Abstract
MEMORIALISING EPHEMERAL EVENTS
The aim of my Design Project (DP) is to investigate how to preserve cultural heritage by
memorialising ephemeral events in the dynamic landscape of the Bangwaketse tribe in Kanye,
Botswana.
“Cultural Heritage refers to the contemporary society’s use of the past... In Europe, it is often
associated with older city centres. In North America, it is strongly linked to national parks,
museums, and galleries in urban areas” (Nilson & Thorell 2018: 10). In the context of my Design
Proposal it is that of the post-colonial Southern African societies of South Africa and Botswana
which are associated with heritage, ‘indigenous culture, identity, and landscape’ (Boyd & Timothy
2003).
One of the main focuses of the 1995 Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa was
to create tangible heritage, which included buildings and artefacts, to memorialise the struggle
against Apartheid. However, critics like Sabine Marschall (2010), a professor of cultural and
heritage tourism with an empirical focus on Africa, argue that the ‘democratic’ approach to
commemoration spaces, such as the approach of TRC, is not a true reflection of the current South
Africa. She states that this approach implies and focuses on “coherence and unity” as an idea of
an ideal democratic South Africa. The approach is not the actual reflection of the evident postcolonial
spatial legacy in which South Africans and other African societies live in. She adds that
“in this context, the memory of some victims is more opportune than others, and the process
of memorialization is accompanied by significant silences, the forgetting of uncomfortable
memories, and the hierarchical ordering of victims, which continues to divide survivors and
communities to the present day” (2010:14–15).
The notion of a ‘democratic’ approach is similar in Botswana as the country shares a complex
history with South Africa. The Botswana government has established a National Peace and
Reconciliation Commission to promote national healing and unity, through the construction of
memorials, similar to the TRC of South Africa. However, as Marschall states, these initiatives
focus more on tangible heritage and ignore the post-colonial societies that are rooted in their
intangible heritage.
The DP investigates the Bangwaketse tribe whose first capital was in South Africa, from the
main body of Morafe- today known as Phokeng in North West province. The Bangwaketse are
originally part of the Tswana ethnic group that migrated from South Africa in the 18th century
to settle at Kanye, a village in Southern Botswana. Unlike in Kanye, traces of the cultural heritage
of the Bangwaketse in Phokeng, South Africa, have been erased due to the strife caused by
colonialism and apartheid. In Kanye it is mainly in the chief’s chambers that the cultural heritage
of Bangwaketse is preserved. In other memorial spaces it is not preserved adequately.
The research aims to propose how to memorialise ephemeral events to commemorate the
heritage, indigenous culture, and identity of a diverse post-colonial African society of the
Bangwaketsi people. The proposal asks how the notion of heritage can shift from the tangible
character of monuments and sites to focus on the sense of place, providing a more inclusive
approach to memorialising cultural heritage. The research explores heritage as intangibles- as
traditions from our ancestors, including oral traditions, songs, rituals, and performing arts.
The project’s inception is that of my own memory. It begins with a project investigating the rite
of passage of the BaPedi people, from Ga-Ledwaba, Limpopo – the experience I acquired during
initiation school. My interests began with my desire to find out how to memorialize that specific
ephemeral event to preserve the cultural heritage of my own indigenous people. I was previously
not immune to the indoctrination of understanding heritage, culture, and even my own identity
through the lens of the Eurocentric view. This is due to my cultural heritage, and that of many
other Africans, not being memorialised adequately or the memories being intentionally obscured
by the oppressive regimes of the past. The grappling of my identity forms a critical engagement
in the dialogue of what an African future landscape of memory should be.
The chosen sites of exploration are found in the village of Kanye, in Botswana. This is the traditional
headquarters of the Bangwaketse people, where the paramount chief is inaugurated. The sites
of investigation are: the new administrative building in the chief’s chambers, the memorial site
of Kgosi Bathoen II, the Kanye Grain Silos, and the route that connects these sites which are
important to the cultural heritage of the Bangwaketse.
The administrative building is explored in relation to the kgotla. According to Katlego Mwale,
an architectural historian and heritage specialist in Botswana, the oldest form of settlements
in Botswana were “organised around the chiefly court- kgotla- the gathering space for cultural
activities and rituals” (2017: 06). The Bangwaketse managed to preserve the kgotla as part of
their heritage. The Chief’s chambers, including the administrative building, are centred around
the kgotla where public meetings, litigation, and cultural events occur. The design project
investigates the relationship of the administrative building to the kgotla not only as a tangible
heritage but also as the “symbolic socio-cultural spatial organisation of a tribal space as a stage
where the everyday life, social practices, and cultural traditions occur” (Mwale 2017: 202).
About 500m down the hill from the chief’s chambers is the memorial site of Kgosi Bathoen ll,
where his statue is erected. He is “fondly remembered as the modern-day father of Kanye due
to his successful efforts to modernize Kanye village”, states Abel Mabuse (2020: 46) - a curator of
archaeological research and collections at the Botswana National Museum. Currently, the statue
is fenced off and there is no spatial relationship with the community.
Future Landscapes of Memory UNIT 15 X
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Directly down the statue are the 10 Kanye Grain Silos built between 1942 and 1947 for the
purpose of storing grains to help the needy in the community (Mabuse 2020). The Grain Silos
which form a significant part of the heritage of the Bangwaketse are not used for any program
by the community.
The chosen sites aim to memorialise the ceremonious route taken from the bottom of the
village to the kgotla. The route is according to the sites’ geographic location, the bottom is at
the Grain Silos, the procession space at the Chief Bathoen II, and the arrival point at the chief’s
chambers- where the administrative building is situated. The route reflects a hierarchical spatial
journey where the chosen sites act as acupuncture points that symbolically adds to the ascending
journey towards a more significant cultural space- at the chief’s chambers. The chief’s chambers
are seen as a spatial layout of social and cultural significance as the chief has a ‘central role as
the custodian’ to the culture of the Bangwaketse (Mwale 2017:212). Currently, the kgotla is the
only prominent traditional space that preserves the cultural heritage of the Bangwaketse. The
chosen sites are not proposed as alternative spaces to the kgotla but as a series of spaces that
enhances the spatial quality of the journey leading to the kgotla and ultimately preserve the
cultural heritage of Bangwaketse.
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND RELATED LITERATURE
The theoretical framework that grounds this Design Proposal is that of Joachim Wolschke-
Bulmahn, a landscape architect, in what he refers to as the “fundamental concerns of human
existence” being “identity” and “commemoration” (2001: 01). Similar to his views, the research
aims to prove that “everyone is occupied consciously or unconsciously with identity… and the
questions of one’s place in society’s past, present and future”. In the context of the DP, identity is
also not only limited to ‘personal identity’ but also to ‘group identity’. The research will explore
‘group identity’, adding to the dialogue of investigating future landscapes of memory. These are
future landscapes of memory that reveal the diverse African cultures, heritages, and identities,
particularly that of the Bangwaketse tribe in Kanye, Botswana. Wolschke-Bulman adds that
commemoration is “closely related to memory” thus “memorials, places of commemoration,
serve to preserve memories, whether of individuals, groups of people, or events” (2001: 02). John
Gillis, a historian specialising in social and cultural history, draws a parallel approach as he adds
that “identity depends on the idea of memory, and vice versa” Gillis (1994: 3-4).