Ounongo Repository
The Ounongo Repository (OR) is the institutional repository of Namibia University of Science and Technology. Ounongo means "knowledge. in the Oshiwambo and Otjiherero languages. The OR is administered by the Library, with technical assistance from DICT, and its aim is to collect, organize, manage, store, preserve, publish and make accessible worldwide, the knowledge assets or intellectual output of the University's researchers, staff and post-graduate students. Users may set up RSS feeds to be alerted to new content.
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Recent Submissions
An analysis of cognitive metaphors in contemporary Namibian Literature on the Nama-Herero Genocide of 1904-1908
(Aisthesis Verlag, 2025) Hafeni, Linus. N.; Sabao, Collen; Woldemariam, Haileleul Zeleke
The study sought to undertake a cognitive analysis of the Nama-Herero genocide in Jaspar David Utley’s The Lie of the Land (2017) through the theoretical explications of cognitive metaphor. Through examining a Namibian fictional imaginary from a cognitive metaphor perspective (Sperber & Wilson, 1986), the themes and styles of the text were explored to understand how cognitive tools and processes influence linguistic choices in the construction of collective memory and collective experience. The study analyses the selected text using the cognitive stylistics framework. The selected novel was chosen because it presents the Nama-Herero genocide which took place from 1904 to1908 where over 65,000 Ovaherero and 10,000 Nama people died in what is known as the first genocide of the twentieth century. The study promotes new discourses on cognitive stylistics studies of Namibian literary works. The study is significant to researchers and readers as it is a useful reference tool for students, politicians and researchers conducting studies in the field of cognitive stylistics. Cognitive linguistics argues that a particular situation in a literary text can be interpreted in different ways. Observations from nuanced readings of the text indicated that theme in the selected text largely centres on the natives’ experiences of the genocide during this period of colonial occupation and encounter. This was achieved through the examination of literary creativity through the use of cognitive metaphor referring to genocidal trauma as well as to mental and physical oppression. It was concluded that reading, analysing and schematising genocidal fictional work can reflect a negative past for current world citizens to understand and adopt ways that can be used to prevent genocide.
A Study of the level of endangerment of !Kung as spoken in Namibia.
(Aisthesis Verlag, 2025) Woldemariam, Haileleul Zeleke
This study investigated the level of endangerment of !Kung (San language variant) as spoken in Corridor 17, Aranos and Amenuis localities of Namibia. The aim of the study was to protect, preserve and promote !Kung as an indigenous Namibian language and the cultural practices of its users. The study team conducted in-depth interviews, focus groups and distributed questionnaires and collected and later digitized 39 cultural expressions at the Namibian University of Science and Technology (NUST) library. The study team managed to study 41 households in !Kung speaking settlement areas only. The study concluded that !Kung is vulnerable, meaning although most children speak the language, it has been restricted to home domains. Outside these localities, there are noticeable indicators that !Kung is endangered, meaning children no longer learn the language as a ‘mother tongue’ at school level and the number of its users has dwindled. In order to revitalise !Kung and the culture, this study recommends seven strategies: 1) revitalizing !Kung and the culture through teaching !Kung folklore, 2) training !Kung speaking research assistants and teachers to utilise the existing San research outcomes, 3) contextualising and teaching !Kung historical narratives in the context of primary instruction, 4) introducing and promoting !Kung indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) and herbal life in !Kung classes; 5) organising !Kung story telling events at Chief Sofia Jakobs Primary School, 6) integrating !Kung folk art, folk songs, and traditional games in the !Kung instruction; 7) transforming !Kung endangered cultural practices into theatrical productions. In line with these linguistic and ethnographic strategies, the study also strongly recommends that the Namibian Ministry of Education introduce !Kung as a medium of primary instruction and as a subject in Corridor 17, 18, Amenues and Aranos localities of Namibia. The language can be accorded with the status of endangered Namibian language which can be preserved, protected, promoted and revitalized.
Assessment of the linguistic vitality and the status of OluZemba as spoken in Namibia
(European Journal of Linguistics, 2025) Woldemariam, Haileleul Zeleke
Purpose: The main purpose of this study was first to assess and then to determine the linguistic vitality and the status of OluZemba as spoken in the northern part of Namibia.
Methods: The study followed a mixed methods approach and guided by the pragmatist paradigm. Above 167 elders in nine rural villages including Ombuumbu, Etunda, Otjovanatje, Etoto, Otjiyandjamwenyo, Okamboola, Etotoa West, Etoto East and Okadhandu were purposively selected following snowball and purposive sampling methods for in-depth interviews, focus group discussions and completing questionnaires. During the FGDs and interviews, OvaZemba elders chose Etanda and Oniyando (circumcision and its ritual) as previously the most cherished cultural practice of the tribe but currently the most endangered cultural value. Following UNESCO's Language Vitality and Endangerment Questionnaire (2003), and Ethnolinguistic Vitality Theory of Giles and et al (1977) and Linguistics Citizenship Theory of Stroud (2001).
Findings: The study team investigated Etanda rituals and produced the first theatrical play in OluZemba. The study concluded that an observable language shift exists amongst this vibrant community which requires further investigation. The OvaZemba people use their language in an increasingly negligible and reduced number of communicative, business and administrative domains and might cease to pass it on to the next generation. Children are not taught in the language at schools, and many do not know how to read and write. Overall, the investigation has concluded that OluZemba is not a dialect of Otjiherero but a language of its own with its own orthography. It’s highly marginalised in the Namibian context.
Unique Contribution to Theory, Policy, and Practice: This study will contribute to the implementation of language endangerment, marginalisation, and revitalisation theories. These theories guided the mainstream of the research. Presenting fresh data and evidence from the field, the study will contribute to the Nambian language planning and policy dialogue and so as to table endangered and marginalised languages as policy agenda. Practically, the research recommends OluZemba as a medium of instruction at the primary level. If government fund does now support OluZemba as the medium, Otjiherero should be the next closest language as the medium of primary education.
Expounding the Nama-Herero genocide of 1904-1908: A cognitive metaphor approach
(Journal of the University of Namibia Language Centre, 2024) Hafeni, Linus; Sabao, Collen; Woldemariam, Haileleul Zeleke
This study examines four literary texts about the Nama-Herero genocide in Namibia through the application of the Cognitive Stylistics Theory as a framework for analysis. The texts, namely, Lauri Kubuitsile’s ‘The Scattering’ (2016), Jaspar D. Utley’s ‘Lie of the Land’ (2017), Rukee Tjingaete’s ‘The Weeping Graves of our Ancestors’ (2017) and Zirk van den Berg’s ‘Parts Unknown’ (2018),were chosen because they (re)present fictionalised historical accounts of the Nama-Herero genocide, which took place from 1904-1908, where over 65,000 Ovaherero and 10,000 Nama persons were killed in what is regarded as the first genocide of the twentieth century. The study promotes new insights into (re)imagining the genocidal trauma, depicted as collective cultural memory in Namibian literary works through the lenses of explications of cognitive stylistics. The study is significant in that it promotes new ways of reading, understanding and interpretating the historical experiences of the genocide. Cognitive Stylistics argues that any particular situation [in a literary text] can be interpreted in different ways. Interpretations from nuanced readings of the texts evince that themes in the texts largely centre on the inherited trauma of the natives’ experiences of the genocide during this period of colonial occupation and encounter, passed down generationally as collective historical memory. This was achieved through the examination of these literary imaginaries through the use of cognitive metaphor, genocidal trauma, and mental and physical oppression. It was concluded that reading, analysing and schematising genocidal fictional works can reflect new and insightful ways of understanding and appreciating historical memory and experiences of trauma.
A functional stylistics interpretation of “Losing Out” by Mutaleni Nadimi
(Voice of the Publisher, 2024) Salom, Susana Ndapewa; Woldemariam, Haileleul Zeleke
The paper presents a Functional Stylistics interpretation of a short story “Losing Out” written by a Namibian author Mutaleni Nadimi. The study followed a Systematic Functional Linguistic framework in which it recognises the three
metafunctions of language: ideational metafunction, interpersonal metafunction and textual metafunction. These components were used to analyse how the writer used language to create meaning. The study used a content analysis
method to gather findings, present and analyse findings. The findings show that Mutaleni has used elements of the three metafunctions of language as per the Functional Linguistic theory. The study concludes that there are many Namibian writers who emerged after independence and their work needs recognition. Literary and linguistic studies should be utilized to encourage contemporary and aspiring writers, as well as readers to understand local literary work.