a memory of place

On the question of a contention of a memory of place! . . . Written Maleke Montshiwagae

Ngugi wa Thiongo writes that, Waiyaki wa Hinga who resisted and harassed the British colonial forces was captured and buried alive with his head facing the bowels of the earth, which is in opposition to the Gikuyu burial rites' requirements that the body face mount Kenya, the dwelling place of a supreme deity. .

again....Ngugi points out that the same British captured King Hintsa of the Xhosa resistance and decapitated him, taking his head to the British museum!
. . . .

on another account...Professor Sechaba Mahlomaholo notes that the body of Sara Baartman was dissected, literally and physically cut open and piece by piece her brains and genitalia preserved in formaldehyde and kept in museums in order for future generations not to forget how different and diverse we are, with Africans at the bottom rank of civilisation. ... Sara was even mocked in the universities of Europe when still alive. .. Mahlomaholo continues to say that : "For me what is worth noting is how Sara Baartman’s story captures in a nutshell processes of disruption, interruption and dismemberment of the African at the global level, at the continental level, at the national level, at the institutional level, at the interpersonal and ultimately, at the intrapersonal level"..

Mahlomaholo and Ngugi reminds us of important aspects of the concurring of the African, the one aspect being the brains in Sara' instance and memory in the decapitating of Hintsa, both of which were kept in European museums, which is a symbolic representation of the fact that the African mind has been erased and is in possession of Europe! this possession and erasure is captured in practical action in universities across Africa. ..

. . the fact that Sara was also mocked in the universities of Europe with the statues of the likes of Rhodes celebrated and erected in eurocentric universities located in Africa for example, implies the degradation of the African identity and implantation of the European memory which would dominate how we remember. .

the burying of Waiyaki alive against the Gikuyu burial rites symbolically represents the erasure of African culture and spiritual aspects by colonial satanism of British. . that is why universities are referred to as cultural institutions which are there to violently get rid of and bury alive African culture and instill European culture. .

I remember the burying of Rhodes amongst the kings of kings of the Zim Kingdom because he wanted to erase that African Kingdom memory as he believed he was the superior king. ... hence the importance of removing his remains and sending them back to Europe as they continue to haunt Zim....

the one problem area as an example to memory erasure in the South African vote government is the question of education, in which the African child's ability and method of remembering is dominated and in possession of the British museum as is Hintsa's head! .

the African child's brains are completely dissected just like those of Sara, which is indicated in complications arising in the education system with respect to the educating of Africans. .

One finds educated black non-racial liberals analysing education by the very line of thought that created the very same problems without questioning whether the African should be educated in this way and under these dissected conditions? .. shouldn't a reconstruction programme come first and followed by a suitable education to the African mind to resolve the issue? .....

our being as Africans is nonexistent to date. .

it is clear that the African must be reconstructed at all levels of memory. . . the African should not die impoverished prostitute and lonely. ...