Dr. Nelson Mlambo, a senior lecturer in literature at the University of Namibia, is exploring the transformative potential of narratives to negotiate the past and shape a future of peaceful co-existence.
While an Africa Oxford Initiative (AfOx) TORCH Visiting Fellow in the Faculty of English, University of Oxford, and a member of Wolfson College, Dr. Mlambo worked on a project examining the representations of the Herero-Nama massacre of 1904-08 in literature in English. Dr. Mlambo’s research examines how fiction and memoir can be used to preserve memories and confront historical injustices.
During the fellowship, Dr. Mlambo delivered presentations on the representations of the massacre, attended book launches, and contributed articles to scholarly journals. “Staying in Oxford allowed me to temporarily set aside my routine responsibilities as a lecturer and pursue projects I had postponed for some time,” Dr. Mlambo reflects. He noted that the distance afforded by his time abroad enabled him to approach the sensitive subject of the massacre from a fresh perspective, leading to discussions that may have been difficult to initiate back home.
Read the full interview with Dr Nelson Mlambo about his research and his time at Oxford on the Africa Oxford Initiative website.
https://www.afox.ox.ac.uk/blog/exploring-transformative-power-narratives-change-namibia
