Grocott's Mail
  • NEWS
    • Courts & Crime
    • Features
    • Politics
    • People
    • Health & Well-being
  • SPORT
    • News
    • Results
    • Sports Diary
    • Club Contacts
    • Columns
    • Sport Galleries
    • Sport Videos
  • OPINION
    • Election Connection
    • Makana Voices
    • Deur ‘n Gekleurde Bril
    • Newtown… Old Eyes
    • Incisive View
    • Your Say
  • ARTSLIFE
    • Cue
    • Makana Sharp!
    • Visual Art
    • Literature
    • Food & Fun
    • Festivals
    • Community Arts
    • Going Places
  • OUR TOWN
    • What’s on
    • Spiritual
    • Emergency & Well-being
    • Safety
    • Civic
    • Municipality
    • Weather
    • Properties
      • Grahamstown Properties
    • Your Town, Our Town
  • OUTSIDE
    • Enviro News
    • Gardening
    • Farming
    • Science
    • Conservation
    • Motoring
    • Pets/Animals
  • ECONOMIX
    • Business News
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Personal Finance
  • EDUCATION
    • Education NEWS
    • Education OUR TOWN
    • Education INFO
  • Covid-19
  • EDITORIAL
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Trending
  • GM Direct publishing break
  • “Makhanda is in shambles,” says Ward Four resident
  • Ward Two residents buy own floodlights to combat cable theft
  • A town without a playground: where do the children play?
  • Women, Politics, Power, Patriachy: A feminist lens
  • Makhanda’s Links Royal House Gaokx’aob (Chief) has died
  • What’s On – 30 March – 6 April
  • Unapologetically queer and Black consciousness approach to live performance
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Grocott's Mail
  • NEWS
    • Courts & Crime
    • Features
    • Politics
    • People
    • Health & Well-being
  • SPORT
    • News
    • Results
    • Sports Diary
    • Club Contacts
    • Columns
    • Sport Galleries
    • Sport Videos
  • OPINION
    • Election Connection
    • Makana Voices
    • Deur ‘n Gekleurde Bril
    • Newtown… Old Eyes
    • Incisive View
    • Your Say
  • ARTSLIFE
    • Cue
    • Makana Sharp!
    • Visual Art
    • Literature
    • Food & Fun
    • Festivals
    • Community Arts
    • Going Places
  • OUR TOWN
    • What’s on
    • Spiritual
    • Emergency & Well-being
    • Safety
    • Civic
    • Municipality
    • Weather
    • Properties
      • Grahamstown Properties
    • Your Town, Our Town
  • OUTSIDE
    • Enviro News
    • Gardening
    • Farming
    • Science
    • Conservation
    • Motoring
    • Pets/Animals
  • ECONOMIX
    • Business News
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Personal Finance
  • EDUCATION
    • Education NEWS
    • Education OUR TOWN
    • Education INFO
  • Covid-19
  • EDITORIAL
Grocott's Mail
You are at:Home»OUR TOWN»Does anyone want to talk about the 1820 settlers?
OUR TOWN

Does anyone want to talk about the 1820 settlers?

Rod AmnerBy Rod AmnerMarch 22, 2022Updated:March 24, 2022No Comments3 Mins Read
Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
A 2012 art performance 'Making Way' by Doung Anwar Jahangeer, on the grounds of the 1820 Settlers National Monument, curated by Ruth Simbao. Photo: Ruth Simbao

The popular Friends of the Library Lecture series is back.

The 2022 series begins on Thursday 31 March 2022 with a talk by Jeff Peires entitled, “Pride or Prejudice? Updating the memory of the 1820 Settlers”.

It’s more than 200 years since the 1820 settlers arrived, but nobody seems to want to talk about them. This talk hopes to provide a factual basis for beginning the conversation. 

Prof Jeff Peires

When: Thursday 31 March 2022

Where: Amazwi South African Museum of Literature, 25A Worcester St, Grahamstown, Makhanda

Time:  5.15 pm for 5.30 pm  

All are welcome, but please note that attendees must be vaccinated and wear masks. Temperatures will be taken at the door.

Entry is by donation in aid of the Friends of the Grahamstown Public Libraries – Hill Street, Duna, Fingo Village, Community, Alicedale, Riebeek East, Extension 9 and the Mobile Library.

Friends of the Library subs: the new subscription period will be from AGM to AGM meetings. Payments (R 50 per member or R 300 for a lifetime subscription) can be made any time during this period, via EFT or to Ian Macdonald at the FOL lectures.

Making way

The photographs below were taken of a 2012 art performance Making Way by Doung Anwar Jahangeer, on the grounds of the 1820 Settlers National Monument, Grahamstown, curated by Ruth Simbao.

Jahangeer painted the hands and faces of the figures in the Settler Family, a statue of a British Settler mother, father and child produced by artist Ivan Mitford-Barberton in 1969. Donning a top hat, the father clutches an enormous Bible. The trio is elevated on a large stone pedestal, making the figures visible to drivers along the N2 highway that passes Makhanda.

Photos: Ruth Simbao
Photo: Ruth Simbao

Jahangeer said he attempted to ‘Africanise’ the Settlers in a restorative gesture. Using clay from the earth, he symbolically brings them closer to the ground, questioning the role of the pedestal in its attempt to exalt the British Settlers. While a few residents complained about the ‘defacing’ of the Settler Family, Jahangeer argues that his gesture was “a way of welcoming history into the present in a more ritualistically peaceful manner rather than in an angry way of saying we have to take down those historic iconic monuments”.

“This ritual is to welcome the Settler family home,” he said.

(Excerpt from ‘Walking The Other Side: Doung Anwar Jahangeer’ by Ruth Simbao in Third Text 27:3).

Previous ArticleSouth Africa has failed to champion human rights in the world. But that’s changing
Next Article Makhanda’s weekly park run ritual
Rod Amner

Comments are closed.

Tweets by Grocotts
Newsletter



Listen

The Rhodes University Community Engagement Division has launched Engagement in Action, a new podcast which aims to bring to life some of the many ways in which the University interacts with communities around it. Check it out below.

Humans of Makhanda

Humans of Makhanda

Weather    |     About     |     Advertise     |     Subscribe     |     Contact     |     Support Grocott’s Mail

© 2023 Maintained by School of Journalism & Media Studies.

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.