A rich collection of captivating and remarkable chapters, Writing Namibia Coming of Age presents research of senior academics as well as emerging scholars from Namibia. The book includes wide ranging topics in literature written in English and other Namibian languages, such as German, Afrikaans and Oshiwambo. Almost thirty years after independence, Namibia literature has come of age with new writers experimenting with different genres and varied aspects of literature. As an aesthetic object and social phenomenon, Namibian literature still fulfils the function of social conscience and as new writers emerge, there is ample demonstration that, pluri-vocal as they are, Namibian literary texts relate in a complex manner to the socio-historical trends shaping the country. The Namibian literary-critical tradition continues to paint some versions of Namibia and what we find in this new and highly welcome volume is a canvas of rich voices and perspectives that demonstrate an intricate diversity in terms of culture, language, and themes.

A rich collection of captivating and remarkable chapters, Writing Namibia Coming of Age presents research of senior academics as well as emerging scholars from Namibia. The book includes wide ranging topics in literature written in English and other Namibian languages, such as German, Afrikaans and Oshiwambo. Almost thirty years after independence, Namibia literature has come of age with new writers experimenting with different genres and varied aspects of literature. As an aesthetic object and social phenomenon, Namibian literature still fulfils the function of social conscience and as new writers emerge, there is ample demonstration that, pluri-vocal as they are, Namibian literary texts relate in a complex manner to the socio-historical trends shaping the country. The Namibian literary-critical tradition continues to paint some versions of Namibia and what we find in this new and highly welcome volume is a canvas of rich voices and perspectives that demonstrate an intricate diversity in terms of culture, language, and themes.

From 1960, SWAPO of Nami-bia led the organised and later armed struggle for indepen-dence. In late 1989, the libera-tion movement was finally elected to power under United Nations supervision as the legitimate government. When the Republic of Namibia was proclaimed on 21 March 1990, the long and bitter struggle for sovereignty came to an end. This volume takes stock of emerging trends in the country's political culture since independence. The contributions, mainly by authors from Namibia and Southern Africa who supported the anti-colonial movements, critically explore the achieve-ments and shortcomings that have been part of liberation in Namibia. Henning Melber was Director of the Namibian Economic Policy Research Unit (NEPRU) in Windhoek between 1992 and 2000 and has been Research Director at The Nordic Africa Institute since then. He coordinates the research project on 'Liberation and Democracy in Southern Africa', of which this volume is part.

Not a history of the 23-year struggle by the South West African People's Organization to free Namibia from the rule of South Africa, but a study of how that struggle impacted the liberation movement itself and the political culture bequeathed to the country at independence. The main point is that democracy was severely suppressed in order to achieve the victory against such overwhelming force, and that the subsequent government, liberal rather than democratic, is ultimately answerable to the people, but not under their immediate control. A nicely produced volume. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Womens contributions against apartheid under the auspices of the Namibian liberation movement SWAPO and their personal experiences in exile take center stage in this study. Male and female leadership structures in exile are analysed whilst the sexual politics in the refugee camps and the public imagery of female representation in SWAPOs nationalism receive special attention. The partys public pronouncements of women empowerment and gender equality are compared to the actual implementations of gender politics during and after the liberation struggle.