Misrepresentation Of The African Continent In Cape Town

Africa is the hotbed of rich culture and resources. It has gained the attention of the Western world and the fascination of Africa has placed Africa outside the norm, due to its flawed representation. Cultural theorists Stuart Hall defines representation as the production of the meaning of the concepts in our minds through language- language referring to the meaning-generating system. Representation is necessary as it not only gives ideas and concepts meaning but creates an interconnectedness of culture, however representation of Africa is deeply flawed and instead of promoting Africa it removes the true meaning of Africa.

This essay will discuss the misrepresentation of Africa through the theories of Hall on representation, firstly by unpacking the definition of Africa and applying it to African context, then by looking at the problems found in the representation of slavery in the Cape. Finally, it will further discuss the contemporary representation of Africa through artwork and showing how it reflects Hall’s approaches to explaining how representation of meaning through language works. Overall showing the importance of representation and depicting the underlying troubles found in the representation of Africa

We give things meaning by how we represent them- the stories we tell about them, the emotions we associate with them and the images of them we produce. (Hall,1997). The stories told about Africa are displeasing as the stories are centred around poverty, hunger, corruption and violence or centred around this imaginative world like that of a fictional book.

The emotions associated with Africa are commiseration and empathy instead of joy and happiness because Africa is seen as a charity case. The images produced of Africa can vary but the images are rarely depicting the real Africa, images can be of an impoverished child, drought stricken lands or the Serengeti and the wildlife, the images tend to be either afro-romanticised or afro-pessimistic but neither showing the authenticity of Africa. Africa isn’t known as a place of enrichment and success but rather is presented as a place confronted with disorder and upheaval.

The false ideas associated with Africa allow core countries to invade and prove their superiority by setting up their imperialist structures. Thus, initiating the question regarding the usefulness of African representation? Representation should be truthful and the problems found in African representation continue to persists as Africa is firstly still presented as a country and not a continent and secondly that African countries are not represented as countries that fit into the modern global village but rather an archaic society or an underdeveloped society with high disease and mortality rates.

System representation are ‘different ways of organizing, clustering, arranging and classifying concepts, and of establishing complex relations between them’ (Hall,1997: 3). From the above statement one can deduce that in order to represent people, culture or ideas there would need to be some form of data classification in order to ensure efficient and fair representation. This however is not the case when it comes to the representation of slavery in the Cape.

Slavery was present in the Cape for almost 200 years and that part of history is not represented enough. This could be because the was no complete list of slaves by name and toponym which was necessary in order to derive place of origin. The figures only represented a selection of Cape Town slaves (Worden,2016:390), making it difficult for modern historians to gather substantial information and understand the origins of the Cape slaves, nevertheless modern historians are certain that Cape Town was connected to a wide range of Indian Ocean regions (Worden,2016) which opens the door for endless possibilities with regards to origin.

Furthermore, the representation of slavery in Cape Town has proven to be debatable. Firstly, in the ‘invisibilisation’ of the landscape, for example the Castle of Good Hope presently is known as a ‘centre of civilian, political and military life at the Cape’ (Castleofgoodhope.co.za, 2019). Little attention is paid to the unprincipled crimes committed at the Castle. King Cetshwayo (also known as King Cetewayo was a Zulu King during the 1800s), was imprisoned there along with some of his wives, the Castle had torture chambers, executions were carried out and slaves were imprisoned there as well and many died at the Castle (Vanhunks.com, 2019). Presently if one were to attend a tour there more attention is paid to militia then to the atrocities. Another example would be the slave bells that are found throughout the city, these bells have blended in so well within the city that the meaning of the bells are deteriorating over time, instead of it being an indication of the strong slave culture of the Cape it has merely become an enhancing feature to the city.

Along with the contestations regarding Cape Town’s representation of slavery, representation of slavery is not only confided to the borders of South Africa but also to the rest of the world. South African artist Brett Bailey is the director behind Exhibition B in London, the exhibition ‘presents a catalogue of the atrocities that were committed and concealed by European powers in Africa in the name of ‘civilization’’ (WORKS et al., 2019). The Human Zoo as it is also known was not accepted by the whole community as campaigns were formed against it. Protestors perceived it to be deeply offensive and that it reinforced a negative image of African peoples.

Hall poses a serious question of ‘what if someone else had control over your representing and representation?’. This question can be applied to Exhibition B where we have Brett Bailey a white man representing his own interpretation of the atrocities committed in Africa. Bailey’s family has not lived the Black experience and he will never live it, so it can be perceived as disrespectful to have someone who does not understand the implications of these atrocities represent them. Beyond that there is another dilemma found here and that is that protestors and performers have one thing in common and that is their shared blackness, however on one hand we have protestors who detest the Exhibition and on the other hand we have the performers who see the Exhibition as a moral obligation to the slaves, for some them it provides a sense of identity and platform to spread awareness (WORKS et al., 2019).

Overall for many of the performers, protestors demanding for the exhibition to be closed violates their freedom of expression. Exhibition B is an example of the intentional and reflective approach that Hall mentions, the Exhibition is an example of the intentional approach as the author (Bailey) imposes his own unique meaning on the world, this is however flawed because he cannot be the sole source of meaning (Hall,1997) It also encompasses the reflective approach because the meaning lies in the object, person or idea and the truth is already there and fixed in the world (Hall,1997:). Irrespective of the controversy that the Exhibition ignited the truth is still there, the atrocities are true and human zoos were a reality during the 1900s.

Once again looking at the question of ‘what if someone else had control over your representing and representation?’, it is important that enslavement is represented by slaves, because by using slave narratives it humanizes the slave. Slaves were not seen as equals they were not even seen as human, so by using their personal narrative it provides a deeper context to slave culture, secondly it expands the viewers moral compass. For example, Katie Jacobs chose to stay with her ‘baas and missus’ for three more years after her liberation and she claimed that it was more peaceful during the slave days (Worden,2017:2).

Individuals like Katie show the internalized oppression, the mental enslavement deeply engrained in her mind and many others making them afraid to leave. In addition to the mental slavery there was also slavery of the womb, through uterine slavery, which stated that the condition of the mother decided whether her unborn child would be free or enslaved (Shell,1992:3). Uterine slavery shows how slave masters ensured the production of slaves and made it incredibly difficult for an individual to be free. In its entirety the story would no longer be whitewashed.

Representation is necessary because it gives ideas and concepts meaning, however representation of Africa is deeply flawed and instead of promoting Africa it removes the true meaning of Africa. Looking specifically at Cape Town more emphasis needs to be made on representing slave culture.

The biggest controversy when it comes to representation of Africa, its people, history and culture is who gets to represent it and how do they go about it, without disappointing or displeasing the community at large. There is no one true meaning of an idea the meaning of an idea is in the mind of the viewer. It’s up to interpretation, that is usually where the problem lies. In closing representation should not simply be about giving ideas and concepts meaning but rather it requires more involvement from a communal and economic standpoint, representation also means actively making a difference.