Biography

Author Picture

Ellen Ndeshi Namhila

Ellen Ndeshi Namhila is Pro-Vice Chancellor of the University of Namibia (UNAM) in Windhoek and a well-known writer, historian and policy maker for research and heritage. She was Director of the Namibia Library and Archives Services from 1998 to 2007 and subsequently the University Librarian of UNAM until 2015. Ellen Namhila acted as Vice-President of UNESCO’s International Advisory Committee of the Memory of the World and served on the Governing Board of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions. In her Mbapira Award-winning book, The Price of Freedom (1997), she chronicles her life and upbringing during the Namibian liberation struggle and in exile. Her subsequent books Kahumba kaNdola: The Biography of a Barefoot Soldier (2005), Tears of Courage (2009) and Mukwahepo: Woman, Soldier, Mother (2013) portray ‘forgotten’ or side-lined personalities of Namibia’s recent history and reflect the gendered politics of memory and historiography.