Browsing by Author "Sabao, Collen"

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    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.
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    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.