BY DR TONY MONDA
Zimbabwe Museum of Human Sciences, Harare Post-colonial Museums in African share a common history as derivative by-products of Colonialism.
Despite the fact that our material culture was on display, indigenous people were neither consulted, nor involved in the acquisition and interpretation of the archaeological material on display and were side-lined from museum activities, discouraged and prevented from visiting these institutions, except on selected days.
Decades after colonialism in Africa, some museums have only witnessed a cosmetic change of administrators, whilst the system has remained intact. It comes as no surprise therefore, that museum curators, although indigenous, have remained in a colonial frame of mind and continue to be estranged from the general public. It comes as no surprise therefore, that museums in the country risk collapse “due to a raft of factors, including poor management and lack of funding”.
In order to fully understand the persistence of colonial administration of African museums, we need to go back in history.
The first museum established in this country came as a result of the pioneer settler’s concerted effort to discover, and extract gold and other precious minerals from the land. This resulted in the construction of The Rhodesia Museum being established in Bulawayo in 1901, under Rhodes administration built to establish a centre to house the growing collection of mineral specimens which were being accumulated in the country to give advice to early colonial prospectors and miners.
The Zimbabwe museums house an official listing of 150 proclaimed historical monuments and sites.
Originally two separate bodies were established for administrative purposes; the National Museums, which was set up in 1936; and the Commission for the Preservation of Natural Historical Monuments and Relics, usually known as the Historical Monuments Commission, established in 1937 in Southern Rhodesia.
These bodies were amalgamated in 1972 to become a statutory body named the National Museums and Monuments of Rhodesia, now called the National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe. This national administrative entity is attached to the Ministry of Home Affairs and is governed by a board of trustees with its activities integrated and administered at a head office based in Harare, under the control of an executive director.
The major museums in Zimbabwe are: The Zimbabwe Museum of Human Sciences, the Natural Museum of Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe Military Museum and the Mutare Museum, and the Africa Museum currently under construction.
The four site museums are the Great Zimbabwe Museum, the Khame Ruins Museum, Utopia House Mutare and the Gold Mining Museum at the Globe and Phoenix Mine in Kwekwe. The interpretive centres are found at Nswatugi Cave in the Matobo Hills, at Tsindi Ruins near Marondera and at Domboshava Cave near Harare.
The function of each museum is the collection, preservation, investigation and interpretation of the material pertinent to its discipline, so that a better understanding of the natural, scientific and human evolution of the country may be achieved.
This information is made available to the public by means of exhibition gallery spaces within the museums and by the publication of scientific papers and journals. Today, there is need to embrace the digital age to further disseminate the knowledge locked up in these institutions.
What is disconcerting is that indigenous communities are still to impart their opinions and stories on the significance of cultural sites and the manner in which their heritage is presented and interpreted.
Upon the attainment of political independence by Africa in various former colonies, one would have expected post-colonial curators to challenge the use the language of the colonisers, be it English, French, Spanish, Flemish, etc., to interpret indigenous archaeology and re-empower the formerly dispossessed indigene of their archaeological heritage.
The oral traditions, myths and legends associated with many archaeological sites in Zimbabwe have not been comprehensively communicated to the public, re-discovered or shown by way of exhibitions and publications in the correct indigenous context and language.
The colonial use of English as the language for communication limits the indigenous inter-activity and often distorts the philosophy and meanings intended to communicate.
By using the language of the colonisers to identify indigenous objects, we exclude the vast majority of the public from enjoying their archaeological and cultural heritage.
Our oral traditions, rites and religious practices that colonial Western scholars previously despised and excluded from their findings and discourses, should now find their way into a broader definition of heritage from an Afro-centric perspective, because heritage is intricately intertwined with indigenous peoples’ lives and is in fact, a vibrant and dynamic living legacy of our cultural landscape.
It is time for local communities to be involved in the public discourse of their heritage, which had been removed from African societies through long periods of colonisation.
It is a pity that most indigenous people still regard museums as “white” spaces or venues for tourists. Zimbabwe is still presenting the archaeological material through a colonial lens, to satisfy the curiosity of the ‘other’.
Efforts need to be made to communicate and engage the general populous and the educational sector on the importance of archaeological heritage, the need for its conservation and preservation in order to understand ourselves as a people.
The academic ‘barbed-wire’ barrier created by the technical archaeological colonial jargon prevents the common man from accessing the archaeological knowledge of their heritage.
What is of greater concern is the need for the reclamation and restitution of African archaeological artefacts still in the custody of colonial museums. In fact, in order to witness the glory of Africa, or study our origins, one needs to go to America or Europe, where our stolen material cultural and archaeological artefacts are kept in private collections and public museums in Belgium, the UK, France, Holland, Germany, Portugal, Spain, etc.
Dr. Tony Monda holds a PhD. in Art Theory and Philosophy and a DBA in Post-Colonial Heritage Studies. For Comments E-mail: tonym.MONDA@gmail.com
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