"The crocodile is stronger in the water": Swakopmund jetty as a place of death in Namibia

Jack Boulton

Chapter 6 in New Perspectives on Urban Deathscapes, 2023, pp 107-123 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter is about a deathscape in Swakopmund, Namibia: a jetty built in 1905, during German colonial rule. Historically significant – as a major part of German South West Africa’s port project – in the present day it is better known as a tourist attraction, and for its fine dining restaurants. It is also a sadly common place for people to suicide. This part of the Namibian coastline has long been associated with death, and this chapter describes the jetty and its surrounding landscape as both a deathscape and a chronotope of death. Going beyond its materiality, the jetty forms a singularity which brings together the past, present, and future in meaningful and compelling ways; ancestors, witches and evil spirits form as much a part of the jetty’s ghostscape as its wood, concrete, and steel.

Keywords: Geography; Sociology and Social Policy; Urban and Regional Studies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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