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Thousands of Black troops served in South Africa's security forces in Namibia and Angola during apartheid. Bolliger's new research leads him to reject their common depiction as "collaborators," challenge the portrayal of the wars in which they fought as struggles for national liberation, and reveal the complexity of South Africa's military culture.
List of contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Introduction. Un-national Soldiers in Southern Africa during and after Decolonization
1. “The Ovambos Did Not Take Part in the War against the Germans”: Fractures and Divisions in Colonial Namibia and Southern Angola
2. “We Live between Two Fires”: The Reasons for Joining the Apartheid Security Forces in Northern Namibia, 1975–89
3. “The War Was Very Complicated”: The Formation and Development of 32 Battalion, 1975–84
4. “Every Force Has Its Own Rules”: The Military Cultures of South Africa’s Security Forces in Namibia and Angola
5. “Dictation Comes from the Victor”: The Postwar Politics of Black Former Soldiers in Namibia, 1989–2014
6. “We Are Lost People”: Citizenship and Belonging of Black Former Soldiers in South Africa, 1989 to the Present
Conclusion: Un-national Wars of Decolonization and Their Legacies
Notes
Note on Interviews Conducted by the Author
Bibliography
Index
About the author
Lennart Bolliger is a lecturer in international history at Utrecht University. Previously, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Asian and African Studies of the Humboldt University of Berlin and a visiting researcher at the History Workshop of the University of the Witwatersrand. His research has previously been published in the Journal of Southern African Studies and the South African Historical Journal.
Summary
Thousands of Black troops served in South Africa’s security forces in Namibia and Angola during apartheid. Bolliger’s new research leads him to reject their common depiction as “collaborators,” challenge the portrayal of the wars in which they fought as struggles for national liberation, and reveal the complexity of South Africa’s military culture.
