Abstract:
Cultural festivals are celebrated annually around the world; they produce excitement and a sense
of belonging for participants and visitors. In addition, cultural festivals are social events where
people from different cultural backgrounds gather and to exhibit, share different cultural values,
attitudes and behaviours. In Namibia, an ethnographic study was carried out by Dr Michael
Akuupa on State-sponsored Cultural Festival and their histories in a post-apartheid Namibia. The
study showed that diversity was represented through various forms of cultural exhibitions and it
also highlighted a sense of belonging to a nation and a greater constituency. This study
demonstrates a detailed ethnographic exploration of the University of Namibia’s Cultural
Festival. The focal point of the study was to question whether the UNAM cultural festival is used
to foster tolerance in the University of Namibia’s community of diverse cultures. The results
show that there is a vast amount of work that goes into preparing and hosting the UNAM cultural
festival. The results also show that the UNAM cultural festival is not only a context where
people go celebrate different cultures but it is also context where people indulge in other
activities that have nothing to do with culture.
