Paper long abstract:

This paper explores shifting invocations of nationalism in the past and present in Zimbabwe as revealed through the various representations of the life and death of Joshua Nkomo. Nkomo’s political story was a central aspect of nationalism and the politics of evolution of the country from a colony to an independent republic. The focus of this paper is on the changing ways in which Nkomo has been represented in the pre- and post-independence history of Zimbabwe. We argue that his death on the 1st of July 1999 became an important occasion for elite reflections on the entire history of nationalism as Nkomo posthumously received the much contested title of ‘Father Zimbabwe.’ These representations of Nkomo are contrasted with the way in which he represented his own role in the nationalist drama in his autobiography, Nkomo: The Story of My Life, which was published in 1984. In this paper, we seek do four things. The first task is to briefly introduce the emergence of nationalism within which Nkomo’s political career evolved. The second task is to track how Nkomo was represented by other nationalists prior to 1980. The third task is to examine how ZANU-PF fought to delegitimize provincialise, criminalise and even physically eliminate Nkomo in the period 1980-1987 as they represented him as the ‘Father of Dissidents’. The third task is to capture how Nkomo was politically rehabilitated into the position of vice-president of Zimbabwe until his death in 1999 including how after death he re-written back into history and commemorated as the founder of the nation of Zimbabwe. Lastly, we compare these representations of Nkomo with the way in which he rebutted these processes of ‘Othering’ through his autobiographical self-representation in his 1984 book.

Paper long abstract:

Kenya’s recent post-electoral crisis was at one level political and constitutional. At another, it can be read as a crisis of history, heritage, identity and memory which will take much longer to resolve. The fractures and social fragmentation exposed in early 2008 are also manifested in heritage activities involving both state and non-state actors. Citizens are busy engaging with, and reconstructing, their heritage and history as never before. This phenomenon appears to signify a renaissance of civil society activism around new forms of struggle. Community-led heritage activities include the creation of peace and community museums, eco-mapping of sacred forests and community ecological governance. The state, concerned with top-down national heritage management that continues to follow a colonial-era model to some extent, largely frowns upon these initiatives, and seeks to control non-state heritage actors. This paper draws on research-in-progress to explore some of these tensions, through examples from the state and non-state heritage sectors.

Paper long abstract:

Author: Karega Munene

This paper explores trends concerning the treatment of tangible and intangible heritage by the civil society, individuals and small community-based organisations in Kenya. Together, these have been reclaiming the past that they feel has been forgotten by historians, the National Museums of Kenya which is the legally recognised custodian of Kenya’s cultural and natural heritage. In the recent past, the efforts culminated in the recognition of Kenyans’ legal entitlement to living cultures and to cultural pasts as fundamental human rights. These latter were enunciated in the Draft Constitution that was rejected in a national referendum in November 2005. That the commission working on the Draft Constitution allocated a whole chapter to cultural matters which were not deemed controversial during the referendum, strongly suggests the chapter is likely to remain unaltered and to form part of the new constitution promised by the current coalition government. Further impetus to such a development is increasingly being provided by celebrations of local heroes and heroines at the village level, without the involvement of professional historians or the National Museums of Kenya. In order to attract wide audiences, the celebrations are increasingly functioning as cultural festivals showcasing traditional foodstuffs, dress and story-telling.

Paper long abstract:

When former residents of Protea Village, a neighbourhood in Cape Town razed during apartheid, won their land back through the restitution programme in 2006, a range of heritage-related activities was set in motion. The returned land is situated on the doorstep of Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden, an internationally renowned state-run organisation which forms part of a World Heritage Site. Before Protea Village was destroyed and the residents relocated, Kirstenbosch served as the main employer of the community, and the garden’s history is closely entwined with that of the village. Despite this, the current Heritage Trail in Kirstenbosch contains no reference to Protea Village, something both former residents and Kirstenbosch management today wish to remedy. This paper focuses on the renegotiation of heritage emerging out of the redevelopment process, with particular emphasis on the documentation and commemoration of ‘forgotten’ or ‘marginalised’ memory sites situated inside the botanical garden. It argues that the case provides a useful illustration of the South African state’s willingness to transform the heritage sector, but also that it underscores the continued dominance of previous conceptions of heritage as primarily colonial. The paper is based on anthropological fieldwork, landscape walks and collaborative photography with former residents.