A Glance into the Camera: Gendered Visions of Historical Photographs in Kaoko (North-Western Namibia)

This article deals with a selection of historical photographs taken by Heinz Roth, a businessman and hobby photographer from Windhoek, during the Carp expedition to Kaokoveld reserve in colonial South West Africa in 1951. It discusses the photographs in the context of a genealogy of predominantly German-speaking expeditions to Kaoko in the first half of the twentieth century. Within this genealogy, Kaoko played the role of a mythologised periphery, in which African life had preserved its cultural authenticity beyond the threats of colonialism and modernity. The article explores the emergence of a romanticised vision of Kaoko in landscape photographs and photographs of 'native' women and men. It also uses the images to trace fractures and inconsistencies blurring the idea of a coherent colonial, male gaze. Furthermore, the article investigates the ways in which current residents of Kaoko have 'read' Roth's photographs to produce alternative interpretations of their region's past.