Breweries, Politics and Identity: The History Behind Namibian Beer, by Tycho van der Hoog

Breweries, Politics and Identity: The History Behind Namibian Beer, by Tycho van der Hoog. Basler Afrika Bibliographien, Basel, Switzerland 2019. ISBN 9783906927121 / ISBN 978-3-906927-12-1

Beer might be considered as an odd subject for scholarship, but hopefully Breweries, Politics and Identity: The History Behind Namibian Beer, by Tycho van der Hoog proves the opposite.

Tycho van der Hoog  

Behind your favourite bottle of lager, ale or whatever your preferred drink might be, lies a complex world of powerful companies, intricate government legislation, and most importantly, history. It has been a privilege to spend a long time working on the brewing history of Namibia, a place that has left a profound influence on me. But sometimes it has also been a struggle. In any case, I owe my deepest thanks to Jan-Bart Gewald for his continuous guidance and advice. I am also indebted to Laura Mann for earlier comments on drafts of this book. During my fieldwork in Namibia, I was lucky enough to meet the extraordinary librarians Armin Jagdhuber and Gunter von Schumann, both from the Namibia Scientific Society. I thoroughly enjoyed our conversations and I am grateful for the help you gave me during my research. I would also like to thank Nadine Kohlstadt and Trudi Stols for granting me access to the archives of the Scientific Society Swakopmund. A highly rewarding aspect of my fieldwork was my interaction with Namibia Breweries Limited. Together with the good people from Snowball studio, we developed a pop-up museum that dealt with Namibia's brewing history in 2016. I am grateful for the chance to talk to so many of NBL's employees, past and present, whose passion for brewing is unparalleled. In particular, I would like to thank Christin Obst, Christian Miiller, Hans Herrmann and Stephan Koepp for their hospitality. Most importantly, I would like to express my gratitude to all the people who have shared their stories with me, and in many cases also allowed me access to their collection of files, photos, beer bottles, beer labels, posters and other valuable artefacts that have greatly enriched the narrative of this book. In particular I would like to thank Lothar Geier and Harald Geier, Bernd Masche, Jeremy Silvester, Werner Hillebrecht, Mannfred Goldbeck, Brenda Bravenboer, Brigitte Schünemann, Don Stevenson, Bogart Butler, Linda Buckingham and Jörg Finkeldey. Anthy Schubert assisted me with German archival sources, thank you for your help. Finally, I want to say a heartfelt thank you to the Basler Afrika Bibliographien, and in particular to Petra Kerckhoff and Sarah Schwarz, for the opportunity to publish Breweries, Politics and Identity: The History Behind Namibian Beer.

Introduction

If Frank Zappa's playful comment — that a national beer is necessary for every 'real' country — is correct, then Namibia is on the right track. Namibian beer is available in around twenty countries all over the world, it continuously wins international awards for its quality and it is hugely popular in "the land of the brave," making Namibians proud. Since Namibia's independence in 1990, this alcoholic beverage has become one of the key characteristics of the Namibian nation. In the furthest corners of this enormous country one can find an ice-cold Windhoek Lager, Tafel Lager or another variant. The famous sundowner, where people watch the majestic sunsets while enjoying a cold beverage, has been developed into an art form. However, for decades on end, this brew was not available to the black population as a consequence of apartheid politics, and the same beer actually emerged as a national icon for white settlers. It is a largely forgotten story with deep historical roots. This shows that the history of brewing in Namibia is far more than a simple story of beer: the beer market is an important political, economic and cultural factor that is intertwined with the general history of the country. Breweries, Politics and Identity: The History Behind Namibian Beer, by Tycho van der Hoog, explains how European style beer was transformed from a settler's drink during colonial politics into a symbol of the independent Namibian nation. [...]

This is an excerpt from Breweries, Politics and Identity: The History Behind Namibian Beer, by Tycho van der Hoog.

Title: Breweries, Politics and Identity
Subtitle: The History Behind Namibian Beer
Author: Tycho van der Hoog
Genre: History
Publisher: Basler Afrika Bibliographien
Basel, Switzerland 2019
ISBN 9783906927121 / ISBN 978-3-906927-12-1
Softcover, 17 x 24 cm, 128 pages, several b/w photos