"Posters in the Struggle"
Images and audiences in the history of Namibia's liberation
Exhibition of the History Department of the University of Basel with collections of the Basler Afrika Bibliographien
The exhibition, shown in Basel from the end of May 2006 onwards, is the result of a seminar "African history goes public-a joint exhibition project on Namibia's liberation history" at the Department of History, Basel. The exhibition project takes place in collaboration with a working group from the Museums Association of Namibia in Windhoek and is paralleled by a mobile exhibition in Namibia itself, from late August 2006 onwards.
Theme
Southern Africa for many decades experienced spiralling conflicts. These notably affected colonies like Namibia, Zimbabwe, Angola, Mocambique and South Africa, where 'white' settler societies ruled over the African population. Since the 1960s various African liberation movements fought for independence and selfdetermination.
The exhibition looks at the conflicts with reference to Namibia, formerly a German and, since 1915, South African colony. Fighting took place at different sites and in various forms, with weapons or with words and visuals. The parties involved produced visual materials like posters, periodicals, photographs, etc. for the sake of propaganda and mobilisaiton. As such, topics like colonialism, liberation, Apartheid and solidarity entered the public sphere and made African history visible to a larger audience.
The exhibition deals with these visual materials and presents notably posters from various African liberation movements as well as from the Swiss solidarity movement, the South African regime and international institutions, all of which were used in the struggle for influence and power.