Architectural Space in Windhoek, Namibia: Fortification, Monumentalization, Subversion

This essay argues that contemporary postcolonial cities are definitive of Anthony Vidler’s “architectural uncanny,” and it forwards Windhoek, Namibia’s capital city, as a particularly palpable example of this phenomenon. This essay reads local literary texts and other historical documents to investigate how Windhoek’s architectural spaces condition structures of both power and subversion. It identifies where local bodies are marshaled by the city’s constraints and where they can contest those constraints. Ultimately, despite the fact that Windhoek still bears the inhospitable imprints of two successive colonial powers, its subjects can find ways to take root, at least in part, in their uncanny city.