Monument(al) meaning-making: the Ncome monument & its representation of Zulu identity
Abstract This essay offers a reflective reading of a recent Zulu monument/museum built at the Ncome/Blood River battle site in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The essay is organized into three sections: the possibility and politics of such a monument(al) re-presentation, perceiving the monument from the outside, and perusing the museum from the inside. As such, it examines representational issues of ethnicity, race, gender, nation, and power and their role in identity negotiation. More specifically, the essay explores how ‘Zulu’ identities are represented via a monument in post-apartheid South Africa. Ultimately, the monument/museum promotes Zulu nationalism and a Zulu warrior identity, homogenizes and fixes Zulu culture and identity, and, thus, fails to advocate unity and reconciliation, as was originally recommended. *The core of this essay was originally written in two cultural studies seminars at the University of California, Davis. Earlier versions of this essay were presented at a Cultu...