Post-)colonial livestock breeding in Namibia: Historical, social-ecological and genetic transformations

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Sven König
• Subject Area: Animal Breeding, Animal Nutrition, Animal Husbandry
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 454643100

The proposed project investigates – in an interdisciplinary approach –livestock husbandry and breeding in Namibia from the beginning of the colonial period (1884) until today as an intertwined process of historical, social-ecological and genetic transformations. The construction of colonial systems in Africa intervened massively in local societies and led to profound changes in habitats with their biodiversity, resource endowment and land use. Farm animal husbandry played a central role in the colonial endeavours in today's Namibia and so colonisation led to a strong diversification of animal husbandry systems. This in turn led to transformation processes in livestock populations, both phenotypically and genetically. The Colonial plans included the use of local as well as the introduction of European breeds. This will for a planned transformation was itself part of the legitimation of colonialism and biological racism: existing production systems and livestock populations were considered - as were African societies - to be in need of improvement through European guidance. In exchange with African farm workers, new forms of animal husbandry and new breeds were developed on the emerging colonial farms. In this explorative approach, human actors were constantly challenged both by intercultural communication and by the discrepancies in breeding goals and results. The history part of the project (CAU) therefore examines the traditional strategies according to which colonial breeding was controlled and how colonial human-animal relations changed in view of the breeding results. In a microhistorical approach, it studies the African farms of former scholars of the agriculturally oriented German Colonial School in Witzenhausen and the Colonial Women's School in Rendsburg. The social ecology part of the project (DITSL) investigates the production- and action-logics of livestock farmers in different, current rangeland farming systems in Namibia. It examines how these logics were developed and how they are linked to different human-animal- environment-relationships. The animal breeding part of the project (JLU) will then examine to what extent colonial societal changes have contributed to the definition of breeding objectives and to what extent breeding processes based on these changes can be measured today on the basis of genomic data. Through this interdisciplinary approach, historical, societal, spatial-landscape and genetic transformations are for the first time investigated in direct relation to each other on the basis of a concrete case study. This will clarify whether and, if so, how rangeland farming systems were permanently changed by colonisation, or whether and to what extent African breeding and husbandry practices ultimately proved resilient.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants