Acknowledge Volume No.1

63 (continued) H. Rider Haggard (novel), Gene Quintano (screenplay)

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

65 (continued) H. Rider Haggard (novel), Gene Quintano (screenplay)

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

67 (continued) H. Rider Haggard (novel), Gene Quintano (screenplay)



69‘A template for a new kind of African’ - Cultural Erasure Ndugu M’hali was the personal servant and companion to journalist and explorer Sir Henry Morton Stanley. He was given the Stanley as a slave, who went on to rename him Kalulu for unknown reasons. He was educated in London and accompanied Stanley on his travels to Europe, America and the Seychelles. Ndugu M’hali died tragically during an expedition in 1877, in an accident on the Lualaba River in Congo. The location of the accident was later named ‘Kalulu Falls’ by Stanley. THOUGHTS Will our kind only be immortalized once we conform to the ideals of the colonizer? While Stanley and Kalulu’s relation- ship is one to be adored, the fundamental wrong is that Ndu- gu M’hali did was removed from his own culture, without choice or option, and all at a young age, when we are most vulnerable to manipulation.

Ndugu M’Hali and his adoptive father Henry Morton Stanley (journalist and Central Africa explorer), who renamed him Kalulu, 1872 Carte de visite (Smithsonian Institution)

71 Kalulu (Ndugu M’hali) in a suit, H. Morris albumen carte-de-visite, 1873 (npg.org.uk/collections/)

King George V inspected the South African Native Labour Corps at Abbeville on 10 July 1917 (Imperial War Museums)

73 Elizabeth II , Power Dynamics and Media propaganda 1965

Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria 1914 (BBC Archives)

75 (continued) Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria 1914 (BBC Archives)

INSTITUTIONAL VISUAL MANIPULATIONART GALLERY OF ONTARIO - AFRICAN ART EXHIBIT VS THE REST AFRICAN PERMANENT EXHIBIT | EXHIBITS ON THE SAME FLOOR

77GRADEX SETUP PROPOSAL - AN EXPLANATIONLED LIGHT SETUP THE AGENCY / INTERACTION ARTWORKArduino configuration that Use of an ultrasonic proximity Vikitoliya, Sesili and Upopuenables the ‘temperature’ sensor allows for the regis- Upayasi are all artworkof the lighting to change tration and determination of created in response to thebased on spectator inter- an individual’s distance to the colonial misrepresentationaction. The purpose of this artwork, thus changing the of African sovereignty.is to mimic institutional light temperature in response(museum) unjust presen- to their interaction.tation of African artwork,design and cultures.



79THE BANTU SYMBOL WRITING SYSTEM // obedience //ama ∙ (q)a ∙ we Amaqhawe officers of the law



83THE BANTU SYMBOL WRITING SYSTEM // warrior // guard // shield //oo ∙ mko ∙ nto Umkhonto royal guard



87THE BANTU SYMBOL WRITING SYSTEM // chief // cheiftainess // leadership //oo ∙ boo ∙ ko ∙ see Ubukhosi sovereignty

TREATIES, CONCESSIONS, AND LIES Realizing how our existing systems are setup for failure makes clear the irony of the use of colonial systems in decolonization today. For a system so deeply embedded in Ndebele Culture, there is little explanation or evidence for the conception of the Bantu Symbol Writing System. Through specula- tion, one can state that this ideographic writing system was initially linked to a universal Bantu language that evolved over the course of the Bantu Nation’s migration and expansion about 3,000 years ago.(P. Nyathi, 2005) We could say that Bantu Writing System, is a system only the author can read with any certainty. It may even be said that these symbols are interpreted rather than read. I wonder, when compared to colonial systems, how much power and privilege was embedded within this system, but also, how practical was communication between this system and a roman alphabet? The questions that imme- diately arise are: 1. How was this system used in a pre-colonial era? 2. How did it evolve as a mode of expression during colonial times? 3. Why has Bantu Symbol orthography seemingly faded out of existence, following colonization?

91RESPONSE TWO The Challenge By identifying the english language as a colonial tool, There is an opportunity to analyze the way in which it was used in the colonization of the Ndebele Kingdom. Looking into pre-historic, historical and contemporary systems, one can distill the Bantu Writing System, as well as the International Telegraph Language No. 1, and the Roman alphabet. The aim is to break down these systems while speculating on the way they should have and could have been used, using this opportunity to reimagine their post-colonial uses. The Execution I’ve paid close attention to the systems and technologies of language, typography and code. By witnessing how the Roman alphabet and the English language were manipulated to reflect the ideology of the colonizer, I too can appropriate existing systems so that they may reflect a liberated identity, a decolonized identity.



93The Rudd Concession (1888)Untranslatable privilege “If a Royal Charter is given to the concessionaires, the most liber- al terms will be offered to prospectors and European settlers to come and dwell here, and develop the country. With the wealth behind the present people – including the great house in Capel New Court – the advancement of this great country will be rapid. It’s countless rivers and streams, and it’s general fertility render it’s exploitation easy, whilst it’s wealth in gold, copper, iron, and tinstone is unbounded.” The Diamond Fields Advertiser, on the Rudd Concession, in 1889.



95

MISSED OPPORTUNITY - BAUDOT CODE The Baudot code, invented by Émile Baudot, was a character set that was the predecessor to the International Telegraph Alphabet No. 2, the teleprinter code in use until the advent of ASCII. Each character in the alphabet is represented by a series of five bits that were sent over a communication channel such as a telegraph wire or a radio signal. THOUGHTS Was there an opportunity to bridge two writing systems, that did not translate well, with a third that would have worked as the intermediary? My answer is no, because the telegraph itself was a tool of colonization. It was a technology that was witheld during the correspondence of British and Ndebele soereignty. Could it even translate and contain the Bantu Symbol Writing System? If not, what could? In trying to make the Bantu Symbol Writing Sys- tem understandable and usable in this post-colonial context, am I infact diminishing it’s privilege?

97



99

A RECLAMATION ATTEMPT - A BANTU-ROMAN ALPHABET

101 ekhayaphonetics: // eh∙ (g)kah ∙ yah // house ∙ family ∙ home



103

An attempt to translate a series of Bantu symbols in order to build a visual onthology, Vusamazulu Credo Mutwa (African Folktales pg 662)

105A LESS DIRECT TRANSLATION Come help us, the son’s of bitches have attacked the village and the King is dead! THOUGHTS Vusamazulu Credo Mutwa, in his book African Folktales, outlines methods in which the english language could interpret the Bantu Symbol Writing System, preserving it in this post-colonial era, so that future generations may inherit in. These methods however, do not demonstrate or inform us on how a privileged system such as the Bantu Writing System can exist without the colonizers influence. The irony in all this is that, to maintain ‘the colonized’s’ traditions and cultures, they should be translatable to the coloniz- er, or be included in the colonizers written history.



107The Indian Act, 1938, sections 140-141. By the eve of the Second World War, status Indians in Canada had among the most severely limited range of civil, political and legal rights of any group of people anywhere in the Commonwealth. Succes- sive Indian Act amendments in force between 1884 and 1951 (thus spanning the era of the two World Wars and Korea) variously placed restrictions on sta- tus Indian travel, the raising of funds in payment of legal advice, and the perpetuation of cultural practic- es including spiritual observances and the wearing of traditional dress. [Department of National Defence]

The Rudd Concession document which, when signed, permitted the entry of white settlers in Zimbabwe (South African Archives.)

109 The Indian Act, 1938, sections 140-141. (Department of National Defence Archives)



111THE BANTU SYMBOL WRITING SYSTEM // unity // peace //oom ∙ cha ∙ do Umtshado wedding



115THE BANTU SYMBOL WRITING SYSTEM // break-up // divorce //oo ∙ kwe ∙ (s)hlu ∙ hkana Ukwehlukana seperation



119THE BANTU SYMBOL WRITING SYSTEM // pleasure // joy //voo ∙ hka ∙ si ∙ la ∙ le Vuka silale make love



123THE BANTU SYMBOL WRITING SYSTEM // unity //oo ∙ hkoo ∙ too ∙ la ukuthula tranquility