Our staff member, Dr. Kana Miyamoto, presented at the Anthropology Southern Africa (ASnA) Conference held at Rhodes University, South Africa, and actively engaged with fellow researchers.

ASnA is one of the member associations of the World Anthropological Union (WAU), alongside the Japanese Society of Cultural Anthropology in Japan.

Each year's conference is organised around a specific theme. The 2025 theme was "Entangled Ecologies: Memory, Place and Anthropological Futures in (Southern) Africa." Over three days (August 20-22, 2025), postgraduate students and early-career researchers from across Southern Africa delivered dynamic and thought-provoking presentations.

Kana presented on one of her research themes, sacred places and the memory of war, as outlined below:

◆ Date: 20 August 2025

◆ Venue: Rhodes University, South Africa

◆ Title: Negotiating the sacred: War, ancestral taboos, and wildlife conservation in north-west Namibia

◆ Presenter: Dr. Kana Miyamoto (African Studies Center, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies)

◆ Abstract: This presentation explores how collective memory and notions of place shift over time by examining the sacred places (ovirongo vizera) shared by Otjiherero-speaking people in Kaokoland, north-west Namibia. These sacred places, marked by taboos, are not strictly isolated areas but are intertwined with everyday life, encompassing homesteads and grazing areas. Violations of these taboos necessitate seeking forgiveness from ancestors, underscoring the dynamic interaction between the living and the spiritual realm. Historically, these places are linked to the Nama raids of the late 19th century and the German colonial war in the early 20th century. Since the 1990s, wildlife conservation initiatives under Community-Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) have also become enmeshed within these places. By analysing how war memories, ancestral obligations, and conservation schemes intersect and coexist within daily life, this study reveals an indigenous cosmology of life as a composite, continuously creating while incorporating new concepts.

Photo 1: Eden Grove at Rhodes University (Venue)

Conference sessions were organised thematically, with lively discussions and Q&A sessions, particularly centering on the work of young researchers. Side events included a workshop on academic journal submissions for early-career scholars, providing an environment that nurtures and encourages the next generation of anthropologists.

Kana also reunited with Professor Shahid Vawda (University of Cape Town), who stayed at our center as a visiting proffesor in the fall of 2023; Ms. Rooksana Omar, who served as CEO of the Iziko Museums in South Africa for many years; and Professor Francis B Nyamnjoh (University of Cape Town), Kana's mentor, to deepen their exchanges.

This presentation was made possible by the Sasakawa Grants for Science Fellows (SGSF), the Japan Science Society.