David Brandon Smith is working on the role of the churches in Namibia’s struggle for independence as part of the “Decolonizing Postcolonialism” project at Goethe University Frankfurt. In his lecture, which in a sense followed up on the evening event with Henning Melber held a few weeks ago at the Academy, he gave the fellows insights into his research project. In addition to the actual case study, he also discussed his approach of “pluralistic diplomacy.” This fit perfectly with the Academy’s annual theme, which, as part of its research activities on “sub-national diplomacy,” also examines the role of other institutions and actors outside the traditional nation-state in diplomacy. In this context, Namibia is a particularly interesting case study, as it is the only African country with a Lutheran majority. Since the Catholic Church also has a strong presence, the churches in Namibia are the largest non-state institutions, which played a significant role

in Namibia’s independence movements. Drawing on various sources from different archives and supported by numerous eyewitness accounts from oral history interviews he conducted himself,

David Brandon Smith highlighted the extent to which the churches functioned as mediators and venues in the Namibian struggle for independence.  In the subsequent discussion with the fellows, both content-related and methodological aspects were discussed, as well as the question of positionality. Overarching all of this was the central question of the connections between politics and religion.