V - 2 - Your answers questioned

[kelber at mindspring.com]

Found the following:

Boy-Wives and Female Husbands: Studies of African Homosexualities

http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Wives-Female-Husbands-Studies-Homosexualities/dp/0312238290/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1287003672&sr=1-1

It's specifically interesting for this essay, written in 1925-6 (in German), which seems as if it could have been a source for Pynchon about Herero culture and sexuality:  Homosexuality Among the Natives of Southwest Africa, by German anthropologist Kurt Falk.  

Present-day Namibia is harshly anti-gay - one of the results of importing Christian culture.  Pynchon focuses on the other branch (V-section) of the Western incursion.  In this case, it's colonialists going "native."  Weissmann (in GR) importing a gay Herero lover; Foppl's guests re-inventing native practices with a decadent Western spin.

Laura

-----Original Message-----
>From: Robin Landseadel <robinlandseadel at comcast.net>
>
>Most important detail, the Hereros were the victim of the first mass  
>genocide that just happened to be German, all that high-quality German  
>technology you know. Interesting detail, the Hereros were one of those  
>tribes where the homosexuals were usually assigned magical duties and  
>treated openly as social equals. When the folks talk about what was  
>happening back in 1904, that's what they're talking about. The Hereros  
>were/still are herders of cattle, African Cowboys, as it were.  
>Disputes over land rights -- Pynchon v. Sterns anybody? -- leads to  
>stealing land, leading to wars, leading, ultimately, to genocide.