TSHOMARELO NGWAO: THE MUSEUMS OF BOTSWANA CELEBRATE TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE (original) (raw)
Related papers
2018
Studies into architecture in Botswana posit that architecture in the capital city-Gaborone is a result of the imposition of British culture received through the historical conditions of colonisation and independence. This study seeks to go beyond this generalisation by examining architecture in Botswana, grounded in the construction of national and ethnic cultural identities, a sense of history, the idea of culture and its implication on space. It explores the relationship between identity politics and architecture. It traces various postcolonial identitymaking practices in the city and traditional villages, which I argue, reveal a scenario whereby identities are re-interpreted and re-inscribed as part of the process of postcolonial manifestations of identities in space. Gaborone was planned as a capital city during the transition to self-rule and was envisioned as a mirror image of a nation, this process involved a Contents Abstract i Contents iii List of Figures iv Abbreviations xiii Glossary xiv Acknowledgements xvi Chapter 1 Introduction and concepts 1 Chapter 2 History and context of Botswana: the making 37 of a nation during the colonial period and post-independence Chapter 3 The Imagined Capital City and the cultural legacy of planning a post-colonial capital Chapter 4 The heart of the city and the pursuit for national monuments Chapter 5 Heritage, culture and a sense of continuity with the past in Mochudi tribal space Chapter 6 Recreating pre-colonial monuments and the desire for cultural monuments Chapter 7: Identity politics and the consequence Bibliography Appendices xvi group coordinated by Dr Stephen Walker, who encouraged me to share the research thought process with the group and opened up other lines of inquiry. Archival and fieldwork was carried out with the help of my good friend Omar Bakali who was very reliable and precise in assisting with the documentation of available resources back home in Botswana before I travelled back. My husband Lawrence Mwale was of great emotional and practical support, as he drove me to London and Oxford numerous times to access archives and listened to the endless conversations about the research. My kids-Lethabo and Tseo enjoyed their stay in England and are a source of joy. Many friends back home were also supportive in other ways. Arpuba Podder accommodated and helped me navigate my way in Johannesburg for appointments. Fenny Tsimamma was always a phone call away. Maureen Kalane and Mohamad. IM Al Taha my fellow Ph.D. colleagues always engaged me in meaningful conversations. My writing up period was made bearable by the support of my thesis mentor Catherine Wynn. Finally, this research would not have been possible without the financial support from my employer the University of
Nineteenth-century missionaries to southern Africa sought materially to remake and reshape the peoples and places they encountered according to notions of virtuous living, correct behaviour and Christian morality. This article explores attitudes to landscape and place in a short-lived London Missionary Society mission in the Khwebe Hills of Ngamiland, Botswana, which was occupied between 1893 and 1896. Combining archaeological evidence with archival records, the article will examine the factors that shaped Alfred Wookey’s approach to this new landscape, and how he tried to create a utopian settlement in the Khwebe Hills, far from the corrupting dangers of the Batawana town, or the threat to health of Lake Ngami. The failure of the mission after just three years can be seen as a result of this isolation, both in terms of the struggle for survival and as a political strategy by the Batawana Kgosi Sekgoma Letsholathebe to ostracise the mission politically. Keywords: mission archaeology, landscape, London Missionary Society, Botswana, Khwebe hills, domestic space
Archaeology in Botswana s History
Historical Campus, 2023
In this paper, we argue that archaeology plays a significant role in promoting history, and the two disciplines complement each other. The study uses archaeological monuments and sites to assess how these can be used to effectively enhance the transmission of history to the public. This paper demonstrates the tremendous value of historical archaeology beyond colonial records as a source of data for the voiceless. Our study concludes that well-researched and packaged historical and archaeological information is essential to the promotion of the heritage tourism industry as part of the knowledge-based economy
Archaeological survey near Tsabong, Kgalagadi District, southwestern Botswana
2023
The importance of the arid interior of southern Africa for human evolution has come into focus in recent years. However, the current distribution of archaeological sites is limited to the southern margin of the Kalahari sediments in South Africa and to the northern part of Botswana. Surface scatters of archaeological artefacts in other parts of the Kalahari have not been studied systematically despite their potential to test human adaptation to marginal environments in the past. We developed a mobile Geographical Information System (GIS) setup that allows us to record the archaeological potential of Botswana's southwestern Kgalagadi district in a rapid and standardised manner. This paper describes five archaeological sites identified through our survey in the wider area around the town of Tsabong. Four of these sites, as well as the majority of identified surface archaeology, belong to the Middle Stone Age based on a first assessment of their lithic typology. A pattern is emerging of particular concentration of these sites on or near quartzite outcrops that are located next to pans. Additionally, six test pits confirmed the high potential for further archaeological investigations in this area using a landscape approach. RÉSUMÉ L'importance de l'intérieur aride de l'Afrique australe pour l'évolution humaine a été mise en évidence ces dernières années. Cependant, la répartition actuelle des sites archéologiques se limite à la marge sud des sédiments du Kalahari en Afrique du Sud et à la partie nord du Botswana. Les dispersions en surface d'objets archéologiques dans d'autres parties du Kalahari n'ont pas été systématiquement étudiées, malgré le potentiel qu'elles offrent pour tester l'adaptation humaine à des environnements marginaux dans le passé. Nous avons développé une configuration de Système d'Information Géographique (SIG) mobile qui nous permet de documenter de manière rapide et ARTICLE HISTORY
Africa, 2015
However, can we really take Kirikongo as an instance of the revolutionary triumph of egalitarianism in the savannah? A close look at the archaeological records published here shows clear evidence of deep changes at the level of a small rural community, something that is not unexpected over a period of 1,500 years. The nature of these changes suggests that communities explored, experimented with, and made choices between different models of governance, belief systems and subsistence over time. However, the revolutionary nature of such a change, although a valuable and thought-provoking working hypothesis, can hardly be demonstrated solely on the basis of the Kirikongo evidence. Too many parts are missing from the picturefor instance, evidence on the webs of alliances within the settlement, the regional historical context, and the ritual practices and beliefsfor us to surmise that change resulted from a forcible, short-term event such as the word 'revolution' implies. More archaeological research into medieval communities of the Mouhoun Bend will be requiredas is recognized by the authorto clarify the chronology and the nature of socio-political change in the area. Firstly, the chronology of change proposed here will need to be validated. Secondly, in the absence of a comparative dataset, the proposed projection onto a regional scale of the model developed for Kirikongo, a 'regional egalitarian movement', is daring. But this does not detract from the book's qualities, and I recommend it to archaeologists and historians interested in long-term socio-political developments in the Voltaic area. Although the author sometimes stretches the interpretation of available evidence, he also contributes much solid new data and stimulates fresh avenues of thought on pre-1500 West African village life.
Archaeological excavations at Bosutswe, Botswana: cultural chronology, paleo-ecology and economy
Journal of Archaeological Science, 2008
Excavations at the site of Bosutswe on the eastern edge of the Kalahari Desert in Botswana have uncovered over 4 m of deposit ranging in age from CE 700 to 1700. Our research has produced quantitative and qualitative measures of the material and ecological dimensions that structured the everyday actions and behaviors through which social identities were constituted, maintained, and transformed during the period when the polities of Toutswe, Mapungubwe, Great Zimbabwe and Khami rose to power. By examining the material dimensions that underlay shifting relations of production, exchange, and social stratification we are able to contextualize the social judgments that ascribed value to material goods and food ways, while specifying the ways these were used to create and naturalize social relationships and power differentials. Stable isotope analyses, combined with evidence of vitrified dung, further enable us to suggest changes in herd management strategies used by the inhabitants of the site to compensate for ecological changes brought about by long-term occupation, while at the same time enabling them to economically tie subordinates to them as social divisions became more rigidly defined after CE 1300. The cultural and economic changes that took place at Bosutswe thus directly impact our understanding of the social transformations that immediately preceded contemporary configurations of ethnicity in Botswana.