Acknowledge Volume No.1

APRIL 2018Graham Ndimenhle Nhlamba

Book designed and fabricated by Graham Nhlamba Printed and bound @ Papercut_OCAD University April 05 2018 Fonts used: Sabon LT typekit Frutiger LT typekit Software used: Adobe InDesign CC 2017 Adobe Illustrator CC 2017 ©Creative Commons 2018





1FORETHOUGHT There are hidden systems of colonization in our agenda of decoloniality today. Why is that? Should we not, as “the colonized”, be seeking ways in which to reclaim our pre-colonial systems and practices in this post-colonial context?

CONTENTS 5 9 Introduction 41 An interrogation of the tools of colonization 90 100 Bantu Symbol Writing Codex 131 Codex continues till end 147 Visual Communication Manipulated Response No. 1 Treaties, Concessions & Lies Response No. 2 A New Roman Alphabet Institutional Cultural Genocide Response No. 3 Bibliography

3ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS A special thanks is due to Lewis Nicholson, for unwavering support, a guiding hand and a brutal honesty which has urged me on throughout the course of this year. Your encouragement and wisdom have been invalueable. To Ali Qadeer and Nancy Snow for being my sounding board in times of creative distress. Our many conversations contributed to the work that has been produced in this workshop. You are greatly appreciated. To Dori Tunstall and Saki Mafundikwa for informing my decisions and providing your expertise in the subject matter of my topic. I thank you. And a final thank you to Zviko Mhakayakora, for keeping me awake, focused and inspired throughout this entire process. You continue to make a fantastic muse and a model to replicate. This is only the beginning!



5INTRODUCTION Interrogating the tools of colonization When analyzing the tools of colonization, communication springs to the forefront. Pause and really think about this: What are the most basic components of communication? Moreover, how can they be weaponized in service of colo- nization? Ronald Horvath, a known contributor to the study of colonialism and African development, stated: “Colonial- ism, imperialism and neocolonialism are terms that remain undefined despite the enormous literature devoted to the phenomena.”(Horvath, 1972) His argument was that these are malleable terms that are subject to manipulation dependant on the era of their analysis and the discovery, or lack thereof, of new information. Does this then imply that there are aspects of fundamental communication, even within academy, that are subject to manipulation, and has this always been the case? My line of questioning seeks not only to outline the processes used in the colonization of the Kingdom of AmaNdebele, but also to critique their existence today, and the effect that all this has had on both ex-colonial and colonized society alike. I will draw parallels between both North America and South Eastern Africa, specifically the countries, Canada and Zimbabwe.

INTRODUCTION What was weaponized? • Translation • Transliteration • Systems of “Typography” • Imagery and Visual Communication Methods of implementation? • Treaties and Concessions • “Verbal assurances” and negotiation • Inaccurate portrayal of sovreignity in imagery, literature and film • Erasure of native writing and speaking systems through oppressive methods of assimilation • Christian Enculturation • Forced Education By looking into pre-colonial and contemporary systems, I get to distill the Bantu Writing System, interrogate the role of visual culture in the process of colonization, while reclaiming and redefining African traditions subjugated by foreign influences.

7 Lobengula, King of AmaNdebele, 1883 (Hulton Archive)

QUOTE “Reconciliation is to repair an already existing system that works. What Canada needs is cilliation which is to build the system in the first place.” — Jesse Wente (IFOA 2017)

9THE BANTU SYMBOL WRITING SYSTEM



11THE BANTU SYMBOL WRITING SYSTEM // conversation //oo ∙ hkoo ∙ popo ∙ ta ukupopota heated argument



15THE BANTU SYMBOL WRITING SYSTEM // violence // war // discord //ee ∙ see ∙ buhku ∙ buhku isibhukubhuku chaos



19THE BANTU SYMBOL WRITING SYSTEM // mind // brain // madness //ee ∙ nh(x)o ∙ (x)o ingxoxo discussion



23THE BANTU SYMBOL WRITING SYSTEM // man // male // phallic //oom ∙ kwe ∙ nya ∙ na umkhwenyana son-in-law



27THE BANTU SYMBOL WRITING SYSTEM // house of in-laws // home // house //ooma ∙ ko ∙ tee umakoti bride



31THE BANTU SYMBOL WRITING SYSTEM // queen // fertility // mother // woman //een(d)lo ∙ voo ∙ kazi indlovukazi queen mother



35THE BANTU SYMBOL WRITING SYSTEM // goddess // creation // matriarch //Nkoo ∙ loo ∙ nkoo ∙ loo Nkulunkulu goddess of creation



39QUOTE “What they see are war bonnets, beaded shirts, fringed deerskin dresses, loincloths, headbands, feathered lances, tomahawks, moccasins, face paint and bone chokers. These bits of cultural debris — authentic and constructed — are what literary theorists like to call “signifiers,” signs that create a “simulacrum,”which Jean Baudrillard, the French sociologist and postmod- ern theorist, succinctly explained as something that “is never that which conceals the truth — it is the truth which conceals that there in none.” A simulacrum is something that represents something that never exist- ed. Or, in other words, the only truth of the thing, is the lie itself.” Thomas King on the concept of the Dead Indian



VISUAL COMMUNICATION MANIPULATED 41 Subverting the depiction of colonized sovereignty Images, film and literature go a long way in defining the stereotypes of groups of people. How a people are both presented and perceived determines how they are treated.RESPONSE ONE The Challenge In order to complete the phase of reclamation in our agenda of decolonization, the colonizer must understand their foul and fault. But what we must remember is that the colonized themselves, must rediscover, claim and own what they lost. The work to follow is a détournement that should encourage the colonizer to develop empathy and the colonized to begin to possess what is theirs. The Execution All parties or conduits of British Imperialism involved in the colonization of AmaNdebele have now been appropri- ately presented to our sovereignty. Queen Victoria has been dressed accordingly and endowed with Bantu Symbols fitting of her role as colonizer, thief, vagabond and deceiver. Cecil John Rhodes’ pursuit of Manifest Destiny in Africa is remi- niscent of the greed of the advisors of the King, Tshaka Zulu. Rhodes has also been dressed accordingly and endowed with Bantu Symbols fitting of his role as colonizer, thief, vagabond and deceiver. Pope Pius XII serves as the conduit to Catholi- cism and the subversion of religion in Africa. He is presented, therefore, as iSangoma, spiritual advisor to the coloziner’s sovereign and endowed with Bantu Symbols fitting of his role as colonizer, thief and deceiver.

43VikitoliyaReclaiming sovereign representation Coloniality has embedded, within its victims, a history that glorifies their oppressors, media that erases their traditions, and practises that elevate foreign ideology through the system- atic transliteration and translation of their sovereignty. Such intangibilities continue to alter identities and as such, have created a generation that questions how the remnants of their native traditions can exist in this contemporary society.

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47SesiliRedefining our identity And the white man said, “I contend that we are the first race in the world, and that the more of the world we inhabit the better it is for the human race. Just fancy those parts that are at present inhabited by the most despicable specimen of human being, what an alteration there would be in them if they were brought under Anglo-Saxon influence... if there be a God, I think that what he would like me to do, is paint as much of the map of Africa British Red as possible...” Cecil John Rhodes (1889)

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51UPopu PayasiDenying spiritual hypocrisy F. Wilfred said, “imposing European ideals, as relating to theology, is cultural imperialism.” By agreeing, this has led the colonized to question where their ancestors dwell in the afterlife, seeing as they did not conform to these ideals that are now being imposed on us? How can I claim to be a part of the very theology that condemns the practises of my ancestors, yet turn and call myself “cultured”?

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QUOTE “The colonized is elevated above his jungle status in proportion to his adoption of the colonizing country’s cultural standards.” — Frantz Fanon (Black skin, white masks. 1952) THOUGHTS Is this to say that in order to feel a measure of relevance within the oppression of a colonial system, assimilation is and always has been the only salvation?

55 Gubulawayo, Matabeleland 1883 (Hulton Archive)

The First Matebele War, 1893 (Kimberly Archive)

57 Mbuya Nehanda & Sekuru Kaguvi before execution, 1897, The National Archives of Zimbabwe

Battle of Shangani, 1897 (Kimberly Archive)

59 Slave trade of Delagoa Bay, The National Archives of Zimbabwe



61QUOTE An understanding brought to bear is that the crime of genocide is crime against human groups, not individuals. As such, if acts taken to destroy “the tangible and intangible aspects of culture effectively leading to its destruction, then there is no defence against a charge of genocide that the acts committed were not specifically listed as physical or biological in the Genocide Convention” Kristina Hon, 2013

Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold, 1986 H. Rider Haggard (novel), Gene Quintano (screenplay)