Scientific Racism In Namibia

The word Genocide as defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary means “The deliberate killing of people who belong to a particular racial, political or cultural group” “ The 1904 genocide of the Namibian Herero and Nama people by German forces can be described as one of the worst in world history. This genocide resulted in the murder of millions thus wiping out entire communities. This genocide is often forgotten however it serves as a lived experience of Scientific Racism which is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as “Racism as supposedly justified by scientific evidence” This essay will discuss the Namibian (then German South West Africa) Genocide of 1904 and evaluate the extent to which the ideas of Scientific Racism were a cause for this

The attitude of the Germans also comes from the writings of Johann Blumenbach who added to the ideas from Linnaeus. This publication created a means by which race could be classified based on the colour of the skin. Linnaeus also argued that the different skin colours meant different “species” of people thus insinuating that each group fell into a different category. Linnaeus sub-categorized humans into the following groups (in no particular order): Europeanus, Asiaticus, Africanus and Americanus. There was this perception put forward by Linnaeus that Europeanus were “of fair complexion, sanguine temperament, and becoming form.. Of gentle manners, acute in judgement.. Governed by fixed laws” whereas Africanus were described as “..black complexion, phlegmatic temperament.. Crafty, indolent… governed in their actions by caprice” . These two descriptions in comparison show that the description awarded to Europeans carried positive connotations and gives off the idea that this was “the race to be”. The description attached to Africanus however can be deemed to carry negative connotations. Linnaeus did not however,

It is a Social Darwinism based idea as the Germans believed that they were the superior race due to the fact that Europeans believed that were more technologically advanced than other races. This attitude combined with the misuse of Darwin’s theory gave them the perception that they were indeed superior to other races and that they were the fittest due to their advancements that would survive. This idea is captured in a quote from the German general publication, Der Kampf, in which it stated “This bold enterprise shows up in the most brilliant light the ruthless energy of the German command in pursuing their beaten enemy. No pains, no sacrifices were spared in eliminating the last remnants of enemy resistance. Like a wounded beast the enemy was tracked down from one water-hole to the next, until finally he became the victim of his own environment. “ This justified the idea in the mind of the Germans that the native Namibian people would inevitably become victims of their own environment and that the German murders of the people would be completed by the environment at some point thus insinuating that their actions were justified and that they were merely “helping” a process that would occur anyway and they should not stand in its way. The ideas of Samuel Morton, who wrote on Craniometry, come through in