavivi
• autobiographies

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 According to Shiningayamwe, Shalyefu and Kanyimba (2014), the authorisation to end Namibia’s foreign occupation and domination was issued by the United Nations (UN) Security Council Resolution 435 in 1978, implemented on 1 April 1989 and supervised by the United Nations Transition Assistance group (UNTAG) [9]-[12]. This period marked an important milestone in Namibian history, because about 43,000 exiled Namibians were repatriated to their motherland. This repatriation included children who were born in Cuba, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Angola, Germany, Zambia, Tanzania, and Zambia or raised in these countries by exiled soldiers and refugees of the liberation struggle.

2 The Herero clan is one of the several ethnic Bantu groups in Namibia. The Herero are the victims of the Herero and Nama ethnic extermination genocide from 1904 to 1907 by Germany.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Selma K. Shiyoka

Selma Shiyoka has a Masters of Arts in English Studies from the University of Namibia, where she is a part-time lecturer in the Department of Language and Literature studies. She is currently a first-year PhD student at Stellenbosch University. She can be contacted at [email protected]

Nelson Mlambo

Nelson Mlambo (PhD) is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Language and Literature Studies at the University of Namibia. He has published several journal articles, books and book chapters. His most recent publications were in the Forum for Modern Language Studies and Journal of African Languages and Literary Studies. He can be contacted at [email protected] or [email protected]